They had been talking in one of the marble-pillared, magnificently mirrored rooms of the palace, rooms that Alicky never normally ventured into, and suddenly she was aware of how quiet everything was. Where were the footmen who would normally be standing to attention and lining the walls of the room? Why, in a palace that had a staff of hundreds, was there no sound of movement?

‘The vast majority of the staff have either not shown up for work or have run away,’ Count Benckendorff, the Grand Marshal of the Court, said, when she made enquiries. ‘They are frightened the palace is about to be attacked.’

‘The palace will not be attacked! It is far too protected by loyal troops.’

She made a mental count of them. There were two squadrons of Cossacks of the Emperor’s Escort, a hand-picked regiment of the Imperial Guard and a battalion of the marine regiment whose sailors manned the imperial yacht. More than enough to deal with a mob, however large.

On impulse, accompanied only by Marie, she went outside to thank the troops for their staunch loyalty.

It was dusk and the men were in battle order. Slowly, with a fur coat draped around her shoulders, she walked along the lines, stopping every now and then, telling them their Tsar would soon be with them. She made it clear to them that the lives of her children were in their hands and she had complete trust in them.

In the morning she woke to the news that Nicky had left the Stavka and was on his way back to Petrograd.

‘Thank God!’ If she had been on her own when the news was given her, she would have wept with relief.

‘And because of revolutionary activity on the track,’ Count Benckendorff added, keeping the anxiety he felt from his voice, ‘the imperial train has had to make a diversion to Pskov.’

‘Pskov? Where is Pskov?’

‘It is south and west of Petrograd. A distance of one hundred and sixty miles.’

A day later the palace water and electricity supplies were cut off, and the troops she’d had so much faith in deserted her.

It was a blow of disloyalty so deep Alicky could scarcely comprehend it. ‘All of them?’ she gasped. ‘Even the sailors who so often served as crew aboard the Standart?’

‘All of them,’ Benckendorff said bleakly.

Alicky held onto the back of a chair to steady herself. ‘Are you telling me that I and my children are now utterly defenceless, should the palace be attacked?’

‘Yes, Your Imperial Majesty.’ There were now white streaks in his hair, where days before there had been none. ‘As for the household staff, your two closest ladies-in waiting are still here, as are thirty of the footmen, approximately the same number of valets, a dozen chambermaids, a few cooks and a handful of kitchen staff. The girls’ tutor, Mr Gilliard, is still here, as are Dr Botkin and Dr Derevenko.’