She looked again at the date of the letter. It had been written in December. She read his second opening sentence. I feel that I shall leave life before 1 January. His murder had taken place on 30 December. It was a prophecy that had been fulfilled to the letter – and she had not a shadow of a doubt that his other prophecy would be just as accurately fulfilled.

She slid down against the nearest wall and, trembling uncontrollably, hugged her knees to her chest. Nicky’s reaction would have been to assume that Grishka had been drunk when he had written his letter to him, but then Nicky had never believed in Grishka as fervently as she had always believed in him. And he hadn’t shared the letter with her because, although he would have discounted it, he would have known the very different effect it would have on her.

She could feel that effect flooding through her like iced water from top to toe. All joy at the thought of the Crimea vanished. Wherever they went, she, Nicky and the children wouldn’t be safe. Because Grishka had died at the hands of their family, there would be a terrible price to pay.

She never knew how long she sat huddled on the floor, coming to terms with the stark prophecy of Grishka’s letter, but when she finally rose to her feet, Alicky knew how she was going to handle the horrific knowledge she now had.

She wasn’t going to let Nicky know that she had read the letter, and she certainly wasn’t going to burden her beloved children with the letter’s contents. Instead she was going to ensure that, under whatever conditions awaited them, their family life was going to remain as untroubled as she could possibly make it. And she was always going to remember that she was an empress. From now on, no matter the circumstances, no one was ever going to see her cry.

As they packed to leave, the children chattered happily about how different life would be for them in the Crimea.

‘Even if we are still held under horrid house arrest, the sun will be shining and however small a section of Livadia Palace’s gardens we are allowed in, we can put up a net and play tennis,’ Anastasia said as she squeezed a rag doll into one of the trunks they were packing.

‘And we won’t be under house arrest in the Crimea,’ Nicky said reassuringly. ‘Prime Minister Kerensky is sending us there because it is safe. There is no revolution in the Crimea.’

‘And lots of our relatives are there.’ Marie took another armful of clothes out of one of the cupboards. ‘Granny Minny, Aunt Miechen, Great-Uncle Nikolai and lots and lots of other Romanov aunts and uncles and cousins.’

The mood was almost holiday-like as they selected favourite pictures and ornaments and keepsakes to take with them.