[Mr.
Gilliard] The past it is a dangerous place.
So many decisions that can't be undone.
So many ghosts.
In 1905, I accepted a job with the Romanovs, Russia's royal family.
I saw their incredible wealth.
The palaces, the balls, the jewelry.
And then I saw the madness.
The revolution.
It all ended here in this house The richest family in the world, the Emperor and the Empress of Russia, Nicholas and Alexandra their five children vanished without a trace.
[children screaming] [gun shots] Now there are rumors of a survivor a deeply troubled girl in Berlin who claims to be Anastasia, the Romanovs' youngest daughter.
It is my task to see if she is telling the truth.
[doctor] I understand they want you to identify her.
I worked in the family for 13 years.
I was the children's tutor.
Please.
[door clangs shut] [doctor] Ana.
You have a visitor.
She has retrograde amnesia.
Her memories are confused.
It's a common symptom.
Do you remember me? [clock ticks] [gun fires] [sound of a priest chanting] [narrator] In 1894 Czar Alexander III died suddenly at the age of 49.
Russia was in shock.
His heir, Nicholas, was just 26.
[male choir singing] [soft footsteps] [Uncle] Jesus, he's fucking rotting.
Sh! You can't silence this, sweetheart, they've botched the embalming.
He stinks.
[woman whispers] She already looks like an empress.
[man] Let's just hope she's a good breeder.
Are you all right? I'm sorry there's been no time for us.
[woman wails] - Mother.
- Oh! [mother gasps] - [mother] Ah, thank you, Alix.
- I'll take her outside.
- I'll come.
- No, no.
You stay.
You'll be all right.
I should go back.
Nicky.
I worry about you so.
The wedding, on top of all this.
[Dr de Orellana] The young Nicholas II is quiet, indecisive, and very much living in the shadow of his great, imposing Grand Duke Uncle Sergei.
To be czar is to be field martial, emperor, prime minister, all of these things, pope, all rolled into one.
[Dr de Orellana] This is like a medieval monarchy where the czar has ultimate control over everything.
And what man in the world is qualified for such a post? Get you through the next few hours, eh? [sighs] What am I going to do, Sandro? I'm not ready to be czar.
You were born for this.
I can't run a country.
I have so much more to learn.
And who will teach me now? You don't need a teacher.
Trust yourself.
God chose you.
Divine bloody right.
[sniffs] [Dr Hetherington] The Russian Empire that Nicholas II inherits is one of the largest empires the world has ever seen.
[Montefiore] It was colossal, it was a sixth of the world's surface.
There were over 146 nationalities, many languages.
And the Romanovs have ruled Russia for almost 300 years.
Their wealth is beyond computation.
An embarrassment of riches.
Land, gold mines, diamond mines, the famous Fabergé eggs.
There are palaces everywhere.
Marrying into this world is Alexandra of Hesse, a shy, religious girl brought up in a tiny German principality.
Ow.
[sister] If Catherine the Great wore them, so can you.
There.
[laughs] Smile, Sunny.
Mother and father would have been so proud of you.
It's all right.
It's been a hell of a few weeks.
Are you sure it's not bad luck? Having the wedding while we're all still mourning? The people say I come to them behind a coffin.
Well, that's not true.
I don't know the customs of this country.
I can't even speak Russian.
[sister, laughing] I can help with that.
I feel such an outsider.
I was a foreign princess once.
[mother] Head up.
Neck straight.
Carry the weight, proudly.
Welcome.
Czarina, and Empress of all Russia.
Now, you're one of us.
[laughs] [Dr de Orellana] Alexandra of Hesse is a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
She is deeply religious, and this obsession with religion plays a key role in her marriage to Nicholas and in her role as Czarina of Russia.
[Dr Hetherington] This marriage is unusual as a Romanov marriage, and for a royal marriage in general in this time period.
And that's because it's very much a love match.
[Montefiore] They're one of the only royal couples in Europe that share a marital bed.
[Alix sighs] - Well, Mrs.
Romanov.
- [Alix laughs] - Got it.
- [Alix giggles] There.
Sorry.
[Alix sighs] You know, my father was a great leader.
The people adored him.
It's not the people I worry about.
[Alix thinks] It's your family.
You need to be strong.
Hm.
[whispers] You're the Czar.
Master of the land.
The leader of all Russia.
[Alix thinks] The god-given one.
Nothing will ever come between us.
- [horses galloping] - [man] Yah! - [horse whinnies] - [men shouting] - [galloping] - [men shouting] [man] Yah, yah! [galloping continues] Come on.
Come on.
Yah, yah! - [galloping] - [grunting] - [man shouts] - [horse whinnies] [groans] You're either on my side or in my fucking way.
- [thwack] - [Rasputin groans] [Smith] Rasputin is one of the most remarkable figures of the 20th century.
Okay, we can talk.
- [thwack] - [groans] But his background is sort of shrouded in mist and and legend.
Shit.
[people shouting] [Dr de Orellana] His parents were farmers and church elders.
He was one of eight or nine siblings, but it would seem that all of them died in his childhood.
- [people shouting] - [thumps] [Montefiore] Rasputin, he drinks, he fights with his father.
He chases girls.
But, above all he's ungovernable.
He's fearless.
[people shouting] [man] Quiet! [Rasputin pants] The horse is safe.
[spits] Back in his stable.
I only borrowed it.
You stole it! Thieves must be punished.
[many] Banish him! I don't want to be a thief.
But we got to eat.
Huh? You've got to eat.
You need to eat.
I did a bad thing.
But I did it for my wife Mm? [kissing child]Â and my son.
What do you want to do with him? [woman yelling] Banish him! - [woman] Punish him! - What about my family? You can't do this.
Give me a chance, hm? Give me a chance.
[laughs] Send me on a pilgrimage, hm? Come on.
[man] This is my judgment: go on a pilgrimage, turn to God, but leave the village, now.
Will you really go to the monastery? I don't know.
I won't let you down.
Promise.
[foosteps] [door rattles] I love you.
[kisses] Rasputin's wife, Praskovya, is a very long-suffering figure.
It's hard to say if Praskovya loves Rasputin or not.
But she's a constant figure, a supportive figure.
[Smith] When Rasputin picks up and leaves home as a pilgrim in 1897 he enters what might be considered his university.
He sleeps out of doors, he becomes infinitely aware of the beauty of the Russian landscape, of Russian life, of folk ways.
[snap] [roar of thunder] [Montefiore] He walked through all weathers, being soaked, being frozen, being sunburnt.
It was a really hard, strange, lonely life.
But one that got him closer to God.
[Dr de Orellana] Away from the Siberian plains, Russia is changing ever faster.
[sound of a crowd] [clink of tools] [Montefiore] The telephone replaces the telegram, cars replace carriages, electric lights replace lamps.
Nicholas becomes Czar at the dawn of the modern age.
[Dr de Orellana] Russia is industrializing at breakneck speed, hundreds of thousands of workers flock to the big cities, creating huge social change.
[Montefiore] They're building railways, building factories.
Conditions there are appalling, workers' rights are nonexistent.