In 1908, Englishman Sydney Gibbes was appointed tutor to the children of Tsar Nicholas II, and over the next 10 years, he became deeply attached to the Imperial family--and they to him. Here, Frances Welch draws on a wealth of unpublished material to cast new light on the fabled Romanov story, telling it from the tutor's unique point of view. Ultimately, the tragic events of the Russian Revolution devastated Gibbes, turning him into an obsessive Russophile, who was to go to extraordinary lengths to remain faithful to the old order.