The Romanovs are eternally fascinating. Because of their great wealth and fame, the glamour of their lifestyle was captured in photographs and even video, and they always look stunning.
History.com
Perhaps the one exception are the pictures taken in the spring of 1917. The children had caught the measles, and the only treatment available at the time caused their hair to fall out.
When the family was assassinated on July 17, 1918, the girls’ hair had grown to their shoulders. The fate of the family was a mystery until 1991, when most of the remains were discovered. However, Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria were not located until 2007. One way scientists used to identify the girls’ bodies was by comparing the proportions of the skulls to these photographs.
Their somber expressions take on a new meaning, as if pleading for help that no one could give.
alexanderpalace.org
old spirituals 
Process of elimination: it was Alexei in the middle of the last photograph that showed the five children with their heads shaved
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I view the disposition of Tsar Nicholas, the Tsarina and their children as a horrific example of Bolshevik rule, which continued through Lenin, Stalin and even into today’s leader of Russia.
Moving on to another aspect of the Romanov dynasty and European royalty, in the past royalty married royalty. It is exemplified in a 1913 photograph of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia with his cousin, Kine George V of England. The blood relationship is undeniable. Their mother’s were sisters and Danish princesses.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/king-george-tsar-nicholas-1913/
And lest we not forget that Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, who shared no familial blood with Tsar Nicholas, did become his cousin-in-law when Nicholas married Wilhelm’s first cousin, Alexandra of Germany. Wilhelm was a cousin of King George.
The Royalty of Europe was purposely incestuous, intent on maintaining the pure blood line. Of course, they did not know it was self-destructive. Much of European royalty in the nineteenth and twentieth century could be traced to Queen Victoria in some way. Her daughter, Princess Alice, was the mother of Tsarina Alexandra Romanov, Nicholas’ wife. Her lover, Prince Albert, was actually her first cousin, which meant all her children were “inbred.” Victoria had hemophilia, which she passed on to many descendants of European royalty. She personally did not suffer acutely from the disease but one of her children and 5 of her grandchildren died from complications resulting from it.
As we well know, Tsar Nicholas’s son, Alexei, suffered from hemophilia. That severe disorder is why the Tsarina, his mother, looked so fondly on Grigori Rasputin, whom she believed could cure Alexei’s condition. Rasputin had the effect of discrediting the Royal Family with the country’s aristocracy as well as the average citizen. Rasputin contributed greatly to the demise Romanov Dynasty.
It is to these cousins the world owes the beginning of World War I. Ironically, the Treaty that ended that War was the root cause of Germany’s decision to start World War II.
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The other royals’ decision to allow the Romanovs to fall into murderous Bolshevik hands seems inexplicable. I have read that the Tsarina Alexandra was very unpopular, even with her own family, and possibly no part of the family wanted to risk rescuing a German princess, even if her husband was the Tsar of Russia.
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