With reference to recently declassified documents of the Special Services and records from the Royal Archives, British intelligence developed several plans to evacuate Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his family from Russia after his abdication on March 2, 1917.
King George V of Great Britain was the cousin of Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, which explains this interest in the Romanov family. In addition, Russia and Great Britain were allies in World War I.
According to the newspaper, on March 19, British General John Hanbury Williams met the mother of Emperor Maria Feodorovna. They agreed that Nicholas II should leave Russia as soon as possible.
At the same time, Maria Fedorovna called for the evacuation of the Russian emperor to her homeland – to Denmark. She was afraid that in the event of a long voyage, German submarines would sink his ship. At the same time, the general assured her that he would be able to ensure the safety of the abdicating king and volunteered to personally accompany the Romanov family. Nicholas II’s mother agreed, and the British ambassador to Russia, George Buchanan, began negotiations with the Provisional Government.
However, to implement this plan, it was necessary to convince the emperor himself to leave. According to the entries in his memoirs, he wanted to stay, move to the Crimea and live there until the end of his days in a rather honorable position.
Delay and hesitation on the part of the British government and King George V led to the fact that Great Britain did not carry out this operation, and on July 17, 1918, Nicholas II, his wife, children and servants were shot in Yekaterinburg. .
