Alexis was born on the 30th of July, 1904,in Peterhof and he was brutally murdered on the 17th of July, 1918, by the Bolsheviks in Ekaterimburg. He was the only son of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II and his wife the empress Alexandra, who already had four girls - Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia - and received the titles of Grand Duke and Tsarevich of Russia. At his birth his weight was 4 Kg. He had light brown, almost blonde curly hair, with large blue eyes. He brought great joy to his parents because he was the answer to their prayers to have an heir for the Russian throne. The Tsar wrote in his diary: "30th of July*. A great day. Unforgettable for us at 1:15 in the afternoon Alix has had a boy.We named him Alexis." (*Russian old style calendar)

They named him Alexis after an ancient Tsar greatly admired by Nicholas II. But soon their happiness became desperation when the doctors discovered he suffered from haemophilia, an illness that means that the blood doesn't clot normally. In those days the disease could be fatal because the doctors didn't know how to treat it. This meant that Alexis was confined to bed for long periods of time. In 1912 at Spala, where the Imperial Family was spending their vacation, he suffered a serious crisis when he had an accident that nearly cost him his life. He experienced terrible pain, raved because of the fever, and a priest gave him the last sacrament. He suffered so much that he said to his mother: "When I'm dead, it will not hurt anymore, will it, Mama?" But, miraculously, he survived. His mother, the Tsarina, was sure this happened because of the help of Rasputin, a monk who had hypnotic and healing powers. On a number of occasions Alexis health improved through his ministrations. This was the reason why Rasputin so dominated the Tsarina. She was convinced that he was in contact with God and was the only hope for her son.

That conviction caused her important problems with the Russian people, because they saw in Rasputin a corrupt man with a lot of power. Alexandra was completely devoted to Alexis, and they were very close to each other. When he was in pain she was always besides his bed. When Alexis illness was first discovered, she thought she was the cause of it and she aged quickly, her character becoming sad.

Another person that Alexis loved especially was his sister Anastasia. She was the one who was nearest him in age. They had an special relationship and used to play together. She was a very imaginative and funny girl, and when he was in pain, she went to his bedroom and amused him with her jokes. Then he would forget his pain for a time. He was the centre of attention in the Palace, When he was well, a feeling of happiness pervaded the place, but when he was in pain, sadness prevailed. His illness was a secret and a very few people knew about it. Alexis could speak French and English as well as Russian. But he didn't like reading very much, nor his studies. He really enjoyed military life, and loved to go to military processions. He used to speak with the soldiers, learning their words and songs. During the First World War, he went with his father to the front and inspected the Russian Army. He loved animals too. He had his own zoo and some pets. He had his own pet Spaniel dog, which he loved a lot. He was also musical, and played the balalaika well.

He was a very strong and energetic boy despite his illness. He didn't like court life but preferred to be with his family, because he loved all them a lot. He was able to understand the suffering of others because of his own illness, and for this reason he was both a kind and sweet boy with everyone. But the most important thing about Alexis was that he loved life. He loved living because he sometimes was near to death. It's true that Alexis was a very spoiled boy. His parents didn't deny him anything and gave him many presents. He had his own replica of a Mercedes car. Whilst his sisters shared bedrooms, he had one to himself and a large playroom full of wonderful toys. Curiously he collected discarded nails, grey paper and string. He was a very religious boy, having in his room a lot of holy icons. There were two sailors who were responsible for seeing that he did not hurt himself, and they played with him - he didn't have many friends of his own age because his parents were afraid that other children would hurt him. When his sisters and the other children were playing or swimming, he was only allowed to look on.. When he was a young child he usually cried and asked his mother, "Why can't I be like the others".

His life was full of love, happiness (when he was well) and really very privileged. This lifestyle came to an end with the Russian Revolution. His father the Tsar was forced to abdicate, and he and all his family were put under arrest in their own home, Tsarskoe Selo. The guards didn't treat them well, being especially rude to the Tsar. The worst thing was to be prisoners in their own home, but nearly all their servants remained with them. One day when one of the Tsarina´s maids passed by Alexis bedroom, she saw one of the sailors whose job was to protect him, sitting in a chair and ordering Alexis to bring him things, shouting at the poor boy and forcing Alexis to respect his wishes. A short time later this sailor left the palace, and only one of the sailors, Nagorny, remained.

The Romanovs planted a small orchard but, sadly, they never saw the fruit of it, because they were soon moved to Tobolsk, were they remained for eight months. There, they experienced hard times, especially after the Bolsheviks came to power in October 1917, receiving only a little food and having ration cards. They were always watched over by the guards, but these treated them fairly and allowed them to go to church.

With rationing, most of their servants had left, only a few staying with the family. The warehouse where the family's possessions were stored was looted. But the worst thing of all was the boredom and the cold weather, Alexis slept with as many blankets as could be found, and he wrote in his diary: "Today is like yesterday and tomorrow will be the same as today. God, help us! Take pity of us!". In Tobolsk they celebrated their last Christmas, thanking God, because they were all together. Alexis was in very good health nearly all the time there, But some days before they had to leave Tobolsk, he had an accident and the worst crisis since Spala.

A commissar from the Central Committee arrived and told them that he had orders to take all the family to Moscow for judgement. Alexis, because of his bad state of health was unable to travel. The Tsar, Tsarina, and the Grand Duchess Maria set out, but they didn't arrive in Moscow because they were forced to stop at Ekaterinenberg. The rest of the family stayed in Tobolsk waiting for Alexis health to improve so that he could travel.

By about the 15th of May, 1918, all the family were together in Ekaterinenberg, lodged in a house with tall fences and with the windows painted over in white. The house had belonged to an engineer called Ipatiev, and it was known by the Bolsheviks as "The house of special purposes". They family remained there until they were murdered. They were treated really badly at the Ipatiev house. The guards were rude countrymen and factory workers from Siberia and they enjoyed having the Imperial Family in their hands, making them do all that they wanted. They felt important because they could give orders to the Tsar. The guards ate with them, touching the food with their dirty hands. They accompanied the Grand Duchesses to the toilet on the pretext of watching over them, and they stole their things. The guards were especially rude to Alexis and his father. He was often humiliated in front of his father. They spat in his food, and they stole him a lot of his personal objects. The sailor who was protecting him, Nagorny, was arrested and murdered when he was trying to stop them from stealing his icons. They also stole his gold baptism cross, which had great sentimental value for him.

In the early morning in the 17th of July, 1918, the guards made the Imperial Family, three servants, and Dr Botkin, the family's physician, go to the basement of the house, on the pretext of taking a photo of them to prove that they were still alive and hadn't escaped. The Tsar carried Alexis, who was weak and feverish, suffering from flu. They and the four servants were lined up in two rows. Then eleven armed men came in, and after reading a brief death sentence they began to shoot. Not all them died in the first discharge. Alexis fell down on the floor in pain. Then one of the guards kicked him in the head, but he still didn't die. The leader of the guards, Yakov Yurovsky, shot him in his ear, and then poor Alexis died.

Later they took the bodies to a forest near Ekaterinenberg. They removed their clothes and jewels and dismembered them. Later they burned the remains and put them in acid, because they didn't want anybody to know what they had done to them.
When the White Army (loyal to the Tsar) conquered the town a few days later they found a lot of the Romanov's personal possessions that had been given by the guards to their friends(clothes, tools,...) but they didn't find any corpses. In the house of one of the Ipatiev guards, Letiomin, they found some of Alexis things that had been stolen from his bedroom after his murder: His diary (begun and finished in Tobolsk), his favourite holy icon that he always took with him everywhere, and a box with sacred relics. Even his dog had been stolen.

In 1991, thanks to the fall of communism in the USSR, authorisation was given to exhume the corpses from a grave found by two Russians in 1979. In the grave there were nine skeletons, and they noticed, of course, that two skeletons were missing, those of Alexis and one of his sisters. Possibly they were buried in another place because they wanted to confuse people who might find the grave in the future. At that time nothing was known about the identification that could result from DNA testing.