I'm Hannah. I'm Sruti. And welcome to Red Handed. Maybe we're in January, maybe we're in February. I don't know. Doesn't matter. Let's keep going.

Exactly. So before we get going, we of course have to remind you all because you've all forgotten because you don't listen North America. We are coming. But most of them have gone.

Most of them have gone. So I've got the list in front of me. Nice. Nice. Nice. Seattle, gone. Portland, gone. Dallas, gone. Chicago, Minneapolis, Washington and Philadelphia. All gone. If you are listening to this, probably on the day of release, there may still be tickets for San Francisco, Houston, Denver and Boston. But I cannot promise anything. If you are in Los Angeles, Toronto, Royal Oak, Michigan or New York, please go buy tickets.

Please go buy tickets. We're getting towards like the 70% fall in those places. But guys, it's the first time we are coming to North America. We want to see all of your beautiful faces, especially you LA, New York and Toronto faces. So get your tickets. Head over right now to redhandedpodcast.com. And there will be all of the links you need for your viewing pleasure. Yes, please buy them. We want to see you and we think we can't confirm this.

It doesn't happen. You never heard this. We think we may be securing an extremely special guest, extremely special guest. We can't quite believe it. And we won't until it happens. But it might be happening. It might be happening. And if you want to go to the show, then you won't be able to believe it either because seeing is believing. And to see you got to buy tickets. So go do that. Exactly.

I mean, doubting Thomas is the lot of you. Right. That is over and done with. Let's get on with today's show.

Russia's greatest love machine. I mean, yes. Yes. Absolutely. So I've been wanting to do this for a while because there are a lot of myths about this person. He's very well known figure. I don't think anyone doesn't know who he is.

But basically no one knows anything that's true about him, which is what I discovered reading the three enormous books I read. You did. And I am incredibly excited. I read the script this morning. I was like, yes. Let's do it. Good. Cause it's taking me months. Okay. Here we go. Get ready to learn about the 1900s.

Before the Great War, the beginning of the 20th century, the matriarch of all the European mononies had died. Her father was German. She was half German and she married a German.

When Queen Victoria died, Europe would never be the same, not the West, not the East neither. Territorial empire building whispers in multiple nations were building into deafening rules. Imperial Russia, a country so vast, it spans two continents.

Home to 125.6 million people was on the brink of revolution. But inside the walls of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Zarina Alexandra, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, had her own problems.

And because she was a Zarina with absolutely no idea what real life was or what her people were really suffering through, she thought the her woes were the end of the world.

And this was incredibly shortsighted. And also just the classic of this time. It's so like let the me cake like that very much the vibe in the Winter Palace. Of course. And for anybody says it, I know Mary Antoinette never actually said that. It was a mistranslation.

But that is the life for me. Quassal. So Alexandra's second cousin and her husband, Zanickles the second, was not doing a great job of ruling his vast empire.

Yeah, I actually don't think he was ever meant to rule. I think his brother died or something happened. He was not meant to be king. It was as far as I remember. Yes.

And he actually had a breakdown when his father died because he knew that he wasn't up to the job. He had no skills to lead. And even worse than that. He was a firm believer in the divine right of kings.

Meaning that he wasn't a very good listener when it came to what his advisors, you know, people that actually knew what they were talking about had to say.

There's like a, I don't even know if idiom is the right word. And I'm not sure if it was ever actually said in court, but there's like a saying that's like all the most influential person in Russia is the last person who spoke to.

No, yeah, because he had no, he had nothing to hang any of this advice on. He was just like, yeah, sure. And then the next person.

What I will say though is Zarina Alexandra. And he definitely loved each other. Like and yes, she did have enormous influence over him.

He listened to his advisors, but he did listen to his wife. The problem was that his wife knew less than nothing about anything. And everyone knew it inside the palace and out.

And she was a German. Yeah, it's just racking up the problem.

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