Note 41 — Chapter XIII · THE CZAR AT THE DUMA—THE CAMPAIGN IN GALICIA—OUR LIFE AT G.H.Q.—GROWING DISAFFECTION IN THE REAR (1916)

I should like to record a slight incident at the beginning of spring when the Czar was at Tsarskoïe-Selo between his visits to the front. It illustrates the kind of feelings the Czar entertained for Germany and tried to instil into his son. The Czarevitch was playing in the park that day, and the Czar and the Grand-Duchesses were also there. He slipped behind his youngest sister, who had not seen him coming, and threw a huge snowball at her. His father had witnessed the act. He called the boy to him and talked to him severely. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Alexis! You’re behaving like a German, to attack anyone from behind when they can’t defend themselves. It’s horrid and cowardly. Leave that sort of behaviour to the Germans!”