THE CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE ASSASSINATION OF GRAND DUKE MICHAEL ROMANOV, THE LAST TSAR OF RUSSIA is ahead of us on June 13, 2018.
Scarborough is the setting for some of the adventures of Grand Duke Michael Romanov, the last tsar of Russia, in the new compelling historical novel by Michael Roman…The Two Lives of Grand Duke Michael.
In 1918, Michael flew into Scarborough using a Robert Blackburn Type L Seaplane which he had flown from the deck of the British Battleship, HMS Iron Duke after an engagement with German U-Boats off Norway. Robert Blackburn was an aviation pioneer and used the Yorkshire coastline extensively for trials using his base at Scalby Mills in Scarborough to construct his seaplanes.
The book is now being adapted for a screen version and Scarborough will be used extensively as a backdrop to some of the gripping adventures of Grand Duke Michael. The book is on sale at Waterstones and W H Smith in Scarborough..
In the novel, `The Two Lives of Grand Duke Michael,` Michael Romanov, an anglophile in exile, often visited Scarborough, creating a strong connection with the Blackburn Type L Seaplane, hoping to be a co-pilot on a Round Britain Race sponsored by the Daily Mail in 1914. However, the outbreak of WW1 saw Michael returning to Russia to take command of a Cossack Cavalry regiment …The Savage Regiment.
Michael secretly returned to the UK on a 2-week round journey from Petrograd in 1918, where he met with Allied War Commanders and Heads of State at the Grand Hotel in Scarborough to spearhead an Allied Invasion of Russia to remove Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Before returning to Petrograd, and having brought with him a huge amount of Russian Crown Jewels, he decided to bury these on the cliff slopes within the bay area in the hope of returning as the new tsar of Russia, claiming these for the House of Romanov
The coordinates of the buried treasure were recorded at the scene, and have been found in the back of a wristwatch which was stolen from the assassinated body of Michaels British secretary, Nicholas Johnson, who accompanied Michael on his UK visit. Nicholas Johnson died alongside Michael, but Michael survived the ordeal and was rescued by Sidney Reilly `Ace of Spies` and brought back to Britain for a second life under the protection of MI6.
The author, from research and his own imagination, writes on the premise of credibility and therefore the well known missing Russian Romanov Jewels are still to be discovered.
It is not widely understood that Sidney Reilly was the British super spy in whom Ian Fleming modelled the modern-day JAMES BOND.
The centrepiece of the second part of the trilogy, now being written, is the discovery of the Jewels on the cliffs of the Yorkshire Coast?
For the residents of the Bay it is hoped that this novel will raise international awareness of the activities of Grand Duke Michael, raising its profile and attract interest in the Crown Jewels and the past importance of aviation history with Robert Blackburn.
Further…. The alluring and mysterious OLGA BYSTROVIA secretly settles in the Bay with her son George after the death of her husband, the Grand Duke Michael in 1947. In Filey she brings up George whilst in hiding from the KGB…. who want to finish off the only Romanov (George) who has a clear title to the Russian Imperial Throne.
The trilogy continues…….
For more information about the Last Tsar Of Russia and more exploration on his adventures after his ‘assassination’ visit the rest of the website.
