The Two Lives Of Grand Duke Michael has recently been getting some excellent exposure on some local radio stations. Nicholas Jones, who has been commissioned to adapt the book for TV/Film production, has been discussing the excitement, mystery and factual goings on throughout the book on the BBC Three Counties radio station with Roberto Perrone, and BBC Radio York with Anna Wallace and Adam Tomlinson, with more interviews coming up very soon on BBC Radio Northampton. Here are some little snippets taken from the interviews to get an idea on who the last Tsar of Imperial Russia really was…
“Well firstly, it’s probably a good idea to explain who Grand Duke Michael was. He was the Emperor of Russia for one day. He was the very last man to hold that title, in fact, nominally he was in the job for another 6 months, but he always lived in the shadow of his much more famous brother Nicholas, who was of course killed with his son and four daughters, one of whom was Princess Anastasia. Michael was reputedly killed a month before Nicholas, but his body was never found and for a long time it was generally believed that he still lived and given that they’ve trawled every inch of Russia trying to find the bodies of dead royals , it is quite possible he did live. This book begins while he’s obviously still alive, but takes the premise that in fact he didn’t die and that he was rescued and he came to Britain with the help of a man who did indeed live called Salomon Rosenblum, better known as Reilly ‘Ace of Spies’, and came back to Britain where he became a pretender for the throne. He remarried an MI6 Superspy Olga Bystrovia, who was of Indian heritage…. and produced a son and heir to the Russian Throne”
The Two Lives Of Grand Duke Michael mixes fact and fiction to the point where you don’t know where one ends and the other begins. The first book in the trilogy explains the adventures that Tsar Michael Romanov had with a range of historically very important political and armed forces characters – both from fact and from fiction. You should all be aware of the disney animated film called Anastasia, which was based on Michael Romanov’s neice, as well as the famous MI6 Sidney Reilly ‘Ace of Spies’ who assisted the rescue mission of Michael and whom Ian Fleming’s James Bond character is based upon.
Nicholas Jones has been commissioned to adapt The Two Lives Of Grand Duke Michael to screen using some of the famous places that Tsar Michael Romanov visited and lived in, such as Scarborough, Knebworth House and Filey Bay.
“In any novel, you have to look at it and think, what is the actual structure, what is the start, the middle, the end, what are the high points, what is the motivation, and also, I’m always looking, like any other writers…. to see how does the character develop, where’s the dramatic tension. Michael was 38 when he became Emperor for a day, he actually had to start growing up at 38, he always knew that one day he might inherit the throne because his nephew Alexis, was a haemophiliac. At 38, he suddenly had to give up the playboy life, and whence life became very complicated, and that’s the drama.”
“What is fascinating about this story is that we know this man lived, but he lived in the shadow of his tragic brother Tsar Nicholas II and what will become clear is if he had been the ruler, history would have been a lot different, we might not have had the communist revolution, you know 20, 30 million dead.?”
The Two Lives Of Grand Duke Michael is sure to leave you with so many questions and so many ‘What if’s’. You can listen to the full interview Nicholas Jones had with Roberto Perrone on the Three Counties Radio on Friday 4th. May here:
Another interview followed with BBC Radio York on Tuesday 8th. May with Anna Wallace and Adam Tomlinson. You can hear the full interview here.
The next radio interview Nicholas will be attending with be on BBC Radio Northampton on the Bernie Keith show at approximately 10.45 on 15th. May. Hear the full interview here.
To find out more about The Two Lives Of Grand Duke Michael, browse the rest of the website.
