Alexei and Haemophilia

[Anna was Franziska]

Originally Posted by Sonjapearl

Is this more proof that the remains found recently were actually that of Alexei and Anastasia? It makes sense, those two were the smallest victims of the Bolshevik shooting.

There was no test done for the hemophilia gene, because there wasn't enough useful sample to test for both and the identity question was more important.

Anastasia and Alexei were the youngest, but I don't know if they were the 'smallest.' Anastasia surely was the shortest sister, but according to some eyewitnesses, Alexei, who died a couple of weeks from his 14th birthday, had grown quite tall in his last year, and may even have been taller than his father who was only 5'7". The image of Alexei being a little boy is inaccurate, and is possibly fueled by the statue in Russia depicting Nicholas carrying what appears to be about a five year old boy in a sailor suit in his arms. The last pictures of Alexei, taken in May 1918, clearly show a tall, lanky, long faced adolescent boy, not a child.

[NotAPretender]

I'm sorry to be this blunt - but whether Alexei had this disease or not is really beside the point, isn't it? I mean yes, of course, his illness and Rasputin and secrecy and his mother and ringing down the empire blah blah but....

I kind of thought we were all pretty clear on the cause of death in his case. And on the fact that he is, you know, dead. I don't know any 106 year olds personally, especially who were shot, beaten, stabbed, and buried. Not running around here, anyway.

The title of the thread is "Alexei and Hemophilia," but really....whether or not he had it, a gunshot wound to the head followed by burial could generally be considered fairly definitive primary causes of death - with or without the "bleeding disease."

Please note: I am not a mind reader. I am not a scientist. I am not an expert on gunshot wounds. I am not a member of any royal family. My only conspiracy theory is that all of the networks time their commercial breaks for exactly the same time just to frustrate me.

[COUNTESS]

A beautiful, realist. What a breath of fresh air. Great response. Thank you.

[AnastasiaEvidence]

Originally Posted by NotAPretender

I'm sorry to be this blunt - but whether Alexei had this disease or not is really beside the point, isn't it? I mean yes, of course, his illness and Rasputin and secrecy and his mother and ringing down the empire blah blah but....

No, that is the point of this thread, if Alexei had hemophilia or not. I have no reason to believe that Alexei didn't have hemophilia because of the letters and records that Dr. Botkin, Pierre Gilliard and Nicholas wrote.

[alinna]

Originally Posted by J Kendrick

Okay, then... What about this:

"Two members of the Romanov family carried this F9 mutation: Alexei was hemizygous for the mutation and one of his sisters, likely Anastasia, was a heterozygous carrier."

One of his sisters was a "heterozygous carrier"?

"Heterozygous" means that the sister had carried two copies of the mutation.. one from each parent...

But... Nicholas could not have been a carrier.

So, how do they explain that one?

JK

Only saw this now, but you don't understand the meaning of those terms as applied to genetics.

Heterozygous refers to the similarity of the genes compared, in this case, meaning that the two genes are different. Therefore, the sister had one copy of the mutation and presumably one normal gene, not two copies of the mutation, if she had two copies of the same mutation the correct term for this would be homozygous.

Hemizygous in this case means that Alexei had one copy of the mutation, and the other copy is missing, which makes sense for a gene located on the X chromosome for a male.

[kells]

I was just wondering if anyone could possibly elaborate on Alexei's personality. Most of what I've read about him concerns his hemophilia and the role it played in the downfall of the Romanovs, but I haven't read alot about his personality. I did read a little bit on wikipedia, but I'm not sure if that's necessarily as reliable as some of you who have probably read books on this subject. So was he really submissive to his mother and would he have been similar to his father regarding his bride? I've read that Alexandra had very strong influence of Nicholas. Was Alexei spoiled and used to having his way? Were they considering a bride for him before they were taken by the Bolsheviks? Also, I've read some about hemophilia separate from the Romanovs, and it seems that boys quite often suffer from low self-esteem and guilt. Anyway, sorry for the long post. I was just wondering if you any of you could enlighten me. Any answers would be much appreciated.

[COUNTESS]

Alexei clung to life. He was in much pain and, often, had bleeds. I doubt, at his tender age they were thinking of a bride for him.They just prayed that he lived. He was spoiled, but like any sickly child in a family, is. He, often, fought, not physically his parents restraints, especially his mother. His mother was neurotic to begin with, his being ill was an inordinate burden for her. She wanted a "fit" heir and they had this problem. Alexandra had great influence on her husband, which turned out to be a great problem for, Nicholas. I don't think Alexei sufferen from low-self esteem or blamed himself. No biographer has ever said that, that I am aware of.

[XeniaCasaraghi]

The little i can remember off the top of my head is that he was indeed spoiled, mostly due to his illness and probably the guilt of those around him, especially his mother. When he was young he could definitely be described as a spoiled brat but I personally tend to give him a pass because of the situation he was growing up in and how much he was indulged by those around him. As he grew older, his spoiled tendencies seemed to stop being so prevalent, giving me the impression that they might have stopped. I also recall hearing that he idolized his father and he was the only one who could make him behave. He was very close with his sisters, and I personally do not recall reading that he was closer to one as opposed to another. As for a possible wife, I honestly can not say, Olga and Tatiana were in their 20s when they died yet who they were going to marry was hardly brought up. With Alexei he was younger and it also seems that there was a belief, that was never voiced, that Alexei wouldn't live long enough to get married.