Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich was born on August 12, 1904, at Peterhof Palace near St. Petersburg, circa the Romanov dynasty’s final calm. He was the only son of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, after years of dynastic anxiety. His arrival secured the succession of the Russian Empire. From early infancy, he suffered from hemophilia, a condition quietly managed within the walls of Tsarskoye Selo, circa 1905. Court diaries reveal nights of fear and prayer during his bleeding cr