The Romanovs and Mr Gibbes

Sydney Gibbes was appointed tutor to the children of Tsar Nicholas II in 1908. Over the next ten years he became deeply attached to the Imperial family – and they to him.
Frances Welch draws on a wealth of unpublished material to throw new light on the Romanov story, telling it from the English teacher’s point of view. The tragic events of the Russian Revolution devastated Gibbes, turning him into an obsessive Russophile, who was to go to extraordinary lengths to remain faithful to the old order…

“A masterpiece of comic understatement.” – Iain Finlayson, The Times

“A biographical gem…” — T.J. Binyon, Evening Standard

“A jewel of a book…[which]…tells us more about the Romanovs…than a dozen more conventional biographies…” – Kathryn Hughes, Mail on Sunday

“I was hooked from page one… This is cumulatively moving – A real triumph of sympathy.” – A.N. Wilson

“Welch writes with a limpid style and a cool intelligence.” – George Walden, Sunday Telegraph

About Frances Welch

Frances Welch has written for the Sunday Telegraph, Granta, The Spectator and the Financial Times. She is co-author of Memories of Revolution: Russian Women Remember (Routledge, 1993), The Romanov & Mr Gibbes (Short Books, 2003) and A Romanov Fantasy: Life at the Court of Anna Anderson (Short Books, 2007) She is married to the writer Craig Brown, and has two children. She lives in Aldeburgh, Suffolk.