I have not seen you for so long
yes I know. Fifty years.
Our family has had a difficult time lately
Such a shame about Cousin Alexis
And the children
yes. The children. Haemophilia...
yes. I heard that she took up with a monk.
While her husband at the Front...
Such a nasty business there, the First World War... We ended up on different sides
Poor Willie.
I know. Losing his job like that. You treat it as your birthright and they rebel.
So many of them lost it at the end of the WW1. You know what I heard?
What?
I heard that Cousin Willie had let Lenin's train through.
Overcompensating for the withered arm thing if you ask me
No wonder half the family changed their names.
So Lenin he was the guy who...
He led the revolution. Yes.
But Cousin Alexis had it coming. Taking up with that monk like that. Whatever happened to him?
Well he was invited by a prince to an evening of debauchery
go on..
He was poisoned
oh dear
And he was beaten pretty badly
oh my
and stabbed
good god...
and castrated
whew... did he survive?
Yes... they put him into a sack and threw him into the icy River Neva. They pulled him out in the
morning. He drowned.
So what happened to Alexis?
The whole family was shot by communists.
But didn't one of the children escape, Anastasia wasn't it?
Thats not her.
What do you mean?
She is an impostor.
I thought you said she was polished and pleasant
No, you misunderstand my accent. I said she was a polish peasant.
So what happened to Cousin Willie's son?
Took up with the wrong crowd. The ones who started that whole second world war thing.
*sigh* like father like son. And Cousin Carol?
He was deposed in favor of his six year old son Michael.Then Michael was deposed by fascists and then reinstalled by popular acclaim and then deposed by communists. What do the communists have against our family?
I really don't know.
Still, it is a lovely wedding.
Yes quite lovely. In a family such as ours, we need some normality.
So who is Cousin Elizabeth marrying?
Cousin Philip.
Ah, the greek prince. So good to have somebody exotic in the family. Let's hope that this family curse can be lifted. Let's hope that the next generation can be free from all this drama.