2-489-622 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia with the Cross of Saint Vladimir, 1905. Nicholas (1868-1918) succeeded his father, Alexander III, as Emperor of Russia in 1894. He was forced to abdicate after the Russian Revolution in 1917 and, together with the rest of the Russian imperial family, was murdered by Communists at Ekaterinburg in 1918. The Cross of Saint Vladimir was an Imperial Russian order established in 1782 by Catherine the Great in honour of Saint Vladimir, Grand Prince of Kiev, who converted to Christianity and baptised Kievan Rus in the late 10th century. Found in the collection of the State Museum of History, Moscow.