Tsarist family commemorated in St Petersburg

ST.PETERSBURG, July 17 (Itar-Tass) - Russia is commemorating the death of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and his martyr family on Thursday.

The tsar, his wife, five children and four loyal servants were executed in
Yekaterinburg, the Urals, on the night from July 17 to 18, 1918. The
Russian Orthodox Church canonized all of them in 2000.

A church service in memory of the dead tsarist family will be held at
the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg on the occasion of the
tragedy's 90th anniversary.

The believers will also pay tribute to the father of Nicholas II -
Tsar Alexander III and his wife Empress Maria Fyodorovna (Princess Dagmar
of Denmark). Her remains were brought back to Russia from Denmark and
reburied next to her husband. Flowers will be laid on their tombs.

The descendants of the Romanov family will take part in the
commemorations. They include Prince Dmitry Romanovich, the great
great-grandson of Nicholas I, and his wife as well as Paul Kulikovsky - a
great-grandson of Grand Princess Olga Aleksandrovna, Nicholas the Second's
sister.