czar

Date, in mirror writing, top centre, 8/22/13. Isn't the family resemblance strong.

It's rumored that Michael Jackson bought those outfits at an auction in London

Add the Kaiser and you have triplets.

Dan: Michael may have but only in vain trying to give himself some sense of nobility which he failed at miserably.

They were first cousins through their mothers, who were daughters of Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel. Her daughter Alexandra married Edward VII of England, and her daughter Dagmar married Tsar Alexander III of Russia .

No later than 1914 one would think!

they were first cousins

By October 1914, Germany and Russia were at war. And judging from coverage in NYT, relations had been poor in the Spring of 1914. My suspicion is that this picture was taken earlier, perhaps in May 1913, when Europe's royalty assembled in Berlin for the marriage of the Kaiser's daughter Viktoria Luise. NYT of May 23, 1913 query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=990CEFDE143FE633A... which mentions that the Kaiser took the Czar for a drive in a motor car -- so that wasn't the occasion for this picture.

Interesting article. The czar and and the king of England both dressed in Prussian military uniforms for the banquet. Quite a shock in light of later events. However, one source says this was a custom of royalty of the era, dressing in each other's uniforms.

Some sources I found say the May, 1913 meeting was their last: "On May 24, 1913, Wilhelm's daughter, Viktoria Louise, was married to Prince Ernest August of Hanover, and the Kaiser invited his cousins, King George V of England and Tsar Nicholas II; this would be the last time the Royal cousins saw each other. " www.geocities.ws/kaiser_prussia/biography_wilhelm2_2.html Bain's photo is a heavily-cropped version of this: www.gwpda.org/wwi-www/willnick/pair2.jpg

Perhaps King George I of Greece, certainly Czar Ferdinand of Bulgaria who figures in other Bain photos, see www.flickr.com/search/?q=ferdinand+bulgaria. If it is George of Greece, it is before March 18, 1913, when he was assassinated -- in Salonika. I get the impression the countries were at odds over Salonika by then, See query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C05E2DF1730E233A... The picture at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_I_of_Greece shows him with a long moustache, so he could be to the left (as we look) of Ferdinand. The Wikipedia article indicates "On 9 November 1912, Greek forces rode into Salonika, just a few hours ahead of a Bulgarian division." This action was against the Turks, during the First Balkan War.

swanq, thank you for this information! We will clarify the names in the source data and reload the description.

Actually, King George I of the Hellenes (the man with the long mustache next to the Bulgarian tsar) was assassinated on March 5, 1913 as he was proceeding from the Hadjilazarou Mansion, near Thessaloniki's White Tower, to the quay to board a German naval motorboat in order to pay a protocol visit to the admiral-in-command abroad the SMS Goeben, the German imperial navy's battle-cruiser of WW1 fame. The King was conversing with his aide-de-camp, Major Fragoudis, as he was proceeding down the street when Alexandros Schinas stepped forth and shot the King once in the back. Schinas attempted to shoot Fragoudis as well but the major swiftly disarmed the assassin and surrendered him to two Cretan gendarmes, who had rushed to the scene. The King was pronounced DOA at a nearby infirmary.

Here's an official photo of King George

The above picture of the Greek King with the Bulgarian Czar (who had his two sons on his left) was shot in December 1912 after the Bulgarians lost the race to occupy Thessaloniki before an advancing Greek army arrived to liberate the city on November 5, 1912. See below a photo of King George entering Thessaloniki on horseback on that day (king on left; Prince Constantine, heir to the throne, rides alongside).