nicholas

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

Wow, that is Czar Nicholas II of Russia. Is that a postcard?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_II_of_Russia Poor Nicky. He wasn't a good ruler, but he & his family didn't deserve to get gunned down like that.

Thanks! We'll put his complete name in the source data and reload the description.

Your photo is uploaded here : commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:The_Library_of_Congress_... -- Seen on your photo stream. (?)

Nice horse.

View South East from St Paul's Cathedral, London