Moscow - Tsar Nicholas II and his family, who perished in 1918 at the hands of the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution, were canonised yesterday by the Russian Orthodox Church.
The ceremony, in the Church of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, was conducted by the Patriarch of Moscow, Alexis II, and carried live on RTR state television.
Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their four daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, and their son Alexis were all named as saints. Another 1,147 martyrs - victims of the Communist era - were also granted sainthood.
The present head of the former Russian royal family, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, travelled from Paris with her mother Leonida Gyorgyevna and son Gyorgi for the ceremony.
