The Romanoffs - A History of the Bolsheviks

The romanoffs ceased to be the centre of anyone's political calculations, either for them or against them. The immediate enemy was korensky, kornelof and the cossacks, not nicholas and alexandra. Nicholas, in particular, seemed absolutely rejuvenated by the abdication and was as happy as he had ever been. No longer a helplessly deteriorating insomniac with the weight of the world on his shoulders, he relaxed into the responsibility free life he had always wanted. They had become little more than a loose end to tie up. To day, we are going to tie up that loose end.