Nicholas succeeded his father Alexander III to the throne in November 1894. He was an autocrat, although there were some reforms going on in Russia in a more democratic direction after her defeat in the Russo-Japanese War.
Nicholas and his spouse Alexandra were crowned in Moscow on 25 May, 1896, and Mannerheim participated in the celebration in the ranks of the Body Guard. In the procession he rode right in front of the imperial couple.
Mannerheim regarded Nicholas II as a weak and irresolute ruler.
In the February (March) Revolution Nicholas was forced to abdicate. He and his family were kept confined to their premises in Tsarskoje Selo, later in the Ural district. Lenin and Sverdlov, the leaders of the Soviet government, decreed the ex-emperor and his family to be executed. The execution took place in Jekaterinburg on 17 July, 1918.
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