‘Since I last wrote, something terrifying has occurred here in St Petersburg. The Tsar of Russia, Alexander II, has fallen victim to a dreadful assassination plot. It happened like this: on Sunday, as the Tsar was travelling along the Catherine Canal, a member of a revolutionary group threw a bomb under the wheels of his carriage. The explosion killed and wounded several people, but the Tsar himself was safe – until another man threw a second bomb, and then the Tsar was gravely injured. He was carried by sleigh to the Winter Palace, but he died there later that day.

‘Since then there have been many police arrests of rebels, and more outbreaks of violence. Our Russian hosts are terribly upset, and I am very glad we were on the other side of the city when the attack took place – for the thought of witnessing such a horrifying spectacle makes me shudder.’

– From the diary of Alice Grayson