In 1903, the ROMANOVS, Russia's last and longest-reigning royal family (1613-1917), held a glorious and lavish costume ball. It was to be their final blowout, and perhaps also "the last great royal ball in Europe"...
The party took place in the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, in two stages, on February 11 and February 13, 14 years before Czar Nicholas II's abdication (on 15 March 1917), on the 290th Anniversary of Romanov Rule.
The outfits were based on the era of Nicholas II's favorite past Romanov Czar, Alexei Michailovitcz (Alexei the Quiet, the second Romanov Czar), who symbolized pre-Westernised Russia in the 17th century..The entire imperial family, Tsar Nicholas II as Alexei I, the Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna as Maria Miloslavskaya, all dressed in rich 17th century attire.