Princess Paley, the morganatic wife of Grand Duke Paul, was allowed to visit and reported on the terrible conditions:

“I went into the office. To the right, on the couch, a prisoner and his wife were seated; to the left, on two chairs, were another couple. At the further end of the room, near the writing table, was Comrade Schinkler.' I shall never forget the look of that man; he had the eyes of an assassin. A round face, clean-shaven, curly hair. Since the Bolshevists had usurped power he had arrived from America where he had lived during the Tsardom after escaping from a convict prison. I greeted him on entering, but he did not greet me in return.

"Your permit!"

I showed him my document.

"It is extraordinary how generous they are with these permits," he laughed mockingly; "if that were left to me -"

Then, turning towards a soldier:

"Bring in the prisoner Romanoff."

At the end of ten minutes the Grand Duke entered. We seated ourselves a little to one side. I spoke to him of the children and of the house; I questioned him regarding his health, etc. I noticed that Comrade Schinkler never removed his eyes from us. Suddenly he took a chair and planted himself down between us.

"I have the right to know what prisoners are talking about," he said. "Now talk! "

I noted a look of anger in the Grand Duke's eyes - I pressed his hand.

"But, Comrade," I said, " we have no secrets; you can listen." (…)

Two soldiers led off the Grand Duke, who despite this hateful atmosphere, preserved his air of noble dignity. I left with the two other women, who, like myself, cursed the Soviet regime, so arbitrary, so unjust and so hard.”

Other relatives tried desperately to assist the four Grand Dukes. Grand Duke George Mikhailovich was able to write his wife in Great Britain, and she had urged Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, his niece, to try to intervene with the help of the Danish ambassador.

On December 6th, Grand Duke Paul’s health had failed so badly, that he was transferred to a prison hospital. By January of 1919, the pleas of the Grand Dukes’ families in Russia and relatives abroad had failed. Princess Paley valiantly enlisted the help of Gorky to plead the case of the four Romanoff men. When Gorky noted that Grand Duke Nicholas was an historian of real merit, Lenin famously replied “The Revolution does not need historians.”