The Last of the Tsars the First World War, where he served in the Russian Army. When Tsar Nicholas abdicated in March 1917, he did so in favour of Grand Duke Michael, who himself abdicated some 48 hours later. So Michael was in fact 'the last of the Tsars.' The play was commissioned by the Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ontario, Canada, in the spring of 1966, after another play on the same subject, "Nicholas Romanov" by William Kinsolving, had been tried out by the Stratford Festival Company at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in February, 1966, and found insufficiently dramatic. In spite of the shared general theme,
Line of succession to the former Russian throne Line of succession to the former Russian throne The Monarchy of Russia was abolished in 1917 following the February Revolution, which forced Emperor Nicholas II (1868–1918) to abdicate. Claims made on behalf of different persons to be the rightful current pretender continue to be debated. Since 1992, the most widely acknowledged pretender is Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, a great-great-granddaughter in the male-line of Emperor Alexander II of Russia, having proclaimed herself the head of the imperial house upon her father's death. She also declared her son George Mikhailovich (born 1981) to be the heir-apparent. In the succession chart