Nicholas and Alexandra, the Last Tsar and Tsarina, Royal Museum, Chambers Street, Edinburgh. Tel: 0131 247 4422; www.nms.ac.uk; until October 30; admission: pound;5 (pound;4 concessions), pound;3 for children aged five to 15 The murder of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and five children by the Bolsheviks in 1918 brought to an end 300 years of Romanov rule in Russia. Now, through hundreds of costumes, paintings, furniture and personal items on display, visitors to the Royal Museum can find out how their lives were closely entwined with the course of history. Beyond the pomp, Nicholas and Alexandra were intensely private people, relishing simple family life, so as well as looking at the tsar’s official functions and international relations, the exhibition gives visitors a rare glimpse into a very personal world far removed from court life. The final stages of “Nicholas and Alexandra” address the war and the Russian Revolution leading to the abdication and eventual murder. Passages from family diaries reveal the thoughts of the tsar during their imprisonment before the family’s death.