Alexei Czarevitch was Russian royalty, the son of Peter the Great. Peter was a powerful monarch but a harsh man. Alexei was brought up by his mother Eudoxia, who was persecuted her husband. She was sent to a convent and Alexei was left in the hands of reactionary priests, who encouraged him to hate his father and wish for his death.

In October 1715, Charlotte, Alexei’s wife died, after giving birth to a son, future Tsar Peter II. On the day of the funeral, Peter sent Alexei a stern letter, urging him to take interest in the affairs of the state threatening to cut him off if he did not acquiesce in his plans. Alexei offered to renounce the succession in favour of his infant son Peter.

In August 1716 Peter wrote to Alexei from abroad, urging him, if he desired to remain Tsarevich, to join him and the army without delay. Rather than face this ordeal, Alexei fled to Vienna and placed himself under the protection of his brother-in-law, the emperor Charles VI. Peter felt insulted, the flight of the Tsarevich to a foreign power was a reproach and a scandal.

In January 1718, the Tsarevich returned to Moscow and a “confession” was extorted from Alexei which implicated most of his friends, and he publicly renounced his succession to the throne. A reign of terror ensued, where Alexei’s mother Eudoxia was publicly tried for alleged adultery, while many of Alexei’s friends were tortured to death. Confessions were extracted but there were no facts to go upon. In the eyes of Peter, his son was now a self-convicted and dangerous traitor, whose life was forfeit. Alexei’s examination by torture continued as Peter was desperate for proof and in June 1718, Alexei died from the wounds received.

Alexei’s chart is an interesting one. He has the Sun conjunct Jupiter in the 5th house, a placing which shows his royal position but the Sun is also conjunct Neptune in Pisces, indicating an extremely sensitive make up and combined with Libra rising, not the kind of character to make a strong monarch. Neptune’s role in political charts is usually undermining and its likely that this conjunction in the planets own sign would mean something would happen to stop him fulfilling his apparent royal destiny.

Alexei’s Moon is in Scorpio in close conjunction to Saturn and this is a particularly difficult aspect for relationships with one’s family. The Moon rules our inheritance, instincts and our feelings, it also covers our past childhood relationships and how they would impact on our life. Scorpio is the most intense of all signs and Saturn is the planet of restriction and trouble in general, so if anything indicates a life of suffering caused by dysfunctional family relationships its this conjunction.

Mars and Uranus are conjunct in the 8th house ( traditionally the house of death ) and so Alexei’s demise is likely to be sudden and violent. Uranus is opposite the Moon / Saturn conjunction so the chart is pointing to death at the hand of an austere parent figure.

The whole chart is dominated symbolically by Pluto’s isolated position at the top in conjunction with the Midheaven. Pluto is the planet of death and rebirth so the very least we could expect would be sudden and dramatic changes that impact powerfully on his career, but given that it was the early 18th century and his father was Peter the Great its easy to see that the whole chart is pointing towards Alexei’s sudden death at the hands of his dad.

When would this happen ? Pluto was transiting in opposition to Alexei’s Sun / Neptune / Jupiter conjunction from 1715 – 18, the only major aspect that it would make in his short life.