In 1837, when much of the Winter Palace was destroyed by fire, Nicholas reportedly told an aide-de-camp, "Let everything else burn up, only just save for me the small case of letters in my study which my wife wrote to me when she was my betrothed."
En 1837, cando gran parte do Palacio de Inverno foi destruído polo lume, Nicolao presuntamente díxolle a un axudante de campo "que se queime todo, só para min, simplemente, gardar as cartas que a miña esposa me escribiu cando era a miña prometida".