^*For some unfathomable reason, some Doukhobors believe that Queen Victoria gave 'permission' for the Doukhobors to immigrate or had something to do with these negotiations. Extensive research and a search of all of the documents of the Colonial Land Office and the Royal Library at Windsor Castle indicates that this is highly unlikely since the word Doukhobor does not appear anywhere in any correspondence or in the entire library save for an entry in The Encyclopedia Britannica. It is passing strange that she should be revered since she was the first cousin of Nicholas II, their dedicated and energetic tormentor, and the Doukhobors' aims were to escape persecution by monarchies rather than seek out others, having escaped the ones in Russia. On the principle of refusing the Oath of Allegiance to Edward V, Victoria's successor, two thirds of them gave up their hard-won improved land in Saskatchewan and moved to British Columbia.