Here is what I wrote on this subject in a post
several years ago:

There is an often repeated story that the Czar
himself named five players as grandmasters
at the St. Petersburg tournament in 1914.
In some circles, there has been a lot of
skepticism about it lately. Searches have been
made through newspaper reports at the time
without finding any reference to the Czar in
connection with the tournament. The reports
seem to indicate that ALL the participants were
regarded as grandmasters BEFORE the start of
the event. I once found a book that indicated
that the Czar and his family were all out of
town at the time. Marshall's book seems
to be what got this Czar-story going. He
wrote that he and four others had been
given the grandmaster title by the Czar. Marshall
is the same fellow who said that one of his games
once thrilled spectators to such an extent that
they showered the board with gold coins.

It is completely speculation on my part, but
my guess is that all that happened in 1914
was that some official ceremoniously read
a statement on behalf of the Czar saying
something like, "Congratulations to the
grandmasters of chess."

More on the Czar-story can be found in the
works of Edward Winter.