After reading about the release of the historical drama "Matilda" and initially writing an article about the Polish actress Michalina Olshanskaya, who played the main role in this film, I wanted to learn as much as possible about the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, the prototype of the main character. Who is this woman who, more than a hundred years after her two-year (three-year?) romance with Tsarevich Nicholas, still remains occasionally remembered and discussed by our contemporaries? Her name is rinsed and inclined by all and sundry, including myself. This dark-haired fairy was already forgotten, but the film "Matilda", filmed by Russian director Alexei Uchitel, stirred up the faces of Matilda Kshesinskaya with a new, all-consuming force in its path.
To be honest, before I heard about the new scandal around the drama of Matilda and Tsarevich Nicholas, I did not even know about the existence of this ballerina. I am not interested in ballet, but as for the personal life of the last All-Russian Emperor Nicholas II, I believed that his only woman was his legal wife Alexandra Feodorovna. It should be noted that I four days in a row, like an obsessed, read memoirs, letters, diaries of Matilda Kshesinskaya, Nicholas II, Alexandra Fedorovna, all kinds of articles about them. Opinions and facts differ everywhere, but by comparing all the data, including logic, a lot becomes clear. So, Matilda Kshesinskaya fell in love with Nicholas II, then the Tsarevich Heir. In those days, being a ballerina meant having the opportunity to become the beloved of high-ranking persons, wealthy aristocrats, many contemporaries call this a social lift. That is, girls from the lower classes strove to get into ballet schools, to become prima ballerinas, then it would be quite possible to grab a rich patron who would buy you a palace, shower you with jewelry, and ensure a comfortable existence. Was it then condemned in society or was it commonplace? Surely, among the ladies of the upper classes it was condemned, but the male population, of course, rejoiced at this order of things. That is, the building where the ballet was danced was something like the current stage with pop divas or a catwalk with models. Men had the opportunity to consider ballerinas, every self-respecting ballerina had a rich admirer. How else? Until now, as was customary before, Russian, now pop singers, are looking for rich lovers, but now more often they become their legal wives. Everything is bought and sold, and it still upsets me. But do not think that Matilda Kshesinskaya became a ballerina in order to acquire a rich and influential admirer, our heroine grew up in an artistic family, her father and mother danced in ballet, and the girl from childhood could not imagine herself outside the stage. Many children were born in the family, but only one Matilda was seen in relations with aristocrats, in particular with three Romanovs.
Many male historians sincerely admire Matilda not only as a prima ballerina who danced superbly, but still, first of all, as a girl capable of bewitching anyone. Matilda Kshesinskaya did not have the appearance of a diva, I’ll say more, if you didn’t know that the famous Matilda, who broke more than a dozen hearts, was in front of you, you would think that these are photographs of an ordinary ballerina of the 19th century. When women call Matilda Kshesinskaya an ugly, short-legged, crooked-toothed intriguer, men cut them off and say with admiration that she had amazing energy! Most likely it was. Indeed, in appearance, Matilda is completely ordinary, but, for sure. possessed extraordinary magnetism.
Was Nicholas II in love with Matilda Kshesinskaya until unconsciousness, or was she only a short-term hobby of his? After all, there are not only diaries of a ballerina, but also diaries of the Emperor himself. Well, he was in love, but at the same time he loved his bride - Princess Alix - nee Princess Victoria Alice Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt, whom he first saw as a twelve-year-old girl, the Heir at that time was 16 years old. Princess Alix sunk deep into his heart, in the diaries of Nikolai there is more and more about her. But since he and the sweetheart of the heart were separated by a distance, they saw each other extremely rarely, but had the opportunity to correspond. Nikolai dreamed of becoming Alix's husband, he cherished this dream for 10 years! But Nikolai was still a mere mortal, yes, he was the future Emperor, he was canonized after his death, but nothing human was alien to him, and therefore, when the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya began to charm him, he could not resist, although everything shows, that he resisted for a very long time and stubbornly, was extremely cautious and did not rush into the pool with his head, that is, he completely wanted to confine himself to talking until morning. Matilda, on the other hand, purposefully fell in love with the royal person, only having received a small hint of what Nikolai liked, she began to do everything in order to settle in his heart. Is it for selfish purposes?
Matilda or Malya, as her relatives called her, was definitely madly in love with Nikolai, although she was reputed to be conceited, but even such women can lose their heads from love! She walked along the same streets as him, she stared at him during her performances, she literally showered him with her vibes, she went out of her way to please him. And in the end she succeeded. At one time, Nikolai even wrote in his diaries that two women live in his heart - Princess Alix and ballerina Matilda. But all this lasted only a few years, the fact is that Nikolai traveled around the country, went on long trips abroad, and at this time his feelings for Matilda faded away, that is, out of sight out of mind, but as soon as he visited the ballet again, how he noticed how much prettier Matilda had grown in his absence. The ballerina persuaded him to continue the affair, she insisted and demanded, but he resisted as best he could, because he believed that having entered into a more serious relationship with Matilda, he would be responsible for her future fate and life. But isn't that what Matilda herself wanted? To have such a patron? Of course, she was in love, the future king was handsome, there is no doubt about it, and then how women are affected by the realization that you can go down in history, perhaps as the first woman of one of the kings. At that time, Matilda did not know that this was the last All-Russian Emperor, otherwise she would have climbed even more out of her skin to achieve her goal. But do not think that all women of this kind do not love their benefactors.
Often Nikolai was very cool, he rarely answered Matilda's letters, she scribbled news after news, and he was in no hurry to answer, being in ballet he looked at other ballerinas, gave rise to jealousy, all this infuriated Matilda, sometimes angry. The most interesting part of the novel did not last long, judging by the analysis of the diary of Nikolai himself, it lasted no more than 3-4 months. And if initially the future Sovereign Matilda Kshesinskaya wildly pleased, then he somehow gradually began to cool off towards her, in the end everything came to naught. There was no torment that he was forced to part with Malechka in his diaries! All his dreams were directed to the deeply beloved Princess Alix! The diaries and letters of Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, the presence of five beloved children, the henpeckedness of the tsar, who dreamed of choosing not to govern the country, but a calm, measured family life, suggests that he was deeply devoted to his wife, loved her, allowed her a lot. In the end, her unconscious actions led to many tragedies. The entire royal family perished. A lot of stupid things have been done.
Was the passion for Matilda Kshesinskaya just a small episode in the life of Nicholas II? Malya meant in his life exactly as much as it means in the life of any man not the first love, but the first woman. Everything happened due to mutual love, which means that the memories remained the brightest, then everyone went their own way, naturally, without being sad about what had happened. This connection opened the way for Matilda Kshesinskaya to high-ranking aristocrats, now she did not agree to anything less and arranged her life perfectly, lived up to 99 years. She married Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov, the grandson of Alexander II. By the way, her husband was 7 years younger and was dearly loved by her, but she never forgot her first love. Throughout her conscious life, Matilda Kshesinskaya was a coquette, she charmed, played with men, drove many crazy. There will always be such women, some condemn them, others admire them, others lose their heads, barely approaching them.
In this photo you see the only son of Matilda Kshesinskaya and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov. This elegant guy's name is Vladimir. He never married and left no offspring.
In this photo, little Vova with his mother.
In this photo, Matilda Kshesinskaya is on the left, in the middle is her older sister Julia, on the right is brother Joseph.
In this photo, one of Matilda Kshesinskaya's lovers is Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich Romanov.
In this photo, Tsar Nicholas II with his wife Alexandra Feodorovna.
Take a look at this photo, this is how Matilda Kshesinskaya looked in her old age.
In this photo, Matilda Kshesinskaya with her husband Andrei and son Vova.
In 1920, 48-year-old Matilda Kshesinskaya emigrated to France along with her eighteen-year-old son Vova and 41-year-old beloved Prince Andrei Vladimirovich, Vova's father. At 57 Matilda Kshesinskaya opened her own ballet studio in Paris.
Kshesinskaya's husband is Grand Duke Andrei.
Matilda Kshesinskaya is not just an outstanding ballerina, whose technique significantly exceeded the abilities of her domestic contemporaries. She is one of the most influential persons of the late XIX - early XX century. An example of its meaning is the words of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich. During the First World War, when the army of the Russian Empire suffered greatly from a shortage of shells, he claimed that he was powerless to do anything with the artillery department, since the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya influences artillery affairs and participates in the distribution of orders between various organizations.
Matilda Kshesinskaya was born on August 31, 1872 in a creative family. Father - Russian Pole Felix Kshesinsky, discharged from Poland as the best performer of his favorite mazurka, mother - Yulia Dominskaya, a wealthy widow of ballet dancer Lede. Matilda's sister is a ballerina Yulia Kshesinskaya (called "Kshesinskaya 1st", married Zeddeler), her brother is a dancer and choreographer Joseph Kshesinsky.
The girl entered the Imperial Theater School and graduated from it in 1890. The entire royal family was present at the graduation party, and at the gala dinner Kshesinskaya sat next to the heir to the throne, Nikolai. Then Alexander III, enthusiastically following the movements of Matilda, utters the fateful words:
"Mademoiselle! Be the adornment and glory of our ballet!
Matilda is accepted into the ballet troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, on the imperial stage of which Kshesinskaya 2nd (the 1st was officially called her sister Julia) danced for 27 years.
Career at the Mariinsky Theater
Matilda Kshesinskaya danced in the ballets of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov (who was one of her teachers at the school). Kshesinskaya's first performances were the Dragee fairy in The Nutcracker, Paquita in the ballet of the same name, Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, Nikiya in La Bayadère.
After leaving for Italy, Carlotta Brianza took over the role of Princess Aurora in the ballet Sleeping Beauty.
After 6 years of work in the theater, Kshesinskaya was awarded the status of "prima ballerina of the imperial theaters", despite the objections of the chief choreographer Petipa. According to some reports, it was the connections at the court that helped to quickly move to the very top of the ballet hierarchy.
For her sake, only a few ballets were staged, which subsequently were not included in the list of ballet heritage. For example, in 1894, on the occasion of the marriage of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, the ballet Awakening the Flora was presented with the main part of Kshesinskaya.
Prima ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya Despite her stable position in the theater, Matilda Kshesinskaya constantly improved her technique, attending private lessons from the famous teacher Enrico Cecchetti since 1898. She became the first Russian ballerina to perform 32 fouettes in a row on stage.
In 1904, Matilda Kshesinskaya voluntarily resigned from the Mariinsky Theater and, after the benefit performance, switched to performances on a contract basis. She earned 500 rubles for each appearance on the stage, and subsequently the payment increased to 750 rubles.
The ballerina has repeatedly said that academically trained artists can dance anything, it was no coincidence that Mikhail Fokin invited her to his performances: Evnika (1907), Butterflies (1912), Eros (1915).
intrigue
Matilda Kshesinskaya strongly opposed the invitation to the troupe of foreign ballerinas. She tried by all means to prove that Russian ballerinas were worthy of the main roles, while most of them were given to foreign artists.
The subject of intrigue often became the Italian ballerina Pierina Legnani, who, despite the mood of Kshesinskaya, worked at the Mariinsky Theater for eight years. But the director of the Imperial Theaters, Prince Volkonsky, himself could not stand the influence of Matilda, who left the theater after refusing to restore the old ballet Katarina, the Robber's Daughter. The influential ballerina herself called the figs of the costume for the Russian dance from the Camargo ballet the stumbling block.
In 1899, her old dream came true - Marius Petipa gives her the part of Esmeralda, and since then she has been the sole owner of this role, which causes discontent among her colleagues. Before Matilda, this part was performed exclusively by Italians.
In addition to foreign ballerinas, Sergei Diaghilev, the organizer of the Russian Seasons, considered Kshesinskaya his “worst enemy”. He invited her to perform in London, which attracted Matilda much more than Paris. For this, the ballerina had to take advantage of her connections and “break through” for Diaghilev the opportunity to perform with her entreprise in St. Petersburg and receive a deferral of military service for Nijinsky, who became liable for military service. “Swan Lake” was chosen for Kshesinskaya’s performance, and not by chance - in this way Diaghilev got access to the scenery that belonged to her.
The attempt was unsuccessful. Moreover, Diaghilev was so angry because of the futility of the petition that his servant Vasily seriously suggested that he poison the ballerina.
Personal life
The personal life of Matilda Kshesinskaya is even more full of intrigue than the professional activities of a ballerina. Her fate is closely intertwined with representatives of the Romanov dynasty.
It is believed that from 1892 to 1894 she was the mistress of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich. After meeting, he regularly attends her performances, their relationship develops rapidly, although everyone is aware that the novel does not have a happy ending. In order to maintain decency, a mansion was bought for Kshesinskaya on the English Embankment, where they met without any interference.
“I fell in love with the Heir from our first meeting. After the summer season in Krasnoye Selo, when I could meet and talk with him, my feeling filled my whole soul, and I could only think about him ... ”, writes the enthusiastic Matilda Kshesinskaya in her diary.
The reason for the collapse of relations with the future was his engagement to the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt in April 1894.
The direct participation of the ballerina in the life of the royal family did not end there - Matilda Kshesinskaya was in close relations with the Grand Dukes Sergei Mikhailovich and Andrei Vladimirovich. On October 15, 1911, by the Highest Decree, the patronymic "Sergeevich" was given to her son Vladimir, who was born on June 18, 1902 in Strelna. In the family he was simply called "Vova", and he received the surname "Krasinsky".
On January 17 (30), 1921, in Cannes, in the Archangel Michael Church, Matilda Kshesinskaya entered into a morganatic marriage with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, who adopted her son and gave his patronymic. In 1925, Matilda Feliksovna converted from Catholicism to Orthodoxy with the name Maria.
On November 30, 1926, the cousin of Nicholas II, Kirill Vladimirovich, awarded her and her descendants the title and surname of the princes Krasinsky, and on July 28, 1935, the most serene princes Romanovsky-Krasinsky.
In exile
In February 1917, Kshesinskaya, together with her son, was forced to wander around other people's apartments, having lost luxurious real estate - a mansion that turned into the "headquarters of the Leninists" and a summer house. She decides to go to Kislovodsk to Prince Andrei Vladimirovich in the hope of returning home soon.
“In my soul, a feeling of joy to see Andrei again and a feeling of remorse fought that I was leaving Sergei alone in the capital, where he was in constant danger. In addition, it was hard for me to take Vova away from him, in which he did not have a soul, ”says Kshesinskaya in her memoirs.
At the beginning of 1918, “a wave of Bolshevism came to Kislovodsk”, and Kshesinskaya and Vova went to Anapa as refugees by the decision of Andrei’s mother, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. The year 1919 was spent in a relatively calm Kislovodsk, from where the refugees left for Novorossiysk in a train of 2 cars. Interestingly, Maria Pavlovna and her entourage traveled first class, while Matilda and Vova were awarded third.
Matilda Kshesinskaya in Paris taught at the ballet studio Living conditions continued to deteriorate - for 6 weeks, high society lived right in the cars, while typhus was taking people around. Then they sail from Novorossiysk and receive French visas. On March 12 (25), 1920, the family arrived in Cap d'Ail, where the ballerina's villa was located.
In 1929 Matilda Kshesinskaya opened her own ballet studio in Paris. The teacher Kshesinskaya was distinguished by a calm disposition - she never raised her voice to her wards.
Movies and books
The biography of Matilda Kshesinskaya, rich in events and famous people, is a subject often covered in art. So, in the novel "Coronation, or the Last of the Novels" from the series "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin" tells about the preparations for the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II. One of the characters is Isabella Felitsianovna Snezhnevskaya, whose prototype is Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya herself.
In another work, Matilda Kshesinskaya is a key character. On October 26, 2017, a new painting "Matilda" is presented, which caused a public outcry even before its premiere. The plot of the film is in the relationship of Kshesinskaya with Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future Emperor Nicholas II.
The scandal arose after the release of the first official trailer containing scenes of an erotic nature with the participation of the leading actors and.
The public movement "Royal Cross" accused the creators of the picture of "distortion of historical events" and "anti-Russian and anti-religious provocation in the field of culture." This prompted, known for her veneration of Nicholas II, to contact the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to check the material.
The audit did not reveal violations, but launched a series of mutual appeals and accusations of public figures, politicians and filmmakers.
Death
At the age of 86, 13 years before her death, Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya had a dream - she heard the ringing of bells, church singing and saw the figure of Alexander III in front of her, uttering a fatal phrase about the decoration and glory of Russian ballet. That morning, she decided to write a memoir that lifted the veil of the secrets of the personal life of the legendary Kshesinskaya.
The memoirs of Matilda Kshesinskaya were published in 1960 in Paris in French. The work was published in Russian only in 1992.
The outstanding ballerina lived a long life - she passed away at the age of 99 a few months before her centenary, on December 5, 1971.
Her body was buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois in the suburbs of Paris in the same grave with her husband and son. An epitaph was inscribed on the monument: "The Most Serene Princess Maria Feliksovna Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya, Honored Artist of the Imperial Theaters Kshesinskaya."
Mistress of the Romanovs
125 years ago young ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya completed her first season at the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg. Ahead of her was a dizzying career and a stormy romance with the future Emperor Nicholas II, about which she spoke very frankly in her Memoirs.
In 1890, for the first time, the royal family, headed by Alexander III, was to attend the graduation performance of the ballet school in St. Petersburg. “This exam decided my fate,” Kshesinskaya would later write.
fateful dinner
After the performance, the graduates watched with excitement as members of the royal family slowly walked along the long corridor leading from the theater stage to the rehearsal room: Alexander III with Empress Maria Feodorovna, four brothers of the sovereign with their spouses and still very young Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich. To the surprise of everyone, the emperor loudly asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya?” When the embarrassed pupil was brought to him, he held out his hand to her and said: "Be the adornment and glory of our ballet."
Seventeen-year-old Kshesinskaya was stunned by what happened in the rehearsal room. But the further events of that evening seemed even more incredible. After the official part, the school gave a big gala dinner. Alexander III took a seat at one of the lavishly served tables and asked Kshesinskaya to sit next to him. Then he pointed to a seat next to the young ballerina to his heir and, smiling, said: "Look, just don't flirt too much."
“I don’t remember what we talked about, but I immediately fell in love with the heir. Like now, I see his blue eyes with such a kind expression. I stopped looking at him only as an heir, I forgot about it, everything was like a dream. When I said goodbye to the heir, who spent the whole dinner next to me, we looked at each other not the same as when we met, a feeling of attraction had already crept into his soul, as well as into mine ... "
Later, they accidentally saw each other several times from afar on the streets of St. Petersburg. But the next fateful meeting with Nikolai happened in Krasnoye Selo, where, according to tradition, a camp gathering for practical shooting and maneuvers took place in the summer. A wooden theater was built there, where performances were given for the entertainment of the officers.
Kshesinskaya, who from the moment of the graduation performance dreamed of once again at least seeing Nikolai close, was infinitely happy when he came to talk to her during the intermission. However, after the fees, the heir had to go on a round-the-world trip for 9 months.
“After the summer season, when I could meet and talk with him, my feeling filled my whole soul, and I could only think about him. It seemed to me that although he was not in love, he still felt attracted to me, and I involuntarily gave myself up to dreams. We never got to talk in private, and I didn't know how he felt about me. I found out later, when we became close ... "
Matilda Kshesinskaya. Mysteries of life. Documentary
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In the Russian Empire, there was not a single person who would stand up for the emperor, and in the Russian Federation there are more than enough such well-wishers
In the Russian Empire, there was not a single person who would stand up for Nicholas II, and in the Russian Federation there are more than enough such well-wishers
Russia sausages are not childish. In psychiatry, this would be called schizophrenia. In politics, they call it an attempt to reconcile and agree with one's past, present and future. The trouble is that all temporary states are changeable. From this, one has to reconcile and agree today with what they stigmatized yesterday. The most recent example is the passion around the film by Alexei UCHITEL "Matilda" about the carnal love of the ballerina Kshesinskaya and NICHOLAS II. Today, we consider this king to be both Bloody and holy at the same time. As anyone likes. But there is a tendency that already tomorrow we will be forced to consider him exclusively holy. Therefore, as long as possible, we recall the human nature of the sovereign, and at the same time about his bloody life path to heaven.
A certain movement "Royal Cross" called on the people to unite against the historical film "Matilda" directed by Alexey Uchitel and sign an appeal addressed to the Prosecutor General with a request to ban the release of the picture on the screen. Nobody has actually seen the movie yet. The excitement of the public was caused by his commercial.
The reason is this - “bed scenes are included in the picture with incredible audacity Nicholas II with Matilda Kshesinskaya”, and this is “not only criminal in relation to the believing citizens of the country, but also in relation to the state, as it is aimed at undermining national security.”
A deputy suddenly appeared at the head of the anti-Kseshinsky movement Natalia Poklonskaya. According to her, Nicholas II is actually "a kind and merciful sovereign, who radically improved the well-being of his people."
It’s stupid to check a film that hasn’t been released, the Minister of Culture commented on Natalia Poklonskaya’s deputy request to the prosecutor’s office Vladimir Medinsky.
The blind readiness of the heroine of the “Crimean spring” to lay down her life for the tsar caused amazement among many of her admirers.
I just can’t understand why what is considered the first love all over the world, Poklonskaya suddenly turns into a “vicious connection” that offends the religious feelings of the Orthodox? - asks by no means a liberal journalist Oleg Lurie.
Moving to Moscow from a deep province, the insane deputy prosperity that fell on his head, coupled with a sea of \u200b\u200bfree time, may have unsettled the former prosecutor. In addition, it is necessary to make allowances for the fact that she studied history at school using Ukrainian textbooks. And there it is written...
family toy
It is believed that the cheerful Polish Matilda Kshesinskaya was given to his phlegmatic son Nicky by his father. March 23, 1890 after the graduation performance of the Imperial Theater School, which was attended by Alexander III with the heir to the throne, a solemn dinner was given. The sovereign ordered that Kshesinskaya be planted next to the future Emperor Nicholas II. The family decided that it was time for Niki to become a real man, and the ballet was something like an official harem and communication with ballerinas was not considered shameful in the circle of the aristocracy.
In the jargon adopted in the Russian guards, trips to ballerinas for the sexual satisfaction of their violent passions were called "potato trips." The heir was no exception and under the name of a hussar Volkova for several years I went to Matilda for potatoes. Until he married Alice of Hesse.
Wanting to keep the secret of his intimate adventures, Nikolai did not let Matilda go through the hands of lustful merchants and perverted nobles. He left her in the “family”, transferring her to the care and comfort of her grandson NicholasI- grand duke Sergei Mikhailovich. The new "owner" was single and also carried away by a gorgeous woman. Sergei Mikhailovich made Kshesinskaya the prima of the Mariinsky Theater and one of the richest women in Russia. Her palace in Strelna was not inferior in luxury to the royal one, which greatly crippled the military budget of Russia. The very one to which the Grand Dukes, and in particular Sergei Mikhailovich, had access.
Official affairs did not allow him to pay enough attention to Matilda, and he asked to "look after" the beauty of the Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, grandson Alexander II. Both lovers knew about each other, but peacefully alternately cohabited with the "witch", never quarreling, and everyone considered Vladimir, the son of Matilda, his own. He really wore first the middle name Sergeevich, and then Andreevich.
After the revolution, already in immigration in France, Kshesinskaya married Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich and received the title of Most Serene Princess Romanovskaya.
foreign place
Once Nicholas II told the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sazonov: "I try not to think seriously about anything, otherwise I would have been in a coffin a long time ago." It is this phrase that most accurately characterizes the style of Nikolaev's rule. His place was not on the throne, but with Kshesinskaya under her skirt and at the family table. The patriarchal custom of inheriting power not by merit, but by seniority became a trap for tsarism. The rapidly changing world could no longer be held together by rotten bonds: "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality."
It is customary to say about Nicholas that he personally carried out reforms, often in defiance of the Duma. However, in fact, the king rather "did not interfere." He didn't even have a personal secretariat. Nicholas II personally never wrote detailed resolutions, he limited himself to marginal notes, most often he simply put a “reading mark”. In principle, he was not involved in state affairs. Didn't take them to heart. For example, his adjutant said that, having received news of Tsushima, the king, who at that time was playing tennis, sighed heavily and immediately took up his racket again. In the same way, he perceived all the bad news about the unrest in the country and the news of the defeats in the war.
As a result of such a rule, by the beginning of World War I, Russia's external debt was 6.5 billion rubles, and gold in the treasury was only 1.6 billion.
But Nicholas II spent 12 thousand rubles a year on dear photos with his family. For example, the average household expenditure in the Russian Empire was about 85 rubles per capita per year. The emperor's wardrobe in the Alexander Palace alone consisted of several hundred military uniforms. When receiving foreign ambassadors, the tsar put on the uniform of the state where the envoy came from. Often, Nicholas II had to change clothes six times a day.
The figure of the king, primarily through his own fault, turned out to be exclusively decorative. It was precisely this circumstance that caused general dissatisfaction.
The entire economic growth of 1913 came from the private bourgeois and capitalist sector. While the mechanisms of power have practically ceased to work.
They could not, since all the controls were in the hands of one person, unable to move them. Tsarism, thus, simply outlived itself.
Nicholas II became Bloody not when, during his coronation on May 18, 1896, 2689 loyal subjects were killed and maimed in a stampede. He became Bloody because of all the ways to govern the state, he decided to use only the simplest - repression.
The worse the situation became, the more often they resorted to them. The revolution of 1905 was preceded by the famine of 1901-1903, which resulted in the death of more than three million adults alone. The tsarist statistics did not count children. To suppress peasant uprisings and protests of workers, 200 thousand regular soldiers were sent, not counting tens of thousands of gendarmes and Cossacks.
And then on January 9, 1905, Bloody Sunday took place in St. Petersburg - the dispersal of the procession of St. Petersburg workers to the Winter Palace, which had the goal of handing the tsar a collective petition about workers' needs. The working people, "like the entire Russian people," have "no human rights. Thanks to your officials, we have become slaves,” the workers wrote in the petition.
The troops met them with cannon and rifle fire. Everywhere the massacre was carried out according to one plan: they fired in volleys, with and without a warning, and then cavalry flew out from behind the infantry barriers and trampled, chopped, whipped the fleeing.
Government report: of those who went to the king, 96 were killed, 330 people were injured. But on January 13, journalists submitted to the Minister of the Interior of the Empire a list of 4,600 dead and mortally maimed by name. Later newspapers wrote that more than 40 thousand corpses with bayonet and saber wounds, trampled by horses, torn by shells and similar wounds passed through the hospitals of the city and its environs.
Thus, the faith of the people in the good king-father was trampled. The wave of general discontent was already unstoppable. During 1905 - 1906, the peasants burned down two thousand estates of landowners out of 30 thousand existing in the European part of the empire. Jewish pogroms claimed the lives of at least 10,000 more people.
In October 1905, the All-Russian political strike spread throughout Russia. The Sevastopol uprising ended with the execution of the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet - the cruiser "Ochakov" and other rebellious ships. Memorial prayers for tens of thousands of innocently killed did not have time to subside, as crop failure attacked Russia. The church, landlords, and tsarist officials refused to share the grain, and as a result, the mass famine of 1911 claimed the lives of 300,000 people. Strikes and shootings began again. A fact has been preserved: in 1914, doctors examined conscripts for the army and were horrified - 40 percent of recruits had traces of Cossack whips or ramrods on their backs.
Triumph of the Will
Beginning in the autumn of 1916, not only left-wing radicals and the liberal State Duma, but even the closest relatives - 15 Grand Dukes - stood up in opposition to Nicholas II. Their common demand was the removal of the “holy old man” from governing the country. Grishki Rasputin and German queens and the introduction of a responsible ministry. That is, the government appointed by the Duma and responsible to the Duma. In practice, this meant the transformation of the state system from an autocratic to a constitutional monarchy.
The Russian officers made a decisive contribution to the overthrow of Nicholas II. His attitude towards the tsar-father can be judged by the derogatory name of the popular snack - "nikolashka". Her recipe was attributed to the king. Powdered sugar was mixed with ground coffee, this mixture was sprinkled with a slice of lemon, which was used to eat a glass of cognac.
Confidant of the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Adjutant General Mikhail Alekseev - general Alexander Krymov in January 1917, he spoke to the Duma members, pushing them towards a coup, as if giving guarantees from the army. He ended his speech with the words: “The mood in the army is such that everyone will gladly welcome the news of the coup. A revolution is inevitable, and this is felt at the front. If you decide to take this extreme measure, we will support you. Obviously there is no other way. There is no time to lose."
The Imperial Headquarters was, in fact, the second government. There, according to Professor Yuri Lomonosov, who during the war was a member of the engineering council of the Ministry of Railways, dissatisfaction was ripening: “At the headquarters and at Headquarters, the queen was scolded mercilessly, they talked not only about her imprisonment, but also about the deposition of Nicholas. They even talked about it at the general's tables. But always, with all the talk of this kind, the most likely outcome seemed to be a purely palace revolution, like the assassination of Paul.
In March 1917, it was the military, the commanders of the fronts, who forced the tsar to sign his abdication. The last order of Nicholas II was the appointment of General Lavra Kornilova Commander of the Petrograd Military District.
A few days later, by decision of the Provisional Government, Kornilov left for Tsarskoye Selo to enforce the decree on the arrest of the former Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and the entire royal family.
By the way, today the same people who go to rallies in an embrace with the icon of Nicholas II and sing "God Save the Tsar" erected in Krasnodar a monument to his jailer, General Kornilov. And they regularly hold commemorations near him, to which they bring the icon of Nicholas II.
After the abdication, Nicholas II turned out to be such a useless person that for some time they simply forgot about his existence. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government Pavel Milyukov tried to send the royal family to England in the care of the king's cousin - George V, but the king chose to abandon such a plan.
Not knowing what to do, the Provisional Government sent Nicholas II and his family deep into the country. The link became his triumph of will. Not a sovereign, but a man, from the moment of his abdication until the day of his death, he showed much more character than during his entire reign. How did he say about it Edward Radzinsky, there are monarchs who do not know how to rule, but who know how to die with dignity.
Matilda Kshesinskaya is an outstanding ballerina whose unique style is due to the impeccability of the Italian and the lyricism of the Russian ballet schools. Her name is still associated with an entire era, a great time for Russian ballet. This unique woman lived a very long and eventful life, only a few months before the century.
Matilda Kshesinskaya was born on August 31, 1872 in St. Petersburg in the family of a ballet dancer Felix Kshesinsky, whom Nicholas I himself invited from Poland in 1851. Her mother, Yulia Deminskaya, was a corps de ballet soloist. Matilda's grandfather Jan was a famous violinist and opera singer - he performed at the Warsaw Opera. The ballerina herself studied at the Imperial Theater School in St. Petersburg, and successfully graduated as an external student on 03/23/1890. On this day, Alexander III traditionally sat in the examination committee, accompanied by his son and heir to the throne, Nicholas II. The seventeen-year-old ballerina showed herself remarkably, and the emperor himself predicted that she would soon become an ornament and pride of Russian ballet.
Immediately after school, Matilda was invited to the Mariinsky Theater. Her older sister Yulia already worked there, so Matilda was called “Kshesinskaya second” for a long time. The young ballerina was distinguished by her incredible capacity for work: she could practice at the barre for hours, overcoming pain in her legs.
In 1898, the girl began to take lessons from the outstanding Italian dancer Enrico Cecchetti, and after 6 years the ballerina became a prima. Her repertoire included Odette, Paquita, Esmeralda, Aurora and Princess Aspicia. Russian and foreign critics noted her impeccable technique and "perfect lightness".
Matilda Kshesinskaya is the first Russian ballerina to successfully perform 32 fouettes in a row. Before her, only the Italian Pierina Legnani succeeded, the rivalry with which lasted for many years.
Revolution and moving Kshesinskaya
After the 1917 revolution, the Bolsheviks occupied the Kshesinskaya mansion, and Matilda and her son were forced to leave Russia. In Paris, Kshesinskaya opened her own ballet school. Meanwhile, the family of Nicholas II was shot.
In 1921, Matilda Kshesinskaya married Andrei Vladimirovich. The couple lived together the rest of their lives.
Her husband died in 1956, and her son died in 1974. Matilda wrote memoirs - they were published in 1960. The great ballerina passed away in 1971. She was buried in the suburbs of Paris in the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois.
Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II, briefly facts about their relationship.
The relationship between the ballerina and the Tsarevich, who at that time was 22 years old, began immediately after the final exam at a dinner party. The heir to the throne was seriously carried away by the air ballerina. Empress Maria Feodorovna reacted with approval to her son's hobby, since she was seriously worried that before meeting with Matilda, her son did not show interest in the fair sex.
For a long time, lovers were content with chance meetings. Matilda looked out the window for a long time before each performance, hoping to see her lover climbing the stairs, and when she noticed his presence, she danced with even greater enthusiasm.
In the spring of 1891, after a long trip to Japan, the heir first went to Matilda.
Since January 1892, their candy-bouquet period ended and the relationship moved into the next phase - Nicholas II began to stay overnight in the ballerina's apartment. Soon the Tsarevich gave the ballerina a mansion. Their relationship lasted two years, but the young emperor understood that he would have to enter into an "equal marriage" and part with the beautiful ballerina.
Before his marriage, the Tsarevich instructed his cousin, Prince Sergei Mikhailovich, who was then president of the Russian Theater Society, to take care of Matilda. The young emperor at that time still had feelings for his former lover. In 1890, he presented a beautiful diamond brooch with a sapphire and two large diamonds to a reception in honor of her benefit performance.
According to rumors, Kshesinskaya became the prima of the Mariinsky in 1886 thanks to the patronage of Nicholas II.
Romance break between Nicholas II and Kshesinskaya
The romance of the prima ballerina with the emperor lasted until 1894 and ended after the engagement of Nicholas to Princess Alice of Darmstadt, granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
Matilda was very worried about the breakup, but did not condemn Nicholas II, because she understood that the crowned lady would not be able to connect her life with a ballerina. Matilda was ready for such an outcome - she reservedly said goodbye to Nicholas, holding herself with the dignity of a queen, but not at all with the longing of an abandoned mistress.
Relations were completely broken, but Matilda continued to soar enthusiastically over the stage, especially when she saw her former crowned lover in the royal box. Nicholas II, having put on the crown, completely immersed himself in state concerns and in the maelstrom of family life with the former princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.
After her ten-year benefit performance, Matilda was introduced to another cousin of the emperor, Prince Andrei Vladimirovich. Looking at the beauty, the prince accidentally knocked over a glass of wine on her chic French dress. But Matilda decided that this was a lucky sign. Indeed, this romance soon ended in marriage, and in 1902 the ballerina gave birth to a son, Vladimir.