Historical accuracy of the film Matilda. Matilda and Nicholas II: what really connected the ballerina and the heir to the throne. Last decisive attempt
1. Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna were not the initiators of the “romance” between Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich and M. Kshesinskaya.
2. Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna were not opposed to their son’s wedding to the Princess Hessian Alice. On the contrary, when they learned about the engagement, they were happy for their son.
3. Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich’s youthful infatuation with the ballerina M. Kshesinskaya did not bear the character of “love passion” on his part and did not turn into a sexual relationship.
4. From his early youth, the Tsarevich dreamed of marrying Princess Alice, and never intended to give any serious character to his relationship with Kshesinskaya. The assertions of the script authors that Nikolai Alexandrovich “loved” Kshesinskaya so much that he did not want to marry Princess Alice, and was even ready to exchange his crown for a marriage with a ballerina, are pure fiction, a lie.
5. The crash of the Imperial train occurred in the fall of 1888, two years before Alexander III and Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich met M. Kshesinskaya. Therefore, there was no way they could talk about her. Kshesinskaya herself was 16 years old in 1888.
6. M. Kshesinskaya has never been to the Highest receptions.
7. Princess Alice of Hesse arrived in Crimea on October 10, 1894, that is, ten days before the death of Emperor Alexander III. Therefore, it is completely unclear why, according to the script, she is dressed in a mourning dress and expresses condolences to the Heir. In addition, the Heir met Alix in Alushta, where she was delivered by horse-drawn carriage, and not by train, as stated in the script.
8. M. Kshesinskaya was not present at the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II, and he could not have seen her there.
9. The procedure for the coronation and wedding of Russian emperors was written out in detail and had a centuries-old tradition. The provisions of the script where Alexandra Feodorovna argues with Maria Feodorovna whether she should wear the Monomakh cap or the large imperial crown are outright fabrications and lies. And also the fact that Maria Fedorovna herself tried on the crown for her daughter-in-law.
10. According to the established procedure, not the Emperor and Empress personally took part in the coronation rehearsal, but courtiers.
11. The eldest son of Emperor Alexander II, Heir Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, died in 1865 in Nice, not from tuberculosis, as “Maria Feodorovna” claims, but from meningitis.
12. The first filming in Russia, carried out by the French company Pathé, was dedicated not to the arrival of Princess Alice in Simferopol “by train,” as stated in the script, but to the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II.
13. Emperor Nicholas II did not faint at the coronation, his crown did not roll on the floor.
14. Emperor Nicholas II never, especially alone, went behind the scenes of theaters.
15. There has never been a person named “Ivan Karlovich” on the list of directors of the Imperial Theater.
16. Among the doctors who treated the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna there was never “Doctor Fishel”.
17. The ballerina costume is not worn on naked body, so the episode with the torn bodice strap could not have taken place in reality.
18. No one, except the close family circle, could say “you” to the Tsar or the Heir, especially since K.P. Pobedonostsev could not do this.
19. Never a single Russian officer in his right mind could rush at the Heir to the Throne with the aim of beating or killing him, because of the “ballerina’s kiss.”
20. Emperor Nicholas II never tried to abdicate the throne, much less made any attempts to “escape” from Russia with Kshesinskaya.
21. Coronation gifts were distributed to the people not by throwing them from some towers, but in buffets specially designated for this. The crush began several hours before the distribution of gifts, at night.
22. Emperor Nicholas II never came to the Khodynskoye field and did not examine the “mountain of corpses,” which never existed. Since in total number those killed during the stampede (1,300 people) include those who died in hospitals. By the time the Emperor and Empress arrived at Khodynka Field, the corpses of the dead had already been taken away. So there was nothing to “observe”.
23. Slander: Alexander III organizes fornication dates for his son, forcing his brother Grand Duke Vladimir to photograph ballerinas for this.
24. Slander: Alexander III calls on his son Tsarevich Nicholas to live a prodigal life “while I’m alive.”
25. Slander: Before his death, Alexander III blesses M. Kshesinskaya for prodigal cohabitation with his son Tsarevich Nicholas.
26. Slander: Alexander III claims that all Russian emperors over the last hundred years lived with ballerinas.
27. Slander: Alexander III calls ballerinas “thoroughbred Russian mares.”
28. Slander: Nicholas II draws mustaches and beards on ballerinas’ photographs.
29. Slander: Nicholas II does not hide his relationship with Kshesinskaya and enters into sexual contact with her in the Great Peterhof Palace, thereby falling into fornication.
30. Slander: Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna participate in spiritualistic occult sessions of “Doctor Fishel”, which is according to the teachings Orthodox Church a grave sin.
In 1890, 18-year-old Matilda Kshesinskaya - still unknown to anyone, but giving more hope girl, graduates from the Imperial Theater School. According to custom, after the graduation performance, Matilda and other graduates are presented to the crowned family. Alexander III showed particular favor towards the young talent, enthusiastically watching the dancer’s pirouettes and arabesques. True, Matilda was a visiting student of the school, and such people were not supposed to attend the festive banquet with members royal family. However, Alexander, who noticed the absence of the fragile dark-haired girl, ordered her to be immediately brought into the hall, where he uttered the fateful words: “Mademoiselle! Be the decoration and glory of our ballet!”
At the table, Matilda was seated next to Tsarevich Nicholas, who, despite his position and young age (he was then 22 years old), had not been seen by that time in any amorous story where he could demonstrate his ardor and temperament. Fervor and temperament - no, but devotion and tenderness - very much so.
Dreams of marriage
In January 1889, at the invitation of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, granddaughter, arrived in St. Petersburg Queen of England Victoria. The girl staying at the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace was introduced to Tsarevich Nicholas (Alexander III was the princess godfather). During the six weeks that the future Empress of Russia arrived in St. Petersburg, she managed to conquer the meek heart of the future emperor and awaken in him frantic desire tie the knot with her. But when rumors reached that Nikolai wanted to marry Alice, he ordered his son to forget about this desire. The fact is that Alexander and his wife Maria Fedorovna hoped to marry their son to the daughter of Louis-Philippe, a contender for the throne of France, Louise Henriette, whom American newspaper The Washington Post even called her “the epitome of women’s health and beauty, a graceful athlete and a charming polyglot.”
By the time he met Kshesinskaya, Nikolai already intended to marry Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
It was only later, in 1894, when the emperor’s health began to deteriorate sharply, and Nicholas, with unusual vehemence, continued to insist on his own, the attitude changed - fortunately, Alice’s sister Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fedorovna contributed not only to the rapprochement of the heir to the throne and the princess, helping in the correspondence of lovers, but also hidden methods influenced Alexander. As a result of all these reasons, in the spring of 1894, a manifesto appeared in which they announced the engagement of the Tsarevich and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt. But that was after.
“Baby” Kshesinskaya and Nikki
And in 1890, when Nikolai could only correspond with his Alice, he was unexpectedly introduced to Matilda Kshesinskaya - according to some historians, the cunning Alexander decided that it was necessary to distract Nikolai from his love and direct his energy in a different direction. The emperor’s project was a success: already in the summer, the Tsarevich wrote in his diary: “Little Kshesinskaya positively fascinates me...” - and regularly attends her performances.
Matilda Kshesinskaya fell in love with the future emperor at first sight. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
“Little” Kshesinskaya understood perfectly well what game she was entering into, but she could hardly realize how far she would advance in relations with members of the royal family. When there was a shift in communication with Nikolai, Matilda announced to her father, a famous Polish dancer who performed on the Mariinsky stage, that she had become Nikolai’s lover. The father listened to his daughter and asked only one question: does she realize that the affair with the future emperor will not end in anything? To this question, which she asked herself, Matilda replied that she wanted to drink the cup of love to the bottom.
The romance between the temperamental and flamboyant ballerina and the future emperor of Russia, who was not used to demonstrating his feelings, lasted exactly two years. Kshesinskaya truly experienced strong feelings to Nicholas and even considered the relationship with him a sign of fate: both he and she were “marked” with the number two: he was supposed to become Nicholas II, and she was called Kshesinskaya-2 on stage: she also worked in the theater elder sister Matilda Julia. When their relationship had just begun, Kshesinskaya enthusiastically wrote in her diary: “I fell in love with the Heir from our first meeting. After summer season in Krasnoye Selo, when I could meet and talk with him, my feeling filled my entire soul, and I could only think about him ... "
The lovers most often met in the house of the Kshesinsky family and did not particularly hide: at court no secrets were possible, and the emperor himself turned a blind eye to his son’s affair. There was even a case when the mayor came to the house, hastening to inform that the sovereign was urgently demanding his son to come to the Anichkov Palace. However, to maintain decency, a mansion was bought for Kshesinskaya on the Promenade des Anglais, where lovers could see each other without any interference.
End of story
The relationship ended in 1894. Matilda, ready from the very beginning for such an outcome, did not fight in hysterics, did not cry: when saying goodbye to Nicholas with restraint, she behaved with dignity befitting a queen, but not an abandoned mistress.
The ballerina took the news of the separation calmly. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org It is impossible to say that this was a deliberate calculation, but Kshesinskaya’s behavior led to a positive result: Nikolai always remembered his friend with warmth, and in parting he asked her to always address him as “you”, to still call him by his home nickname “Nikki” and in In case of trouble, always turn to him. Kshesinskaya would indeed later resort to the help of Nikolai, but exclusively for professional purposes relating to behind-the-scenes theatrical intrigues.
At this point, their relationship was completely broken. Matilda continued to dance and soared above the stage with special inspiration when she saw her husband in the royal box. ex-lover. And Nicholas, who put on the crown, completely immersed himself in the worries of state that fell on him after the death of Alexander III, and in a quiet whirlpool family life with the desired Alix, as he affectionately called - former princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.
When the engagement first took place, Nikolai honestly spoke about his connection with the ballerina, to which she replied: “What is past is past and will never return. We are all surrounded by temptations in this world, and when we are young, we cannot always fight to resist the temptation... I love you even more since you told me this story. Your trust touches me so deeply... Will I be able to be worthy of it?..”
P.S.
A few years later, Nicholas faced terrible shocks and a terrible end: Russo-Japanese War, Bloody Sunday, a series of murders of high-ranking officials, First World War, popular discontent, which grew into a revolution, humiliating exile of him and his entire family, and finally, execution in the basement of the Ipatiev House.
Matilda Kshesinskaya with her son. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
A different fate awaited Kshesinskaya - fame as one of the richest women in the Empire, a love affair with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, from whom she would give birth to a son, emigration to Europe, an affair with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, who would give the child his patronymic, and fame as one of the best ballerinas of her time and one of the most attractive women an era that turned the head of Emperor Nicholas himself.
On October 26, a film about the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya and Tsarevich Nicholas will be released. How close are the fates and images of the characters in the film to historical truth?
Matilda Kshesinskaya
Prima ballerina
Matilda
Kshesinskaya
(1903)
Movie In the film by Alexei Uchitel, Matilda, played by Polish actress Michalina Olshanska, is a brilliant beauty. It is no coincidence that such passions rage around the beautiful Polish woman. Keira Knightley was supposed to play Matilda, but she became pregnant and a replacement had to be found. Mikhalina is not a dancer, she is an actress, violinist and singer, but with a height of 1.65 m, the girl has ballet height. Kshesinskaya was not 18 when in March 1890 she met the Tsarevich. Mikhalina is 25, and this is appropriate: the film is not about romance, but about passion. Matilda, or Malya, as her relatives called her, is strong-willed and capricious in Olshanskaya. Kshesinskaya was really distinguished a strong character. For more than ten years she reigned on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater. The great Tamara Karsavina and Anna Pavlova had the status of the first ballerinas, but there was only one prima - Kshesinskaya.
Story Matilda was not a beauty. Large nose, wide eyebrows... In reviews of ballets with the participation of the “prima ballerina assoluta” (as Matilda was called), a lot is said about her “physical charm,” but compliments to her appearance are restrained. The graceful Kshesinskaya (the ballerina is 1.53 m tall) was praised for having “a lot of life, fire and gaiety.” Perhaps these words contain the secret of Matilda’s magical charm, who said about herself: “By nature I was a coquette.” She loved and knew how to live, enjoy luxury and surround herself with the first men of the state, who had the power to give everything she wanted.
Lars Eidinger as Nikolai
Tsarevich Nikolai
Young
Tsarevich
Nikolai
(1890)
Movie The role of the crown prince went to 41-year-old German actor and director Lars Eidinger. In contrast to Nicholas's reputation as a weak king, Eidinger plays an almost Shakespearean hero, a man strong passions capable of rebellion for the sake of love. He is suffering, swift and harsh. Outwardly, the screen hero also bears little resemblance to the historical character in early years. Eidinger is tall (height 1.9 m), large, mature. A thick beard also adds age. Before us is not a weak, indecisive crown prince, but a personality. If Nikolai had been such a hero as Eidinger played him, who knows how the fate of the dynasty and the country would have turned out. By the way, the role of Nikolai was first promised to Danila Kozlovsky, but when the decision changed, the actor was offered to play Count Vorontsov, a character who did not exist in reality.
Story Reddish, thin, short, short crew cut and calm gray-green eyes - this is how Matilda saw the Tsarevich. At the time of his meeting with Kshesinskaya, the 22-year-old future emperor wore a small, dandy mustache; a beard appeared later. “Everyone was always fascinated by him, and his exceptional eyes and smile won hearts. One of his character traits was to be able to control himself, writes Kshesinskaya about Nikolai in her memoirs “Memoirs”. - It was clear to me that the heir did not have something that was needed to reign... Something to force others to submit to his will. He didn’t know how to insist on his own and very often gave in.”
Still from the film
Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt
Movie On-screen Alice cannot be called anything other than a red-haired beast. German actress Louise Wolfram, similar to Tilda Swinton, created a grotesque image. Pathetic, lanky, awkward, she tries to seduce Nikolai by dancing and gets tangled in her skirts, causing laughter. Alice is the opposite of the brilliant Matilda. The bride of the Tsarevich intrigues against the ballerina, arranges seances, casts spells on blood and wears green dresses with creepy roses. The Empress and mother of Nicholas Maria Fedorovna reproaches her future daughter-in-law for her lack of taste.
Story As soon as the princess became the heir's bride in April 1894, he confessed to her his passion for Kshesinskaya and broke off relations with the ballerina. In response, I received a short letter from Alix: “What happened, happened and will never return... I love you even more after you told me this story.” According to the authors of the film, Alice had to achieve a wedding with the Tsarevich, but in reality everything was different. The princess refused the heir several times, not wanting to betray the Lutheran faith, but then succumbed to persuasion. As contemporaries noted, Alice was distinguished by impeccable taste and beauty. " Thick hair a heavy crown lay on his head, decorating it, but large dark blue eyes under long eyelashes looked cold..."
Keys to the Heart
“Listen to how it will be: it is you, not me, who will be jealous, tormented, looking for a meeting and will not be able to love anyone as much as I do...” Matilda says to the heir in the film. In fact, Matilda was more interested in the relationship than Nikolai, she loved and suffered in separation more than he did. In June 1893, when Once again The issue of the heir's engagement to Princess Alice was not resolved, Kshesinskaya rented a dacha not far from Krasnoe Selo, where the Tsarevich's regiment was stationed. But over the summer he came to Matilda only twice. In Nikolai's diaries there are entries that his heart and head at that time were occupied only with the princess. “After the engagement, he asked for a last date, and we agreed to meet on Volkonsky Highway. I came from the city in my carriage, and he came from the camp on horseback. A single meeting took place in private... What I experienced on the Emperor’s wedding day can only be understood by those who are capable of truly loving with all their souls,” admitted Matilda.
“I like Malya, I love Alix,” the Tsarevich wrote in his diary, and this phrase contains the whole truth about love triangle- Nicholas, Alix and Matilda. And here are the lines from the queen’s diary, which she wrote down in the first wedding night: “We belong to each other forever... The key to my heart, in which you are imprisoned, has been lost, and now you will never escape from there.”
Prepared by Elena ALESHKINA
The famous ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya managed to be the mistress of several grand dukes at the same time. She eventually married one of them. And he even had to adopt his own son...
125 years ago, the young ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya completed her first season at the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg. Ahead of her lay a dizzying career and a stormy romance with the future Emperor Nicholas II, which she spoke about very frankly in her Memoirs.
Matilda Kshesinskaya had an amazing fate - fame, universal recognition, love powerful of the world this, emigration, life under German occupation, need. And decades after her death, people who consider themselves highly spiritual individuals will shout her name on every corner, silently cursing the fact that she ever lived in the world.
"Kshesinskaya 2nd"
She was born in Ligov, near St. Petersburg, on August 31, 1872. Ballet was her destiny from birth - her father, Pole Felix Kshesinsky, was a dancer and teacher, an unrivaled mazurka performer.
Mother, Yulia Dominskaya, was a unique woman: in her first marriage she gave birth to five children, and after the death of her husband she married Felix Kshesinsky and gave birth to three more. Matilda was the youngest in this ballet family, and, following the example of her parents and older brothers and sisters, she decided to connect her life with the stage.
Felix Kshesinsky and Yulia Dominskaya.
At the beginning of her career, the name “Kshesinskaya 2nd” will be assigned to her. The first was her sister Julia, a brilliant artist of the Imperial Theaters. Brother Joseph, also a famous dancer, will remain in Soviet Russia, will receive the title of Honored Artist of the Republic, will stage performances and teach.
Joseph Kshesinsky will be spared repression, but his fate, nevertheless, will be tragic - he will become one of the hundreds of thousands of victims of the siege of Leningrad.
Little Matilda dreamed of fame and worked hard in her classes. Teachers at the Imperial Theater School said among themselves that the girl had a great future, if, of course, she found a wealthy patron.
Fateful dinner
Life of Russian ballet times Russian Empire was similar to the life of show business in post-Soviet Russia - talent alone was not enough. Careers were made through bed, and this was not really hidden. Faithful married actresses were doomed to be the foil for brilliant, talented courtesans.
In 1890, 18-year-old graduate of the Imperial Theater School Matilda Kshesinskaya was given a high honor - Emperor Alexander III himself and his family were present at the diploma performance.
« This exam decided my fate", Kshesinskaya will write in her memoirs.
Ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. 1896
After the performance, the monarch and his retinue appeared in the rehearsal hall, where Alexander III showered Matilda with compliments. And then at the gala dinner the emperor gave the young ballerina a place next to the heir to the throne, Nicholas.
Alexander III, unlike other representatives of the imperial family, including his father, who lived in two families, is considered a faithful husband. The emperor preferred another entertainment for Russian men to walking “to the left” - consuming “little white” in the company of friends.
However, Alexander saw nothing wrong with a young man learning the basics of love before marriage. That’s why he pushed his phlegmatic 22-year-old son into the arms of an 18-year-old beauty of Polish blood.
« I don’t remember what we talked about, but I immediately fell in love with the heir. I can see him now 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 sat next to me throughout the dinner, we looked at each other differently than when we met; a feeling of attraction had already crept into his soul, as well as into mine.“, Kshesinskaya wrote about that evening.
Passion of “Hussar Volkov”
Their romance was not stormy. Matilda dreamed of a meeting, but the heir, busy with state affairs, did not have time for dates.
In January 1892, a certain “hussar Volkov” arrived at Matilda’s house. The surprised girl approached the door, and Nikolai walked towards her. That night was the first time they spent together.
The visits of “Hussar Volkov” became regular, and all of St. Petersburg knew about them. It got to the point that one night the St. Petersburg mayor broke into the loving couple’s house and received a strict order to deliver the heir to his father on urgent business.
By the time he met Kshesinskaya, Nikolai already intended to marry Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.
This relationship had no future. Nicholas knew the rules of the game well: before his engagement in 1894 to Princess Alice of Hesse, future Alexandra Fedorovna, he broke up with Matilda.
In her memoirs, Kshesinskaya writes that she was inconsolable. Believing her or not is a personal matter for everyone. An affair with the heir to the throne gave her such protection that her rivals on the stage could not have had.
We must pay tribute, receiving the best games, she proved that she deserves them. Having become a prima ballerina, she continued to improve and took private lessons from the famous Italian choreographer Enrico Cecchetti.
Matilda Kshesinskaya was the first Russian dancer to perform 32 fouettés in a row, which today are considered the trademark of Russian ballet, having adopted this trick from the Italians.
Grand Duke's love triangle
Her heart was not free for long. The new chosen one was again a representative of the House of Romanov, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, grandson of Nicholas I and cousin of Nicholas II.
Unmarried Sergei Mikhailovich, who was known as a reserved person, felt incredible affection for Matilda. He looked after her for many years, thanks to which her career in the theater was completely cloudless.
Sergei Mikhailovich's feelings were severely tested. In 1901, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, uncle of Nicholas II, began to court Kshensinskaya. But this was just an episode before the appearance of a real rival.
Matilda Kshesinskaya and Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich.
His rival was his son, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, cousin of Nicholas II. He was ten years younger than his relative and seven years younger than Matilda.
« This was no longer an empty flirtation... From the day of my first meeting with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, we began to meet more and more often, and our feelings for each other soon turned into a strong mutual attraction“- writes Kshesinskaya.
The men of the Romanov family flew to Matilda like butterflies to a fire. Why? Now none of them will explain. And the ballerina skillfully manipulated them - having started a relationship with Andrei, she never parted with Sergei.
Having gone on a trip in the fall of 1901, Matilda felt unwell in Paris, and when she went to the doctor, she found out that she was in a “situation.” But she didn’t know whose child it was. Moreover, both lovers were ready to recognize the child as their own.
The son was born on June 18, 1902. Matilda wanted to name him Nicholas, but did not risk it - such a step would have been a violation of the rules that they had once established with the now Emperor Nicholas II. As a result, the boy was named Vladimir, in honor of the father of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.
The son of Matilda Kshesinskaya will succeed interesting biography- before the revolution he will be “Sergeevich”, because the “senior lover” recognizes him, and in emigration he will become “Andreevich”, because the “younger lover” marries his mother and recognizes him as his son.
Matilda Kshesinskaya with her son.
Mistress of the Russian ballet
At the theater they were openly afraid of Matilda. After leaving the troupe in 1904, she continued to perform one-time performances, receiving mind-boggling fees. All the parties that she liked were assigned to her and only to her. Going against Kshesinskaya at the beginning of the 20th century in Russian ballet meant ending your career and ruining your life.
The director of the Imperial Theaters, Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Volkonsky, once dared to insist that Kshesinskaya appear on stage in a costume that she did not like. The ballerina did not comply and was fined. A couple of days later, Volkonsky resigned, as Emperor Nicholas II himself explained to him that he was wrong.
The new director of the Imperial Theaters, Vladimir Telyakovsky, did not argue with Matilda over the word “at all.”
« It would seem that a ballerina, serving in the directorate, should belong to the repertoire, but then it turned out that the repertoire belongs to M. Kshesinskaya, and just as out of fifty performances, forty belong to balletomanes, and in the repertoire - of all the best ballets, more than half of the best belong to the ballerina Kshesinskaya,– Telyakovsky wrote in his memoirs.
“She considered them her property and could give or not let others dance them. There were cases when a ballerina was discharged from abroad. Her contract stipulated ballets for tours.
This was the case with the ballerina Grimaldi, invited in 1900. But when she decided to rehearse one ballet, indicated in the contract,(this ballet was “Vain Precaution”), Kshesinskaya said: “I won’t give it, this is my ballet.”
Matilda Kshesinskaya 1897.
The telephones, conversations, telegrams began. The poor director was rushing here and there. Finally, he sends an encrypted telegram to the minister in Denmark, where he was with the sovereign at that time.
The matter was secret, special national importance. And what? Receives the following answer: “ Since this ballet is Kshesinskaya, it should be left to her.”
Shot off nose
In 1906, Kshesinskaya became the owner of a luxurious mansion in St. Petersburg, where everything, from start to finish, was done according to her own ideas.
The mansion had a wine cellar for men visiting the ballerina, and horse-drawn carriages and cars were waiting for the mistress in the courtyard. There was even a cowshed, since the ballerina loved fresh milk.
Where did all this splendor come from? Contemporaries said that even Matilda’s cosmic fees would not be enough for all this luxury. It was claimed that Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, a member of the Council national defense, “plucked off” little by little from the country’s military budget for his beloved.
Kshesinskaya had everything she dreamed of, and, like many women in her position, she became bored.
The result of boredom was the 44-year-old ballerina’s affair with her new stage partner Pyotr Vladimirov, who was 21 years younger than Matilda.
Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, ready to share his mistress with an equal, was furious. During Kshesinskaya's tour in Paris, the prince challenged the dancer to a duel. The unfortunate Vladimirov was shot in the nose by an insulted representative of the Romanov family. Doctors had to piece him together.
But, amazingly, the Grand Duke forgave his flighty beloved this time too.
The fairy tale ends
The fairy tale ended in 1917. With the fall of the empire, Kshesinskaya’s former life also collapsed. She also tried to sue the Bolsheviks for the mansion from whose balcony Lenin spoke. The understanding of how serious everything was came later.
Together with her son, Kshesinskaya wandered around the south of Russia, where power changed, as if in a kaleidoscope. Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks in Pyatigorsk, but they, having not decided what he was guilty of, released him on all four sides.
Son Vladimir suffered from the Spanish flu, which wiped out millions of people in Europe. Having miraculously avoided typhus, in February 1920, Matilda Kshesinskaya left Russia forever on the ship Semiramida.
By this time, two of her lovers from the Romanov family were no longer alive. Nikolai’s life was interrupted in Ipatiev’s house, Sergei was shot in Alapaevsk. When his body was lifted from the mine where it had been dumped, a small gold medallion with a portrait of Matilda Kshesinskaya and the inscription “Malya” was found in the Grand Duke’s hand.
Your Serene Highness at a reception with Müller
In 1921, in Cannes, 49-year-old Matilda Kshesinskaya became a legal wife for the first time in her life. Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, despite the sidelong glances of his relatives, formalized the marriage and adopted a child, whom he always considered his own.
In 1929, Kshesinskaya opened her own ballet school in Paris. This step was rather forced - the former comfortable life was left behind, it was necessary to earn a living.
Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, who declared himself in 1924 the head of the Romanov dynasty in exile, in 1926 assigned Kshesinskaya and her descendants the title and surname of Prince Krasinski, and in 1935 the title began to sound like “Your Serene Highness Princes Romanovski-Krasinski.”
Matilda Kshesinskaya in her ballet school 1928-29.
During World War II, when the Germans occupied France, Matilda's son was arrested by the Gestapo. According to legend, the ballerina, in order to achieve her release, achieved a personal audience with Gestapo chief Müller. Kshesinskaya herself never confirmed this.
Vladimir spent 144 days in a concentration camp; unlike many other emigrants, he refused to cooperate with the Germans, and was nevertheless released.
“I cried with happiness”
In the 1950s, she wrote a memoir about her life, which was first published on French in 1960.
« In 1958, the Bolshoi Theater ballet troupe came to Paris. Although I don’t go anywhere else, dividing my time between home and the dance studio where I earn money to live, I made an exception and went to the Opera to see the Russians. I cried with happiness. It was the same ballet that I saw more than forty years ago, the owner of the same spirit and the same traditions...",– Matilda wrote. Ballet probably remained her main love for the rest of her life.
There were many long-livers in the Kshesinsky family. Matilda’s grandfather lived to be 106 years old, her sister Yulia died at the age of 103, and “Kshesinskaya 2” herself passed away just a few months before her 100th anniversary.
The resting place of Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya was the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois. She was buried with her husband, whom she outlived by 15 years, and her son, who passed away three years after his mother.
The inscription on the monument reads: “ Your Serene Highness Princess Maria Feliksovna Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya, Honored Artist of the Imperial Theaters Kshesinskaya».
Matilda Kshesinskaya's grave at the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery.
She outlived her country, her ballet, her husband, lovers, friends and enemies. The empire disappeared, wealth melted...
An era passed with her: the people who gathered at her coffin saw off last way brilliant and frivolous St. Petersburg light, of which she was once an adornment...
To the cinema
Nicholas II's father, Emperor Alexander III, was against his son's marriage to Princess Alice of Hesse.
In life
Indeed, at first Russian Emperor My wife and I were not delighted with this marriage. Alice may have been the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, but at that time she was a poor princess from a provincial German duchy. Her mother suffered from a nervous disorder, but, worst of all, she was a carrier of hemophilia, which is transmitted through the female line to sons, but the carriers themselves do not get sick. (As a result, Nikolai’s son, Tsarevich Alexei, suffered from hemophilia). Alexander counted on the marriage of the heir to Helen Louise Henrietta, daughter of Louis Philippe, Count of Paris. But then politics, as well as the serious illness of the emperor (and he wanted to marry his son before his death) accelerated the marriage of Nicholas and Alice, who became Alexandra Fedorovna in baptism.
Photo Getty Images
Photo frame from the film
To the cinema
Alexander III himself introduced his son to Matilda Kshesinskaya.
In life
This happened in 1890 immediately after the graduation performance at the Imperial Theater School, which, according to tradition, was attended by the monarch and his family. Alexander III unexpectedly singled out Matilda Kshesinskaya among all the dancers and declared to the 17-year-old graduate: “Be the decoration and glory of our ballet!” After the performance, without taking off their theatrical costumes, all the students gathered in the large rehearsal hall to present themselves to the royalty.
The action was carefully rehearsed, the candidates for the best graduates were pre-selected from among the first students, among whom Kshesinskaya could not be included simply because she was listed as attending. And then the first surprise happened - in violation of all the rules, the sovereign asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya?” I had to call her. After the presentation of the graduates there was a gala dinner, and at the common table Malechka also did not have permanent place. And the sovereign again ordered in his own way - he seated Kshesinskaya between himself and the heir, playfully threatening both: “Just be careful, don’t flirt too much!” At the same time, Nikolai and Kshesinskaya began to communicate closely only two years later. But Alexander could not show his son on the train, who some time later had an accident, a photograph of the young ballerina. After all, the crash of the train, in which the emperor was injured, because of which he later fell ill and died early, happened two years before Nicholas met Kshesinskaya.
Photo by Getty Images
Photo frame from the film
To the cinema
Nicholas II cannot forget his beloved, planning to give up the throne for Kshesinskaya and run away with her.
In life
Many critics of the film argue that the relationship between Nikolai and Matilda was only platonic. It is unlikely. But after his parents’ decision to marry him to Alice Gessenskaya, he decides to end his affair with Kshesinskaya - for sure. And Niki had no intention of running anywhere. This is how the ballerina herself recalls this in her memoirs: “On April 7, 1894, the engagement of the heir to the throne to Alice, Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt was announced. I knew for a long time that sooner or later this would happen, but still my grief was boundless...
After returning from Coburg and the engagement, the heir to the throne asked me for a farewell meeting. We agreed to meet on Volkonsky Highway, at a barn with hay standing on the side of the road.
I came from the city in my carriage, and he came on horseback, straight from the training ground. And, as always happens in such cases, when you need to say a lot to each other, a lump came to our throats, and we said something completely different from what we wanted. There is a lot left unsaid. And what can you talk about at parting, if you know that nothing can be changed...
When Niki left for the training ground, I stood by the barn for a long time and looked after him until he disappeared from sight. And he kept looking around and looking back... I didn’t cry, but my heart was breaking with grief, and as he moved away, my soul became heavier.
I returned to the city, to my empty and orphaned house. It seemed to me that life was over and there would be nothing ahead but pain and bitterness.”
According to rumors, Kshesinskaya received 100 thousand rubles and a house as final payment for her relationship with her august lover. In the future, they most likely never met again. But Nikolai periodically helped his ex-girlfriend in absentia in her theatrical affairs. Nothing is known about at least one personal meeting between Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Kshesinskaya.
Photo frame from the film
To the cinema
Nikolai had a competitor - Lieutenant Vorontsov (played by Danila Kozlovsky). He is in love with Matilda Kshesinskaya so much that he is trying to stop his main rival. For example, he wants to beat him with a crown. The future Emperor Nicholas II shows mercy to the unlucky criminal - he replaces death penalty forced treatment.