The historical accuracy of the film Matilda. Matilda and Nicholas II: what really connected the ballerina and the heir to the throne. Last determined attempt

1. Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna were not the initiators of the "novel" of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich and M. Kshesinskaya.

2. Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna were not opposed to their son's wedding to Princess Alice of Hesse. On the contrary, having learned about the engagement, they were happy for their son.

3. The youthful infatuation of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich 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 early youth, the Tsarevich dreamed of marrying Princess Alice, and he never intended to give any serious character to his relationship with Kshesinskaya. The statements of the authors of the script that Nikolai Aleksandrovich “loved” Kshesinskaya so much that he did not want to marry Princess Alice, and was even ready to exchange the crown for marriage with a ballerina, are pure fiction, a lie.

5. The collapse of the Imperial train occurred in the autumn of 1888, two years before the acquaintance of Alexander III and Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich with M. Kshesinskaya. Therefore, they could not talk about her in any way. 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 the Crimea on October 10, 1894, that is, ten days before the death of Emperor Alexander III. Therefore, it is not at all clear why, according to the script, she is dressed in a mourning dress and expresses her condolences to the Heir. In addition, the Heir met Alix in Alushta, where she was taken by horse-drawn carriage, and not by train, as the script states.

8. M. Kshesinskaya was not present at the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II, and he could not see her there.

9. The order of the coronation and wedding of the Russian emperors was signed to the details and had a centuries-old tradition. Outright fiction and lies are the provisions of the script, where Alexandra Feodorovna argues with Maria Feodorovna whether she should wear a Monomakh's hat or a large imperial crown. And also the fact that Maria Feodorovna 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 rehearsal of the coronation, but the courtiers.

11. The eldest son of Emperor Alexander II, Tsesarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, died in 1865 in Nice, not from tuberculosis, as "Maria Fedorovna" claims, but from meningitis.

12. The first filming in Russia, carried out by the French company "Pate", was not dedicated to the arrival in Simferopol "by train" of Princess Alice, as stated in the script, but 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, did not go backstage in theaters.

15. There has never been a person with the name "Ivan Karlovich" on the list of directors of the Imperial Theater.

16. Among the doctors who treated the Empress Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, there was never a “Doctor Fischel”.

17. The costume of ballerinas is not worn on the naked body, so the episode with the bodice strap torn off could not take place in reality.

18. No one, except for a close family environment, could say “you” to the Tsar or the Heir, especially since K.P. Pobedonostsev could not do this.

19. Not a single Russian officer in his right mind could ever throw himself on the Heir to the Throne with the aim of beating or killing him, because of the "kiss of a ballerina."

20. Emperor Nicholas II never tried to abdicate, much less attempted to “escape” with Kshesinskaya from Russia.

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 a few hours before the distribution of gifts, at night.

22. Emperor Nicholas II never came to the Khodynka field and did not examine the "mountain of corpses", which did not exist. Since the total number of deaths during the stampede (1300 people) includes those who died in hospitals. By the time the Emperor and Empress arrived at the Khodynka field, the corpses of the dead had already been taken away. So there was nothing to "survey".

23. Slander: Alexander III organizes prodigal 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 am alive."

25. Slander: Before his death, Alexander III blesses M. Kshesinskaya for prodigal cohabitation with his son Tsarevich Nicholas.

26. Slander: Alexander III assures that all Russian emperors have lived with ballerinas for the last hundred years.

27. Slander: Alexander III calls ballerinas "pedigreed Russian mares."

28. Slander: Nicholas II draws mustaches and beards in photographs of ballerinas.

29. Slander: Nicholas II does not hide his relationship with Kshesinskaya and has sexual contact with her in the Great Peterhof Palace, thereby falling into fornication.

30. Slander: Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna participate in spiritualistic occult seances of "Doctor Fishel", which is a grave sin according to the teachings of the Orthodox Church.

In 1890, 18-year-old Matilda Kshesinskaya, a still unknown, but more promising girl, graduated from the Imperial Theater School. According to custom, after the graduation demonstration performance, Matilda and other graduates are presented to the crowned family. Alexander III shows special favor to the young talent, enthusiastically following the pirouettes and arabesques of the dancer. True, Matilda was a visiting pupil of the school, and such people were not supposed to be present at the festive banquet with members of the royal family. However, Alexander, who noticed the absence of a fragile dark-haired girl, ordered to immediately bring her into the hall, where they uttered the fateful words: “Mademoiselle! Be the adornment and glory of our ballet!”

At the table, Matilda was seated next to Tsarevich Nikolai, 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, the granddaughter of the English Queen Victoria, arrived in St. Petersburg. The girl who stopped at the Beloselsky-Belozersky palace was introduced to Tsarevich Nikolai (Alexander III was the godfather of the princess). In the six weeks that the future Empress of Russia arrived in St. Petersburg, she managed to win the meek heart of the future emperor and arouse in him a frantic desire to bind himself to her by marriage. 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 the pretender to the throne of France, Louis Philippe, Louise Henrietta, whom The Washington Post even called "the embodiment of female health and beauty, an elegant 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 Nikolai, with unusual fervor, continued to insist on his own, the attitude changed - fortunately, Alice’s sister, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, contributed not only to the rapprochement of the heir to the throne and the princess, helping in the correspondence of lovers, but also by hidden methods influenced Alexander. Due to all these reasons, in the spring of 1894, a manifesto appeared in which the engagement of the Tsarevich and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt was announced. But that was after.

"Baby" Kshesinskaya and Nikki

And in 1890, when Nikolai could only correspond with his Alice, he was suddenly introduced to Matilda Kshesinskaya - according to some historians, the cunning Alexander decided that Nikolai needed to be distracted from his love and channel his energy in a different direction. The emperor’s project was a success: already in the summer, the crown prince writes in his diary: “Baby Kshesinskaya positively occupies me ...” - and regularly attends her performances.

Matilda Kshesinskaya fell in love with the future emperor at first sight. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

"Baby" Kshesinskaya perfectly understood 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 well-known 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 of the temperamental and bright ballerina and the future emperor of Russia, who was not accustomed to demonstrating his feelings, lasted exactly two years. Kshesinskaya had really strong feelings for Nicholas and even considered her 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: the eldest also worked in the theater Matilda's sister 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 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 ... "

Lovers met most often in the house of the Kshesinsky family and did not particularly hide: no secrets were possible at court, and the emperor himself covered his eyes to his son’s novel. There was even a case when the mayor rushed into the house, in a hurry to inform that the sovereign was hastily demanding his son to his Anichkov Palace. However, in order to maintain decency, a mansion was bought for Kshesinskaya on the English Embankment, 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 behaves with dignity, befitting a queen, but not an abandoned mistress.

The ballerina took the news of the breakup 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 girlfriend with warmth, and in parting asked her to always address him as “you”, to continue to call her home nickname “Nikki” and in in case of trouble always turn to him. Later, Nikolai Kshesinskaya would indeed resort to the help, but only for professional purposes related to behind-the-scenes theatrical intrigues.

At this point, their relationship was finally broken. Matilda continued to dance and hovered over the stage with special inspiration when she saw her former lover in the royal box. And Nicholas, who put on the crown, completely immersed himself in the state concerns that fell on him after the death of Alexander III, and in the quiet whirlpool of family life with the desired Alix, as he affectionately called the former princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.

When the engagement had just taken place, Nikolai honestly spoke about his connection with the ballerina, to which she replied: “What has passed has passed and will never return. All of us in this world are surrounded by temptations, 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… Can I be worthy of it…?”

P.S.

A few years later, terrible upheavals and a terrible end awaited Nikolai: the Russo-Japanese War, Bloody Sunday, a series of assassinations of high-ranking officials, the First World War, popular discontent that grew into a revolution, the humiliating exile of him and his entire family, and, finally, the execution in the basement of Ipatiev Houses.

Matilda Kshesinskaya with her son. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Kshesinskaya, on the other hand, had a different fate - the glory of 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 the glory of one of the best ballerina of her time and one of the most attractive women of the era, who turned the head of Emperor Nicholas himself.

On October 26, a film about the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya and Tsarevich Nikolai is released. How close are the fates and images of the heroes of the picture to the historical truth?

Matilda Kshesinskaya

Prima ballerina
Matilda
Kshesinskaya
(1903)

Movie In the film by Alexei Uchitel, Matilda, played by the Polish actress Michalina Olshanska, is a brilliant beauty. It is no coincidence that such passions rage around the beautiful polka. Matilda was supposed to play Keira Knightley, but she became pregnant and had to look for a replacement. Mikhalina is not a dancer, she is an actress, violinist and singer, but with a height of 1.65 m, the girl is ballet. 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, Olshanskaya's strong-willed and wayward. Kshesinskaya was really distinguished by a strong character. For more than ten years she reigned on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre. 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 beautiful. A large nose, wide eyebrows... In reviews of ballets with the participation of the "prima ballerina assolute" (as Matilda was called), a lot is said about her "physical charm", but compliments about her appearance are restrained. The graceful Kshesinskaya (the ballerina's height is 1.53 m) was praised for having "a lot of life, fire and gaiety." Perhaps in these words lies the secret of the magical charm of Matilda, 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 have the power to give everything she wants.

Lars Eidinger as Nikolai

Tsesarevich Nicholas

Young
crown prince
Nicholas
(1890)

Movie The role of the Tsarevich went to the 41-year-old German actor and director Lars Eidinger. In contrast to the glory of the weak tsar, which was entrenched in Nicholas, Eidinger plays an almost Shakespearean hero, a man of strong passions, capable of rebellion for the sake of love. He is suffering, impetuous and sharp. Outwardly, the on-screen hero also bears little resemblance to a historical character in his youth. Eidinger is tall (height 1.9 m), large, mature. The bushy beard also adds age. Before us is not a weak, indecisive crown prince, but a personality. If Nikolay was 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 that did not exist in reality.

Story Reddish, thin, short, short bob haircut and calm gray-green eyes - this is how Tsarevich Matilda saw. At the time of the meeting with Kshesinskaya, the 22-year-old future emperor wore a small dandy mustache, a beard appeared later. “Everyone has always been fascinated by him, and his exceptional eyes and smile won hearts. One of the traits of his character was to be able to control himself, - writes about Nikolai Kshesinskaya in her memoirs "Memoirs". - It was clear to me that the heir did not have something that is needed to reign ... Something to force others to submit to his will. He did not know how to insist on his own and very often yielded.

Film frame

Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt

Movie On-screen Alice can not be called otherwise than a red-haired beast. German actress Louise Wolfram, similar to Tilda Swinton, created a grotesque image. Pitiful, lanky, clumsy, she tries to seduce Nikolai with a dance and gets tangled in skirts, causing laughter. Alice is the opposite of the brilliant Matilda. The bride of the Tsarevich intrigues against the ballerina, arranges séances, conjures blood and wears green dresses with terrible roses. Empress and mother of Nikolai Maria Fedorovna reproaches the future daughter-in-law for bad taste.

Story As soon as in April 1894 the princess became the bride of the heir, he confessed to her infatuation with Kshesinskaya and broke off relations with the ballerina. In response, I received a short letter from Alix: “What was, was 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 seek a wedding with the Tsarevich, but in reality everything was different. The princess refused the heir several times, not wanting to change the Lutheran faith, but then succumbed to persuasion. As contemporaries noted, Alice was distinguished by impeccable taste and beauty. “Thick hair lay like a heavy crown on her head, decorating it, but large dark blue eyes under long eyelashes looked cold…”

Keys to the heart

“Listen to how it will be: it’s you, and not me, who will be jealous, tormented, looking for meetings and you won’t be able to love anyone like me ...” - says Matilda to the heir in the film. In fact, Matilda was more interested in relationships than Nikolai, loved and suffered in separation more than he did. In June 1893, when once again the issue of the engagement of the heir to Princess Alice was not resolved, Kshesinskaya rented a dacha near Krasnoye Selo, where the Tsarevich's regiment was stationed. But during the summer he came to Matilda only twice. In the diaries of Nicholas there are records that his heart and head at that time were occupied only by the princess. “After the engagement, he asked for a last date with him, and we agreed to meet on Volkonskoye Highway. I came from the city in my carriage, and he rode from the camp. Only one meeting took place in private ... What I experienced on the day of the Sovereign's wedding can only be understood by those who are able to truly love with all their hearts, ”Matilda admitted.
“I like Malya, I love Alix,” the crown prince wrote in his diary, and this phrase contains the whole truth about the love triangle - Nicholas, Alix and Matilda. And here are the lines from the queen’s diary, which she wrote down on her wedding night: “We belong to each other forever ... The key to my heart, in which you are imprisoned, is 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 ended up marrying one of them. And he even had to adopt his own son...

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 frankly in her Memoirs.

Matilda Kshesinskaya got an amazing fate - fame, universal recognition, love of the powerful, emigration, life under German occupation, need. And decades after her death, people who consider themselves highly spiritual personalities will wag her name on every corner, cursing the fact that she even once 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 unsurpassed 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 after the revolution, receive the title of Honored Artist of the Republic, will stage performances and teach.

Joseph Kshesinsky will be bypassed by repression, but his fate, nevertheless, will be tragic - he will become one of the hundreds of thousands of victims of the blockade of Leningrad.

Little Matilda dreamed of fame, and worked hard in the classroom. The teachers of the Imperial Theater School said among themselves that the girl has a great future, if, of course, she finds a wealthy patron.

fateful dinner

The life of Russian ballet in the times of the Russian Empire was similar to the life of show business in post-Soviet Russia - one talent was not enough. Careers were made through the bed, and it was not very hidden. Faithful married actresses were doomed to be the backdrop for brilliant talented courtesans.

In 1890, the 18-year-old graduate of the Imperial Theater School Matilda Kshesinskaya was given a high honor - Emperor Alexander III himself and his family attended the graduation performance.

« This exam decided my fate", - writes Kshesinskaya in her memoirs.

Ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. 1896

After the performance, the monarch and his retinue appeared in the rehearsal room, where Alexander III showered Matilda with compliments. And then the young ballerina at a gala dinner, the emperor indicated a place next to the heir to the throne - Nikolai.

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 go "to the left" - the consumption of "little white" in the company of friends.

However, Alexander did not see anything shameful in the fact that a young man learns the basics of love before marriage. For this, 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. As 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.”, 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 to meet.

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 the "hussar Volkov" became regular, and all of St. Petersburg knew about them. It got to the point that one night a St. Petersburg mayor broke into a couple in love, who received a strict order to deliver the heir to his father on an urgent matter.

By the time he met Kshesinskaya, Nikolai already intended to marry Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.

This relationship had no future. Nikolai knew the rules of the game well: before his engagement in 1894 to Princess Alice of Hesse, the future Alexandra Feodorovna, he broke up with Matilda.

In her memoirs, Kshesinskaya writes that she was inconsolable. Believe it or not, everyone's personal business. An affair with the heir to the throne gave her such patronage that her rivals on the stage could not have.

We must pay tribute, receiving the best parties, she proved that she deserves them. Having become a prima ballerina, she continued to improve, taking private lessons from the famous Italian choreographer Enrico Cecchetti.

32 fouettes in a row, which today are considered the trademark of Russian ballet, Matilda Kshesinskaya began to perform the first of the Russian dancers, adopting this trick from the Italians.

Grand ducal love triangle

Her heart was not free for long. The representative of the Romanov dynasty, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, grandson of Nicholas I and cousin of Nicholas II, again became the new chosen one.

The unmarried Sergei Mikhailovich, who was known as a closed person, experienced incredible affection for Matilda. He took care of 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 courting Kshensinskaya. But this was only an episode before the appearance of a real rival.

Matilda Kshesinskaya and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.

The 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.

« It was no longer empty flirting ... 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 can explain. And the ballerina skillfully manipulated them - having struck up 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 “position”. But whose child it was, she did not know. Moreover, both lovers were ready to recognize the child as their own.

The son was born on June 18, 1902. Matilda wanted to call him Nicholas, but did not dare - such a step would be 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 have an interesting biography - before the revolution he will be “Sergeevich”, because he is recognized by the “senior lover”, and in exile 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

In the theater, Matilda was frankly afraid. After leaving the troupe in 1904, she continued one-off performances, receiving breathtaking fees. All the parties that she herself liked were assigned to her and only to her. To go against Kshesinskaya at the beginning of the 20th century in Russian ballet meant ending her career and ruining her life.

The director of the Imperial Theatres, Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Volkonsky, once dared to insist that Kshesinskaya go on stage in a costume that she did not like. The ballerina did not obey 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 from the word "completely."

« It would seem that a ballerina, serving in the directorate, should belong to the repertoire, but it turned out that the repertoire belongs to M. Kshesinskaya, and as out of fifty performances forty belong to balletomanes, so in the repertoire - of all the 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 that a ballerina was discharged from abroad. In her contract, ballets were stipulated for the tour.

So it was 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 to you, this is my ballet."

Matilda Kshesinskaya 1897.

Phones, conversations, telegrams began. The poor director was rushing back and forth. Finally, he sends an encrypted telegram to the minister in Denmark, where he was at that time with the sovereign.

The case was secret, of special national importance. And what? Receives this response: Since this ballet is Kshesinskaya, then leave it behind her.

Shot off nose

In 1906, Kshesinskaya became the owner of a luxurious mansion in St. Petersburg, where everything, from beginning to end, was done according to her own ideas.

The mansion had a wine cellar for men visiting the ballerina, horse-drawn carriages and cars were waiting for the hostess in the yard. There was even a cowshed, as the ballerina adored fresh milk.

Where did all this splendor come from? Contemporaries said that even Matilda's space fees would not be enough for all this luxury. It was alleged that the Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, a member of the Council of State Defense, “pinched off” a little from the country’s military budget for his beloved.

Kshesinskaya had everything she dreamed of, and, like many women in her position, she got bored.

The result of boredom was an affair of a 44-year-old ballerina with a new stage partner, Peter 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 offended representative of the Romanov family. The doctors had to pick it up piece by piece.

But, surprisingly, the Grand Duke forgave the windy beloved this time.

Fairy tale end

The story ended in 1917. With the fall of the empire, the former life of Kshesinskaya collapsed. She was still trying to sue the Bolsheviks for the mansion, from the balcony of which Lenin spoke. Understanding how serious it all 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 to blame for, let him go on all four sides.

Son Vladimir was ill with a Spaniard who mowed down millions of people in Europe. Having miraculously avoided typhus, in February 1920, Matilda Kshesinskaya left Russia forever on the steamer Semiramida.

By this time, two of her lovers from the Romanov family were no longer alive. Nikolai's life was interrupted in the Ipatiev house, Sergei was shot dead in Alapaevsk. When his body was lifted from the mine where it had been thrown, a small gold medallion with a portrait of Matilda Kshesinskaya and the inscription "Malya" was found in the hand of the Grand Duke.

The Most Serene Princess at a reception at Muller

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 offspring the title and surname of the princes Krasinsky, and in 1935 the title began to sound like “the most illustrious princes Romanovsky-Krasinsky”.

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, in order to secure her release, the ballerina obtained 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 nevertheless was released.

"I cried with happiness"

In the 1950s, she wrote a memoir about her life, which was first published in French in 1960.

« In 1958, the Bolshoi Ballet Company arrived in 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. Probably, ballet remained her main love for life.

There were many centenarians in the Kshesinsky family. Matilda's grandfather lived for 106 years, sister Yulia died at the age of 103, and Kshesinskaya 2nd itself passed away just a few months before the 100th anniversary.

The burial place of Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya was the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois. She is buried with her husband, whom she survived for 15 years, and her son, who passed away three years after his mother.

The inscription on the monument reads: Her Serene Highness Princess Maria Feliksovna Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya, Honored Artist of the Imperial Theaters Kshesinskaya».

The grave of Matilda Kshesinskaya in the cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois.

She outlived her country, her ballet, her husband, lovers, friends and enemies. Empire disappeared, wealth melted...

An era passed with her: the people who gathered at her coffin saw off the brilliant and frivolous St. Petersburg light, the decoration of which she once was, on her last journey ...

To the cinema

The father of Nicholas II, Emperor Alexander III, was against the marriage of his son with Princess Alice of Hesse.

In life

Indeed, at first the Russian emperor and his wife were not enthusiastic about this marriage. Although Alice was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, at that time she was a poor princess from a provincial German duchy. Her mother suffered from a nervous breakdown, but, worst of all, she was a carrier of hemophilia, which is transmitted through the female line to her 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 Helena Louise Henrietta, daughter of Louis Philippe, Count of Paris. But then politics, as well as the severe illness of the emperor (and he wanted to marry his son before his death) hastened the marriage of Nicholas and Alice, who became Alexandra Feodorovna in baptism.

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Photo frame from the movie

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 with his family. Alexander III unexpectedly singled out Matilda Kshesinskaya among all the dancers and told the 17-year-old graduate: “Be the decoration and glory of our ballet!” After the performance, without removing theatrical costumes, all the students gathered in a large rehearsal room - to be presented to royal people.

The action was carefully rehearsed, the best graduates were selected in advance from among the first pupils, among whom Kshesinskaya could not be just because she was listed as coming. 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, a gala dinner followed, and Malechka also did not have a permanent seat at the common table. And the sovereign again ordered in his own way - he seated Kshesinskaya between himself and the heir, playfully threatening both: “Just look, 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 after some time had an accident, a photograph of a young ballerina. After all, the collapse of the train, in which the emperor was injured, because of which he later fell ill and died early, happened two years before Nikolai met Kshesinskaya.

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Photo frame from the movie

To the cinema

Nicholas II cannot forget his beloved in any way, intending to renounce the throne for the sake of Kshesinskaya and run away with her.

In life

Many critics of the film argue that the relationship between Nicholas and Matilda was only platonic. That is unlikely. But after the decision of his parents to marry him to Alice of Hesse, he decides to end the affair with Kshesinskaya - for sure. And Nicky wasn't going anywhere. Here is how the ballerina herself recalls this in her memoirs: “On April 7, 1894, the engagement of the heir to the throne with Alice, Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, was announced. I knew for a long time that sooner or later this must happen, but still my grief was boundless ...

After returning from Coburg and being engaged, the heir to the throne asked me for a farewell meeting. We agreed to meet on the Volkonskoye Highway, at a hay barn 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 up in your throat, and we didn’t say what we wanted at all. A lot has remained unsaid. And what can you say goodbye to, if you know that nothing can be changed ...

When Nicky left for the training ground, I stood by the shed for a long time and looked after him until he was out of sight. And he kept looking back and looking back... I did not cry, but my heart was torn with grief, and as he moved away, my soul became heavier and 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 the 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 movie

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 interfere with 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 the death penalty with compulsory treatment.