Nicholas 2 was in love with a ballerina. Matilda Kshesinskaya

People who lived in Russia in late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, they thought little about what their image would be in the eyes of distant descendants. Because they lived simply - they loved, betrayed, committed meanness and selfless actions, not knowing that a hundred years later some of them would be put on a halo on their heads, and others would be posthumously denied the right to love.

Matilda Kshesinskaya inherited 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 is 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.

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.

Felix Kshesinsky and Yulia Dominskaya. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Joseph Kshesinsky will bypass 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 - the emperor himself was present at the graduation performance Alexander III with the family.

Ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. 1896 Photo: RIA Novosti

“This exam decided my fate,” Kshesinskaya will write in her memoirs.

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 showed the young ballerina 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 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 this 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 meeting, but the heir, busy state affairs, had no 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.

This relationship had no future. Nicholas knew the rules of the game well: before his engagement in 1894 to the princess Alice of Hesse, the 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, taking 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.

Soloist of the Imperial Mariinsky Theater Matilda Kshesinskaya in the ballet “Pharaoh’s Daughter”, 1900. Photo: RIA Novosti

Grand Duke's love triangle

Her heart was not free for long. The new chosen one was again the representative of the House of Romanov, the Grand Duke Sergey Mikhailovich, grandson 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, the Grand Duke began to court Kshensinskaya Vladimir Alexandrovich, uncle of Nicholas II. But this was just an episode before the appearance of a real rival. His son became his rival - Grand Duke Andrey 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, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich and their son Vladimir. Circa 1906. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

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.

Director of the Imperial Theaters, 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 comply and was fined. A couple of days later, Volkonsky resigned, as Emperor Nicholas II himself explained to him that he was wrong.

New director of the Imperial Theaters Vladimir Telyakovsky I didn’t 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 give them to others to dance. There were cases when a ballerina was discharged from abroad. Her contract stipulated ballets for tours. 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 declared: “I won’t give it, this is my ballet.” 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 case was secret and of special national importance. So what? He receives the following answer: “Since this ballet is Kshesinskaya, then leave it to her.”

Matilda Kshesinskaya with her son Vladimir, 1916. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

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 alleged that Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, a member of the State Defense Council, “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 an affair between a 44-year-old ballerina and 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 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, the old life Kshesinskaya. 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.

Junker in the former mansion of the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya after the Central Committee and the Petrograd Committee of the RSDLP(b) moved from it. June 6, 1917. Photo: RIA Novosti

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 previous comfortable life left behind, it was necessary to earn bread. 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 princes Krasinski, and in 1935 the title began to sound like “Your Serene Highness Princes Romanovsky-Krasinsky.”

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 the Gestapo chief Mueller. 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.

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.

Museum building October Revolution- also known as the mansion of Matilda Kshesinskaya. 1972 Architect A. Gauguin, R. Meltzer. Photo: RIA Novosti / B. Manushin

“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 ballet troupe Bolshoi Theater 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...”, wrote Matilda. Ballet probably remained her main love for the rest of her life.

The resting place of Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya was the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery. 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.”

No one can take away the life she has lived from Matilda Kshesinskaya, just as no one can remake the history of the last decades of the Russian Empire to their liking, turning living people into ethereal beings. And those who try to do this do not know even a tenth of the colors of life that little Matilda knew.

The grave of the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov at the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois in the city of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois in the Paris region. Photo: RIA Novosti / Valery Melnikov

Fate was favorable to the young graduate of the Imperial Theater School, Matilda Kshesinskaya. In the spring of 1890, at a graduation viewing, Emperor Alexander III liked the ballerina so much that at a gala dinner he seated her next to his eldest son, the 22-year-old heir to the throne, Nicholas. “I don’t remember what we talked about, but I immediately fell in love with the heir. I can see his blue eyes now 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 through the entire dinner next to me, we no longer looked at each other the same way as when we met; a feeling of attraction had already crept into his soul, as well as into mine,” Kshesinskaya recalled about that feast in her memoirs.

Portrait of Kshesinskaya

The 18-year-old ballerina was passionate about continuing her budding relationship. However, the phlegmatic crown prince was either too shy or too busy with state affairs. For more than a year he hardly made himself known. Only at the beginning of 1892 did the servants report to the ballerina about the visit of some “hussar Volkov”. Nikolai stood on the threshold. Their first night was stormy. Meetings became regular; not only the entire high society, but even St. Petersburg cab drivers knew about the visits of “Hussar Volkov” to Matilda. The secret police, naturally, were also aware of their relationship. One day, the mayor himself burst into Kshesinskaya’s boudoir: the emperor urgently needed to see his son, and the governor had to pull the heir to the throne out of his mistress’s bed. Theater career Kshesinskaya went up sharply. Despite the fact that the chief choreographer Maurice Petipa did not really like her dance, he was forced to give her the main roles - the heir’s patronage extended to the entire Mariinsky Theater, and no one wanted to upset such a benefactor.

No matter how Kshesinskaya exaggerated Nikolai Alexandrovich’s love for her in her memoirs, judging by the development of events, he did not lose his head. In 1894, before the official engagement to Princess Alice of Hesse, the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, he said goodbye to his passion. The heir to the throne understood perfectly well that youthful amusements are one thing, but marital fidelity is quite another. The ballerina's lover became a wonderful family man.

Young Nikolai Alexandrovich

Matilda grieved, but not for very long. She found a new partner (and not on the ballet stage) again among the members ruling dynasty. The 25-year-old Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich was her ex-lover cousin. He had a very strong feeling for the ballerina, which stood the test of time and Matilda’s frivolity. She was very loving, although her hobbies rarely went beyond the imperial family. In 1901, she began an affair with Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, and a little later with his son, Andrei Vladimirovich, who was seven years younger than Kshesinskaya. Having started a relationship with “Andryusha,” Matilda did not interrupt relations with “Seryozha,” skillfully maneuvering between the two grand-ducal families and receiving generous gifts from both sides.

At the end of the same 1901, while traveling around France, Kshesinskaya discovered that she was pregnant. She could only guess who the father of the unborn child was, and paternity tests did not yet exist. Yes, he was not required in this case - both grand dukes were ready to recognize the boy born on June 18, 1902 as their son. Kshesinskaya at first wanted to name her son Kolya, but this might not have pleased Nicholas II, who had already become Emperor. Therefore, the boy became Vladimir Sergeevich. It seems that she chose his father simply because of his seniority.

Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich

In 1904, Kshesinskaya left the Mariinsky Theater troupe, but continued to dance the main roles on its stage under separate contracts with record fees. No one in the ballet world dared to contradict her. Her conflict with the director of the Imperial Theaters, Prince Volkonsky, over some costume ended in a personal reprimand to the prince from the emperor himself, followed by her resignation.

Despite the fact that Kshesinskaya not only rested on her laurels, but constantly improved her ballet skills (she was the first Russian ballerina to perform 32 fouettés in a row), she was poorly known outside of Russia. In 1911, she danced in Swan Lake during Diaghilev's Russian Seasons in London. The initiator of this cooperation was Sergei Diaghilev. He hoped, through the mediation of Matilda, to spend his seasons in St. Petersburg and save his lover Vaslav Nijinsky, who became liable for military service, from military service. The idea, for which Matilda did not really bother, failed. Diaghilev was not invited to the capital of the empire, and the title of deserter was added to Nijinsky’s regalia. After this story, Diaghilev’s trusted servant seriously suggested poisoning Kshesinskaya, who was guilty of all mortal sins.

Kshesinskaya Mansion

During foreign tours, Matilda was inevitably accompanied by one of her high-born lovers. Nevertheless, the ballerina managed to party here too. The rage of the great princes knew no bounds. But it didn’t fall on their flighty friend. In Paris, Andrei Vladimirovich challenged the young ballet dancer Pyotr Vladimirov to a duel and shot off his nose. The poor fellow's olfactory organ was pieced together by French doctors.

Kshesinskaya moved to her own luxurious mansion in St. Petersburg in 1906. Even the astronomical fees would not be enough to build this palace. Evil tongues said that Sergei Mikhailovich, a former member of the State Defense Council, stole large chunks from the military budget to give to his mistress. These rumors came back to haunt the ballerina during the First World War, when the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, justified defeat at the fronts by saying that “Matilda Kshesinskaya influences artillery affairs and participates in the distribution of orders between various companies.”

Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich

But the fate of the ballerina was influenced not by accusations of corruption, but February revolution. The mansion left by Kshesinskaya was occupied by Bolshevik organizations. A couple of weeks later, not a trace remained of the rich decoration, and Lenin, who had returned from emigration, began making speeches from the high balcony. Matilda tried to return the taken property and went to court, and one of the defendants was “candidate of rights V.I. Ulyanov (literary pseudonym - Lenin).” On May 5, 1917, the court decided to return the mansion to its rightful owner, but the Bolsheviks wanted to sneeze at the decision of the magistrate. In July, Kshesinskaya and her son left Petrograd forever and went to Kislovodsk, where Andrei Vladimirovich was waiting for them. “A feeling of joy to see Andrei again and a feeling of remorse 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, whom he doted on,” she wrote in her memoirs.

After long adventures and misadventures in 1920, Andrei, Matilda and Vova reached the Kshesinskaya mansion on Cote d'Azur. A year later, the old lovers finally got married legally, and Volodya, officially adopted, became Andreevich instead of Sergeevich. Matilda Kshesinskaya will live very long life, will receive the title of Most Serene Princess Romanowska-Krasinskaya, will teach ballet to French girls, will meet with Gestapo chief Müller to free his son from a concentration camp, will write memoirs about his turbulent youth, will outlive her husband by 15 years, and, a few months short of turning 100, in 1971 he will rest in the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery near Paris.

Kshesinskaya aged

By that time, her two high-born lovers were long dead. Their lives ended in the Urals in 1918. Nicholas II and his family were shot in Yekaterinburg. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, along with other members of the imperial family, was taken to Alapaevsk. On July 18, the Reds decided to execute the prisoners and took them to the old mine. The prince resisted and was shot. We can say that he was lucky: his relatives were thrown into the adit alive. When, after a month and a half, the whites who occupied Alapaevsk raised the bodies upstairs, it was discovered that in Sergei Mikhailovich’s hand was clutched a gold medallion with a portrait of Kshesinskaya and the inscription “Malya”.

Alexei Uchitel's film "Matilda" has finally been released in Russia - a seemingly ordinary drama about the latter's novel Russian Emperor and the ballerina, who suddenly, completely unexpectedly, caused an unprecedented seething of passions, scandals and even serious death threats against the director and members of the film crew. Well, while the intrigued Russian public, in a state of some confusion, is preparing to personally assess the source of the all-Russian hype, Vladimir Tikhomirov tells what Matilda Kshesinskaya was like in life.

Ballerina of blue bloods

According to the Kshesinsky family legend, Kshesinsky’s great-great-great-grandfather was Count Krasinsky, who possessed enormous wealth. After his death, almost the entire inheritance went to his eldest son - Kshesinskaya’s great-great-grandfather, but his youngest son I received practically nothing. But soon the happy heir died and all the wealth passed to his 12-year-old son Wojciech, who remained in the care of a French teacher.

Wojciech's uncle decided to kill the boy in order to take possession of his fortune. He hired two killers, one of whom repented at the very last moment and told Wojciech’s teacher about the plot. As a result, he secretly took the boy to France, where he registered him under the name Kshesinsky.

The only thing that Kshesinskaya has preserved as proof of her high-born origin is a ring with the coat of arms of the Counts Krasinski.

From childhood - to the machine

Ballet was Matilda's destiny from birth. The father, Pole Felix Kshesinsky, was a dancer and teacher, as well as the creator of a family troupe: the family had eight children, each of whom decided to connect his life with the stage. Matilda was the youngest. At the age of three she was sent to ballet class.

By the way, she is far from the only one of the Kshesinskys who achieved success. On the stage of the Imperial Theaters for a long time she shone older sister Julia. And Matilda herself was called “Kshesinskaya the Second” for a long time. Her brother Joseph Kshesinsky, also a famous dancer, also became famous. After the revolution, he remained in Soviet Russia and received the title of Honored Artist of the Republic. His fate was tragic - he died of hunger during the siege of Leningrad.

Love at first sight

Matilda was noticed already in 1890. At the graduation performance of the ballet school in St. Petersburg, which was attended by Emperor Alexander III and his family (Empress Maria Feodorovna, four brothers of the sovereign with their spouses and the still very young Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich), the emperor loudly asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya?” When the embarrassed pupil was brought to him, he extended his hand to her and said:

Be the decoration and glory of our ballet.

After the exam, the school gave a large festive dinner. Alexander III asked Kshesinskaya to sit next to him and introduced the ballerina to his son Nicholas.

Young Tsarevich Nicholas

“I don’t remember what we talked about, but I immediately fell in love with the heir,” Kshesinskaya later wrote. - I can see his blue eyes now 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...

The second meeting with Nikolai took place in Krasnoe Selo. A wooden theater was also built there to entertain the officers.

Kshesinskaya, after conversations with the heir, recalled:

All I could think about was 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 had never been able to talk alone, and I didn’t know how he felt about me. I found out this only later, when we became close...

The main thing is to remind yourself

The romance between Matilda and Nikolai Alexandrovich began in 1892, when the heir rented a luxurious mansion on English Avenue for the ballerina. The heir constantly came to her, and the lovers spent many happy hours there together (he later bought and gave her this house).

However, already in the summer of 1893, Niki began to visit the ballerina less and less.

And on April 7, 1894, Nicholas's engagement to Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt was announced.

Nicholas II and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt

It seemed to me that my life was over and that there would be no more joys, and that there was much, much sorrow ahead,” Matilda wrote. - It’s hard to express what I was worried about when I knew that he was already with his bride. The spring of my happy youth was over, a new, difficult life was beginning with a heart broken so early...

In her numerous letters, Matilda asked Nika for permission to continue to communicate with him on a first-name basis, and also to turn to him for help in difficult situations. Over the subsequent years, she tried in every possible way to remind herself of herself. For example, patrons in Winter Palace they often informed her about plans for Nicholas to move around the city - wherever the emperor went, he invariably met Kshesinskaya there, enthusiastically sending “dear Niki” air kisses. Which probably drove both the Tsar himself and his wife to white heat. It is a known fact that the management of the Imperial Theater once received an order banning Kshesinskaya from performing on Sundays - on this day the royal family usually visited theaters.

Mistress for three

After the heir, Kshesinskaya had several more lovers from among the representatives of the Romanov family. So, immediately after breaking up with Niki, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich consoled her - their romance lasted for a long time, which did not prevent Matilda Kshesinskaya from making new lovers. Also in 1900, she began dating 53-year-old Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich.

Soon Kshesinskaya began a whirlwind romance with his son, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, her future husband.

A feeling that I had not experienced for a long time immediately crept into my heart; “It was no longer an empty flirtation,” Kshesinskaya wrote. - 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.

Andrey Vladimirovich Romanov and Matilda Kshesinskaya with their son

However, she did not break off relations with other Romanovs, taking advantage of their patronage. For example, with their help she received a personal benefit performance dedicated to the tenth anniversary of her work at the Imperial Theater, although other artists were entitled to similar honors only after twenty years of service.

In 1901, Kshesinskaya found out that she was pregnant. The child's father is Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.

On June 18, 1902, she gave birth to a son at her dacha in Strelna. At first she wanted to name him Nikolai, in honor of her beloved Nika, but in the end the boy was named Vladimir - in honor of the father of her lover Andrei.

Kshesinskaya recalled that after giving birth she had a difficult conversation with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, who was ready to recognize the newborn as his son:

He knew very well that he was not the father of my child, but he loved me so much and was so attached to me that he forgave me and decided, despite everything, to stay with me and protect me as a good friend. I felt guilty before him, because the previous winter, when he was courting a young and beautiful Grand Duchess and there were rumors about a possible wedding, I, having learned about this, asked him to stop courtship and thereby put an end to conversations that were unpleasant for me. I adored Andrei so much that I didn’t realize how guilty I was before Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich...

As a result, the child was given the middle name Sergeevich and the surname Krasinsky - for Matilda this had special meaning. True, after the revolution, when in 1921 the ballerina and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich got married in Nice, their son received the “correct” middle name.

Gothic in Windsor

In honor of the birth of the child, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich gave Kshesinskaya a royal gift - the Borki estate in the Oryol province, where he planned to build a copy of the English Windsor on the site of the old manor house. Matilda admired the estate of the British kings.

Soon, the famous architect Alexander Ivanovich von Gauguin, who built the very famous Kshesinskaya mansion on the corner of Kronverksky Avenue in St. Petersburg, was discharged from St. Petersburg.

Construction took ten years, and in 1912 the castle and park were ready. However, the prima ballerina was dissatisfied: what kind of English style is this if in a five-minute walk through the park you can see a typical Russian village with thatched huts?! As a result, the neighboring village was razed to the ground, and the peasants were evicted to a new location.

But Matilda still refused to go on vacation to the Oryol province. As a result, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich sold the “Russian Windsor” in Borki to a local horse breeder from the Sheremetyev count family, and he bought the ballerina Villa Alam on the Cote d'Azur of France.

Mistress of the ballet

In 1904, Kshesinskaya decides to leave the Imperial Theater. But at the beginning of the new season she receives an offer to return on a “contractual” basis: she is obliged to pay her 500 rubles for each performance. Crazy money for those times! Also, Kshesinskaya was assigned all the parties that she liked.

Soon the entire theater world knew that Matilda's word was law. Thus, the director of the Imperial Theaters, Prince Sergei 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, Prince Volkonsky himself resigned.

The lesson was taken into account, and the new director of the Imperial Theaters, Vladimir Telyakovsky, already preferred to stay away from Matilda.

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 Kshesinskaya, Telyakovsky himself wrote. - She considered it her property and could give or not let others dance.

Matilda's Withering

In 1909, Kshesinskaya’s main patron, Nicholas II’s uncle, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, died. After his death, the attitude towards the ballerina at the Imperial Theater changed in the most radical way. She was increasingly offered episodic roles.

Vladimir Alexandrovich Romanov

Soon Kshesinskaya goes to Paris, then to London, and again St. Petersburg. Until 1917, no fundamental changes occurred in the life of the ballerina. The result of boredom was the ballerina’s romance with dancer Pyotr Vladimirov, who was 21 years younger than Matilda.

Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, accustomed to sharing his mistress with his father and uncle, 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.

On the run

At the beginning of February 1917, the police chief of Petrograd advised the ballerina and her son to leave the capital, since unrest was expected in the city. On February 22, the ballerina gave her last reception in her mansion - it was a dinner with luxurious serving for twenty-four people.

The very next day she left the city, engulfed in a wave of revolutionary madness. On February 28, the Bolsheviks, led by Georgian student Agababov, broke into the ballerina’s mansion. He began hosting dinners at famous house, forced the chef to cook for him and his guests, who drank elite wines and champagne from the cellar. Both Kshesinskaya's cars were requisitioned.

Kshesinskaya's mansion in St. Petersburg

At this time, Matilda herself wandered with her son to different apartments, fearing that her child would be taken away from her. Her servants brought food to her from home; almost all of them remained faithful to Kshesinskaya.

After some time, Kshesinskaya herself decided to go to her house. She was horrified when she saw what he had become.

I was offered to go up to my bedroom, but it was simply terrible what I saw: a wonderful carpet, specially ordered by me in Paris, was all covered in ink, all the furniture was taken to the lower floor, the door and all the shelves were torn out of the wonderful wardrobe with its hinges taken out, and there were guns there... In my restroom, the bathtub-basin was filled with cigarette butts. At this time, student Agababov came up to me... He invited me, as if nothing had happened, to move back and live with them and said that they would give me their son’s rooms. I didn’t answer anything, this was already the height of impudence...

Until mid-summer, Kshesinskaya tried to return the mansion, but then she realized that she just needed to run away. And she left for Kislovodsk, where she was reunited with Andrei Romanov.

In her own mansion different years Lenin, Zinoviev, Stalin and others worked. From the balcony of this house Lenin repeatedly spoke to workers, soldiers and sailors. Kalinin lived there for several years, from 1938 to 1956 there was a Kirov Museum, and since 1957 - the Museum of the Revolution. In 1991, a Museum was created in the mansion political history Russia, which is still there.

In exile

In 1920, Andrei and Matilda and their child left Kislovodsk and went to Novorossiysk. Then they leave for Venice, and from there to France.

In 1929, Matilda and her husband find themselves in Paris, but the money in their accounts is almost gone, and they need to live on something. Then Matilda decides to open her own ballet school.

Soon children begin to come to Kshesinskaya’s classes famous parents. For example, the daughters of Fyodor Chaliapin. In just five years, the school grows so that about 100 people study there annually. The school also operated during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Of course, at some moments there were no students at all, and the ballerina came to an empty studio. The school became an outlet for Kshesinskaya, thanks to which she survived the arrest of her son Vladimir. He ended up in the Gestapo literally the very next day after the Nazi invasion of the USSR. The parents raised all possible connections so that Vladimir would be released. According to rumors, Kshesinskaya even secured a meeting with the head of the secret German state police, Heinrich Müller. As a result, after 119 days of imprisonment, Vladimir was finally released from the concentration camp and returned home. But Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich really went crazy during his son’s imprisonment. He supposedly imagined Germans everywhere: the door opened, they came in and arrested his son.

Final

In 1956, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich died in Paris at the age of 77.

With the death of Andrei, the fairy tale that was my life ended. Our son remained with me - I adore him and from now on he is the whole meaning of my life. For him, of course, I will always remain a mother, but also his greatest and most faithful friend...

It is interesting that after leaving Russia, not a single word about the last Russian emperor is found in her diary.

Matilda died on December 5, 1971, a few months shy of her centenary. She was buried in the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois cemetery near Paris. On the monument there is an epitaph: “The Most Serene Princess Maria Feliksovna Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya, Honored Artist of the Imperial Theaters Kshesinskaya.”

Her son Vladimir Andreevich died single and childless in 1974 and was buried next to his mother’s grave.

But the Kshesinskaya ballet dynasty did not fade away. This year, the great-niece of Matilda Kshesinskaya, Eleonora Sevenard, was accepted into the Bolshoi Theater ballet troupe.

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Matilda Kshesinskaya (1872 – 1971) | Who was she: a courtesan or a great talent? Heterosexual or smart device? Probably all together...

Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya (Maria-Matilda Adamovna-Feliksovna-Valerievna Krzesinska; August 19, 1872, Ligovo (near St. Petersburg) - December 6, 1971, Paris) - a famous Russian ballerina and teacher, also known for her intimate relationships with the august persons of the Russian Empire.

Her name was "Madame Seventeen". The reason for this was her addiction to playing roulette in the Monte Carlo casino and a constant bet on the number 17. It was at this age, on March 23, 1890, that she first met the heir to the royal throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich or Niki. This meeting determined the entire future fate of Maria-Matilda Adamovna-Feliksovna-Valerievna Krzhezinskaya, or in the version better known to us, Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya. The more I read about this famous ballerina, about her life, love, work, the more often I ask myself the same question: who and what would she be without the support of the Romanovs?

Who is she more - a courtesan or something else? femme fatale? The authors of many stories very diligently avoid this topic, as if “lubricating” this facet of Matilda Kshesinskaya’s “talent”. But in reality, everything is not so simple, and this is confirmed by numerous memories of her contemporaries and the actions of the ballerina herself.

Thomson M.N. Portrait of Matilda Kshesinskaya. 1991

The world of theater is not so simple, if for ordinary spectators it is a holiday, then for the servants of melpomene it is a struggle for life, intrigue, mutual claims and the ability to do everything to be noticed by the superiors of this world. Ballet dancers have always been loved by the upper class: grand dukes and nobles of lower rank did not shy away from patronizing this or that ballerina. Patronage often did not go beyond a love affair, but still some even dared to take these beauties as wives. But such people were in the minority; the majority were destined for the sad fate of “flashing up as a bright star” on the stage and then quietly fading away outside it. Matilda Kshesinskaya escaped this fate...

Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya was a hereditary “ballet dancer” - she was born on August 31, 1872 into a theatrical family of a Pole, dancer and opera singer Felix Kshesinsky and ballerina Yulia Dolinskaya (in another transcription Dominskaya) in St. Petersburg.

Felix Kshesinsky and Yulia Dominskaya

Matilda became the last, thirteenth child in this family and had an affectionate name - Malya, Malechka. Felix Kshesinsky's eldest daughter, Yulia, danced with her father and is often confused with Matilda Feliksovna in photographs today.

Sister Yulia - Kshesinskaya 1st

Matilda's brother Joseph also became a ballet dancer. It was in such an atmosphere of the theater world that young Malechka grew up.

Matilda with her father in the Polish act of the opera "A Life for the Tsar" 1890s

At the age of 8 she became a visiting student at the Imperial Theater School, and at the age of 15 she took lessons from Christian Ioganson, who became her teacher for many years, even after she became a recognized ballet dancer.

In the spring of 1890, after graduating from college, she was enrolled in the group of the Mariinsky Theater and in her first season she danced in 22 ballets and 21 operas.
Not a bad start... and it may seem that talent is to blame. But is this true? In fact, this is not entirely true - on March 23, 1890, during the final exam, the first meeting of the future Emperor Nicholas II, a phlegmatic and lethargic young man, with a cheerful and cheerful Polish woman took place. Everything happened with the approval of the members royal family, starting from Emperor Alexander III, who organized this acquaintance, and ending with Empress Maria Feodorovna, who still wanted her son to become... a man.

After the exam there was dinner, mutual flirting between two young people and years later an entry in Kshesinskaya’s memoirs: “When I said goodbye to the Heir, a feeling of attraction to each other had already crept into his soul, as well as into mine.”

truly them serious relationship began only two years later, after the heir came home to Matilda Kshesinskaya, under the name of Hussar Volkov. Notes, letters and... gifts, truly royal. The first was a gold bracelet with large sapphires and two diamonds, on which Matilda engraved two dates - 1890 and 1892 - the first meeting and the first visit to her home.

But... Their love was doomed and after April 7, 1894, when the engagement of the Tsarevich to Alice of Hesse was officially announced, Nicholas never came to Matilda again.

However, as you know, he allowed her to contact him in letters on a first name basis and promised to help her in everything if she needed help.

But... as they say, a holy place is never empty: “In my grief and despair, I was not left alone. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, with whom I became friends from the day the heir first brought him to me, stayed with me and supported me.

I never felt a feeling for him that could be compared with my feeling for Niki, but with all his attitude he won my heart, and I sincerely fell in love with him,” Matilda Kshesinskaya later wrote in her memoirs. She fell in love... however quickly and again... Romanova.

And it is not surprising that her career was going uphill. She became the prima of the Mariinsky Theater and virtually the entire repertoire was built around her. Yes, her contemporaries did not refuse to recognize her talent, but latently everyone understood that this talent made its way to the top not through a terrible struggle for existence, but in a slightly different way. But let’s give the floor to the witnesses; Vladimir Arkadyevich Telyakovsky, director of the imperial theaters, wrote about this especially well in his “Memoirs.”

From the memoirs of V.A. Telyakovsky: “M. Kshesinskaya danced beautifully and was also an undeniably outstanding Russian ballerina. For (Kshesinskaya) ... success on stage was a means: her aspirations were more grandiose and extensive, and the role of only a ballerina, although outstanding, did not satisfy her from a young age, M. Kshesinskaya left in her thirteenth year of service. at will from the ballet troupe.

She saved her strength for another purpose. M. Kshesinskaya was an undeniably smart woman. She perfectly took into account both the strong and especially the weaknesses men, these eternally searching Romeos, who say whatever they like about women, and from whom women make whatever they, women, want."

From the memoirs of V.A. Telyakovsky: “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 - from all the ballets more than half of the best belong to the ballerina Kshesinskaya.

with Vera Trefilova in the ballet "Pharaoh's Daughter"(?)

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 declared: “I won’t give it, this is my ballet.” 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 case was secret and of special national importance. So what? She receives the following answer: “Since this ballet is Kshesinskaya’s, it should be left to her.”

Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich loved Matilda Kshesinskaya faithfully for 25 years. He pampered her, protected her, saved her... In Strelna, in the name of Kshesinskaya, he bought a magnificent dacha.

Later she would write: “In order to console and entertain me at least a little, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich pampered me as best he could, did not deny me anything and tried to forestall all my desires.”

And then a word from the historian A.B. Shirokorad, a quote from the book “The Fall of Port Arthur”: “...The question arises: how did the poor dancer Matilda Kshesinskaya become one of the richest women in Russia? The salary of the soloist of the Mariinsky Theater? Yes, she spent more on outfits ! Communication in 1890-1894 with the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Nicholas? There were also pennies there.

At the end of the 1890s, Kshesinskaya bought a country palace in Strelna. The ballerina overhauled it and even built her own power plant. “Many envied me, since even in the [Winter Palace. - A. III.] there was no electricity,” Kshesinskaya noted proudly. In Kshesinskaya's Strelna Palace, tables were set for more than a thousand people. On Matilda’s birthday, the railway schedule of trains passing through Strelnya even changed.
In the spring of 1906, Kshesinskaya bought a plot of land on the corner of Kronverksky Prospekt and Bolshaya Dvoryanskaya Street and commissioned the architect Alexander von Gauguin to design a palace. By the end of 1906, the construction of the two-story palace was completed.

The famous Kshesinskaya mansion in St. Petersburg Photo of the early twentieth century

salon 1916

Its length was 50 meters and width - 33 meters. They wrote about the palace - everything was built and furnished according to Kshesinskaya’s wishes and tastes: the hall was in the Russian Empire style, the salon was in the style of Louis XVI, the bedroom and restroom were in the English style, etc. The stylish furniture was supplied by the famous French manufacturer Meltzer. Chandeliers, sconces, candelabra and everything else, even the latches, were ordered from Paris. The house with the adjacent garden is a small masterpiece of Matilda Kshesinskaya’s imagination. Well-trained maids, a French cook, a senior janitor - a Knight of St. George, a wine cellar, carriages, cars and even a cowshed with a cow and a cowwoman. Matilda loved to drink milk. There was, of course, a large winter garden. Where does all this come from? It’s not hard to guess that the source of Matilda’s well-being... was Russia’s huge military budget.”

The same budget to which the Grand Dukes and in particular Sergei Mikhailovich had access. In all her roles, she “shone”: she appeared on stage, hung with real jewelry - diamonds, pearls, sapphires... She was served by Faberge himself and made many things commissioned by the Grand Dukes.

THE DOG COLLAR NECLACE (“dog collar”) Matilda is shown wearing a similar necklace in almost all photographs. Despite such an unpoetic name, this type of necklace flourished for almost half a century.

Yes, she dances all this time, but ballet is not work for her, but just entertainment, although, to her credit, she is talented and does everything to stay in shape. And all in order to remove competitors and rivals! There is an interesting entry on this subject in the memoirs great ballerina Tamara Karsavina.

From the memoirs of ballerina Tamara Karsavina: “I remember another incident with a fine, which had serious consequences. It occurred during Volkonsky’s directorship. Once Matilda Kshesinskaya wore her own costume to a performance, ignoring Volkonsky’s order to go on stage in a suit specially tailored for the role. The next day she was fined, Kshesinskaya became angry and began to seek cancellation, and a few days later an order from the Minister of the Court to cancel the fine appeared in the Vestnik.

ballet "Camargo"

Prince Volkonsky immediately resigned. He was deservedly much loved, and the community was indignant at the disrespect shown to one of its members. Hostile demonstrations directed against Kshesinskaya began to take place in the theater - she paid dearly for her short-term triumph. At that time she was at the peak of her talent. In terms of virtuosity, she was not inferior to Legnani, and in terms of acting qualities she even surpassed her.

Matilda chose the time for her performances herself and performed only at the height of the season, allowing herself long breaks, during which she stopped regular classes and indulged in unbridled entertainment. Always cheerful and laughing, she loved tricks and cards; sleepless nights did not affect her appearance, did not spoil her mood. She had amazing vitality and exceptional willpower.

During the month preceding her appearance on stage, Kshesinskaya devoted all her time to work - she trained hard for hours, did not go anywhere and did not receive anyone, went to bed at ten in the evening, weighed herself every morning, always ready to limit herself in food, although her diet was without that she was quite strict. Before the performance, she remained in bed for twenty-four hours, only eating at noon. light breakfast. At six o'clock she was already at the theater in order to have two hours at her disposal for exercise and makeup. One evening I was warming up on stage at the same time as Kshesinskaya and noticed how feverishly her eyes sparkled.

From the very beginning she showed me great kindness. One autumn, during my first season at the theatre, she sent me an invitation to spend the weekend at her country house in Strelna. “Don’t bother taking fancy dresses with you,” she wrote, “we have a village style here. I’ll send for you.” The thought of the modesty of my wardrobe worried me greatly. Matilda apparently guessed this. She also thought that I didn’t know her secretary by sight, so she came to the station to pick me up herself. She had a small group of friends staying with her.

As a hostess, Matilda was excellent. She had a large garden near the coast. Several goats lived in the pen, one of them, a favorite who appeared on stage in Esmeralda, followed Matilda like a dog.

caricature by N. and S. Legat "Esmeralda"

All day Matilda did not let me go, showing countless signs of attention... I got the impression that everyone around me fell under the charm of her cheerful and good-natured nature. But even I, with all my naivety, understood that the sycophants surrounding her exuded a lot of flattery. And this is understandable, taking into account the position occupied by the famous dancer, rich and influential. Envy and gossip constantly followed her. All that day I had a feeling of bewilderment - could this charming woman really be the same terrible Kshesinskaya, who was called an unscrupulous intriguer who destroys the careers of her rivals.

If anyone hurts you, come straight to me. “I will stand up for you,” she said later, and subsequently kept her word: she had the opportunity to intervene and stand up for me. I began to get significantly fewer roles, and it turned out that the director was led to believe that I had too much work.

One famous ballerina, who apparently was not one of my well-wishers, unexpectedly showed excessive concern for my health, asking the director not to overwork me, since I was sick with consumption. The director, thus misled by this feigned concern, showing true sympathy, began to gradually reduce my repertoire."

with colleagues (ballerinas, choreographers, dancers) (in the first row, in the center to the left of the man in military uniform)

On February 13, 1900, theatrical Petersburg celebrated its tenth anniversary creative life Kshesinskaya on the Imperial stage. The sons of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich - Kirill, Boris and Andrey - were invited to dinner after the anniversary performance.

With the latter, the ballerina began a whirlwind romance. She was six years older than Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.

At the same time, Matilda officially lived with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich. In June 1902, Matilda Feliksovna had a son. The boy was named Vladimir in honor of the father of Grand Duke Andrei. Only, from which Romanov this child was born is still unknown. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich considered him his son until the end of his life. And again the word to V.A. Telyakovsky.

Matilda Kshesinskaya with her son Vladimir. 1916

From the diary of Vladimir Telyakovsky:

“Is this really a theater, and is it really me who is in charge? Everyone is happy, everyone is happy and glorifying an extraordinary, technically strong, morally impudent, cynical, insolent ballerina, living simultaneously with two great princes and not only not hiding this, but, on the contrary, intertwining and this art in its stinking, cynical wreath of human carrion and depravity told me that Kshesinskaya herself says that she is pregnant; wanting to continue dancing, she remade some parts of the ballet in order to avoid risky movements. It is still unknown who will be assigned the child. Some say to Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, and some to Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, others talk about the ballet Kozlov."
In 1904, she left the stage, but retained the right to roles in performances and did not allow anyone else to dance them. In 1908, Matilda Kshesinskaya successfully tours the Paris Grand Opera and amazes the audience with her 32 fouettés!

And at the same time, she immediately starts an affair with her partner Pyotr Vladimirov, who is 21 years younger than her, which ends in a duel in the forest near Paris between the latter and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.

And then there was a revolution and everything went to pieces. Her luxurious mansion was plundered, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich died in Alapaevsk: dying in an abandoned mine, he clutched in his hand a small gold medallion with a portrait of Matilda Kshesinskaya and the inscription “Malya”. On February 19, 1920, she sailed to Constantinople on the Italian liner Semiramis. In January 1921, in France, they married Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, and Matilda received the title of Most Serene Princess Romanovskaya.

In 1929, Kseshinskaya opened her ballet studio in Paris, where students from as far away as England, the USA, and Spain took lessons from her.

"Russian", Covent Garden, London, 1936

Matilda Kshesinskaya in the last years of her life. 1954

1969

Son Vladimir

1950s(?)

“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. This was the same ballet that I saw more than forty years ago, possessing the same spirit and the same traditions...” - this is what she wrote in her memoirs.

She died at the age of 99 in 1971 and was laid to rest in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois in France.

Matilda Kshesinskaya's grave at the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery

In 2010, a television program from the series “More than Love” was prepared about the history of the relationship between Matilda Kshesinskaya and Prince Andrei Romanov.

Matilda Kshesinskaya and Prince Andrei Romanov, TV show "More than Love"

Who was she anyway: a courtesan or a great talent? Heterosexual or smart device? Probably all together, but one thing is clear, her role in the art of Russian theater and the “art” of Russian life was far from the last... but such is Russia.

Original post and comments at

Mistress of the House of Romanov

125 years ago, a 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.

In 1890, for the first time, the royal family led by Alexander III was supposed to be present at 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 hall, where they were gathered: Alexander III with Empress Maria Feodorovna, the sovereign’s four brothers with their spouses, and the still very young Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich. To the surprise of everyone, the emperor loudly asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya?” When the embarrassed student was brought to him, he extended his hand to her and said: “Be the decoration and glory of our ballet.”

Seventeen-year-old Kshesinskaya was stunned by what happened in the rehearsal hall. But the further events of this evening seemed even more incredible. After the official part, a large gala dinner was given at the school. Alexander III took a seat at one of the lavishly served tables and asked Kshesinskaya to sit next to him. Then he pointed to the seat next to the young ballerina to his heir and, smiling, said: “Just be careful not to 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 sat next to me throughout the dinner, we no longer looked at each other the same way 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. A wooden theater was built there, where performances were given to entertain the officers.

Kshesinskaya, who from the moment of the graduation performance dreamed of at least seeing Nikolai up close again, was infinitely happy when he came to talk to her during intermission. However, after getting ready, the heir had to go on a trip around the world for 9 months.

“After the summer season, when I could meet and talk with him, my feeling filled my entire soul, and all I could think about was 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 had never been able to talk alone, and I didn’t know how he felt about me. I found out this only later, when we became close...”

Matilda Kshesinskaya. Mysteries of life. Documentary

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