Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya died in 1971, she was 99 years old. She outlived her country, her ballet, her husband, lovers, friends and enemies. The empire disappeared, wealth melted. An era passed with her: the people who gathered at her coffin saw off last path the brilliant and frivolous St. Petersburg society of which she was once an adornment.

13 years before her death, Matilda Feliksovna had a dream. The bells were ringing, church singing was heard, and suddenly a huge, majestic and amiable man appeared before her. Alexander III. He smiled and, holding out his hand for a kiss, said: “Mademoiselle, you will be the beauty and pride of our ballet...” Matilda Feliksovna woke up in tears: this happened more than seventy years ago, at the final exam at the theater school, - the emperor singled her out among everyone, and during the gala dinner he sat next to the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich. This morning, 86-year-old Kshesinskaya decided to write her famous memoirs, but even they could not reveal the secrets of her charm.

There are women to whom the word “sin” does not apply: men forgive them everything. They manage to maintain dignity, reputation and a veneer of purity in the most incredible situations, smilingly stepping over public opinion - and Malya Kshesinskaya was one of them. The heir's girlfriend Russian throne and his uncle’s mistress, the permanent mistress of the Imperial Ballet, who changed theater directors like gloves, Malya achieved everything she wanted: she became the legal wife of one of the grand dukes and turned into her Serene Highness Princess Romanova-Krasinskaya. In Paris in the fifties, this no longer meant much, but Matilda Feliksovna desperately clung to her title: she spent her life trying to become related to the House of Romanov.

And first there was her father’s estate, a large light log house and a forest, where she picked mushrooms, fireworks on holidays and light flirting with young guests. The girl grew up nimble, big-eyed and not particularly pretty: short, with a sharp nose and a squirrel chin - old photographs are not able to convey her living charm.

According to legend, Mali’s great-grandfather, in his youth, lost his fortune, the title of count and the noble surname Krasinsky: having fled to France from assassins hired by a villainous uncle who dreamed of taking over the title and wealth, having lost the papers that certified his name, the former count became an actor - and became later one of the stars of Polish opera. He lived to be one hundred and six years old and died of acne due to an improperly heated stove. Mali's father, Felix Yanovich, an honored dancer of the Imperial Ballet and the best mazurka performer in St. Petersburg, did not reach eighty-five. Malya took after her grandfather - she also turned out to be a long-liver, and she, like her grandfather, also had plenty of vitality, will and acumen. Soon after prom In the diary of the young ballerina of the imperial stage, an entry appeared: “But still, he will be mine!”

These words, which had a direct bearing on the heir to the Russian throne, turned out to be prophetic...

Before us is an 18-year-old girl and a 20-year-old young man. She is lively, lively, flirtatious, he is well-mannered, delicate and sweet: huge Blue eyes, a charming smile and an incomprehensible mixture of softness and stubbornness. The Tsarevich is unusually charming, but it is impossible to force him to do what he does not want. Malya performs at the Krasnoselsky Theater - nearby summer camps, and the hall is filled with officers of the guard regiments. After the performance, she flirts with the guards crowding in front of her dressing room, and one fine day the Tsarevich is among them: he is serving in the Life Hussar Regiment, a red dolman and a gold-embroidered mentic are cleverly sitting on him. Malya shoots her eyes, jokes with everyone, but it is addressed only to him.

Decades will pass, his diaries will be published, and Matilda Feliksovna will begin to read them with a magnifying glass in her hands: “Today I visited little Kshesinskaya... Little Kshesinskaya is very sweet... Little Kshesinskaya positively interests me... We said goodbye - I stood at the theater tormented by memories ".

She grew old, her life came to an end, but she still wanted to believe that future emperor was in love with her.

She was with the Tsarevich for only a year, but he helped her all her life - over time, Nikolai turned into a wonderful, ideal memory. Malya ran out onto the road along which the imperial carriage was supposed to pass, and was filled with emotion and delight when she noticed him in the theater box. However, all this was ahead; in the meantime, he made eyes at her behind the scenes of the Krasnoselsky Theater, and she wanted to make him her lover at all costs.

What the Tsarevich thought and felt remained unknown: he never confided in his friends and numerous relatives and did not even trust his diary. Nikolai began to visit Kshesinskaya’s house, then bought her a mansion, introduced her to his brothers and uncles - and a cheerful company of grand dukes often visited Mala. Soon Malya became the soul of the Romanov circle - friends said that champagne flowed in her veins. The most despondent of her guests was the heir (his former colleagues said that during regimental holidays, Niki managed, after sitting at the head of the table all night, not to utter a word). However, this did not upset Malya at all, she just could not understand why he constantly tells her about his love for Princess Alice of Hesse?

Their relationship was doomed from the very beginning: the Tsarevich would never offend his wife by having an affair on the side. At parting, they met outside the city. Malya prepared for the conversation for a long time, but was unable to say anything important. She only asked permission to continue to be on a first-name basis with him, to call him “Nicky” and to ask for help if necessary. Matilda Feliksovna rarely used this precious right, and besides, at first she had no time for special privileges: having lost her first lover, Malya fell into severe depression.

The Tsarevich married his Alice, and cavalry guards and horse guards in gold and silver armor, red hussars, blue dragoons and grenadiers in high fur hats rode along the Moscow streets, walkers dressed in gilded liveries walked, and court carriages rolled. When the crown was placed on the young woman’s head, the Kremlin burst into flames with thousands of light bulbs. Malya didn’t see anything: it seemed to her that happiness was gone forever and life was no longer worth living. Meanwhile, everything was just beginning: next to her there was already a man who would take care of her for twenty years. Having parted with Kshesinskaya, Nikolai asked his cousin, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, to look after Malya (ill-wishers said that he simply handed her over to his brother), and he immediately agreed: a connoisseur and great connoisseur of ballet, he had long been in love with Kshesinskaya. Poor Sergei Mikhailovich did not suspect that he was destined to become her squire and shadow, that because of her he would never start a family and would be happy to give her everything (including his name), and she would prefer someone else to him.

Malya, meanwhile, was getting the hang of it social life and quickly made a career in ballet: ex-girlfriend Emperor, and now his brother’s mistress, she, of course, became a soloist and chose only those roles that she liked. “The case of fags,” when the director of the imperial theaters, the all-powerful Prince Volkonsky, resigned due to a dispute about a suit Mala did not like, further strengthened her authority. Malya carefully cut out reviews that spoke about her refined technique, artistry and rare stage presence and pasted them into a special album - it would become her consolation during emigration.

The benefit performance was reserved for those who had served in the theater for at least twenty years, but for Mali it took place in the tenth year of service - the stage was littered with armfuls of flowers, the audience carried it to the carriage in their arms. The Ministry of the Court gave her a wonderful platinum eagle with diamonds on a gold chain - Malya asked to tell Niki that an ordinary diamond ring would greatly upset her.

On her tour to Moscow, Kshesinskaya traveled in a separate carriage; her jewelry cost about two million rubles. After working for about fifteen years, Malya left the stage. She magnificently celebrated her departure with a farewell benefit performance, and then returned - but not to the staff and without concluding a contract... She danced only what she wanted and when she wanted. By that time she was already called Matilda Feliksovna.

The century ended old life- the revolution was still quite far away, but the smell of decay was already in the air: in St. Petersburg there was a suicide club, group marriages became commonplace. Matilda Feliksovna, a woman of impeccable reputation and unshakable social position, managed to derive considerable benefit from this.

She was allowed everything: to have a platonic love for Emperor Nicholas, to live with his cousin, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, and, according to rumors (most likely they were true), to have a love affair with another Grand Duke - Vladimir Alexandrovich, who was old enough to be her father .

His son, young Andrei Vladimirovich, cute as a doll and painfully shy, became second (after Nikolai) great love Matilda Feliksovna.

It all started during one of the receptions in her new mansion, built with the money of Sergei Mikhailovich, who was sitting at the head of the table - there were few such houses in St. Petersburg. Shy Andrey inadvertently knocked a glass of red wine onto the hostess’s luxurious dress. Malya felt that her head was spinning again...

They walked in the park, sat for a long time in the evenings on the porch of her dacha, and life was so beautiful that it made sense to die here and now - the future could only spoil the unfolding idyll. All her men were involved: Sergei Mikhailovich paid Malina’s bills and defended her interests before the ballet authorities, Vladimir Alexandrovich ensured her a strong position in society, Andrei reported that when the emperor left his summer residence for a walk, Malya immediately ordered the horses to be pawned and drove up towards the road, and beloved Nicky respectfully saluted her...

She soon became pregnant; the birth was successful, and the four Raspberry men showed touching care about little Volodya: Niki gave him the title of hereditary nobleman, Sergei Mikhailovich offered to adopt the boy. Sixty-year-old Vladimir Alexandrovich also felt happy - the child looked like the Grand Duke like two peas in a pod. Only Vladimir Alexandrovich’s wife was very worried: her Andrei, a pure boy, had completely lost his head because of this minx. But Maria Pavlovna bore her grief as befits a lady of royal blood: both men (husband and son) did not hear a single reproach from her.

Meanwhile, Malya and Andrey went abroad: Grand Duke gave her a villa on Cap d'Ail (a few years ago she received a house in Paris from Sergei Mikhailovich). The chief inspector of artillery took care of her career, nursed Volodya and increasingly faded into the background: Malya fell head over heels in love with her young friend; she transferred to Andrei the feelings that she once felt for his father. Vladimir Alexandrovich died in 1909. Malya and Andrei grieved together (Maria Pavlovna shuddered when she saw the scoundrel in a perfectly tailored funeral dress that was beautiful on her). By 1914, Kshesinskaya was Andrei’s unmarried wife: he appeared with her in society, she accompanied him to foreign sanatoriums (the Grand Duke suffered from weak lungs). But Matilda Feliksovna did not forget about Sergei Mikhailovich either - several years before the war, the prince hit on one of the grand duchesses, and then Malya politely but persistently asked him to stop the disgrace - firstly, he was compromising her, and secondly, she was unpleasant look at this. Sergei Mikhailovich never married: he raised little Volodya and did not complain about his fate. Several years ago, Malya excommunicated him from the bedchamber, but he still continued to hope for something.

First world war did not harm her men: Sergei Mikhailovich had too high ranks to get to the front line, and Andrei, due to poor health, served at the headquarters of the Western Front. But after the February Revolution, she lost everything: the Bolshevik headquarters was located in her mansion - and Matilda Feliksovna left home in what she was wearing. She put some of the jewelry that she managed to save in the bank, sewing the receipt into the hem of her favorite dress. This did not help - after 1917, the Bolsheviks nationalized all bank deposits. Several pounds of silverware, precious items from Faberge, diamond trinkets donated by fans - everything went into the hands of the sailors who settled in the abandoned house. Even her dresses disappeared - later Alexandra Kollontai sported them.

But Matilda Feliksovna never gave up without a fight. She filed a lawsuit against the Bolsheviks, and he ordered the uninvited guests to vacate the owner’s property in as soon as possible. However, the Bolsheviks never moved out of the mansion... It was approaching October Revolution, and the girlfriend of the former emperor, and now citizen Romanov, fled to the south, to Kislovodsk, far from the Bolshevik outrages, where Andrei Vladimirovich and his family had moved a little earlier.

Before leaving, Sergei Mikhailovich proposed to her, but she rejected him. The prince could have left with her, but chose to stay - he had to settle the matter with her contribution and look after the mansion.

The train started moving, Malya leaned out of the compartment window and waved her hand - Sergei, who did not look like himself in a long baggy civilian coat, hastily took off his hat. This is how she remembered him - they would never see each other again.

Maria Pavlovna and her son had settled in Kislovodsk by that time. The power of the Bolsheviks was almost not felt here - until a detachment of Red Guards arrived from Moscow. Requisitions and searches began immediately, but the grand dukes were not touched - they were not scary new government and is not needed by her opponents.

Andrey chatted pleasantly with the commissars, and they kissed Male’s hands. The Bolsheviks turned out to be quite benevolent people: when the city council of Pyatigorsk arrested Andrei and his brothers, one of the commissars repelled the grand dukes with the help of the highlanders and sent them out of the city with forged documents. (They said that the Grand Dukes were traveling on instructions from the local party committee.) They returned when Shkuro’s Cossacks entered the city: Andrei rode up to the house on horseback, wearing a Circassian coat, surrounded by guards from the Kabardian nobility. In the mountains, his beard grew, and Malya almost burst into tears: Andrei was like two peas in a pod like the late emperor.

What happened next was like a protracted nightmare: the family fled from the Bolsheviks to Anapa, then returned to Kislovodsk, then went on the run again - and everywhere they were caught up with letters sent from Alapaevsk from Sergei Mikhailovich, who was killed several months ago. In the first, he congratulated Raspberry's son Volodya on his birthday - the letter arrived three weeks after they celebrated it, on the very day when it became known about the death of the Grand Duke. The Bolsheviks threw all the members of the Romanov dynasty who were in Alapaevsk into a coal mine - they died for several days. When the whites entered the city and the bodies were raised to the surface, a small gold medallion with a portrait of Matilda Feliksovna and the inscription “Malya” was clutched in Sergei Mikhailovich’s hand.

And then emigration began: a small dirty steamer, an Istanbul hairspray and a long journey to France, to the Yamal villa. Malya and Andrey arrived there penniless and immediately mortgaged their property - they had to dress up and pay the gardener.

After Maria Pavlovna died, they got married. The locum tenens of the Russian throne, Grand Duke Kirill, gave Mala the title of His Serene Highness Princess Romanova-Krasinskaya - this is how she became related to the Bulgarian, Yugoslav and Greek kings, the kings of Romanian, Danish and Swedish - the Romanovs were related to all European monarchs, and Matilda Feliksovna happened to be invited for royal dinners. By this time, she and Andrey had moved to a tiny two-room apartment in the poor Parisian district of Passy.

Roulette took the house and villa: Matilda Feliksovna played big and always bet on 17 - her lucky number. But it did not bring her luck: the money received for houses and land, as well as the funds that were obtained for Maria Pavlovna’s diamonds, went to the croupier from the Monte Carlo casino. But Kshesinskaya, of course, did not give up.

Matilda Feliksovna's ballet studio was famous throughout Europe - her students were the best ballerinas of the Russian emigration. After classes, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, dressed in a worn jacket frayed at the elbows, walked around the rehearsal hall and watered the flowers that stood in the corners - this was his household duty, they did not trust him with anything else. And Matilda Feliksovna worked like an ox and did not leave the ballet barre even after Parisian doctors found inflammation in her leg joints. She continued to study, overcoming terrible pain, and the disease subsided.

Kshesinskaya far outlived her husband, friends and enemies - if fate had allowed her another year, Matilda Feliksovna would have celebrated her centenary.

Shortly before her death, she again had a strange dream: a theater school, a crowd of students in white dresses, a rain storm raging outside the windows.

Then they sang “Christ is Risen from the Dead,” the doors opened, and Alexander III and her Nicky entered the hall. Malya fell to her knees, grabbed their hands - and woke up in tears. Life passed, she got everything she wanted - and lost everything, realizing in the end that none of it mattered.

Nothing except the notes that a strange, withdrawn, weak-willed young man made in his diary many years ago:

"Saw little M again."

“I was at the theater - I really like little Kshesinskaya.”

“Farewell to M. - I stood at the theater, tormented by memories...”

MOSCOW, August 31 - RIA Novosti. Famous ballerina and socialite Matilda Kshesinskaya was born 145 years ago. Her life is covered in rumors and legends: they tell, for example, about countless treasures that Matilda seemed to have hidden somewhere when leaving St. Petersburg in 1917. A brilliant dancer and star of the Imperial Theater, she is remembered primarily for her numerous novels.

Kshesinskaya herself wrote in her memoirs that she had been a coquette since childhood. The connection with three great princes, including the future Emperor Nicholas II, is only a small part of the stories that she herself openly wrote about in her memoirs.

However, photographs of Kshesinskaya to some extent confirm rumors about her incredible femininity and charm. RIA Novosti publishes archival portraits of the dancer.

The Polish woman Kshesinskaya was from creative family. Grandfather is a violinist and singer, father Felix Kshesinsky is a dancer. She claimed that her father performed the mazurka so exemplarily that thanks to him, this dance was included in the mandatory program of all balls in Russia.

Matilda herself was third joint child their parents. Her older sister Yulia and brother Yuzya also danced. It was Yulia who was called Kshesinskaya the first in the theater, while Matilda was Kshesinskaya the second.

Matilda graduated from the Imperial Choreographic School. In her memoirs, she emphasized that teachers singled her out from childhood. In the theater, she gained the reputation of a headstrong woman. For example, she once changed her costume for a performance, supposedly uncomfortable, to her own, after which she was fined.

However, the famous ballerina was distinguished not only by her obstinate character, but also by her hard work. During the season she could dance in 40 performances (ballet and opera). Matilda did not stop working even later, already in exile: she created a ballet school in which up to 150 people could study at the same time.

Matilda also had weaknesses - throughout her life she played roulette. They say that allegedly, when she sat down at the gaming table for the first time, she bet on 17. This brought her a win. Since then, she only played roulette and bet on one number, for which she received the nickname Madame Seventeen.

Having fled St. Petersburg in 1917, Matilda first moved to Kislovodsk, where she spent almost a year. There she hoped to wait troubled times, but later it became clear that she would be safer in France.

Life in exile was obviously quieter and calmer than in the pre-revolutionary Russian capital. Kshesinskaya officially registered her marriage with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich (grandson of Alexander II), from whom she already had a son.

She did a lot to spread the traditions of Russian academic dance. Matilda created her own school, patronized the Russian Federation classical ballet, which proclaimed the idea of ​​continuing the traditions of Russian ballet in English dance schools. Kshesinskaya lived long life- she died at the age of 99 (in 1971) in Paris and was buried next to her husband in the Russian cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois in the suburbs of the French capital.

• Chronicle of events

  Materials on the topic: 19

  Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II: the love of a ballerina and the future emperor

  Matilda Kshesinskaya and Tsarevich Nicholas, the future Nicholas II - there are a lot of mysteries surrounding their romance. We are publishing for the first time the ballerina’s diary, which she kept in the 1890s. The Foundation of the Bakhrushin Theater Museum contains notebooks where Kshesinskaya wrote down details love story. Having emigrated to France, already in the 1950s, she published her memoirs, but in the diaries of Matilda Kshesinskaya, what happened between her and Nikolai looks different.

  • The outgoing year 2017 largely passed under the sign of Matilda Kshesinskaya. In historical terms, they argued, trying to get to the bottom of the truth in the love relationship between the ballerina and the future Emperor Nicholas II. We researched in the archive and published the unpublished diaries of Kshesinskaya and Nikolai. But the surprises continue. In the State Archive of the Russian Federation we found an unpublished fragment of Kshesinskaya’s memoirs, which says: she was pregnant by the crown prince!

    Among the most discussed topics of the entire outgoing 2017 is, of course, the “fatal” ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya and her amorous story with Tsarevich Nicholas. And one of the most popular topics at the end of December is canine, marking the onset of the Year of the Dog. The MK correspondent tried to combine these two “ingredients”, and the result was a very “sparkling” cocktail. The formula is simple and intriguing: Matilda + dogs = mystery.

    It's about about documents surviving abroad that belonged to Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna - younger sister the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II. On the evening of December 6, a solemn ceremony of handing over the unit took place family archive Romanovs, acquired by one of the Russian charitable foundations– a total of 95 documents, – to the State Archive of the Russian Federation.

    Nicholas II and Matilda Kshesinskaya: for more than a hundred years, their relationship has haunted historians, politicians, writers, idle gossips, zealots of morality... In the State Archives of the Russian Federation, we got acquainted with the diaries of Nikolai Romanov, which he kept in 1890-1894 (the main Some of these records were known only to a narrow circle of specialists). The diaries shed light on the height of the ballerina's romance with the Tsarevich.

    Against the backdrop of regularly occurring “storms” around the film “Matilda,” the “ Public opinion"I decided to find out the attitude of ordinary Russians towards this film - whether they are going to watch the twists and turns on the screen love relationship heir to the throne Nikolai Romanov and ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya? The results of the survey look impressive.

    In the capital of Chechnya, on Putin Avenue, a new discussion club may appear, where “controversial” films, as well as works of literature and other forms of art, will be shown and discussed. An Israeli philanthropist, born in Grozny, came up with this idea and a proposal to finance it. MK found out the details from the First Patent Company, where the Israeli filed an application to assign the name “Terrible Matilda” to the project.

    Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev and director, aka “mityok”, Viktor Tikhomirov presented the documentary “Andrei Kuraev. Direct speech". But we were talking not only about her, but also about the film “Alexey Uchitel’s Matilda.”

    Today, the scandal surrounding Alexei Uchitel’s new film “Matilda” has taken a new turn - his main public critic, State Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya, on her page in social networks reported that Orthodox believers who watched the film at closed screenings were excommunicated by their confessors from communion for six months.

    A book called “The Lie of Matilda” about the not yet released but already quite sensational film by Alexei Uchitel went on sale in a church shop Patriarchal Metochion in Yekaterinburg. Its author, historian Pyotr Multatuli, set out to answer questions from State Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya about what images of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna are formed by the film and whether real facts are distorted in it.

    Analyzing two centuries later how competently the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, as they would now say, “glued” Tsarevich Nicholas, experts emphasize that the play of feelings, eyes, gestures, bodily reactions, spontaneous emotions and rational arguments are timeless. A similar diary could be written by a girl today (ballerina, artist, athlete, etc), only instead of letters there would be messages, and instead of troikas with Cossacks there would be armored Mercedes with guards.

    Today we are publishing the final part of the diaries of Matilda Kshesinskaya, stored in the background of the Bakhrushin Museum. The ballerina's romance with the heir to the throne reaches its peak: a conversation takes place between Matilda and Nikolai about moving to a closer relationship. Finally Nikolai says: “It’s time!” And Matilda “saves her strength for Sunday,” when the main thing must happen.

    A serious discussion erupted around our publication of the previously unpublished diaries of Matilda Kshesinskaya. Some readers reproach us for “an attack on the memory of Nicholas II” and call the ballerina’s diary a fake, while others, on the contrary, rejoice - they say, tremble, Natalya Poklonskaya and other monarchists. Patience, ladies and gentlemen: in the next part, the veil of secrecy over the climax of the novel will be lifted.

    We are publishing the next part of the diary of the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya stored in the archives of the Bakhrushin Museum about her romantic relationships with Tsarevich Nicholas. The heir to the throne visits Kshesinskaya at her home, observing the rules of secrecy to the best of his ability. Matilda experiences pangs of jealousy because of Princess Alice of Hesse and finally loses her head.

    We continue to publish the unpublished diary of Matilda Kshesinskaya from the time of her affair with the heir to the throne, the future Emperor Nicholas II. Four notebooks, where the ballerina wrote down “hot on the heels” the details of her meetings with the Tsarevich, are kept in the collections of the Bakhrushin Museum. For the time being, the fleeting rendezvous of Matilda and Nikolai took place only in the theater or during “chance meetings” while walking around the center of St. Petersburg.

    The romance between the heir to the throne, the future Emperor Nicholas II and the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya continues to be one of the most mysterious stories love. We read in the collections of the Bakhrushin Museum that these documents have never been published in full. And in them, the relationship between Nikolai and Matilda looks different from what the ballerina described in her later, widely published memoirs. All details -.

    "MK" thanks the State Central Museum of Theater Arts. A.A. Bakhrushin for assistance in preparing the publication.

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. How now I see his blue eyes with such 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 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 promising relationship. However, the phlegmatic Tsarevich was either too shy or too busy 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 a very long life, receive the title of Most Serene Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya, teach ballet to French girls, meet with Gestapo chief Müller to free her son from a concentration camp, write memoirs about her turbulent youth, outlive her husband by 15 years, and, before she a few months before reaching the age of a century, 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”.

Matilda Kshesinskaya is an outstanding ballerina, whose unique style is due to the impeccability of the Italian and lyricism of the Russian ballet schools. Her name is still associated with an entire era, a great time for Russian ballet. This unique woman lived a very long and eventful life, only a few months shy of reaching her centenary.

Matilda Kshesinskaya was born on August 31, 1872 in St. Petersburg in the family of ballet dancer Felix Kshesinsky, whom Nicholas I himself invited from Poland in 1851. Her mother, Yulia Deminskaya, was a soloist in the corps de ballet. Matilda's grandfather Jan was a famous violinist and opera singer– performed at the Warsaw Opera. The ballerina herself studied at the Imperial Theater School in St. Petersburg, and successfully graduated as an external student on March 23, 1890. On this day, Alexander III traditionally sat in the examination commission, accompanied by his son and heir to the throne, Nicholas II. The seventeen-year-old ballerina performed remarkably well, and the emperor himself predicted that she would soon become the adornment and pride of the Russian ballet.

Immediately after college, Matilda was invited to the Mariinsky Theater. Her older sister Yulia already worked there, so Matilda for a long time called "Kshesinskaya second". The young ballerina was distinguished by her incredible ability to work: she could practice for hours at the barre, overcoming the pain in her legs.

In 1898, the girl began taking lessons from the outstanding Italian dancer Enrico Cecchetti, and after 6 years the ballerina became a prima ballerina. Her repertoire included Odette, Paquita, Esmeralda, Aurora and Princess Aspiccia. Russian and foreign critics noted her impeccable technique and “ideal lightness.”

Matilda Kshesinskaya is the first Russian ballerina to successfully perform 32 fouettés in a row. Before her, only the Italian Pierina Legnani succeeded in this, the rivalry with whom continued for many years.

Revolution and move of Kshesinskaya

After the revolution of 1917, the Kshesinskaya mansion was occupied by the Bolsheviks, and Matilda and her son were forced to leave Russia. In Paris, Kshesinskaya opened her own ballet school. Meanwhile, the family of Nicholas II was shot.

In 1921, Matilda Kshesinskaya married Andrei Vladimirovich. The couple lived together for the rest of their lives.

Her husband died in 1956, and her son died in 1974. Matilda wrote memoirs - they were published in 1960. The great ballerina died in 1971. She was buried in the suburbs of Paris at the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery.

Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II, brief facts about their relationship.

The relationship between the ballerina and the Tsarevich, who was 22 years old at the time, began immediately after the final exam at a dinner party. The heir to the throne became seriously interested in the aerial ballerina. Empress Maria Feodorovna reacted with approval to her son's hobby, since she was seriously worried that before meeting Matilda, her son did not show interest in the fair sex.

For a long time, lovers were content with casual meetings. Matilda looked out the window for a long time before each performance, hoping to see her lover ascending the steps, and when she noticed his presence, she danced with even more enthusiasm.

In the spring of 1891, after a long trip to Japan, the heir first went to Matilda.

In January 1892, their candy-bouquet period ended and the relationship moved into the next phase - Nicholas II began to stay overnight in the ballerina’s apartment. Soon the Tsarevich gave the ballerina a mansion. Their relationship lasted two years, but the young emperor understood that he would have to enter into “ equal marriage"and part with the beautiful ballerina.

Before his marriage, the Tsarevich instructed his cousin, Prince Sergei Mikhailovich, who was at that time the president of the Russian Theater Society, to take care of Matilda. The young emperor at that time still had feelings for ex-lover. In 1890, he presented a beautiful diamond brooch with a sapphire and two large diamonds to a reception in honor of her benefit performance.

According to rumors, Kshesinskaya became the prima of the Mariinsky in 1886 thanks to the patronage of Nicholas II.

The break in the romance between Nicholas II and Kshesinskaya

The prima ballerina's romance with the emperor lasted until 1894 and ended after Nicholas's engagement to Princess Alice of Darmstadt, granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Matilda was very worried about the breakup, but did not condemn Nicholas II, because she understood that crowned person will not be able to connect his life with the ballerina. Matilda was ready for such an outcome - she restrainedly said goodbye to Nicholas, bearing herself with the dignity of a queen, but not with the melancholy of an abandoned lover.

The relationship was completely broken off, but Matilda continued to soar above the stage with enthusiasm, especially when she saw her former crowned lover in the royal box. Nicholas II, having put on the crown, was completely immersed in state concerns and in the maelstrom family life With former princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.

After her ten-year benefit performance, Matilda was introduced to another cousin of the emperor, Prince Andrei Vladimirovich. After staring at the beauty, the prince accidentally knocked a glass of wine onto her chic French dress. But Matilda decided that it was lucky sign. And indeed, this romance soon ended in marriage, and in 1902 the ballerina gave birth to a son, Vladimir.