Yulia Kshesinskaya is Matilda's sister. "This was the first sin on my conscience

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 the huge, majestic and amiable Alexander III suddenly appeared before her. 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 his villainous uncle, who dreamed of taking over

title and wealth, having lost the papers certifying his name, the former count became an actor - and subsequently became 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 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 the future emperor was in love with her.

She was with the Tsarevich for only a year, but he helped her every day.

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 overcome 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; moreover, 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, courtiers rolled

ety. 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 the Fakes,” when the director of the imperial theaters, the all-powerful Prince Volkonsky, resigned because of 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. Magnificently celebrated her

leaving 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 be 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 Andrei 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 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.

The First World War did not harm its men: Sergei Mikhailovich had too high ranks to get to the front line, and Andrei, due to his weak

about health served at headquarters 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 friendly people: when the city council of Five

Gorsk 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. He and Andrey to uh

About time we moved into 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...”

Source of information: Alexey Chuparron, magazine "CARAVAN OF STORIES", April 2000.

About the famous Russian ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya in Soviet era wrote little. People spoke of her as “the Romanovs’ mistress,” and there were always a lot of rumors and gossip around her name.

Maria - Matilda Kshesinskaya was born on August 19, 1872 at the Ligovo station near St. Petersburg. Her father, Felix Kshesinsky, came from Warsaw to Russia in the mid-nineteenth century. He was discharged from Poland by Nicholas 1 as the best performer of his favorite mazurka.

Felix married a wealthy widow with five children, Yulia Deminskaya, a corps de ballet soloist, and remained in Russia forever. Matilda's father was one of the best performers of character dances; he performed on stage until he was 83 years old. In the family, except for Malechka, everyone affectionately called Matilda; from this marriage there were two more children - older sister Julia and brother Joseph, who also became ballet soloists.

It is not surprising that at the age of eight, Matilda entered the St. Petersburg Choreographic School, which she brilliantly graduated from as an external student at the age of 17. The entire royal family was present at the graduation ceremony, and at the gala dinner Kshesinskaya sat next to the heir to the throne, Nicholas.

From that day on, their correspondence and short meetings began. The affair with the heir proceeded with the full approval of Nicholas's parents. Maria Fedorovna was very concerned that her son was lethargic and apathetic and did not pay any attention to women. And no matter what beautiful girls they did not “introduce” him; Nikolai was cold and indifferent to them. And only after meeting Kshesinskaya did he seem to come to life.

It was a mutual deep feeling. Nikolai attended all the performances with her participation, and she danced only for him, putting all of herself into the dance. Soon he bought a house for her on Anglisky Avenue, where the composer Rimsky-Korsakov had previously lived, and where Nikolai and his friends later came.

In 1891 Nikolai went to trip around the world, Matilda was worried about his departure, but Nikolai was soon forced to return to Russia because... There was an attempt on his life in Japan. And on the very first evening he escaped from the palace and came to her.

But, as the song says, “no king can marry for love,” this youthful infatuation ended in 1894, at the time of Nicholas’s engagement. Future Emperor chose the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Kshesinskaya supported him in this choice.

But after Nikolai’s wedding, Matilda became a recluse for a long time. Already, as emperor, Nicholas entrusted the care of Matilda to his cousin Sergei Mikhailovich, and it was he who later became her lover.

The brothers of the late Nicholas I also favored the ballerina, they gave her jewelry, expensive gifts and patronized them in every possible way. But Kshesinskaya became an outstanding ballerina not only because she was a favorite royal family, but, in to a greater extent, thanks to his talent and hard work. Kshesinskaya worked a lot, in the first year after graduating from college she was involved in 22 ballets and 21 operas, it was hard, hard work.

For eight years, Matilda Feliksovna fought with foreign touring dancers (mostly Italians) who filled the Russian stage, proving in every way, and with her talent and hard work, first of all, that Russian ballerinas deserve more public attention.

In this case, Kshesinskaya resorted to the help of her great patrons and came into conflict with the theater authorities (at this time the director of the Imperial Theaters, Prince Volkonsky, was forced to resign).

In 1899, her long-time dream came true; Marius Petipa offered her the role of Esmeralda, and since then she has solely owned this role, which many actresses did not like. Before Matilda, this role was performed exclusively by Italians.

The ballerina came onto the stage all dressed up precious stones and shone both literally and figuratively. She danced very femininely and at the same time energetically, she was piquant and charming.

It was at this time that a stormy romance began between Matilda and Prince Andrei Vladimirovich, Nikolai’s cousin, she was six years older than him.

Later, in January 1921, their wedding took place in Paris, after which she was given the title of Most Serene Princess Romanovskaya. Only after the death of Maria Pavlovna did Prince Andrei decide to legitimize his son’s position and enter into a legal marriage with Matilda.

Andrei and Matilda went on a trip to France and Italy in 1901, where she became pregnant and gave birth to a son in June 1902, who was named Vladimir.

Kshesinskaya went on tour in Paris, Warsaw, London, Vienna. In 1903, she received an invitation to America, but refused it; she preferred the stage of the Mariinsky Theater to all other stages, where she danced in both old and new ballets such as Chopiniana, Eros, The Phantom of the Rose, Petipa called her “the first star of Russian ballet.”

Matilda by that time was a well-to-do woman, she had at her disposal a palace on Kronverksky Prospekt, a Dacha in Strelna and a huge amount of jewelry, but her only concern was how long she would remain a ballet prima on stage. But, unfortunately, age has already begun to show itself, and the primacy began to pass to younger actresses.

In 1904, the great ballerina decided to leave the stage, but she still danced in some performances. In 1908, Kshesinskaya went on tour to Paris and was a huge success. There she starts a new one romance novel with her partner Pyotr Vladimirov, who was 21 years younger than her. This novel ended with a duel between Prince Andrei and Vladimirov in the forest near Paris. The prince shot Peter in the nose so badly that he had to undergo plastic surgery.

However, Kshesinskaya was loving wife and a wonderful, caring mother. Matilda did not like to part with her son Volodya and often took him on tours to Paris, Monte Carlo, and London. She did not leave her son even when he ended up in fascist dungeons in 1943. She did everything possible and impossible and saved him.

Few people knew her charitable activities. First world war Matilda Kshesinskaya organized an infirmary with her own money, inviting the best doctors. Then she organized her own benefit performance, and donated the proceeds from it to the Russian theater society, to the families of actors drafted into the army.

With the beginning of the revolution, the career of the court ballerina was over. Last time Kshesinskaya performed in Russia in May 1917. Immediately after this, she and her family urgently leave for Kislovodsk, and from there Denikin sends them all to Anapa.

There Kshesinskaya settled in the twelve-bed Metropol Hotel, and her mother and princes Andrei and Boris lived in the house of a rich Cossack. Here the son of Prince Andrei and Matilda fell ill with the Spanish flu, but everything ended well, the boy was cured by the local doctor N. Kupchik.

From Kshesinskaya’s memoirs it follows that the family had a very good time in Anapa, but the Reds were advancing from all sides. And in 1920, Matilda and her family left their homeland, going to France, where they found themselves completely without a livelihood.

But Matilda Feliksovna was strong woman and had magnificent business qualities. She began giving lessons, opening a studio in Paris, students from all over the world came to her, and in this new field she achieved outstanding success.

In 1936, at the age of 64, Matilda Feliksovna, at the invitation of the Directorate of London's Covent Garden, appeared on stage, easily and impeccably dancing her number - the legendary "Russian", in a sundress embroidered with silver threads and a pearl kokoshnik. She was called 18 times, which was unthinkable and unimaginable for the reserved English public! The entire stage and the passages to it were littered with flowers. In the same 1936, Kshesinskaya finally left the stage.

In the early forties, Kshesinskaya unexpectedly became interested in gambling, roulette and almost went bankrupt. 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.

Matilda Kshesinskaya died in Paris in 1971, at the age of 99, 8 months short of her centenary. The great Russian ballerina was buried in the Russian cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois. Such is fate...

She survived the occupation of France and the arrest of her son, the death of her adored husband in 1956, a broken hip that threatened her with complete immobility, farewells to numerous friends who went into oblivion before her. But nothing could break her! Every morning she met the students in her studio with an elegant stick in her hand and everything began anew: batman, plié, attitude, jeté-à-tournan, pas de bras, and the constant fouetté cascade... Dance lesson. Life lesson. Lesson of victory!

15/08/2017 - 17:39

This fall, Alexei Uchitel’s film “Matilda,” which has already made a lot of noise, will be released on wide screens. The film tells about the love relationship between the last Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, and the famous ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. On the official trailer there are large golden letters - “The main historical blockbuster of the year.” There are no complaints about “main” and “blockbuster”, but it’s a big question if the film is historical.

The personality of Nicholas II is not a dark forest at all. The king and his wife kept diaries and wrote to each other. Their life was in full view. To find out how they lived, to find out their love story, you just need to devote time to studying historical documents.

It is known for certain that truly love relationship the monarch had only his legal wife- Alexandra Fedorovna. She became the mother of his five children. If Nicholas II met other women, it was only at official events.

So who is Matilda? Matilda Kshesinskaya was born into an aristocratic family: her parents worked in the ballet troupe of the Imperial Mariinsky Theater. They passed on their skills to their children: Matilda, her sister Julia and brother Joseph. All of them became famous ballet dancers.

Matilda was very talented, she was accepted into the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, where she performed for 27 years.

Matilda met the Tsar on March 20, 1890, during a performance dedicated to the graduation party. According to tradition, the entire imperial family was present at this performance. Then Alexander III extended his hand to her and asked her to be a table decoration. He seated young Matilda next to the heir and jokingly asked her not to flirt.

However, feelings between Matilda and Nikolai Romanov flared up instantly. She immediately fell in love with the blue-eyed heir. However, in the diary of Nicholas II himself there is not a single word about this meeting. Then they met several times. A year and a half after they met, according to Matilda, they met in private.

After the engagement to Alissa of Hesse (Alexandra Fedorovna), the secret meetings stopped. Nicholas II wrote farewell letter Matilda, claiming that their meetings are the best memories of their youth. Kshesinskaya, by the way, also started the new novel, with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, grandson of Nicholas I. However, the romance did not last long. Matilda had a very stormy life, she was very windy. There were duels because of her, and because of the conflict with her, the director of the Imperial Theater Sergei Volkonsky quit.

Despite the fact that there are memories of Matilda, there are letters to her from Nicholas II himself and many testimonies of people who lived at that time, the film caused a great resonance even before its release. According to many, including Natalya Poklonskaya, such a scandalous project obviously promises high profits. “Matilda” does not consolidate society, it splits it.

We must not forget that Nicholas II is not just a tsar, he is a saint. That's the rub. Historical person, canonized by the church, became a “specially protected object,” and the Teacher dared to encroach on something that did not belong to him at all.

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Maria-Matilda Adamovna-Feliksovna-Valerievna Kshesinskaya was born on August 31, 1872 in creative family. Father - Russian Pole Felix Kshesinsky, discharged from Poland by Nicholas I as the best performer of his favorite mazurka, mother - Yulia Dominskaya, the rich widow of the ballet dancer Lede.

From the age of 8, the girl studied at ballet school, entered the Imperial Theater School and graduated from it in 1890. The entire royal family was present at the graduation ceremony, and at the gala dinner Kshesinskaya sat next to the heir to the throne, Nicholas. Then Alexander III, watching Matilda’s movements with delight, utters the fateful words: “Mademoiselle! Be the decoration and glory of our ballet!”

Matilda is accepted into the ballet troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, on whose imperial stage Kshesinskaya danced until 1917.

In 1896, Kshesinskaya was awarded the status of “prima ballerina of the imperial theaters,” despite the objections of the chief choreographer Petipa. According to some reports, it was her connections at court that helped her quickly advance to the very top of the ballet hierarchy.

She became the first Russian ballerina to perform 32 fouettés in a row on stage.

In 1904, Matilda Kshesinskaya quit her job. at will from the Mariinsky Theater and after the benefit performance she switched to performing on a contract basis. She earned 500 rubles for each appearance on stage, and subsequently the payment increased to 750 rubles.

Intrigue

Still from the film “Matilda” by Alexei Uchitel.

Screenshot from the official trailer

Matilda Kshesinskaya strongly opposed the invitation of foreign ballerinas to the troupe. She tried in every way to prove that Russian ballerinas were worthy of leading roles, while most of them were given to foreign artists.

Because of Matilda’s influence, the director of the Imperial Theaters, Prince Volkonsky, himself could not stand it, leaving the theater after refusing to restore the ancient ballet “Katarina, the Robber’s Daughter.” The ballerina herself named the reason for the dispute with Volkonsky over the fittings of the costume for Russian dance from the ballet “Camargo”.

"To my worst enemy» Kshesinskaya was considered by the organizer of the “Russian Seasons” Sergei Diaghilev. He invited her to perform in London, which attracted Matilda much more than Paris. For this, the ballerina had to use her connections and “break through” for Diaghilev the opportunity to perform with her enterprise in St. Petersburg and get a reprieve military service for Nijinsky, who became liable for military service. “Swan Lake” was chosen for Kshesinskaya’s performance, and not by chance - in this way Diaghilev gained access to the scenery that belonged to her.

The attempt was unsuccessful. Moreover, Diaghilev was so angry at the futility of the petition that his servant Vasily seriously suggested that he poison the ballerina.

Personal life and the Romanovs

It is believed that from 1892 to 1894 she was the mistress of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich. After meeting, he regularly attends her performances, their relationship develops rapidly, although everyone realizes that the romance does not have a happy ending. In order to maintain decency, a mansion was bought for Kshesinskaya on the Promenade des Anglais, where they met without any interference.

“I fell in love with the Heir from our first meeting. After the summer season in Krasnoe Selo, when I could meet and talk with him, my feeling filled my entire soul, and I could only think about him…” wrote Matilda Kshesinskaya in her diary.

The reason for the break in relations with the future Nicholas II was his engagement to Queen Victoria's granddaughter Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt in April 1894.

Alexandra Feodorovna, née Princess Victoria Alice Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt.

From open sources on the Internet

Matilda Kshesinskaya later had close relationships with the Grand Dukes Sergei Mikhailovich and Andrei Vladimirovich. On October 15, 1911, according to the Highest Decree, the patronymic “Sergeevich” was given to her son Vladimir, who was born on June 18, 1902 in Strelna. In his family he was simply called “Vova”, and his last name was “Krasinsky”.

On January 30, 1921, in Cannes, in the Archangel Michael Church, Matilda Kshesinskaya entered into a morganatic marriage with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, who adopted her son and gave him his patronymic. In 1925, Matilda converted from Catholicism to Orthodoxy with the name Maria.

On November 30, 1926, Nicholas II’s cousin Kirill Vladimirovich assigned her and her descendants the title and surname of Prince Krasinski, and on July 28, 1935 - His Serene Highness Prince Romanovsky-Krasinski.

Emigration

In February 1917, Kshesinskaya and her son were forced to wander around other people’s apartments, having lost their luxurious real estate - a mansion, which turned into the “main headquarters of the Leninists,” and a dacha. She decides to go to Kislovodsk to see Prince Andrei Vladimirovich in the hope of returning home soon.

At the beginning of 1918, “the wave of Bolshevism reached Kislovodsk,” and Kshesinskaya and Vova went to Anapa as refugees by the decision of Andrei’s mother, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. The year 1919 was spent in relatively calm Kislovodsk, from where the refugees left for Novorossiysk on a train of 2 cars.

In 1929, Matilda opened her own ballet studio in Paris.

Memoirs of Matilda Kshesinskaya were published in 1960 in Paris on French. The work was published in Russian only in 1992.

The outstanding ballerina lived long life— she died at the age of 99 a few months before her centenary, on December 5, 1971. She was buried in Paris.

Fate was favorable to the young graduate of the Imperial Theater School, Matilda Kshesinskaya. In the spring of 1890, at the graduation screening, the emperor liked the ballerina so much Alexander III 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 everyone knew about the visits of “Hussar Volkov” to Matilda high society, but also even St. Petersburg cab drivers. 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 lot of feelings for the ballerina strong feeling, which has 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 for a gift to his mistress, Sergei Mikhailovich, former member Council of National Defense, stole big chunks from the military budget. 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 the Sainte-Geneviève-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”.