Married to the House of Romanov: the true story of Matilda Kshesinskaya. “He was faithful to his family”: historian - about the romance between Nicholas II and Matilda

The famous Russian ballerina did not live to see her centenary for several months - she died on December 6, 1971 in Paris. Her life was like an unstoppable dance, which to this day is surrounded by legends and intriguing details.

Romance with the Tsarevich

The graceful, almost tiny Little Boy, it seemed, was destined by fate itself to devote herself to the service of Art. Her father was a talented dancer. It was from him that the little girl inherited an invaluable gift - not just to perform a part, but to live in dance, to fill it with unbridled passion, pain, captivating dreams and hope - everything with which her own destiny would be rich in the future. She adored the theater and could watch the rehearsals go on for hours with a fascinated gaze. Therefore, it was not surprising that the girl entered the Imperial Theater School, and very soon became one of the first students: she studied a lot, grasped it on the fly, charming the audience with true drama and easy ballet technique. Ten years later, on March 23, 1890, after a graduation performance with the participation of a young ballerina, the Emperor Alexander III admonished the prominent dancer with the words: “Be the glory and adornment of our ballet!” And then there was a gala dinner for the pupils with the participation of all members of the imperial family.

It was on this day that Matilda met the future Emperor of Russia, Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich.

What's in the novel between the legendary ballerina and heir? Russian throne fact and what is fiction - they argue a lot and greedily. Some argue that their relationship was pure. Others, as if in revenge, immediately remember Nikolai’s visits to the house where his beloved soon moved with her sister. Still others are trying to suggest that if there was love, it came only from Mrs. Kshesinskaya. The love correspondence has not been preserved; in the emperor’s diary entries there are only fleeting mentions of Malechka, but there are many details in the memoirs of the ballerina herself. But should you trust them unquestioningly? A charmed woman can easily become “deluded.” Be that as it may, there was no vulgarity or triviality in these relations, although St. Petersburg gossips competed, setting out the fantastic details of the Tsarevich’s “romance” with the actress.

"Polish Malya"

It seemed that Matilda was enjoying her happiness, while being perfectly aware that her love was doomed. And when in her memoirs she wrote that “priceless Nicky” loved her alone, and the marriage with Princess Alix of Hesse was based only on a sense of duty and determined by the desire of her relatives, she, of course, was cunning. Like a wise woman right moment she left the “scene”, “letting go” of her lover, as soon as she learned of his engagement. Was this move an accurate calculation? Hardly. He most likely allowed the “Pole Mala” to remain a warm memory in the heart of the Russian emperor.

The fate of Matilda Kshesinskaya was generally closely connected with the fate of the imperial family. Her good friend and was a patron Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich.

It was him who Nicholas II allegedly asked to “look after” Malechka after the breakup. The Grand Duke will take care of Matilda for twenty years, who, by the way, will then be blamed for his death - the prince will stay in St. Petersburg for too long, trying to save the ballerina’s property. One of the grandchildren of Alexander II, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, would become her husband and father of her son, His Serene Highness Prince Vladimir Andreevich Romanovsky-Krasinsky. It was precisely the close connection with the imperial family that ill-wishers often explained all of Kshesinskaya’s “successes” in life

Prima ballerina

The prima ballerina of the Imperial Theatre, applauded by the European public, one who knows how to defend her position with the power of charm and passion of talent, supposedly backed by influential patrons - such a woman, of course, had envious people.

She was accused of “tailoring” the repertoire to suit herself, going only on profitable foreign tours, and even specially “ordering” parts for herself.

Thus, in the ballet “Pearl”, which was performed during the coronation celebrations, the part of the Yellow Pearl was introduced especially for Kshesinskaya, allegedly on the Highest instructions and “under pressure” from Matilda Feliksovna. It is difficult, however, to imagine how this impeccably mannered lady, with an innate sense of tact, could disturb ex-lover“theatrical trifles,” and even at such an important moment for him. Meanwhile, the part of the Yellow Pearl became a true decoration of the ballet. Well, after Kshesinskaya persuaded “Corrigan,” presented at the Paris Opera, to insert a variation from her favorite ballet “The Pharaoh’s Daughter,” the ballerina had to encore, which was “for the Opera” exceptional case" So isn’t the creative success of the Russian ballerina based on true talent and dedicated work?

Bitchy character

Perhaps one of the most scandalous and unpleasant episodes in the ballerina’s biography can be considered her “unacceptable behavior,” which led to the resignation of Sergei Volkonsky from the post of Director of the Imperial Theaters. “Unacceptable behavior” was that Kshesinskaya replaced the uncomfortable suit provided by the management with her own. The administration fined the ballerina, and she, without thinking twice, appealed the decision. The case was widely publicized and inflated to an incredible scandal, the consequences of which were the voluntary departure (or resignation?) of Volkonsky.

And again they started talking about the ballerina’s influential patrons and her bitchy character.

It is quite possible that at some stage Matilda simply could not explain to the person she respected that she was not involved in gossip and speculation. Be that as it may, Prince Volkonsky, having met her in Paris, took an enthusiastic part in setting up her ballet school, gave lectures there, and later wrote an excellent article about Kshesinskaya the teacher. She always complained that she could not stay “on an even note,” suffering from prejudice and gossip, which eventually forced her to leave the Mariinsky Theater.

"Madame Seventeen"

If no one dares to argue about the talent of Kshesinskaya as a ballerina, then their teaching activities are sometimes not very flattering. On February 26, 1920, Matilda Kshesinskaya left Russia forever. They settled as a family in the French city of Cap de Ail in the Alam villa, purchased before the revolution. “The imperial theaters ceased to exist, and I had no desire to dance!” - wrote the ballerina.

For nine years she enjoyed a “quiet” life with people dear to her heart, but her searching soul demanded something new.

After painful thoughts, Matilda Feliksovna goes to Paris, looks for housing for her family and premises for her ballet studio. She worries that she won’t have enough students or will “fail” as a teacher, but the first lesson goes brilliantly, and very soon she will have to expand to accommodate everyone. It’s hard to call Kshesinskaya a secondary teacher; one only has to remember her students, world ballet stars Margot Fonteyn and Alicia Markova.

While living at the Alam villa, Matilda Feliksovna became interested in playing roulette. Together with another famous Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova, they whiled away the evenings at the table in the Monte Carlo casino. For her constant bet on the same number, Kshesinskaya was nicknamed “Madame Seventeen.” The crowd, meanwhile, savored the details of how the “Russian ballerina” squandered the “royal jewels.” They said that Kshesinskaya was made to decide to open a school by the desire to improve financial situation, undermined by the game.

"Actress of Mercy"

The charitable activities that Kshesinskaya was involved in during the First World War usually fade into the background, giving way to scandals and intrigues. In addition to participating in front-line concerts, performances in hospitals and charity evenings, Matilda Feliksovna took active participation in the arrangement of two modern exemplary hospitals-infirmaries for that time. She did not personally bandage the sick and did not work as a nurse, apparently believing that everyone should do what they know how to do well.

And she knew how to give people a holiday, for which she was loved no less than the most sensitive nurses.

She organized trips for the wounded to her dacha in Strelna, arranged trips for soldiers and doctors to the theater, wrote letters from dictation, decorated the wards with flowers, or, throwing off her shoes, without pointe shoes, simply danced on her fingers. She was applauded, I think, no less than during her legendary performance in London’s Covent Garden, when 64-year-old Matilda Kshesinskaya, in a silver embroidered sundress and a pearl kokoshnik, easily and flawlessly performed her legendary “Russian”. Then she was called 18 times, and this was unthinkable for the prim English public.

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. A friend of the heir to the 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 the Most Serene 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: small in stature, 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 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 turns out to be among them: he is serving in the Life Hussar Regiment, a red dolman and a gold-embroidered mentic are deftly sitting on him. Malya shoots her eyes and 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 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 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, 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 a taste for social life and quickly making 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 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 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 Andrei went abroad: the 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 his weak

On health he served at the headquarters of the Western Front. But after February Revolution she lost everything: the Bolshevik headquarters were 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.

Andrei 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 the 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 given 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.

A scandal broke out around the not yet released film “Matilda” by Alexei Uchitel: Natalya Poklonskaya, at the request of activists of the “Tsar’s Cross” movement, asked Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika to check the director’s new film. Social activists consider the film, which tells about the relationship between Emperor Nicholas II, canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, and the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, “an anti-Russian and anti-religious provocation in the field of culture.” We talk about the relationship between Kshesinskaya and the emperor.

In 1890, for the first time, she was supposed to be present at the graduation performance of the ballet school in St. Petersburg. royal family led by Alexander III. “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 festive 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. 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 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.”

- Matilda Kshesinskaya

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 Krasnoe 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 nine 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 only found out later, when we became close.”

Matilda Kshesinskaya

When the heir returned to Russia, he began to write Kshesinskaya many letters and increasingly came to her family’s house. One day they sat in her room almost until the morning. And then Nicky (as he himself signed letters to the ballerina) admitted to Matilda that he was going abroad to meet with Princess Alice of Hesse, whom they wanted to marry him. Kshesinskaya suffered, but understood that her separation from the heir was inevitable.

Nicky's mistress

Collage © . Photo: © wikipedia.org

The matchmaking turned out to be unsuccessful: Princess Alice refused to change her faith, and this was the main condition of the marriage, so the engagement did not take place. Nicky began to visit Matilda often again.

“We were increasingly attracted to each other, and I increasingly began to think about getting my own corner. Meeting with parents became simply unthinkable. Although the heir, with his usual delicacy, never spoke openly about it, I felt that our desires coincided. But how to tell your parents about this? My father was brought up with strict principles, and I knew what I was doing to him. terrible blow, taking into account the circumstances under which I left my family. I was aware that I was doing something that I had no right to do because of my parents. But... I adored Nicky, I thought only about him, about my happiness, at least briefly..."

Matilda Kshesinskaya

In 1892, Kshesinskaya moved to a house on English Avenue. The heir constantly came to her, and the lovers spent many happy hours there together. 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.

Until the wedding, his correspondence with Kshesinskaya continued. She 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. In his last letter to the ballerina, the heir replied: “No matter what happens to me in life, meeting you will forever remain the brightest memory of my youth.”

“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. I knew that there would be people who would feel sorry for me, but there would also be those who would rejoice in my grief. What I then experienced when I knew that he was already with his bride is difficult to express. The spring of my happy youth has ended, a new, difficult life has begun with a heart broken so early ... "

Matilda Kshesinskaya

Nikolai always patronized Kshesinskaya. He bought and gave her a house on English Avenue, which she once specially rented for meetings with the heir. With Nika's help, she resolved numerous theatrical intrigues that were built by her envious people and ill-wishers. At the suggestion of the Emperor in 1900, Kshesinskaya easily managed to receive a personal benefit performance dedicated to her tenth anniversary of work at the Imperial Theater, although other artists were entitled to such honors only after twenty years of service or before retirement.

Illegitimate son from the Grand Duke

Collage © . Photo: © wikipedia.org

After the heir, Kshesinskaya had several more lovers from among the representatives of the House of Romanov. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich consoled the ballerina after breaking up with Niki. They had a close relationship for a long time. Recalling the theatrical season of 1900-1901, Kshesinskaya mentions how she was beautifully courted by the married 53-year-old Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. In those same years, Kshesinskaya began a stormy romance with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, while the ballerina’s relationship with Sergei Mikhailovich did not stop.

“A feeling immediately crept into my heart that I had not experienced for a long time; 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.”

Matilda Kshesinskaya

In the fall of 1901, they went on a trip to Europe together. In Paris, Kshesinskaya found out that she was expecting a child. 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 Niki, but felt that she did not have the right to do this. As a result, the boy was named Vladimir - in honor of the father of her lover Andrei.

Collage © . Photo: © wikipedia.org

“When I became somewhat stronger after childbirth and my strength was restored a little, I had a difficult conversation with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich. 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.”

Matilda Kshesinskaya

Kshesinskaya's son was given the patronymic name Sergeevich. Although after emigration, in January 1921, the ballerina and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich got married in Nice. Then he adopted his own child. But the boy received his surname Krasinsky. And this had a special meaning for Kshesinskaya.

Great-granddaughter of the impostor

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The history of Matilda Kshesinskaya’s family is no less interesting than the biography of the ballerina herself. Her ancestors lived in Poland and belonged to the family of Counts Krasiński. In the first half of the 18th century, events occurred that turned the life of a noble family upside down. And the reason for this, as often happens, was money. Kshesinskaya's great-great-great-grandfather was Count Krasinsky, who possessed enormous wealth. After the count's death, almost the entire inheritance went to his eldest son (Kshesinskaya's great-great-grandfather). His younger brother I received practically nothing. But soon the happy heir died, unable to recover from the death of his wife. The owner of untold wealth turned out to be his 12-year-old son Wojciech (Kshesinskaya’s great-grandfather), who remained in the care of a French teacher.

Further events are reminiscent of the plot of Pushkin’s “Boris Godunov”. Wojciech's uncle, who considered the distribution of Count Krasinski's inheritance unfair, decided to kill the boy in order to take possession of the fortune. In 1748, the bloody plan was already nearing completion: two hired killers were preparing a crime, but one of them lost his nerve. He told everything to the Frenchman who raised Wojciech. Having hastily collected things and documents, he secretly took the boy to France, where he settled him in his family’s house near Paris. In order to keep the child as secret as possible, he was registered under the name Kshesinsky. Why this particular surname was chosen is unknown. Matilda herself in her memoirs suggests that it belonged to her great-grandfather on the female side.

Collage © . Photo: © wikipedia.org

When the teacher died, Wojciech decided to stay in Paris. There in 1763 he married the Polish emigrant Anna Ziomkowska. Seven years later, their son Jan (Kshesinskaya’s grandfather) was born. Wojciech soon decided that he could return back to Poland. During the years of his absence, the cunning uncle declared the heir dead, and took all the wealth of the Krasinski family for himself. Wojciech’s attempts to return the inheritance were in vain: the teacher did not take all the documents when escaping from Poland. Restore historical truth It was also difficult in the city archives: many papers were destroyed during the wars. In fact, Wojciech turned out to be an impostor, which played into the hands of his uncle.

The only thing that the Krzesinskaya family has preserved as proof of their origin is a ring with the coat of arms of the Counts Krasinski.

“Both my grandfather and my father tried to restore the lost rights, but only I succeeded after my father’s death.”

Matilda Kshesinskaya

In 1926, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich assigned her and her offspring the title and surname of Prince Krasinski.

Olga Zavyalova

Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya is a Russian ballerina with Polish roots, who performed on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater from 1890 to 1917, the mistress of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II. Their love story formed the basis feature film Alexey Uchitel "Matilda".

Early years. Family

Matilda Kshesinskaya was born on August 31 (old style - 19) 1872 in St. Petersburg. Initially, the surname of the family sounded like “Krzezinski”. Later it was transformed into “Kshesinsky” for euphony.

Her parents are ballet dancers of the Mariinsky Theater: her father Felix Kshesinsky was a ballet dancer, who in 1851 was invited from Poland to the Russian Empire by Nicholas I himself, and her mother Yulia Deminskaya, who at the time of their acquaintance was raising five children from her deceased first husband, dancer Lede, was a soloist corps de ballet. Matilda's grandfather Jan was a famous violinist and opera singer, who sang from the stage of the Warsaw Opera.

At the age of 8, Matilda became a student at the Imperial Theater School in St. Petersburg, where her brother Joseph and sister Julia were already studying. The day of the final exam - March 23, 1890 - was remembered by the talented girl who completed her studies as an external student for the rest of her life.

According to tradition, Emperor Alexander III sat on the examination committee, who was accompanied that day by his son and heir to the throne, Nicholas II. The 17-year-old ballerina performed wonderfully, and at parting the emperor gave her parting words: “Be the adornment and glory of our ballet!” Later in her memoirs, Matilda wrote: “Then I told myself that I had to live up to the expectations placed on me.”

Ballerina career

Immediately after graduating from college, Matilda was invited to the main troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. Already in the first season, she was assigned small roles in 22 ballets and 21 operas.

Colleagues recalled Matilda as an incredibly efficient dancer who inherited her father’s talent for dramatic expressiveness. She could stand at the ballet barre for hours, overcoming the pain.

In 1898, the prima began taking lessons from Enrico Cecchetti, an outstanding Italian dancer. With his help, she became the first Russian ballerina to masterfully perform 32 fouettés in a row. Previously, only the Italian Pierina Legnani succeeded in this, whose rivalry with Matilda continued for many years.

After six years of work in the theater, the ballerina was awarded the title of prima. Her repertoire included The Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker), Odette (Swan Lake), Paquita, Esmeralda, Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty) and Princess Aspiccia (The Pharaoh's Daughter). Her unique style combined the impeccability of the Italian and lyricism of the Russian ballet schools. Her name is still associated to this day an entire era, a great time for Russian ballet.

Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II

The relationship between Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II began at a dinner party after the final exam. The heir to the throne became seriously infatuated with the airy and fragile ballerina, and with the full approval of his mother.

Empress Maria Feodorovna was seriously worried about the fact that her son (before meeting Kshesinskaya) did not show any interest in girls, so she encouraged his romance with Matilda in every possible way. For example, Nikolai Alexandrovich took money for gifts for his beloved from a fund specially created for this purpose. Among them was a house on the Promenade des Anglais, which previously belonged to the composer Rimsky-Korsakov.

For a long time they were content with casual meetings. Before each performance, Matilda looked out the window for a long time in the hope of seeing her lover ascending the steps, and when he came, she danced with double enthusiasm. In the spring of 1891, after a long separation (Nicholas went to Japan), the heir first secretly left the palace and went to Matilda.

Trailer for the film "Matilda"

Their romance lasted until 1894 and ended due to Nicholas's engagement to the British princess Alice of Darmstadt, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who stole the heart of the emperor's successor. Matilda took the breakup very hard, but supported Nicholas II with all her heart, realizing that crowned person cannot marry a ballerina. She was on the side ex-lover, when the emperor and his wife opposed his alliance with Alice.

Before his marriage, Nicholas II entrusted the care of Matilda to his cousin, Prince Sergei Mikhailovich, president of the Russian Theater Society. For the next few years, he was a loyal friend and patron of the ballerina.

However, Nicholas, already an emperor at that time, still had feelings for ex-lover. He continued to follow her career. It was rumored that it was not without his patronage that Kshesinskaya received the position of prima of the Mariinsky in 1886. In 1890, in honor of her benefit performance, he presented Matilda with an elegant diamond brooch with a sapphire, which he and his wife had been choosing for a long time.

Documentary film about Matilda Kshesinskaya with video chronicle

After that same benefit performance, Matilda was introduced to another cousin of Nicholas II - Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich. As the legend goes, he stared at the beauty and accidentally spilled a glass of wine on her expensive dress sent from France. But the ballerina saw in this lucky sign. Thus began their romance, which later ended in marriage.

In 1902, Matilda gave birth to a son, Vladimir, from Prince Andrei. The birth was very difficult; the woman in labor and her newborn were miraculously rescued from the other world.

Life at the beginning of the 20th century

In 1903, the ballerina was invited to America, but she refused the offer, preferring to stay in her homeland. At the turn of the century, the prima had already achieved all imaginable heights on stage, and in 1904 she decided to resign from the main troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. She didn't stop dancing, but now she worked under a contract and received a huge fee for each performance.

In 1908, Matilda went on a tour to Paris, where she met the young aristocrat Pyotr Vladimirovich, who was 21 years younger than her. They began a passionate affair, which is why Prince Andrei challenged his opponent to a duel and shot him in the nose. In France, the already middle-aged Kshesinskaya opened a ballet school

During the war, Kshesinskaya fell ill with arthritis - since then, every movement was given to her with great difficulty, but the school still flourished. When she devoted herself entirely to a new passion, gambling, the studio became her only source of rather depleted income.

Death

Matilda Kshesinskaya, the latter's mistress Russian Emperor, lived a bright life, amazing life. She did not live a few months before her 100th birthday. On December 6, 1971, she died and was buried in the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois cemetery in the same grave with her husband.

In 1969, 2 years before Matilda’s death, Soviet ballet stars Ekaterina Maksimova and Vladimir Vasiliev visited her estate. As they later wrote in their memoirs, on the threshold they were met by a completely gray-haired, withered old woman with surprisingly young eyes full of sparkle. When they told Matilda that her name was still remembered in her homeland, she replied: “And they will always remember.”

Having read about the release of the historical drama “Matilda” and initially writing an article about the Polish actress Michalina Olshanska, who played main role in this film, I wanted to know as much as possible about the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, the prototype main character. Who is this woman who, more than a hundred years after her two-year (three-year?) romance with Tsarevich Nicholas, still remains remembered and discussed from time to time by our contemporaries? Her name is rinsed and bowed by everyone and everything, including me. This dark-haired temptress seemed to have been forgotten, but the film “Matilda”, shot by Russian director Alexei Uchitel, stirred up passions for Matilda Kshesinskaya with a new, all-consuming force.

To be honest, before I heard about the new scandal surrounding the love drama of Matilda and Tsarevich Nicholas, I didn’t even know about the existence of this ballerina. I’m not interested in ballet, but regarding the personal life of the last All-Russian Emperor Nicholas II, I thought that his only woman was legal spouse Alexandra Fedorovna. It should be noted that I four days in a row Like an obsessed person, I read memoirs, letters, diaries of Matilda Kshesinskaya, Nicholas II, Alexandra Fedorovna, and all sorts of articles about them. Opinions and facts vary everywhere, but by comparing all the data and incorporating logic, much becomes clear. So, Matilda Kshesinskaya fell in love with Nicholas II, then still the Tsarevich Heir. In those days, being a ballerina meant having the opportunity to become the mistress of high-ranking officials, wealthy aristocrats; many contemporaries call this a social elevator. That is, girls from the lower classes sought to get into ballet schools, to become prima ballerinas, then it would be quite possible to grab yourself a rich lover who would buy you a palace, shower you with jewelry, and ensure a comfortable existence. Was it condemned in society then or was it commonplace? Surely it was condemned among the ladies of the upper classes, but the male population, of course, enjoyed this order of things. That is, the ballet building was something like the current stage with pop divas or a podium with models. Men had the opportunity to examine the ballerinas’ legs, admire their figures; every self-respecting ballerina had a rich lover. How else? Until now, as was the custom before, Russian, now pop singers, are looking for rich lovers, but now more often they become their legal wives. Everything is corrupt and it still upsets me. But do not think that Matilda Kshesinskaya became a ballerina in order to acquire a rich and influential lover, our heroine grew up in an artistic family, her father and mother danced in ballet, and the girl could not imagine herself outside the stage since childhood. Many children were born into the family, but only one Matilda was seen in relations with aristocrats, in particular with the three Romanovs.

Many male historians sincerely admire Matilda not only as a prima ballerina who danced superbly, but still, first of all, as a girl capable of seducing anyone. Matilda Kshesinskaya did not have the appearance of a beauty, I will say more, if you did not know that this is the famous Matilda, who broke dozens of hearts, you would think that these are photographs of an ordinary ballerina of the 19th century. When women call Matilda Kshesinskaya an ugly, short-legged, snaggle-toothed intriguer, men cut them off and say with admiration that she had amazing energy! Most likely this was the case. After all, Matilda looked completely ordinary, but she probably had extraordinary magnetism.

Was Nicholas II unconsciously in love with Matilda Kshesinskaya or was she just a short-term infatuation for him? After all, there are not only the diaries of the ballerina, but also the diaries of the Emperor himself. Well, he was in love, but at the same time he also loved his bride - Princess Alix - born Princess Victoria Alice Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt, whom he first saw as a twelve-year-old girl. The Heir was 16 years old at that time. Princess Alix sank deeply into his heart; Nicholas’s diaries contain more and more about her. But since distance separated him and the sweetheart of his heart, they saw each other extremely rarely, but had the opportunity to correspond. Nikolai dreamed of becoming Alix’s husband, he cherished this dream for 10 years! But Nicholas was still a mere mortal, and he was the future Emperor, he was canonized after his death, but nothing human was alien to him, and therefore, when the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya began to seduce him, he could not resist, although by all appearances, that he resisted for a very long time and stubbornly, was extremely careful and did not rush headlong into the pool, that is, he completely wanted to limit himself to talking until the morning and kisses. Matilda purposefully seduced the royal person; only after receiving a small hint of what Nicholas liked, she began to do everything in order to settle in his heart. Is it for selfish purposes?

Matilda, or Malya, as her relatives called her, was definitely madly in love with Nikolai, although she was known as vain, but even such women are capable of losing their heads from love! She walked along the same streets as him, she looked at him point blank during her performances, she literally showered him with her vibes, she went out of her way to please him. And in the end she succeeded. At one time, Nikolai even wrote in his diaries that two women lived in his heart - Princess Alix and ballerina Matilda. But all this lasted only a few years, the fact is that Nikolai traveled around the country, went on long trips abroad, and during this time his feelings for Matilda faded away, that is, out of sight, out of mind, but as soon as he visited the ballet again, he noticed how much prettier Matilda had become in his absence. The ballerina persuaded him to continue the affair intimately, she insisted and demanded, but he resisted as best he could, because he believed that having entered into more serious relationship, will be responsible for her future fate and life. But isn’t this what Matilda herself wanted? To have such a patron? Of course she was in love future king he was handsome, there is no doubt about that, and then how women are affected by the realization that they can go down in history, perhaps as the first woman of one of the kings. At that time, Matilda did not know that this was the last All-Russian Emperor, otherwise she would have gone out of her way even more to achieve her goal. But do not think that all kept women do not love their benefactors.

Nikolai was often very cool, he rarely answered Matilda’s letters, she wrote him news after message, but he was in no hurry to answer, being in the ballet he looked at other ballerinas, gave reason for jealousy, all this inflamed Matilda, and sometimes made her angry. The intimate part of the novel itself did not last long; judging by the analysis of Nikolai’s own diary, it lasted no more than 3-4 months. And if initially Matilda Kshesinskaya ignited and wildly delighted the future Sovereign, then he somehow gradually began to cool towards her, and in the end everything came to naught. There were no torments about the fact that he was forced to part with Malechka in his diaries! All his goals were directed towards the deeply loved Princess Alix! The diaries and letters of Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Fedorovna, the presence of five beloved children, the henpeckedness of the tsar, who dreamed of choosing not to rule the country, but to a calm, measured family life, suggests that he was deeply devoted to his wife, loved her, allowed her a lot, in the end, her unconscious actions led to many tragedies. The entire royal family died. A lot of stupid things were done.

Was the infatuation with Matilda Kshesinskaya just a small episode in the life of Nicholas II? Malya meant in his life exactly as much as not his first love, but his first woman means in the life of any man. Everything happened out of mutual love, which means the memories remained the brightest, then everyone went their own way, naturally not sad about what happened. This love affair opened the way for Matilda Kshesinskaya to become high-ranking lovers; now she would not agree to anything less and arranged her life perfectly, living until she was 99 years old. She married Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov, the grandson of Alexander II. By the way, her husband was 7 years younger and was dearly loved by her, but she never forgot her first love. Throughout her adult life, Matilda Kshesinskaya was a coquette, she seduced, played with men, and drove many crazy. There will always be such women, some condemn them, others admire them, others lose their heads as soon as they approach them.

In this photo you see the only son of Matilda Kshesinskaya and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov. This elegant guy's name is Vladimir. He never married and left no offspring.

In this photo little Vova with his mother.

In this photo, Matilda Kshesinskaya is on the left, in the middle of her older sister Julia, brother Joseph on the right.

In this photo, one of Matilda Kshesinskaya’s lovers is Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich Romanov.

In this photo, Tsar Nicholas II with his wife Alexandra Feodorovna.

Take a look at this photo, this is what Matilda Kshesinskaya looked like in old age.

In this photo, Matilda Kshesinskaya with her husband Andrei and son Vova.

In 1920, 48-year-old Matilda Kshesinskaya emigrated to France with her eighteen-year-old son Vova and 41-year-old lover Prince Andrei Vladimirovich, Vova’s father. At 57, Matilda Kshesinskaya opened her own ballet studio in Paris.