Matilda Kshesinskaya is the mistress of the Grand Dukes of the Romanovs. Matilda Kshesinskaya - a ballet star with a scandalous reputation (19 photos) Matilda Kshesinskaya biography nationality personal life

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

Romance with the Tsarevich

Graceful, almost tiny Malechka, it seemed that fate itself was destined to devote herself to the service of Art. Her father was a talented dancer. It was from him that the baby inherited an invaluable gift - not just to perform the part, but to live in dance, fill it with unbridled passion, pain, captivating dreams and hope - everything that her own destiny will be rich in the future. She adored the theater and could watch rehearsals with a spellbound gaze for hours. 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 on the fly, captivating the audience with true drama and light ballet technique. Ten years later, on March 23, 1890, after a graduation performance with the participation of a young ballerina, Emperor Alexander III admonished the prominent dancer with the words: “Be the glory and adornment of our ballet!” And then there was a festive 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 is true in the novel of the legendary ballerina and heir to the Russian throne, and what is fiction - they argue a lot and greedily. Some argue that their relationship was immaculate. Others, as if in revenge, immediately recall Nikolai's visits to the house, where the beloved soon moved with her sister. Still others are trying to suggest that if there was love, then it came only from Mrs. Kshesinskaya. The love correspondence has not been preserved, in the diary entries of the emperor there are only fleeting mentions of Malechka, but there are many details in the memoirs of the ballerina herself. But should they be trusted unquestioningly? A charmed woman can easily be "deluded." Be that as it may, there was no vulgarity or routine in these relations, although Petersburg gossips competed, setting out the fantastic details of the Tsarevich's "romance" with the actress.

"Polish Mala"

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 marriage to Princess Alix of Hesse was based only on a sense of duty and determined by the desire of relatives, she, of course, was cunning. As a wise woman, she left the “stage” at the right moment, “letting go” of her lover, barely learning about his engagement. Was this step an accurate calculation? Hardly. He, most likely, allowed the "Polish Male" to remain a warm memory in the heart of the Russian emperor.

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

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

Prima ballerina

A prima ballerina of the Imperial Theatre, who is applauded by the European public, one who knows how to defend her position with the power of charm and the passion of her talent, behind whom, allegedly, there are influential patrons - such a woman, of course, had envious people.

She was accused of "sharpening" the repertoire for herself, going only on profitable foreign tours, and even specially "ordering" parts for herself.

So, 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 order and "under pressure" from Matilda Feliksovna. It is difficult, however, to imagine how this impeccably educated lady, with an innate sense of tact, could disturb the former Beloved with “theatrical trifles”, and even at such an important moment for him. Meanwhile, the part of the Yellow Pearl has become 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 an "exceptional case" for the Opera. So isn't the creative success of the Russian ballerina based on true talent and selfless work?

bitchy character

Perhaps one of the most scandalous and unpleasant episodes in the biography of the ballerina can be considered her "unacceptable behavior", which led to the resignation of the Director of the Imperial Theaters by Sergei Volkonsky. "Unacceptable behavior" consisted in the fact that Kshesinskaya replaced the uncomfortable suit provided by the directorate 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 influential patrons of the ballerina and her bitchy character.

It is quite possible that at some stage Matilda simply could not explain to the person she respected her non-involvement in gossip and speculation. Be that as it may, Prince Volkonsky, having met her in Paris, took an ardent part in the arrangement of her ballet school, lectured there, and later wrote a magnificent article about Kshesinskaya the teacher. She always lamented that she could not keep "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 the ballerina, then her 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 villa "Alam", bought before the revolution. "Imperial theaters ceased to exist, and I did not feel like dancing!" - 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 travels to Paris, looking for housing for her family and premises for her ballet studio. She worries that she won't get enough students or "fail" as a teacher, but her first class is going great and she'll have to expand to accommodate everyone very soon. Calling Kshesinskaya a secondary teacher does not turn the tongue, one has only to recall her students, world ballet stars - Margot Fontaine and Alicia Markova.

During her life 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" squanders the "royal jewels". They said that Kshesinskaya decided to open a school because of the desire to improve her financial situation, undermined by the game.

"Actress of Mercy"

The charitable activities that Kshesinskaya was engaged 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 an active part in the arrangement of two of the most modern exemplary hospitals for that time. She did not bandage the sick personally and did not work as a nurse, apparently believing that everyone should do what they can do well. She organized trips for the wounded to her dacha in Strelna, arranged trips for soldiers and doctors to the theater, wrote letters under dictation, decorated chamber with flowers, or, throwing off her shoes, without pointe shoes, just dancing on her fingers. She was applauded, I think, no less than during the 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 it was unthinkable for the stiff English public.

In the Soviet era, the name of this ballerina was remembered mainly in connection with her mansion, from the balcony of which V. I. Lenin delivered speeches. But once the name of Matilda Kshesinskaya was well known to the public.

Matilda Kshesinskaya was a hereditary ballerina. Her father, the Polish dancer Felix Kshesinsky, was an unsurpassed performer of the mazurka. Emperor Nicholas I was very fond of this dance, therefore F. Kshesinsky was discharged to St. Petersburg from Warsaw. Already in the capital, he married the ballerina Yulia Dominskaya - they had four children, of whom Matilda was the youngest. She was born in 1872.

As is often the case with children from theatrical families, Matilda met the stage at the age of four - she performed a small role as a little mermaid in the ballet The Humpbacked Horse. But soon the girl developed a serious interest in the art of dance, and her abilities were obvious. From the age of eight, she began attending the Imperial Theater School as an incoming student, where her older sister Julia and brother Joseph studied. In the classroom, Matilda was bored - what was taught there, she had already mastered at home. Maybe the girl would have quit ballet, but everything changed when she saw the performance of an Italian dancer touring Russia in the ballet "Vain Precaution". The art of this ballerina has become for her an ideal to which she wants to strive.

By the time of graduation, Matilda Kshesinskaya was considered one of the best students. According to the established tradition, after the concert, the three best graduates were introduced to the emperor and his family, who certainly attended this event. One of the three was Matilda, who performed that evening Lisa from the ballet "". True, she - because of her status as an incoming student - had to be kept apart, but Emperor Alexander III, amazed by her performance, asked to be presented to him a living, miniature girl. The young ballerina was given an unprecedented honor - at a gala dinner she sat between the emperor and Tsarevich Nicholas, who did not forget this meeting.

After graduation, Matilda became an artist of the Mariinsky Theater "Kshesinskaya - 2" (her sister Yulia was the first). During the first theatrical season, she performed in twenty-two ballets and dance scenes in twenty-one operas. True, her parties were small, but spectacular. For an aspiring ballerina, such a number of roles is incredible luck, and the reason for this was not only her outstanding talent, but also the tender feelings of the heir to the throne for the dancer. This novel was encouraged by the imperial family to a certain extent... Of course, no one took this story seriously. But, if a fleeting passion for a ballerina diverts the attention of the Tsarevich from Alice of Hesse, whom the emperor considered not the best party for the heir, then why not?

Did Matilda Kshesinskaya guess about this? It is unlikely ... She loved the heir, her "Nika", and met with him in the house on English Avenue, which the crown prince bought for her.

Kshesinskaya was not only the favorite of the Romanovs, but also a first-class professional. If there is no skill and talent, even the highest patronage will not help - everything becomes obvious in the light of the ramp. Matilda understood how imperfect her dancing technique was compared to the technique of the then fashionable Italian virtuosos. And the ballerina begins to work hard with the famous Italian teacher Enrico Cecchetti. Soon she was already flaunting the same "steel toe" and sparkling rotations as her rivals - Italians. The first in Russia, Kshesinskaya began to perform 32 fouettes and did it brilliantly.

The first main role of the ballerina was the part of Marietta-Dragoniazza in the ballet Calcabrino. This happened thanks to a happy accident - the Italian prima Carlotta Brianza, who was supposed to play this role, suddenly fell ill. A true star of the ballet scene, she performed tricks previously only available to male dancers, including aerial tours. Entering the stage, Kshesinskaya understood that the audience would compare her with a brilliant Italian, looking for the slightest mistakes ... “The main thing is not to jump into the orchestra,” Marius Petipa jokingly admonished her before the performance.

The performance, with which so many unrest was associated, was a triumph for Kshesinskaya. “Her debut can be regarded as an event in the history of our ballet,” summed up the theatrical newspaper. The French magazine Le Monde Artiste echoes her: “The young prima ballerina has everything: physical charm, impeccable technique, completeness of performance and ideal lightness.”

When Carlotta Brianza left St. Petersburg, her roles were transferred to Matilda Kshesinskaya, including Princess Aurora in the ballet The Sleeping Beauty, created by Marius Petipa for this Italian guest performer. Aurora has become one of the best parties of Russian prima. Once, after a performance, P. I. Tchaikovsky came to her dressing room, expressed his admiration for her and expressed his intention to write a ballet for her ... Alas, it did not come true - the composer died six months later, and the ballerina did not even understand that she was talking with a genius ... She considered Tchaikovsky is a good "composer of ballet scores". Subsequently, when in Paris she was offered to speak with memoirs at the evening in honor of the 100th anniversary of the composer, she refused - she had nothing to tell.

In 1896 Matilda Kshesinskaya became the prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theatre. Her repertoire included such parties as Aspicia ("The Pharaoh's Daughter"), Esmeralda and Paquita in the ballets of the same name, the Pellet Fairy in The Nutcracker, Odette-Odile in "", Lisa in "Vain Precaution". For Kshesinskaya, he resumed La Bayadère and other ballets, technically complicating her parts.

Matilda loved to dance the royal daughter of the pharaoh Aspicia, shining on the stage with her technique and ... Romanov diamonds. She found a lot of personal things in the part of the poor street dancer Esmeralda, in love with the brilliant officer Phoebus, betrothed to the proud aristocrat Fleur de Lis ...

Matilda Kshesinskaya occupied a special position in the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. She was called the queen of the Petersburg scene. The ballerina considered many parties to be personal property and did not allow anyone to dance without her permission.

Several ballets were staged for her, but there were no masterpieces among them. The viewer loved and loves the charming Fairy of Dolls by J. Bayer staged by the brothers Nikolai and Sergey Legatov. It was their gift to the wonderful Fairy - the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, before whom they bowed, performing the parts of two Pierrots. Kshesinskaya highly appreciated Nikolai Legat, a teacher with whom she had been studying for many years.

Matilda Kshesinskaya could afford something that was forbidden to others - for example, a benefit performance in honor of a decade of stage activity (usually ballerinas were entitled to a benefit performance only after twenty years of service). For this benefit performance, Marius Petipa staged two ballets by Alexander Glazunov, The Four Seasons and Harlequinade.

The ballerina retired from the Mariinsky Theater in 1904, signing a contract for one-time performances. She was the first partner of the young Vaslav Nijinsky, danced in some ballets (Evnika, Butterflies, Eros). But, in general, Kshesinskaya was a supporter of the "old" academic imperial ballet, virtuoso technique and the cult of the prima. The "New Ballet" by Mikhail Fokin did not inspire her.

Matilda Kshesinskaya left Russia in 1919. In exile, she married Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov. Living in France, she turned down offers to perform on stage, despite the fact that she needed money. In 1929, she opened a ballet school and earned her living by giving lessons. Among the students of M. Kshesinskaya are M. Fontaine, I. Shovire, T. Ryabushinsky (one of the famous "baby ballerinas").

The last time Matilda Kshesinskaya performed was in 1936 in London on the stage of the Covent Garden Theatre. She was 64 years old, but this did not prevent her success: she was called eighteen times!

In the future, M. Kshesinskaya was engaged in teaching. She died in 1971, nine months before her centenary. The ballerina wrote "Memoirs", where she told, somewhat embellishing the events, about her stormy personal life and the brilliant career of the St. Petersburg imperial prima.

The name of Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya is inscribed in golden letters in the history of Russian ballet. Feature films and documentaries have been made about her.

Music Seasons

The people who lived in Russia at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries did not think much about what their image would be in the eyes of distant descendants. Therefore, they lived simply - they loved, betrayed, committed meanness and selfless deeds, not knowing that a hundred years later one of them would put a halo on their heads, and others would be posthumously denied the right to love.

Matilda Kshesinskaya got an amazing fate - fame, universal recognition, love of the powerful, emigration, life under German occupation, need. And decades after her death, people who consider themselves highly spiritual personalities will wag her name on every corner, cursing the fact that she even once lived in the world.

"Kshesinskaya 2nd"

She was born in Ligov, near St. Petersburg, on August 31, 1872. Ballet was her destiny from birth - father, Pole Felix Kshesinsky, was a dancer and teacher, an unsurpassed performer of the mazurka.

Mother, Julia Dominskaya, was a unique woman: in her first marriage she gave birth to five children, and after the death of her husband she married Felix Kshesinsky and gave birth to three more. Matilda was the youngest in this ballet family, and, following the example of her parents and older brothers and sisters, she decided to connect her life with the stage.

At the beginning of her career, the name "Kshesinskaya 2nd" will be assigned to her. The first was her sister Julia, a brilliant artist of the Imperial Theaters. Brother Joseph, also a famous dancer, will remain in Soviet Russia after the revolution, receive the title of Honored Artist of the Republic, will stage performances and teach.

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

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

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

fateful dinner

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

In 1890, the 18-year-old graduate of the Imperial Theater School Matilda Kshesinskaya was given a high honor - the emperor himself was present at the graduation performance Alexander III with family.

Ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. 1896 Photo: RIA Novosti

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

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

Alexander III, unlike other representatives of the imperial family, including his father, who lived in two families, is considered a faithful husband. The emperor preferred another entertainment for Russian men to go "to the left" - the consumption of "little white" in the company of friends.

However, Alexander did not see anything shameful in the fact that a young man learns the basics of love before marriage. For this, he pushed his phlegmatic 22-year-old son into the arms of an 18-year-old beauty of Polish blood.

“I don’t remember what we talked about, but I immediately fell in love with the heir. As now I see his blue eyes with such a kind expression. I stopped looking at him only as an heir, I forgot about it, everything was like a dream. When I said goodbye to the heir, who spent the whole dinner next to me, we looked at each other differently than when we met, a feeling of attraction had already crept into his soul, as well as into mine, ”Kshesinskaya wrote about that evening.

Passion of "Hussar Volkov"

Their romance was not stormy. Matilda dreamed of a meeting, but the heir, busy with public affairs, did not have time to meet.

In January 1892, a certain "hussar Volkov" arrived at Matilda's house. The surprised girl approached the door, and Nikolai walked towards her. That night was the first time they spent together.

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

This relationship had no future. Nikolai knew the rules of the game well: before his betrothal in 1894 with the princess Alice of Hesse, the future Alexandra Fedorovna, he broke up with Matilda.

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

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

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

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

Grand ducal love triangle

Her heart was not free for long. The new chosen one was again the representative of the Romanov dynasty, the Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, grandson Nicholas I and cousin uncle of Nicholas II. The unmarried Sergei Mikhailovich, who was known as a closed person, experienced incredible affection for Matilda. He took care of her for many years, thanks to which her career in the theater was completely cloudless.

Sergei Mikhailovich's feelings were severely tested. In 1901, the Grand Duke began to look after Kshensinskaya Vladimir Alexandrovich, uncle of Nicholas II. But this was only an episode before the appearance of a real rival. The rival was his son - the Grand Duke Andrey Vladimirovich, cousin of Nicholas II. He was ten years younger than his relative and seven years younger than Matilda.

“It was no longer an empty flirtation ... From the day of my first meeting with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, we began to meet more and more often, and our feelings for each other soon turned into a strong mutual attraction,” writes Kshesinskaya.

The men of the Romanov family flew to Matilda like butterflies to a fire. Why? Now none of them can explain. And the ballerina skillfully manipulated them - having struck up a relationship with Andrei, she never parted with Sergei.

Having gone on a trip in the fall of 1901, Matilda felt unwell in Paris, and when she went to the doctor, she found out that she was in a “position”. But whose child it was, she did not know. Moreover, both lovers were ready to recognize the child as their own.

The son was born on June 18, 1902. Matilda wanted to call him Nicholas, but did not dare - such a step would be a violation of the rules that they had once established with the now Emperor Nicholas II. As a result, the boy was named Vladimir, in honor of the father of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.

The son of Matilda Kshesinskaya will get an interesting biography - before the revolution he will be “Sergeevich”, because he is recognized by the “senior lover”, and in exile he will become “Andreevich”, because the “younger lover” marries his mother and recognizes him as his son.

Matilda Kshesinskaya, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich and their son Vladimir. Around 1906 Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org

Mistress of the Russian ballet

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

Director of the Imperial Theatres, Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Volkonsky, once dared to insist that Kshesinskaya go on stage in a costume that she did not like. The ballerina did not obey and was fined. A couple of days later, Volkonsky resigned, as Emperor Nicholas II himself explained to him that he was wrong.

New Director of the Imperial Theaters Vladimir Telyakovsky I did not argue with Matilda from the word "completely."

“It would seem that a ballerina, serving in the directorate, should belong to the repertoire, but then it turned out that the repertoire belongs to M. Kshesinskaya, and as out of fifty performances forty belong to balletomanes, so in the repertoire - of all the ballets, more than half of the best belong to the ballerina Kshesinskaya, - Telyakovsky wrote in his memoirs. - She considered them her property and could give or not let others dance them. There were cases that a ballerina was discharged from abroad. In her contract, ballets were stipulated for the tour. So it was with the ballerina Grimaldi invited in 1900. But when she decided to rehearse one ballet, indicated in the contract (this ballet was “Vain Precaution”), Kshesinskaya said: “I won’t give it, this is my ballet.” Began - phones, conversations, telegrams. The poor director was rushing back and forth. Finally, he sends an encrypted telegram to the minister in Denmark, where he was at that time with the sovereign. The case was secret, of special national importance. And what? He receives the following answer: "Since this ballet is Kshesinskaya, then leave it behind her."

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

Shot off nose

In 1906, Kshesinskaya became the owner of a luxurious mansion in St. Petersburg, where everything, from beginning to end, was done according to her own ideas. The mansion had a wine cellar for men visiting the ballerina, horse-drawn carriages and cars were waiting for the hostess in the yard. There was even a cowshed, as the ballerina adored fresh milk.

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

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

The result of boredom was the romance of a 44-year-old ballerina with a new stage partner Peter Vladimirov, who was 21 years younger than Matilda.

Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, ready to share his mistress with an equal, was furious. During Kshesinskaya's tour in Paris, the prince challenged the dancer to a duel. The unfortunate Vladimirov was shot in the nose by an offended representative of the Romanov family. The doctors had to pick it up piece by piece.

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

fairy tale end

The story ended in 1917. With the fall of the empire, the former life of Kshesinskaya collapsed. She was still trying to sue the Bolsheviks for the mansion, from the balcony of which Lenin spoke. Understanding how serious it all came later.

Together with her son, Kshesinskaya wandered around the south of Russia, where power changed, as if in a kaleidoscope. Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks in Pyatigorsk, but they, having not decided what he was to blame for, let him go on all four sides. Son Vladimir was ill with a Spaniard who mowed down millions of people in Europe. Having miraculously avoided typhus, in February 1920, Matilda Kshesinskaya left Russia forever on the steamer Semiramida.

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

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

The Most Serene Princess at a reception at Muller

In 1921, in Cannes, 49-year-old Matilda Kshesinskaya became a legal wife for the first time in her life. Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, despite the sidelong glances of his relatives, formalized the marriage and adopted a child whom he always considered his own.

In 1929, Kshesinskaya opened her own ballet school in Paris. This step was rather forced - the former comfortable life was left behind, it was necessary to earn a living. Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, who declared himself in 1924 the head of the Romanov dynasty in exile, in 1926 he assigned Kshesinskaya and her offspring the title and surname of the princes Krasinskikh, and in 1935 the title began to sound like "the most serene princes Romanovsky-Krasinsky."

During World War II, when the Germans occupied France, Matilda's son was arrested by the Gestapo. According to legend, in order to secure her release, the ballerina obtained a personal audience with the head of the Gestapo. Muller. Kshesinskaya herself never confirmed this. Vladimir spent 144 days in a concentration camp, unlike many other emigrants, he refused to cooperate with the Germans, and nevertheless was released.

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

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

"I cried with happiness"

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

“In 1958, the ballet troupe of the Bolshoi Theater came to Paris. Although I don't go anywhere else, dividing my time between home and the dance studio where I earn money to live, I made an exception and went to the Opera to see the Russians. I cried with happiness. It was the same ballet that I saw more than forty years ago, the owner of the same spirit and the same traditions ... ”, Matilda wrote. Probably, ballet remained her main love for life.

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

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

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

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

13 years before her death, Matilda Feliksovna had a dream. Bells rang, church singing was heard, and suddenly a huge, majestic and amiable Alexander III 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: it 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" is inapplicable: men forgive them everything. They manage to maintain dignity, reputation and a veil of purity in the most incredible situations, smiling overstepping public opinion - and Malya Kshesinskaya was one of them. Friend of the heir to the Russian throne and mistress of his uncle, 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 of the fifties, this already meant little, but Matilda Feliksovna desperately clung to her title: she spent her life trying to intermarry with the Romanov family.

And at first there was her father's estate, a large bright 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 lively charm.

According to legend, Mali's great-grandfather lost his fortune, count title and noble surname Krasinsky in his youth: having fled to France from the killers hired by the villain-uncle, who dreamed of seizing the title and wealth, having lost the papers certifying his name, the former count went into acting - and became later one of the stars of the Polish opera. He lived to be one hundred and six years old and died, fading due to an improperly heated stove. Mali's father, Felix Yanovich, an honored dancer of the Imperial Ballet and the best performer of the mazurka in St. Petersburg, did not reach eighty-five. Malya went to her grandfather - she also turned out to be a long-liver, and she, like her grandfather, also had no need for vitality, will and grip. Shortly after the graduation ball, an entry appeared in the diary of a young ballerina of the imperial stage: "And yet he will be mine!"

These words, which were directly related to 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, flirty, 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 - summer camps are set up nearby, and the hall is filled with officers of the Guards 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 Hussars, a red dolman and a mentic embroidered with gold are deftly sitting on him. Malya shoots with her eyes, jokes with everyone, but this 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 baby Kshesinskaya ... Baby Kshesinskaya is very sweet ... Baby Kshesinskaya positively occupies 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 all her life - over time, Nikolai turned into a beautiful, ideal memory. Malya ran out onto the road along which the imperial carriage was supposed to pass, came to emotion and delight, noticing him in the theater box. However, all this was ahead; meanwhile, 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 spoke frankly with friends and numerous relatives and did not even trust his diary. Nikolai began to visit Kshesinskaya's house, then he bought her a mansion, introduced him to his brothers and uncles - and a merry company of grand dukes often visited Male. Soon Malya became the soul of the Romanov circle - friends said that champagne was flowing in her veins. The saddest of her guests was the heir (his former colleagues said that during the 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 with a relationship on the side. At parting, they met outside the city. Malya had been preparing for a conversation for a long time, but was still unable to say anything important. She only asked permission to continue to be with him on "you", to call "Nicky" and, on occasion, to seek help. Matilda Feliksovna rarely used this precious right, besides, at first she had no time for special privileges: having lost her first lover, Malya fell into a 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, runners dressed in gilded liveries, court carriages rolled. When a crown was put on the young woman's head, the Kremlin lit up with thousands of electric bulbs. Malya did not see anything: it seemed to her that happiness was gone forever and it was no longer worth living. Meanwhile, everything was just beginning: next to her was already a man who would take care of her for twenty years. After parting with Kshesinskaya, Nikolai asked his cousin, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, to look after Maleya (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. The fact that he was destined to become her squire and shadow, that because of her he would never start a family and would be glad to give her everything (including her name), and she would prefer another to him, poor Sergei Mikhailovich did not suspect.

Malya, meanwhile, got into the taste of social life and quickly made a career in ballet: a former girlfriend of the emperor, and now his brother's mistress, she, of course, became a soloist and chose only those roles that she liked. "The case of figs", when the director of the imperial theaters, the almighty Prince Volkonsky, resigned because of a dispute about a suit Male did not like, further strengthened her authority. Reviews, which dealt with her perfected technique, artistry and rare stage charm, Malya carefully cut out and pasted into a special album - it will become her consolation during emigration.

The benefit performance was relied upon by those who had served in the theater for at least twenty years, while in 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 her to tell Nicky that an ordinary diamond ring would upset her very much.

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

Together with the century, the old life ended - it was still quite a long way before the revolution, but the smell of decay was already in the air: there was a suicide club in St. Petersburg, group marriages became commonplace. Matilda Feliksovna, a woman of impeccable reputation and unshakable social position, was able to benefit greatly 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 in a love affair with another Grand Duke - Vladimir Alexandrovich, who was fit for her father .

His son, young Andrei Vladimirovich, as pretty as a doll and painfully shy, became the second (after Nikolai) great love of 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 over a glass of red wine on the hostess' luxurious dress. Malya felt that her head was spinning again...

They walked in the park, sat for a long time on the porch of her dacha in the evenings, 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 in business: 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 when the emperor left his summer residence for a walk - Malya immediately ordered to lay the horses, drove up to the road, and adored Nicky respectfully saluted her ...

She soon became pregnant; the birth was successful, and four Raspberry men showed touching concern for little Volodya: Nicky gave him the title of hereditary nobleman, Sergei Mikhailovich offered to adopt the boy. The sixty-year-old Vladimir Alexandrovich also felt happy - the child looked like the Grand Duke like two drops of water. Only the wife of Vladimir Alexandrovich was very worried: her Andrey, a pure boy, completely lost his head because of this whore. But Maria Pavlovna carried her grief as befits a lady of royal blood: both men (both 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" Ay (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 more and more faded into the background: Malya fell head over heels in love with her young friend; she transferred to Andrei those feelings that she had once experienced for his father. Vladimir Alexandrovich died in 1909. Malya and Andrei grieved together (Maria Pavlovna twitched when she saw the scoundrel in a mourning dress perfectly tailored and beautiful to 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 - a few years before the war, the prince hit on one of the Grand Duchesses, and then Malya politely but insistently asked him to stop the disgrace - firstly, he compromises her, secondly, she is unpleasant look at it. Sergei Mikhailovich never married: he raised little Volodya and did not complain about fate. A few years ago, Malya excommunicated him from the bedchamber, but he still continued to hope for something.

The First World War did not harm her men: Sergei Mikhailovich had too high ranks to get to the front line, and Andrei, due to poor health, served in the headquarters of the Western Front. But after the February Revolution, she lost everything: the headquarters of the Bolsheviks was located in her mansion - and Matilda Feliksovna left the house in what she was. Part of the jewelry that she managed to save, she put 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. A few pounds of silverware, precious Faberge items, diamond trinkets donated by fans - everything went to the hands of the sailors who settled in the abandoned house. Even her dresses disappeared - later Alexandra Kollontai flaunted them.

But Matilda Feliksovna never gave up without a fight. She sued the Bolsheviks, and he ordered the uninvited guests to vacate the property of the owner as soon as possible. However, the Bolsheviks did not move out of the mansion ... The October Revolution was approaching, and the girlfriend of the former emperor, and now a citizen of Romanov, fled 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 it. The prince could have gone with her, but he preferred to stay - it was necessary to settle the matter with her contribution and look after the mansion.

The train started moving, Malya leaned out the window of the compartment and waved her hand - Sergey, who did not look like himself in a long baggy civilian raincoat, 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 immediately began, but the grand dukes were not touched - they were not afraid of the new government and were not needed by its opponents.

Andrei chatted nicely with the commissars, and they kissed Male's hands. The Bolsheviks turned out to be quite benevolent people: when the city council of Pyatigorsk arrested Andrei and his brothers, one of the commissars beat off 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 assignment from the local party committee.) They returned when Shkuro's Cossacks entered the city: Andrei rode up to the house on horseback, in a Circassian coat, surrounded by guards from the Kabardian nobility. In the mountains, he grew a beard, and Malya almost burst into tears: Andrei, like two drops of water, looked 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 by Sergei Mikhailovich, who was killed a few months ago. In the first, he congratulated the Raspberry 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 were dying for several days. When the whites entered the city and the bodies were raised to the surface, Sergei Mikhailovich held a small gold medallion with a portrait of Matilda Feliksovna and the inscription "Malya" in his hand.

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

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

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

The ballet studio of Matilda Feliksovna 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 worn on his elbows, went around the rehearsal room and watered the flowers standing in the corners - this was his household duty, he was no longer trusted with anything. And Matilda Feliksovna worked like an ox and did not leave the ballet barre even after the Parisian doctors found she had inflammation of the joints of her legs. She continued to study, overcoming terrible pain, and the disease receded.

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

Shortly before her death, she again saw a strange dream: a theater school, a crowd of pupils in white dresses, a downpour raging outside the windows.

Then they sang "Christ is risen from the dead", the doors opened, and Alexander III and her Niki 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 all this did not matter.

Nothing but entries that a strange, reserved, weak-willed young man made in his diary many years ago:

"I saw little M again."

"I was in the theater - I like little Kshesinskaya positively."

"Farewell to M. - stood at the theater tormented by memories ..."

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

Matilda
Olga 2006-03-22 04:43:42

Matilda - True Love of Great men. They are afraid of such women, they are ready to love them all their lives - but at a distance, thereby torturing both themselves and her. Great fools who have done much...

From the first performances on stage, she was accompanied by rumors, the increased interest of tabloid newspapers and numerous fans. Interest in this peculiar and bright woman does not weaken even today. Who was Matilda Kshesinskaya - an ethereal creature wholly devoted to art, or a greedy hunter for power and wealth?

First student

Kshesinskaya began her memoirs, written at the end of her life, with a legend. Once upon a time, the young offspring of the count Krasinsky family fled from Poland to Paris from relatives who were hunting for his huge fortune. Fleeing from assassins, he changed his surname to "Kshesinsky". His son Jan, nicknamed the "golden word", that is, the nightingale, sang in the Warsaw opera, and became famous as a dramatic actor. He died at the age of 106, passing on to his descendants not only longevity, but also a craving for art. Son Felix became a dancer, shone on the stage of the Mariinsky Theatre, already elderly married the ballerina Yulia Dominskaya, the mother of five children. Four more were born in the new marriage, all of them, except for the early deceased first-born, made a successful career in ballet.

Including the younger Matilda, who was called Malechka in the family.

Miniature (153 cm), graceful, big-eyed, she conquered everyone with a cheerful and open disposition. From the first years of her life, she loved to dance, willingly attended rehearsals with her father. He made a wooden model of the theater for his daughter, where Malechka and her sister Yulia played whole performances. And soon the games were replaced by hard work - the girls were sent to a theater school, where they had to study for eight hours a day. However, Matilda comprehended ballet science easily and immediately became the first student. A year after entering, she received a role in Minkus' ballet Don Quixote. Soon they began to recognize her on stage, the first fans appeared ...

From righteous labors, Malechka rested in the parental estate of Krasnitsa near St. Petersburg. She will always remember trips for berries, boat rides, crowded receptions - her father adored guests and prepared exotic Polish dishes for them. At one of the family receptions, a young coquette upset someone's wedding, falling in love with the groom. And early I realized that men like it - not with beauty (the nose is too long, the legs are short), but with brightness, energy, sparkle in the eyes and ringing laughter. And, of course, talent.

Brooch for memory

Matilda describes her romance with an unmarried heir in her memoirs very sparingly. At the beginning of 1894, Nikolai announced that he was marrying Alice, their engagement took place in April, and in November, after his ascension to the throne, their wedding. But there is not a single line about wounded female pride in Kshesinskaya's memoirs, designed for the mass reader:

"The sense of duty and dignity was extremely highly developed in him ... He was kind and easy to handle. Everyone was always fascinated by him, and his exceptional eyes and smile conquered hearts" - about Nicholas II. And this is about Alexandra Fedorovna: "In her, the Heir found himself a wife who fully accepted the Russian faith, the principles and foundations of royal power, a smart, warm-hearted woman, of great spiritual qualities and duty."

They parted, as they would say now, in a civilized way. That is why Nicholas II continued to patronize Kshesinskaya, moreover, together with his wife, they chose a gift for Matilda for the 10th anniversary of her ballet career - a brooch in the form of a sapphire snake. The snake symbolizes wisdom, the sapphire symbolizes memory, and the ballerina had the wisdom not to make her career based on very personal memories of the past.

Alas, contemporaries did their best for her, spreading gossip around the country, where fables were intertwined, and descendants who published more than a hundred years later Kshesinskaya's diaries, not intended for prying eyes. Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Yegoryevsky spoke about this in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta after the release of the trailer for the film "Matilda", which is being shot by the famous director Alexei Uchitel (see below).

Unfortunately, as often happens, behind the scandalous discussions, no one has ever been interested in the personality of an extraordinary woman and a magnificent ballerina, who was made famous after all by not high-profile novels (including with Grand Dukes Sergei Mikhailovich, from whom she gave birth to a son, and Andrei Vladimirovich ), but talent and hard work.

Escape with a suitcase

In 1896, she received the coveted title of prima ballerina, danced the leading roles in The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. To the expressiveness of the Russian school, Matilda added the virtuoso Italian technique. At the same time, she tried to oust foreign competitors from the St. Petersburg stage and promoted local young talents, including the brilliant Anna Pavlova. Kshesinskaya shone in Paris, Milan, her native Warsaw, where Gazeta Polska wrote: “Her dance is as diverse as the brilliance of a diamond: either it is light and soft, or it breathes fire and passion; at the same time, it is always graceful and delights the viewer with a wonderful harmony of movements.

After leaving the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, she began to tour independently, taking 750 rubles for her performance - huge money at that time. (Carpenters and joiners earned in July 1914 from 1 ruble 60 kopecks to 2 rubles a day, laborers - 1 ruble - 1 ruble 50 kopecks. - Auth.). The highlight of her performances was the main role in the ballet "Esmeralda" based on the novel by Victor Hugo, last performed shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. On that day, she was especially warmly applauded, and at the end they brought a huge basket of flowers. It was rumored that the flowers were sent by the king himself, who was present at the performance.

Neither he nor she knew that they were seeing each other for the last time.

During the war years, Matilda helped the wounded: she equipped two hospitals with her own money, took soldiers to the theater, and sometimes, throwing off her shoes, danced for them right in the ward. For friends who went to the front or came on vacation, she arranged receptions - court connections helped to get food and even champagne prohibited by the Prohibition. The last reception took place on the eve of the February Revolution, after which the "tsar's kept woman" fled the house in what she was, taking her son, a suitcase with jewelry and her beloved fox terrier Djibi.

She settled with her faithful maid Lyudmila Rumyantseva, and the Swiss butler who remained in the mansion brought her saved things along with sad news. Her mansion was looted by soldiers, and then the headquarters of the Bolsheviks was located there. Kshesinskaya sued them, but the laws in Russia were no longer in effect. She fled to Kislovodsk, where she lived for three and a half years: she starved, hid jewelry in the leg of the bed, and fled from the Chekists. Sergei Mikhailovich saw her off at the Kursk railway station.

Already in Paris, the investigator Sokolov visited her, who told about the death of the Grand Duke, who, along with other Romanovs, was thrown into a mine near Alapaevsky ...

Prima's tears

In 1921, after the death of the parents of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, he married Matilda, who received the "hereditary" surname Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya. The husband entered politics, supporting the claims of his brother Cyril to the Russian throne that had sunk into oblivion. The son did not want to work - using his beauty, "Vovo de Russe" lived on the content of elderly ladies. When the savings ran out, Matilda had to feed the family. In 1929, she opened a ballet studio in Paris. And she regained fame: the best ballerinas in the world came to her school, she was invited to meetings of the World Ballet Federation, journalists asked how she manages to keep in shape. She honestly answered: two hours of walking and exercise every day.

In 1936, the 64-year-old prima danced the legendary "Russian Dance" on the stage of Covent Garden, earning a storm of applause. And in 1940, she fled the war to the south of France, where her son was arrested by the Gestapo, suspected (apparently not in vain) of participating in the Resistance. Kshesinskaya raised all ties, even visited the head of the secret state police (Gestapo), SS Gruppenführer Heinrich Muller, and Vladimir was released. With the end of the war, the old life returned, interspersed with sad events - friends left, in 1956 her husband died. In 1958, the Bolshoi Theater came to Paris on tour, and Matilda burst into tears right in the hall: her favorite art had not died, the imperial ballet was alive!

She died on December 5, 1971, a few months short of her centenary. She was buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, next to her husband, and a few years later her son lay in the same grave, who never continued the Kshesinsky-Krasinsky family.

"Not a demand for bans, but a warning about truth and untruth..."

BISHOP OF EGORIEVSK TIKHON (SHEVKUNOV):

Alexei Uchitel's film claims to be historic, and the trailer is titled nothing less than "The Main Historical Blockbuster of the Year." But after watching it, I, frankly, cannot understand: why did the authors do it this way? Why touch the subject like this? Why do they make the viewer believe in the historicity of the heartbreaking scenes of the "love triangle" they invented, in which Nikolai, both before and after marriage, melodramatically rushes between Matilda and Alexandra. Why is Empress Alexandra Feodorovna depicted as a demonic fury walking with a knife (I'm not kidding!) at her rival? Vengeful, envious Alexandra Feodorovna, unfortunate, wonderful, magnificent Matilda, weak-willed Nikolai, rushing first to one, then to the other. Hugs with Matilda, hugs with Alexandra... What is this - the author's vision? No - slandering real people."< >

The heir considered it his duty to tell the bride about Matilda. There is a letter from Alix to her fiancé, where she writes: "I love you even more since you told me this story. Your trust touches me so deeply ... Will I be able to be worthy of him?!" The love of the last Russian Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, striking in the depth of feelings, fidelity and tenderness, continued on earth until their last martyr's hour in the Ipatiev House in July 1918.< >

Not demands for bans, but a warning about truth and untruth - this is the goal that can and should be set in connection with the upcoming wide screening of the film. If the film lives up to the trailer, it will be enough just to talk widely about the real former story. Actually, what we are doing now. And then the viewer will decide for himself.

DIRECTOR OF THE FILM "MATILDA" ALEXEY UCHITEL:

For me, the main thing is to avoid aesthetic vulgarity. Fiction is possible when it helps to get to know the main characters of the picture better.< >

I believe that "bloody" and "weak-willed" are not the most fair characteristics of Nicholas II. This man ascended the throne in 1896 and until 1913 - for 17 years of reign - led the country with the help of the people he gathered in power, to a flourishing political, economic, military. Yes, he had flaws, he was controversial, but he created the most powerful Russia ever. It was the first in Europe, the second in the world in finance, economy, in many respects.