Kshesinskaya ballerina personal life. Matilda Kshesinskaya - ballet star with a scandalous reputation (19 photos)

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Original taken from kara881 in Bastards: two sons of Kshesinskaya from Nicholas 2

BASTARDS: Two sons of Kshesinskaya from Nicholas II
November 5, 2016
Matilda Kshesinskaya always bet on the number 17.
Be it the casino in Monte Carlo or the Romanov house, where she became the mistress.

Matilda Kshesinskaya had a son from Nicholas II.
They are afraid to make this fact public, since it turns out that the children, and their two sons, can lay claim to the throne of the Russian Empire, as part of the substitution of historical facts that occurred in 1853 with the outbreak of the First World War on the territory of Russia, or Tartary, as they call it today expanses of 1/6 of the Earth's landmass.

But Poland remembers and knows this. Poland talks about this.
1890 - four years later, after the romance of 18-year-old Nicholas II and a 14-year-old ballerina, Matilda gives birth to a son. This is quite a bold step towards the crown of the Russian Empire.

But for the heir of Nicholas, this is a threat not to receive the crown. A bride from among his relatives has already been prepared for him. She's 18 and he's 22.
August 31, 1872 Kshesinskaya May 18, 1868 Nicholas II.
And then the joint son of the heir to the throne and the ballerina are sent to Poland. There Kshesinskaya hid her son, who would later be able to lay claim to the Russian crown. It's more reliable. There were people in Poland interested in coming to power with the young heir. Let it be a secret for now. However, the secret may come true.

A few years later, in 1902, Kshesinskaya again gave birth to another heir to the crown.
Whom he decides to keep next to him and not hide from society.
There is one secret up my sleeve. The first son is hidden in Poland.
Another secret is already on the surface.

Kshesinskaya's position strengthened at the royal court. She's part of the family.
All male members of the royal family celebrate their holidays with the ballerina. The Emperor and his related Grand Dukes are here.
After the birth of his second son from the ballerina, Nikolai the second asks his uncle Sergei Alexandrovich to look after the ballerina and his son. Be constantly near her. Protect. This concerns the empire and its heir.

The heir that Nicholas wants to announce. But he can’t yet.
Before the revolution, Nicholas abdicates the throne. And he divorces his wife. Thus he is free.

In a matter of days, he and Kshesinskaya get married and announce their marriage.
Now the sons of Kshesinskaya can calmly inherit the legacy of Nicholas II.

Father-Tsar Alexander III introduced Kshesinskaya to the heir Nicholas.
Yes, he took it and introduced him: he brought his son to the ballet, to the royal harem. After the performance, he entered the restroom and asked: Where is Kshesinskaya number two? Alexander III seated a 14-year-old ballerina at the table between himself and his son.
The ballet was the harem of the royal court. Entertaining. Sexy fun.

All high courtiers and members of the royal family came to the theater to watch the ballerinas.
Open harem. He was supported by the royal family, or rather, the Russian treasury. In the art of seducing love, 14-year-old Matilda, they say, had no equal. On her 14th birthday, she upset the wedding between one famous couple, immediately seducing the groom of someone else's bride. The bride discovered Matilda naked in the arms of her groom.

Matilda chose the young heir, throwing her silver bracelet to the heir, who was sitting in the front row at her performance.

The wedding of Nicholas II with the Princess of Hesse took place in 1897.
All this time, from 1890 to 1897, the ballerina lived with the heir in a civil marriage in a house given to her by Nicholas II on Alekseevskaya Embankment in St. Petersburg. They say the house, like all precious jewelry, was given to the ballerina from the treasury of the Empire, with the approval of Alexander III. There are financial reports about this. Apparently, for some reason, Kshesinskaya was needed by the crown of the Empire, or more precisely by the Romanov family.

For what?
After the birth of his second son, Vladimir, Nicholas II gave Kshesinskaya his photograph with Nika’s signature. This speaks of a close relationship even after the birth of the second son. Nicholas II granted the boy nobility and the title of count. The mother of the Emperor’s two children was guarded by all the Grand Dukes of the House of Romanov.

This was an order from Nicholas II.
They protected the heirs. After all, the first son of Kshesinskaya was the first heir of Nicholas II and, therefore, the eldest heir. By seniority, the crown should belong to him. It is possible that a secret wedding took place between Nicholas II and Kshesinskaya even before the wedding of the Princess of Hesse. Otherwise, how can one interpret the order of Tsar Nicholas II to protect the ballerina day and night?

Perhaps the first son of Nikolai and Matilda lived with his parents at that time. But history is hiding this for now.
Since Emperor Nicholas II disappeared from the pages of history, responsibility for the heirs and the crowned ballerina lay on the shoulders of Andrei Vladimirovich, the Grand Duke.

On January 17, 1921, Matilda and Andrei Romanov got married in Cannes with the consent of the head of the Romanov family, Kirill Vladimirovich. What does Andrei Romanov have to do with it? After the disappearance of Nicholas II Romanov from the official historical page, the marriage of Matilda and Nicholas did not bring any benefit. And Matilda needed status for her sons. For the future. Which was unknown to everyone then. And she did everything so that her sons could inherit the titles of the imperial court.

Her dream came true. For the whole world she became the Grand Duchess Romanova. And her children are members of the royal family.
After the wedding, Grand Duke Andrei adopted Kshesinskaya’s son, Vladimir. Both sons from a civil marriage, and then a married one, between Nicholas II and Kshesinskaya, are hidden under various pretexts and fables. As well as the fact of Nicholas II’s divorce from his wife and wedding on Kshesinskaya.

Or maybe the so-called heir Alexei, the son of Nikolai Romanov and the Princess of Hesse, was ill for a reason.
Maybe there was a conspiracy to put Kshesinskaya’s first son on the throne? That's why the boy was sick.
Moreover, when he was born, he did not have that disease. It seems like I started getting sick when I was 4 years old.

This is a courtyard, a royal courtyard, where everyone is squabbling for power.
In Europe, Kshesinskaya was called “Madame 17”.

Celebrity biography – Matilda Kshesinskaya

The famous ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater, danced at the Imperial Theater.

Childhood

Matilda's entire family were artists. Her parents danced at the Mariinsky Theater and we can say that from childhood the girl absorbed the atmosphere of ballet work and the celebration of beautiful productions. Her mother, Yulia Dominskaya, already raised five children from her first marriage. I met my husband at the theater. Matilda's father, Felix Kseshinsky, arrived at the Marinsky Theater from Poland at the invitation of Nicholas I himself. He remained on the stage of the theater until he was 83 years old.

Their common child, a girl named Maria Matilda, was born on August 31 (August 19, Old Style) 1872, not far from St. Petersburg, in the village of Ligovo.

Initially, my father’s surname sounded like Krzezinsky, but was later renamed to Krzeshinsky for euphony. On her father's side, Matilda's grandfather was an opera singer in Warsaw.

All this, of course, influenced the choice of both the future profession for the girl and her range of interests in the future. She had seen theater and ballet since childhood, and she was also very talented.

Matilda's parents: mother - Yulia Dominskaya and father - Felix Kshesinsky

So, at the age of 8, Matilda was sent to study at the Imperial Theater School in St. Petersburg. Her siblings also studied there. Studying was easy for her, and teachers noted a certain talent in the girl, given to her from birth.

The girl passed the exam to a commission that included Emperor Alexander III himself, along with his son, Nicholas II. The girl was pretty and talented, she managed to win the hearts of so many high-ranking judges. She was only 17 years old. She liked her performance so much that the emperor wished her to become an adornment of the Russian ballet. To which Matilda promised herself to live up to the expectations of such high-ranking examiners. The high bar in art helped her achieve fame and acceptance by the public in the future.

After the exam there was a gala dinner, where Matilda sat side by side with the future heir to the throne. From that moment their meetings and correspondence began. However, the imperial family, being aware of these meetings, approved of the actions of the heir.

I don't remember what we talked about, but I immediately fell in love with the Heir. Like now, I see his blue eyes with such a kind expression. I stopped looking at him only as the Heir, I forgot about it, everything was like a dream

From the diary of Matilda Kshesinskaya

Personal life and the beginning of a creative path

The mother of the future heir to the throne Nicholas, Maria Fedorovna, was extremely concerned about her son’s behavior towards girls. He was not fascinated by the beauty or youth of beauties, and this caused concern to his mother. The meeting with Matilda changed his attitude towards women in general, and he became seriously interested in the dancer, which could not but please his mother in this situation. Nikolai seemed to come to life after meeting Matilda. Their feelings were mutual. He attended all her performances, and she danced only for him, putting her whole soul into her dance.

To confirm his feelings, Nikolai gave the girl a house located on English Avenue. This place became their meeting house. In 1891, the future heir to the throne went on a trip around the world, but it did not last long; while in Japan, the young man was attacked. He was forced to interrupt the trip and return to Russia. That same day, after a reception at the palace, he went to Matilda’s house.

Matilda and Nkolay II

In 1984, their relationship ended because Nicholas decided to marry, choosing a party suitable for his status, it was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt. Matilda had to accept the choice of her lover and she even supported him in this decision, but after the wedding took place, Matilda began to lead a reclusive life.

Later, having already become emperor, Nicholas II gave the task to his cousin Sergei Mikhailovich to take care of Matilda. The care apparently was excessive and they soon had a love affair.

Matilda became a favorite of the royal court, and this greatly helped her build her career. The patronage of the emperor himself did its job, and the girl felt confident and at ease, as if the entire theater belonged to her. She could afford to speak in a raised voice and was the first of the Russian ballerinas to get the role of Esmeralda. Before this, the party only went to Italian actresses. Due to a number of conflicts, including with her, Prince Volkonsky left his position as theater director.

The ballerina invariably appeared on stage wearing jewelry; she loved beautiful outfits and glitter. She radiated a charge of energy and charm. This did not go unnoticed by another cousin of Nikolai, Andrei Vladimirovich. He was fascinated by the beauty and talent of the young dancer. Despite the age difference, Matilda was 6 years older than Andrei, and they began a whirlwind romance. He was kept secret, since Andrei Vladimirovich’s mother would never have blessed or accepted this relationship. In 1902, their son Vladimir was born. The girl barely survived the difficult birth. The doctors first thought about who to save – the woman in labor or the newborn, but they managed to save both, since the most competent specialists were present at the birth.

Their wedding took place in 1921. And only after the death of his mother Andrei decided to legally marry and adopt his child. Matilda became the Most Serene Princess of Romanovskaya.

Tours in different countries

Matilda Kshesinskaya became a famous ballerina not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders. She toured in countries such as Poland, England, Austria, France. In 1903, she was invited to America, but the dancer refused the offer, preferring to perform on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater.

Matilda Kshesinskaya could already be called a wealthy woman at the beginning of the last century. She owned a mansion, given to her in memory of her love with Nicholas II. She had a dacha in Strelna. A lot of outfits and jewelry, in a word, she was used to a luxurious, rich life.

The only thing that worried her was how long she could be a prima singer at the Mariinsky Theater. Despite the enormous connections and influence of the court, age took its toll and more talented and younger ballerinas came to replace them. In 1904, it was decided to leave the stage, but it was not possible to completely retire from ballet and Matilda continues to perform in some performances. At the same time, successful tours took place in France. And since the ballerina loved her son very much, she often took him on tour with her.

The career of a ballerina in Russia ended in 1917 with the beginning of the revolution. The family managed to emigrate to France. There Kshesinskaya opened her ballet school, which was a great success. The ballerina lived a long life and died at the age of 99, buried in France, next to her husband’s grave.

since 1929, Matilda Kshesinskaya taught in her own ballet studio in Paris

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

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

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

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

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

Revolution and move of Kshesinskaya

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The break in the romance between Nicholas II and Kshesinskaya

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

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

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

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

Name: Matilda Kshesinskaya

Age: 99 years old

Place of birth: Ligovo, Peterhof

Place of death: Paris, France

Activity: prima ballerina, teacher

Marital status: was married

Matilda Kshesinskaya - biography

A great ballerina who has a unique technique and influences her audience with dance steps like hypnosis. She was an Honored Artist of His Imperial Majesty.

Childhood, ballerina family

Matilda Feliksovna was born near the northern capital of Russia. Both the prima's mother and father were artists of the Mariinsky Ballet Theater. Grandfather Jan played the violin masterfully and sang in the opera of the capital of Poland. Jan enjoyed the favor of King Stanislaus Augustus, who greatly valued his voice. And Matilda’s great-grandfather Wojciech passed on the genes of the great dancer to his granddaughter. The ballerina has Polish roots, her brothers and sisters are, one way or another, connected with dancing.

Sister Yulia is a ballerina, brother Joseph is a dancer. From childhood, little Malechka already knew how to dance, and from the age of 8 she was already a student at the ballet school. After graduating from school, she performed on the Mariinsky stage with her older sister. She did not leave the stage from 1890 to 1917. The biography of the ballerina was written out for Matilda from her very birth.

Career

The most famous roles were played by the ballerina: the Sugar Plum Fairy, Odette, Nikia. Matilda danced the ballet “The Nutcracker”, “Swan Lake”, “La Bayadère” and “Sleeping Beauty”, receiving deafening applause. She was familiar with P.I. Tchaikovsky and received the status of a prima ballerina. The dancer took lessons from teacher Enrico Cecchetti, achieving expressive hand movements, softness, plasticity and clear leg movements.

Russian ballet did not have access to many of the dance elements with which Italian dancers captivated the public. Matilda Kshesinskaya was the first to perform 32 fouettés in a row on stage. Many performances were written specifically for the Russian ballerina, some returned to the stage thanks to Matilda's strong technique.

Innovation

Kshesinskaya collaborated with innovative choreographers and created her own new style. Later he decides to leave the theater, after which he enters into an agreement for one-time performances with high pay. Matilda has always been for the development of Russian ballet and opposed the presence of foreign ballerinas in the theater troupe. During revolutionary times, Matilda left her hometown forever, then moved to Kislovodsk and Novorossiysk, from where she went abroad. From this moment on, the ballerina begins a new biography.

The ballerina received a French visa and settled in her villa. She owns her own ballet studio in the French capital. Kshesinskaya begins to engage in teaching activities. One of her talented students was Tatyana Ryabushinskaya. The ballerina decides to write memoirs about her life and the lives of her loved ones. First, the memoirs were published in French, and much later, after 32 years, they were published in Russia.

Matilda Kshesinskaya - biography of personal life

In the personal life of the ballerina Kshesinskaya there were many moments that were associated with the Romanov royal family. Matilda is considered the mistress of Nikolai Alexandrovich. Their relationship lasted for two years. The Tsarevich bought a house for the ballerina on one of the embankments of St. Petersburg, where their meetings took place. The woman was passionately in love with Nikolai, but both understood that their love could not last long. This is what happened, since the future king was engaged.

The granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, was intended to be Nicholas II's wife. Matilda had relationships with the great princes, from one of them a son was born, Vladimir, who received the patronymic Sergeevich at birth. Kshesinskaya's son, according to the greatest decree, was given the surname Krasinsky and a noble title, thereby recognizing his relationship with the great princes.

Sergei Mikhailovich loved his Matilda very much. Historical facts indicate that when the bodies of the executed Romanovs were taken out of the mines, a medallion with the image of the famous ballerina was clutched in Sergei’s hand. But she was married to another Grand Duke Andrei, who decided to adopt Vova. The woman converted to Orthodoxy and received the name Maria. With the arrival of the revolutionary-minded masses, Kshesinskaya’s mansion was taken away, and she and her child decide to leave their homeland.

Biography of a ballerina in films and books

There are many rumors about Matilda Feliksovna; her life is of interest due to the fact that her name is mentioned along with crowned heads. Therefore, many writers and directors turn to the history of her work and personal life. Boris Akunin does not speak directly about Kshesinskaya, but his heroine Snezhinskaya is the personification of the famous ballerina. Alexey Uchitel directed the film “Matilda”, in which he does not even hide the names of the real characters, talking about Nikolai Alexandrovich and his mistress.

Matilda Feliksovna lived for almost a hundred years; she was buried in one of the Parisian cemeteries along with her son and husband. Thirteen years before her death, the ballerina saw a vision in a dream with the ringing of bells and Alexander III. Kshesinskaya interpreted this dream as a guide to action: she began writing the details of her life. Now everything about Matilda’s life can be learned from her memoirs.

Matilda without embellishment: what kind of ballerina Kshesinskaya was in life

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

Ballerina of blue bloods

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

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

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

From childhood - to the machine

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

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

Love at first sight

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

Be the decoration and glory of our ballet.

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

Young Tsarevich Nicholas

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

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

Kshesinskaya, after conversations with the heir, recalled:

All I could think about was him. It seemed to me that although he was not in love, he still felt attracted to me, and I involuntarily gave myself up to dreams. We had never been able to talk alone, and I didn’t know how he felt about me. I found out this only later, when we became close...

The main thing is to remind yourself

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

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

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

Nicholas II and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt

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

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

Mistress for three

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

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

A feeling that I had not experienced for a long time immediately crept into my heart; “It was no longer an empty flirtation,” Kshesinskaya wrote. - From the day of my first meeting with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, we began to meet more and more often, and our feelings for each other soon turned into a strong mutual attraction.

Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov and Matilda Kshesinskaya with their son

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gothic in Windsor

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

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

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

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

Mistress of the ballet

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

Soon the entire theater world knew that Matilda's word was law. Thus, the director of the Imperial Theaters, Prince Sergei Volkonsky, once dared to insist that Kshesinskaya appear on stage in a costume that she did not like. The ballerina did not comply and was fined. A couple of days later, Prince Volkonsky himself resigned.

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

It would seem that a ballerina, serving in the directorate, should belong to the repertoire, but then it turned out that the repertoire belongs to Kshesinskaya, Telyakovsky himself wrote. - She considered it her property and could give or not let others dance.

Matilda's Withering

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

Vladimir Alexandrovich Romanov

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

Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, accustomed to sharing his mistress with his father and uncle, was furious. During Kshesinskaya's tour in Paris, the prince challenged the dancer to a duel. The unfortunate Vladimirov was shot in the nose by an insulted representative of the Romanov family. Doctors had to piece him together.

On the run

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

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

Kshesinskaya's mansion in St. Petersburg

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

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

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

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

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

In exile

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

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

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

Final

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

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

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

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

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

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

Matilda Kshesinskaya. Mysteries of life. Documentary

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