Poor Matilda. Is there any truth in the scandalous love story of Nicholas II. “This was the first sin on my conscience Count Vorontsov and Kshesinskaya

IN Russian Empire there was not a single person who would stand up for the emperor, and in Russian Federation more than enough such well-wishers

In the Russian Empire, there was not a single person who would stand up for Nicholas II, and in the Russian Federation there are more than enough such well-wishers

Russia sausages are not childish. In psychiatry, this would be called schizophrenia. In politics, they call it an attempt to reconcile and agree with one's past, present and future. The trouble is that all temporary states are changeable. From this, one has to reconcile and agree today with what they stigmatized yesterday. The most recent example is the passion around the film by Alexei UCHITEL "Matilda" about the carnal love of the ballerina Kshesinskaya and NICHOLAS II. Today, we consider this king to be both Bloody and holy at the same time. As anyone likes. But there is a tendency that already tomorrow we will be forced to consider him exclusively holy. Therefore, while we can, we remind you of human nature sovereign, and at the same time about his bloody life path to heaven.

A certain movement "Royal Cross" called on the people to unite against historical film"Matilda" director Alexey Uchitel and sign an appeal addressed to the Prosecutor General with a request to ban the release of the picture on the screen. Nobody has actually seen the movie yet. The excitement of the public was caused by his commercial.

The reason is this - “bed scenes are included in the picture with incredible audacity Nicholas II With Matilda Kshesinskaya”, and this is “not only criminal in relation to the believing citizens of the country, but also in relation to the state, as it is aimed at undermining national security.”

A deputy suddenly appeared at the head of the anti-Kseshinsky movement Natalia Poklonskaya. According to her, Nicholas II is actually "a kind and merciful sovereign, who radically improved the well-being of his people."

It’s stupid to check a film that hasn’t been released, the Minister of Culture commented on Natalia Poklonskaya’s deputy request to the prosecutor’s office Vladimir Medinsky.

The blind readiness of the heroine of the “Crimean spring” to lay down her life for the tsar caused amazement among many of her admirers.

I just can’t understand why what is considered the first love all over the world, Poklonskaya suddenly turns into a “vicious connection” that offends the religious feelings of the Orthodox? - asks by no means a liberal journalist Oleg Lurie.

Moving to Moscow from a deep province, the insane deputy prosperity that fell on his head, coupled with a lot of free time, may have unsettled the former prosecutor. In addition, it is necessary to make allowances for the fact that she studied history at school using Ukrainian textbooks. And there it is written...

family toy

It is believed that the cheerful Polish Matilda Kshesinskaya was given to his phlegmatic son Nicky by his father. March 23, 1890 after the graduation performance of the Imperial Theater School, which was attended by Alexander III with the heir to the throne, a solemn dinner was given. The sovereign ordered that Kshesinskaya be planted next to the future Emperor Nicholas II. The family decided that it was time for Niki to become a real man, and the ballet was something like an official harem and communication with ballerinas was not considered shameful in the circle of the aristocracy.

In the jargon adopted in the Russian guards, trips to ballerinas for the sexual satisfaction of their violent passions were called "potato trips." The heir was no exception and under the name of a hussar Volkova for several years I went to Matilda for potatoes. Until he married Alice of Hesse.

Wanting to keep the secret of his intimate adventures, Nikolai did not let Matilda go through the hands of lustful merchants and perverted nobles. He left her in the “family”, transferring her to the care and comfort of her grandson NicholasI- grand duke Sergei Mikhailovich. The new "owner" was single and also carried away by a gorgeous woman. Sergei Mikhailovich made Kshesinskaya the prima of the Mariinsky Theater and one of richest women Russia. Her palace in Strelna was not inferior in luxury to the royal one, which greatly crippled the military budget of Russia. The very one to which the Grand Dukes, and in particular Sergei Mikhailovich, had access.

Official affairs did not allow him to pay enough attention to Matilda, and he asked to "look after" the beauty of the Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, grandson Alexander II. Both lovers knew about each other, but peacefully alternately cohabited with the “witch”, never quarreling, and everyone considered Vladimir, Matilda’s son, his own. He really wore first the middle name Sergeevich, and then Andreevich.

After the revolution, already in immigration in France, Kshesinskaya married Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich and received the title of Most Serene Princess Romanovskaya.

foreign place

Once Nicholas II told the Minister of Foreign Affairs Sazonov: "I try not to think seriously about anything, otherwise I would have been in a coffin a long time ago." It is this phrase that most accurately characterizes the style of Nikolaev's reign. His place was not on the throne, but with Kshesinskaya under her skirt and at the family table. The patriarchal custom of inheriting power not by merit, but by seniority became a trap for tsarism. The rapidly changing world could no longer be held together by rotten bonds: "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality."

It is customary to say about Nicholas that he personally carried out reforms, often in defiance of the Duma. However, in fact, the king rather "did not interfere." He didn't even have a personal secretariat. Nicholas II personally never wrote detailed resolutions, he limited himself to marginal notes, most often he simply put a “reading mark”. In principle, he was not involved in state affairs. Didn't take them to heart. For example, his adjutant said that, having received news of Tsushima, the king, who at that time was playing tennis, sighed heavily and immediately took up his racket again. In the same way, he perceived all the bad news about the unrest in the country and the news of the defeats in the war.

As a result of such a rule, by the beginning of World War I, Russia's external debt was 6.5 billion rubles, and gold in the treasury was only 1.6 billion.

But Nicholas II spent 12 thousand rubles a year on dear photos with his family. For example, average consumption households in the Russian Empire was about 85 rubles a year per capita. The emperor's wardrobe in the Alexander Palace alone consisted of several hundred items. military uniform. When receiving foreign ambassadors, the tsar put on the uniform of the state where the envoy came from. Often, Nicholas II had to change clothes six times a day.

The figure of the king, primarily through his own fault, turned out to be exclusively decorative. It was precisely this circumstance that caused general dissatisfaction.

The entire economic growth of 1913 came from the private bourgeois and capitalist sector. While the mechanisms of power have practically ceased to work.

They could not, since all the controls were in the hands of one person, unable to move them. Tsarism, thus, simply outlived itself.

Nicholas II became Bloody not when, during his coronation on May 18, 1896, 2689 loyal subjects were killed and maimed in a stampede. He became Bloody because of all the methods of governing the state, he decided to use only the simplest - repression.

The worse the situation became, the more often they resorted to them. The revolution of 1905 was preceded by the famine of 1901-1903, which resulted in the death of more than three million adults alone. The tsarist statistics did not count children. To suppress peasant uprisings and protests of workers, 200 thousand regular soldiers were sent, not counting tens of thousands of gendarmes and Cossacks.

And then on January 9, 1905 in St. Petersburg there was Bloody Sunday- dispersal of the procession of St. Petersburg workers to Winter Palace, which had the goal of handing over to the king a collective petition about working needs. The working people, "like the entire Russian people," have "no human rights. Thanks to your officials, we have become slaves,” the workers wrote in the petition.

The troops met them with cannon and rifle fire. Everywhere the massacre was carried out according to one plan: they fired in volleys, with and without a warning, and then cavalry flew out from behind the infantry barriers and trampled, chopped, whipped the fleeing.

Government report: of those who went to the king, 96 were killed, 330 people were injured. But on January 13, journalists submitted to the Minister of the Interior of the Empire a list of 4,600 dead and mortally maimed by name. Later newspapers wrote that more than 40 thousand corpses with bayonet and saber wounds, trampled by horses, torn by shells and similar wounds passed through the hospitals of the city and its environs.

Thus, the faith of the people in the good king-father was trampled. The wave of general discontent was already unstoppable. During 1905 - 1906, the peasants burned down two thousand estates of landowners out of 30 thousand existing in the European part of the empire. Jewish pogroms claimed the lives of at least 10,000 more people.

In October 1905, the All-Russian political strike spread throughout Russia. The Sevastopol uprising ended with the execution of the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet - the cruiser "Ochakov" and other rebellious ships. Memorial prayers for tens of thousands of innocently killed did not have time to subside, as crop failure attacked Russia. The church, landlords, and tsarist officials refused to share the grain, and as a result, the mass famine of 1911 claimed the lives of 300,000 people. Strikes and shootings began again. A fact has been preserved: in 1914, doctors examined conscripts for the army and were horrified - 40 percent of recruits had traces of Cossack whips or ramrods on their backs.

Triumph of the will

Beginning in the autumn of 1916, not only left-wing radicals and the liberal State Duma, but even the closest relatives - 15 Grand Dukes - stood up in opposition to Nicholas II. Their common demand was the removal of the “holy old man” from governing the country. Grishki Rasputin and German queens and the introduction of a responsible ministry. That is, the government appointed by the Duma and responsible to the Duma. In practice, this meant the transformation political system from autocratic to constitutional monarchy.

The Russian officers made a decisive contribution to the overthrow of Nicholas II. His attitude towards the tsar-father can be judged by the derogatory name of the popular snack - "nikolashka". Her recipe was attributed to the king. Powdered sugar was mixed with ground coffee, this mixture was sprinkled with a slice of lemon, which was used to eat a glass of cognac.

Confidant of the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Adjutant General Mikhail Alekseev - general Alexander Krymov in January 1917, he spoke to the Duma members, pushing them towards a coup, as if giving guarantees from the army. He ended his speech with the words: “The mood in the army is such that everyone will gladly welcome the news of the coup. A revolution is inevitable, and this is felt at the front. If you decide to take this extreme measure, we will support you. Obviously there is no other way. There is no time to lose."

The Imperial Headquarters was, in fact, the second government. There, according to Professor Yuri Lomonosov, who during the war was a member of the engineering council of the Ministry of Railways, dissatisfaction was ripening: “At the headquarters and at the Headquarters, the queen was scolded mercilessly, they talked not only about her imprisonment, but also about the deposition of Nicholas. They even talked about it at the general's tables. But always, with all the talk of this kind, the most likely outcome seemed to be a purely palace revolution, like the assassination of Paul.

In March 1917, it was the military, the commanders of the fronts, who forced the tsar to sign his abdication. The last order of Nicholas II was the appointment of General Lavra Kornilova Commander of the Petrograd Military District.

A few days later, by decision of the Provisional Government, Kornilov left for Tsarskoe Selo to enforce the decree on the arrest of the former Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and all royal family.

By the way, today the same people who go to rallies in an embrace with the icon of Nicholas II and sing "God Save the Tsar" erected in Krasnodar a monument to his jailer, General Kornilov. And they regularly hold commemorations near him, to which they bring the icon of Nicholas II.

After the abdication, Nicholas II turned out to be so nobody the right person that its existence was simply forgotten for a while. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government Pavel Milyukov tried to send royal family to England in the care of the king's cousin - George V, but the king chose to abandon such a plan.

Not knowing what to do, the Provisional Government sent Nicholas II and his family deep into the country. The link became his triumph of will. Not a sovereign, but a man, from the moment of his abdication and up to the day of his death, he showed where more character than for the entire reign. How did he say about it Edward Radzinsky, there are monarchs who do not know how to rule, but who know how to die with dignity.

To the cinema

The father of Nicholas II, Emperor Alexander III, was against the marriage of his son with Princess Alice of Hesse.

In life

Indeed, at first the Russian emperor and his wife were not enthusiastic about this marriage. Let Alice be the granddaughter English queen Victoria, but at that time she was a poor princess from a provincial German duchy. Her mother suffered from a nervous breakdown, but, worst of all, she was a carrier of hemophilia, which is transmitted through the female line to her sons, but the carriers themselves do not get sick. (As a result, Nikolai's son Tsarevich Alexei suffered from hemophilia). Alexander counted on the marriage of the heir to Helen Louise Henriette, daughter of Louis-Philippe, Count of Paris. But then politics, as well as the severe illness of the emperor (and he wanted to marry his son before his death) hastened the marriage of Nicholas and Alice, who became Alexandra Feodorovna in baptism.

Photo by Getty Images

Photo frame from the movie

To the cinema

Alexander III himself introduced his son to Matilda Kshesinskaya.

In life

This happened in 1890 immediately after the graduation performance at the Imperial Theater School, which, according to tradition, was visited by the monarch with his family. Alexander III unexpectedly singled out Matilda Kshesinskaya among all the dancers and told the 17-year-old graduate: “Be the decoration and glory of our ballet!” After the performance, without removing theatrical costumes, all the students gathered in a large rehearsal room - to be presented to royal people.

The action was carefully rehearsed, the best graduates were selected in advance from among the first pupils, among whom Kshesinskaya could not be just because she was listed as coming. And then the first surprise happened - in violation of all the rules, the sovereign asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya?” I had to call her. After the presentation of the graduates, a gala dinner followed, and Malechka also did not have a permanent seat at the common table. And the sovereign again ordered in his own way - he seated Kshesinskaya between himself and the heir, playfully threatening both: “Just look, don’t flirt too much!” At the same time, Nikolai and Kshesinskaya began to communicate closely only two years later. But Alexander could not show his son on the train, who after some time had an accident, a photograph of a young ballerina. After all, the collapse of the train, in which the emperor was injured, because of which he later fell ill and died early, happened two years before Nikolai met Kshesinskaya.

Photo by Getty Images

Photo frame from the movie

To the cinema

Nicholas II cannot forget his beloved in any way, intending to renounce the throne for the sake of Kshesinskaya and run away with her.

In life

Many critics of the film argue that the relationship between Nicholas and Matilda was only platonic. It is unlikely. But after the decision of his parents to marry him to Alice of Hesse, he decides to end the affair with Kshesinskaya - for sure. And Nicky wasn't going anywhere. Here is how the ballerina herself recalls this in her memoirs: “On April 7, 1894, the engagement of the heir to the throne with Alice, Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, was announced. I knew for a long time that sooner or later this must happen, but still my grief was boundless ...

After returning from Coburg and being engaged, the heir to the throne asked me for a farewell meeting. We agreed to meet on the Volkonskoye Highway, at a hay barn standing on the side of the road.

I came from the city in my carriage, and he came on horseback, straight from the training ground. And, as always happens in such cases, when you need to say a lot to each other, a lump came up in your throat, and we didn’t say what we wanted at all. A lot has remained unsaid. And what can you say goodbye to, if you know that nothing can be changed ...

When Nicky left for the training ground, I stood by the shed for a long time and looked after him until he was out of sight. And he kept looking back and looking back... I did not cry, but my heart was torn with grief, and as he moved away, my soul became heavier and heavier.

I returned to the city, to my empty and orphaned house. It seemed to me that life was over and there would be nothing ahead but pain and bitterness.

According to rumors, Kshesinskaya received 100 thousand rubles and a house as the final payment for her relationship with her august lover. In the future, they most likely never met again. But Nikolai periodically helped his ex-girlfriend in absentia in her theatrical affairs. Nothing is known about at least one personal meeting between Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Kshesinskaya.

Photo frame from the movie

To the cinema

Nikolai had a competitor - Lieutenant Vorontsov (played by Danila Kozlovsky). He is in love with Matilda Kshesinskaya so much that he is trying to interfere with his main rival. For example, he wants to beat him with a crown. The future Emperor Nicholas II shows mercy to the unlucky criminal - he replaces the death penalty with compulsory treatment.

In 1890, 18-year-old Matilda Kshesinskaya, still unknown to anyone, but a more promising girl, graduated from the Imperial Theater School. According to custom, after the graduation demonstration performance, Matilda and other graduates are presented to the crowned family. Alexander III shows special favor to the young talent, who enthusiastically follows the pirouettes and arabesques of the dancer. True, Matilda was a visiting pupil of the school, and such people were not supposed to be present at the festive banquet with members of the royal family. However, Alexander, who noticed the absence of a fragile dark-haired girl, ordered to immediately bring her into the hall, where they uttered the fateful words: “Mademoiselle! Be the adornment and glory of our ballet!”

At the table, Matilda was seated next to Tsarevich Nikolai, who, despite his position and young age(he was then 22 years old), was not seen by that time in any amorous story where he could demonstrate his ardor and temperament. Fervor and temperament - no, but devotion and tenderness - very much so.

Dreams of marriage

In January 1889, at the invitation of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, arrived in St. Petersburg. The girl who stopped at the Beloselsky-Belozersky palace was introduced to Tsarevich Nikolai (Alexander III was the princess's godfather). In the six weeks that the future Empress of Russia arrived in St. Petersburg, she managed to win the meek heart of the future emperor and arouse in him a frantic desire to bind himself to her by marriage. But when rumors reached that Nikolai wanted to marry Alice, he ordered his son to forget about this desire. The fact is that Alexander and his wife Maria Feodorovna hoped to marry their son to the daughter of the pretender to the throne of France, Louis Philippe, Louise Henriette, whom The Washington Post even called "the embodiment of female health and beauty, an elegant athlete and a charming polyglot."

By the time he met Kshesinskaya, Nikolai already intended to marry Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

It was only later, in 1894, when the emperor’s health began to deteriorate sharply, and Nikolai, with unusual vehemence, continued to insist on his own, the attitude changed - fortunately, Alice’s sister, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, contributed not only to the rapprochement of the heir to the throne and the princess, helping in the correspondence of lovers, but also by hidden methods influenced Alexander. Due to all these reasons, in the spring of 1894, a manifesto appeared in which the engagement of the Tsarevich and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt was announced. But that was after.

"Baby" Kshesinskaya and Nikki

And in 1890, when Nikolai could only correspond with his Alice, he was suddenly introduced to Matilda Kshesinskaya - according to some historians, the cunning Alexander decided that Nikolai needed to be distracted from his love and channel his energy in a different direction. The emperor’s project was a success: already in the summer, the crown prince writes in his diary: “Baby Kshesinskaya positively occupies me ...” - and regularly attends her performances.

Matilda Kshesinskaya fell in love with the future emperor at first sight. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

“Baby” Kshesinskaya perfectly understood what game she was entering into, but she could hardly realize how far she would advance in relations with members of the royal family. When there was a shift in communication with Nikolai, Matilda announced to her father, a well-known Polish dancer who performed on the Mariinsky stage, that she had become Nikolai's lover. The father listened to his daughter and asked only one question: does she realize that the affair with the future emperor will not end in anything? To this question, which she asked herself, Matilda replied that she wanted to drink the cup of love to the bottom.

The romance of the temperamental and bright ballerina and the future emperor of Russia, who was not accustomed to demonstrating his feelings, lasted exactly two years. Kshesinskaya had really strong feelings for Nikolai and even considered her relationship with him a sign of fate: both he and she were “marked” with the number two: he was supposed to become Nicholas II, and she was called Kshesinskaya-2 on stage: she also worked in the theater elder sister Matilda Julia. When their relationship had just begun, Kshesinskaya enthusiastically wrote in her diary: “I fell in love with the Heir from our first meeting. After the summer season in Krasnoye Selo, when I could meet and talk with him, my feeling filled my whole soul, and I could only think about him ... "

Lovers met most often in the house of the Kshesinsky family and did not particularly hide: no secrets were possible at court, and the emperor himself covered his eyes to his son’s novel. There was even a case when the mayor rushed into the house, in a hurry to inform that the sovereign was hastily demanding his son to his Anichkov Palace. However, in order to maintain decency for Kshesinskaya, a mansion was bought on Promenade des Anglais where lovers could see each other without any interference.

End of story

The relationship ended in 1894. Matilda, ready from the very beginning for such an outcome, did not fight in hysterics, did not cry: when saying goodbye to Nicholas with restraint, she behaves with dignity befitting a queen, but not an abandoned mistress.

The ballerina took the news of the breakup calmly. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org It is impossible to argue that this was a deliberate calculation, however, Kshesinskaya's behavior led to positive result: Nikolai always warmly remembered his girlfriend, and in parting he asked her to always address him with “you”, still call him by his home nickname “Nikki” and always turn to him in case of trouble. Later, Nikolai Kshesinskaya would indeed resort to the help, but only for professional purposes related to behind-the-scenes theatrical intrigues.

At this point, their relationship was finally broken. Matilda continued to dance and hovered over the stage with special inspiration when she saw her daughter in the royal box. former lover. And Nicholas, who put on the crown, completely immersed himself in the state cares that fell on him after death. Alexander III, and in a quiet pool family life with the desired Alix, as he affectionately called - former princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.

When the engagement had just taken place, Nikolai honestly spoke about his connection with the ballerina, to which she replied: “What has passed has passed and will never return. All of us in this world are surrounded by temptations, and when we are young, we cannot always fight to resist the temptation… I love you even more since you told me this story. Your trust touches me so deeply… Can I be worthy of it…?”

P.S.

A few years later, terrible shocks and a terrible end awaited Nicholas: Russo-Japanese War, Bloody Sunday, high-ranking assassination spree, First World War, popular discontent, which grew into a revolution, the humiliating exile of him and his entire family, and, finally, the execution in the basement of the Ipatiev house.

Matilda Kshesinskaya with her son. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org

Kshesinskaya, on the other hand, had a different fate - the glory of one of the richest women in the Empire, a love affair with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, from whom she would give birth to a son, emigration to Europe, an affair with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, who would give the child his middle name, and the glory of one of the best ballerina of her time and one of the most attractive women era that turned the head of Emperor Nicholas himself.

Matilda Kshesinskaya is considered almost the love of the last life Russian emperor, Nicholas II. The ballerina and the heir to the throne met in 1890, and their romantic relationship lasted four years. But what was, and what was not between them in reality?

Only the lazy did not hear about the scandalous picture of Alexei Uchitel "Matilda" at the end of 2017. According to many critics, the film about the love affair between the ballerina Kshesinskaya and the future Tsar Nicholas II came out too "erotic" and far from the truth. Supporters of the conservative version of this story insist that the relationship between the Tsarevich and the ballerina was purely platonic. But could, in fact, Nicholas resist the female charms of Matilda?

Today, it is necessary to restore the details of these relations literally bit by bit. And it's not the lack of archival materials - everything is in order with them. But many of them contradict each other. In a mysterious way, Matilda Kshesinskaya herself described the same events in different ways in her diaries, which she kept during an affair with the Tsarevich, and in memoirs written many years later.

The disagreement begins with the story of the very first meeting between Matilda and Nicholas. The young ballerina entrusted the diary with a story about how she asked permission from Alexander III to invite the Tsarevich to her table. Whereas the memoirs written by her decades later tell a completely different version, flattering for Matilda, about how Tsar Alexander noticed the young beauty and invited her to join their table.

Knowing how helpful memory can be, distorting, embellishing or crowding out significant information, we tend to trust more the revelations that the young ballerina Kshesinskaya left on the pages of her diary. It is noteworthy that during the same period, Nicholas also recorded the events of his life in a diary. And if the girl’s records concerning the Tsarevich are always emotional and detailed, then his about her are stingy with both words and emotions. It is all the more interesting to compare the revelations of Matilda and Nicholas and try to shed light on this "dark" history of royal addiction.

Acquaintance of the ballerina and the heir to the throne

Curiously, Nikolai Alexandrovich himself left only a couple of lines dated March 23, 1890 in his diary. No mention of Kshesinskaya herself or the details of the dinner. However, this is probably more of a feminine trait - to notice the details. Men, on the other hand, focus on facts. “Let's go to a performance at the Theater School. There were small plays and ballet - very good. We dined with the pupils, ”the crown prince described that day in such a simple and concise manner.

Mutual sympathy and embarrassed smiles

On July 4 of the same year, the young ballerina, who had just been accepted into the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater, performed for the first time in Krasnoye Selo. The Tsarevich was also there, which made her very happy. The fear she felt before entering an unfamiliar stage disappeared, and at every opportunity she looked at Nikolai. “So, the first performance was successful for me: I was successful and saw the Heir. But this is only enough for the first time, then, I know well that this will not be enough for me, I will want more, such is my character. I'm afraid of myself, ”Kshesinskaya admitted in her diary.

The first mention of the ballerina in the records of the Tsarevich appeared two days after that - on July 6, 1890: “After dinner we went to the theater. Positively, Kshesinskaya 2nd interests me very much ”(Nikolai writes“ Kshesinskaya 2nd ”, since the older sister of Matilda, Yulia, who was called“ Kshesinskaya 1st ”), was also in the ballet troupe. According to Matilda's diaries, that day she tried very hard to impress the son of the emperor - and, apparently, she succeeded. She even noticed how many times she caught the eye of the Tsarevich when she danced. “As soon as the curtain fell, I became terribly sad. I went to the bathroom to the window to see him again. I saw him, he didn’t see me, because I got up to that window, which is not visible from below, unless you look back when you drive away from the royal entrance. I was hurt, I was ready to cry. I said correctly that each time I will want more.

That month, several more performances and short meetings between Nikolai and Matilda took place. Judging by the notes left by the young ballerina, she tried to catch the eyes of the Tsarevich more often when he came to the theater. She really wanted to talk to him, but there was no suitable opportunity. And yet, the nascent sympathy between the young people gradually grew. During the intermissions of performances, when the heir to the throne came backstage, they exchanged embarrassed smiles, but did not dare to start a conversation for some time. Nikolai mentioned Kshesinskaya several times in July in his diaries: for example, “I positively like Kshesinskaya 2nd very much” or “were at the theater ... I talked with little Kshesinskaya through the window.”

First separation and thoughts about another girl

In the summer of 1890, the development of these relations did not follow: circumstances developed in such a way that soon, on the orders of his father, the crown prince left for a long journey to Far East, and then went with his parents to Denmark. Nicholas returned home only in 1892. Behind for a long time Separation Nikolai did not write about the young ballerina in his diaries, but he remembered another girl he liked - the granddaughter of the English Queen Alice of Hesse. They met back in 1974, and since then the image of a foreign princess has been vividly imprinted in the heart of the Tsarevich. During his trip, he left the following note: “My dream is to someday marry Alix G. I have loved her for a long time, but even deeper and stronger since 1889, when she spent 6 weeks in St. Petersburg in the winter.” An obstacle to the realization of this desire of the son of the emperor was that the bride of the Russian heir to the throne had to convert to the Christian faith, and this was opposed by the relatives of Alice Hessen. However, Nikolai was very infatuated with her. “I am almost convinced that our feelings are mutual,” he wrote in his diary.

Matilda remained in Russia, danced in the troupe of the Mariinsky Theater and made great strides on stage. Occasionally, in her diaries during that period, there are mentions of the crown prince. So, for example, she writes that one of the colleagues of the emperor’s son, Yevgeny Volkov, told her that Nikolai Alexandrovich was “terribly glad that I paid attention to him, especially since I am an artist, and, moreover, pretty.” But regular entries about the Tsarevich returned to the pages of her diaries only when he again arrived in Russia. Their meetings resumed, which this time began to take place more and more often, and the heir himself began to act as their initiator.

Unexpected visit and flashed feelings

Nikolai Alexandrovich had only managed to arrive in St. Petersburg, when his thoughts again rushed to the young ballerina. On February 15, 1892, he writes that he was "taken over by the theatrical fever that occurs every Shrove Tuesday." The Tsarevich visited the Mariinsky Theater, where he had a few words with Matilda. Then their meeting took place already in the city. On February 28, the heir to the throne, riding around St. Petersburg in a carriage, saw Kshesinskaya on the embankment. For him, this was an unexpected joy, however, as is known from the records of the ballerina, she began to visit the center regularly, knowing that this increased her chances of meeting the one she was in love with.

On March 10, the Tsarevich went to the Theater School: “I sat at dinner with the pupils as before, only little Kshesinskaya is very much missing.” And the very next day an event happened that marked the beginning of a new stage in the relationship between Nicholas and Matilda. Kshesinskaya was unwell: in the afternoon she underwent eye surgery. In frustrated feelings, she was resting at home when the maid reported that Yevgeny Volkov was asking her. However, instead of an old acquaintance, Nikolai Alexandrovich himself appeared on the threshold of her house, who decided to arrange a surprise. He wrote in his diary: “I spent the evening miraculously: I went to a new place for me, to the Kshesinsky sisters. They were terribly surprised to see me with them. I sat with them for more than 2 hours, chatting about everything incessantly. Unfortunately, my poor little little one had a pain in her eye, which had been bandaged, and besides, her leg was not quite well. But the joy was mutual great! After drinking tea, he said goodbye to them and arrived home at one in the morning. I spent the last day of my stay in St. Petersburg nicely, three of us with such persons.

Matilda was overwhelmed with happiness, despite the fact that she was embarrassed (as she recalled), because she "was not quite dressed, that is, without a corset and then with a bandaged eye." But the joy of meeting her lover was much stronger: "today, when I got to know him better, I was fascinated by him even more." That evening, Nikolai began to call her "Maley", and they agreed to write letters to each other. Matilda mentioned in her diary that after tea drinking, the heir "certainly wanted to go into the bedroom," but she did not let him in.

After that evening, Nikolai began to pay visits to the Kshesinskys on a regular basis. Moreover, in his diaries there appeared previously unusual entries about each, even the most insignificant, meeting with a charming ballerina: “I went to the Maly Theater to Uncle Alexei's box. They gave an interesting play "Thermidor" ... The Kshesinskys were sitting right opposite in the theater "; “I saw the Kshesinskys again. They were in the arena and then stood still on Karavannaya”; “After dinner I went to visit the Kshesinskys, where I spent a pleasant hour and a half.” Even in his free hours, he could not get rid of thoughts about the object of his love. On March 13, he wrote: "After tea, I read again and thought a lot about a famous person."

Romantic correspondence and first kiss

Nicholas and Matilda constantly exchanged tender letters. The Tsarevich wrote to the young ballerina almost every day, and if he did not receive an answer in the near future, he would be very upset. On March 23, exactly two years after the first meeting of Nikolai and Matilda at the graduation performance of the Theater School, the heir sent a letter to Kshesinskaya saying that he would visit her at eleven in the evening. She was overjoyed, but the wait seemed unbearable.

In her diary, Matilda describes that evening in detail: “The Tsarevich arrived at 12 o’clock, without taking off his coat, entered my room, where we greeted and ... kissed for the first time.” Then Nikolai gave her some of his photographs and a bracelet. “We talked a lot. Even today I did not let the Tsarevich into the bedroom, and he made me laugh terribly when he said that if I am afraid to go there with him, then he will go alone. The night flew by unnoticed. The emperor's son left the ballerina only in the morning.

Matilda completes the description of that night with the following lines: “At first, when he came, it was very embarrassing for me to speak to him in You. I kept getting confused: You, you, you, you, and so on all the time! He has such wonderful eyes that I'm just going crazy! The Tsarevich left when it was already dawn. At parting, we kissed several times. When he left, my heart sank painfully! Ah, my happiness is so shaky! I must always think that this may be the last time I see him!”

Increasing jealousy and longing for a lover

Of course, even then Matilda understood that the continuation of these relations was quite foggy prospects. But she was so much in love with Nicholas that she practically did not think about it, living from meeting to meeting with the Tsarevich. They saw each other not only at the Kshesinsky's, but also in in public places, but behaved with restraint in front of a large audience. Nikolai sent flowers to the ballerina and, at every opportunity, sought to see his beloved. But, curiously, he did not forget about Alice Hessen, which undoubtedly hurt Matilda's feelings.

On April 1, 1892, he wrote in his diary: “A very strange phenomenon that I notice in myself: I never thought that two identical feelings, two loves were simultaneously compatible in my soul. Now the fourth year has already begun that I love Alix G. and constantly cherish the idea, if God wills, someday marry her! our heart! At the same time, I do not stop thinking about Alix G. Can you really conclude after this that I am very amorous? To a certain extent, yes. But I must add that inside I am a strict judge and extremely picky!

Once Nikolai took his diaries with him when he came to the Kshesinskys, and Matilda had the opportunity to read them. She was pleased with the numerous entries of the Tsarevich, which were dedicated to her, and was unpleasantly struck by the mention of a foreign princess: “One day in the diary interested me very much, this is April 1, where he writes about Alice G. and about me. He really likes Alice, he told me about this before, and I seriously start to be jealous of her.

At the same time, the son of the emperor did not deceive the ballerina: he frankly told her that before his own wedding he could stay with her, but did not promise anything after. In a letter dated August 3, Matilda wrote to him these words: “I keep thinking about your wedding. You said yourself that before the wedding, you're mine, and then... Nicky, do you think it was easy for me to hear that? If you knew, Nicky, how jealous I am of you for A., ​​because you love her? But she will never love you, Nicki, as your little Panny loves you! I kiss you warmly and passionately. All yours".

In fact, the closer the communication between the Tsarevich and the ballerina became, the more reasons for jealousy she found. She was upset when it seemed to her that Nikolai in the arena looked for a long time through binoculars at another young lady, when the crown prince was talking with other ballet dancers. Matilda wanted to be his only lover with whom he could openly appear in public, but she knew that their relationship should remain secret. Therefore, she kept all her mental anguish in a diary, and sometimes wrote about her jealousy to Nikolai. From time to time, she herself seemed to try to hurt the crown prince's pride and make him jealous. She has, like a ballerina, while beautiful woman, there were other admirers, whom she spoke about in letters to the Tsarevich. For example: “I keep forgetting to write to you: I have a new admirer of Peak G (Golitsyn - ed.). I like him, he is a pretty boy”, or “You are interested to know from whom I received flowers in the first performance. I will tell you on Monday. Yesterday the basket was from R. He takes great care of me and assures me that he is seriously in love with me.

And, nevertheless, judging by the diaries of young people, while Matilda constantly thought about the heir to the throne, even when he left for long trips, Nicholas wrote about her only when they saw each other in person and in the first days after his departure. "I keep remembering last night spent with you when you, dear Nicky, lay on my sofa. I admired You all the time, ”the ballerina wrote to the Tsarevich on May 2, after he left for a military camp in Denmark. When Nikolai returned to Petersburg two months later, the conversation between them was rather cool. And ahead again there was a separation for several months - this time the crown prince left for the Caucasus. She waited, dreamed of a meeting and suffered from a flaring flame of jealousy. Upon learning of the rumors that the heir to the throne was carried away by some Georgian woman, she could not contain her despair. On November 15, an entry appeared in her diary: “I went to church, prayed fervently, and as if I felt better, but upon returning home, everything, every thing, reminded me of my dear Nicky, and I cried again.” Correspondence between the ballerina and the Tsarevich was not interrupted (according to what Matilda wrote in her diary), but the name of the pretty ballerina did not appear in Nikolai's personal notes until the beginning of 1893.

Last determined attempt

A new round of relations began in January 1893. Matilda, having missed the heir for months of separation, was extremely happy when they saw each other again. In her diaries, these meetings are described in great detail and colorfully. They feel that she enjoys every minute spent near him, gets upset if he is late in the service, coming to her later than agreed. But, most importantly, she begins to think about the future, desperately wants to develop relations with Nikolai and herself brings him to frank conversations. The description of a happy meeting after the Tsarevich's return to St. Petersburg on January 3 ends in her diary with the following words: “They talked a lot, but not a word about the main thing, and I was tormented that Nicky did not start a conversation about this. Maybe you didn't want to right away?

Five days later, a serious conversation takes place between them in private, which the ballerina starts. From Matilda's notes, it is quite clear what she was trying to achieve from the heir: “This conversation lasted more than an hour. I was ready to burst into tears, Nicky struck me. In front of me sat not one in love with me, but some kind of indecisive, not understanding the bliss of love. In the summer, he himself repeatedly reminded in letters and in conversation about a closer acquaintance, and now he suddenly said quite the opposite, that it could not be my first, that it would torment him all his life, that if I were not already innocent, then he would got along with me without hesitation."

Matilda was in despair, but did not lose hope. She did not give up and continued to act decisively. In the same month, Nikolai leaves for Berlin for a short time, and when he returns, regular meetings with the ballerina resume. The Tsarevich scrupulously fixes in personal diary their every meeting. Supporters of the theory that the line of platonic relations between the emperor’s son and Matilda was overcome, cite Nikolai’s entry of January 23, 1893 as an example: “In the evening I flew to my M.K. and spent the best evening with her so far. Being under the impression of her - the pen is shaking in his hands! The Tsarevich rarely allowed himself such emotional liberties in his diaries. How did the evening go alone with his beloved Maleya, if after him Nikolai “the pen is shaking in his hands”? After that, the name of the ballerina is mentioned almost every day in the records of the heir, because they constantly meet - either during the day they ride together, then at night they sit up until dawn. Undoubtedly, she was very attracted to him at that time. However, this “peak” of relations was also the beginning of their end. For most of the year, Nikolai was on the road - he visited the Crimea, England, Finland and Denmark, and also took part in the "mobile training" of the Preobrazhensky Regiment.

Meetings with Matilda stop, and the Tsarevich, as if, grows cold towards the object of his passion. At the same time, the ballerina's diaries are cut off. Perhaps she stopped leading them in frustrated feelings. But, one way or another, the relationship between Nikolai and Matilda is gradually fading away. At the same time, the illness of Emperor Alexander is aggravated - it becomes clear to everyone that very soon his son will take the throne. The contradictions preventing the marriage of the heir and Alice Gessen are beginning to be resolved. The Tsarevich understands that his life will change radically, and there will no longer be room for a frivolous, but passionate love for the ballerina.

The last meeting and explanation of Nicholas and Matilda takes place at the end of 1893. She is described in the ballerina's memoirs - there she says that Nikolai said that their love would forever remain the brightest moment of his youth. It is known that after the announcement of the engagement of the heir to the throne with a foreign princess, Nicholas and Matilda stopped communicating and never met alone again.

MATILDA

Director: Alexey Uchitel
Screenwriter: Andrey Gelasimov
Artist: Vera Zelinskaya
Operator: Yuri Klimenko
Producers: Kira Saksoganskaya
Production: TPO "ROK"
Genre: historical
Year: 2014
Premiere scheduled for 2015

Role: Vorontsov, officer of the imperial army

Actors: Danila Kozlovsky, Lars Eidinger, Thomas Ostermeier, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Louise Wolfram, Grigory Dobrygin, Evgeny Mironov, Vitaly Kishchenko, Vitaly Kovalenko, Sara Stern, Yang Ge

PLOT OF THE PICTURE.
Romantic, action-packed love story of Emperor Nicholas II and ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. Matilda was one step away from the fact that the history of Russia was completely different. The heir Nicholas wanted to abdicate in order to marry her, and only the death of the emperor ruined his plans.

A little about the film

"Matilda" is a large-scale, international project. Episodes of the film are shot in authentic historical interiors, and for the main action - the coronation of the last Russian emperor - a huge decoration of the Assumption Cathedral was erected in solemn decoration. A large crown, a scepter, an orb and all the decorations of Matilda Kshesinskaya, Alexandra Feodorovna and Maria Feodorovna were made especially for the film by jewelers - only, of course, not from gold and diamonds, but from other metals, rhinestones and cubic zirkonia. trains, and the wedding of Nikolai and Alexandra, and even Khodynka with three thousand extras. The film will begin with the first meeting of Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II, with the birth of love, and will end with a solemnly tragic denouement. love story- the magnificent coronation of the last Russian emperor.

The project is produced with the support of the Mariinsky Theater and its artistic director Valery Gergiev.

The name of the actress who will perform leading role, Alexey Uchitel has not yet disclosed.

About the role of Danila

For several days in October 2014, Petersburgers were horrified by heart-rending cries erupting from the windows of an old mansion on Vasilyevsky Island. Only a few initiates could get inside and see an even more terrible picture - an exhausted screaming man in light white robes, chained to a huge iron wheel. In the sufferer, one could hardly immediately recognize the actor Danila Kozlovsky, who screamed, of course, not from pain, but strictly according to the text of the new role, but so reliably that the impressionable girls from the film crew were heartbroken. During breaks, the dressers warmed Danila, wrapping them in warm blankets, no joke, in the mansion no more than 10 degrees Celsius. In a new feature feature film Alexei Uchitel with the working title "Matilda" Danila's role is ambiguous. His hero - Vorontsov, an officer of the imperial army, is in love with a brilliant ballerina, the favorite of Tsarevich Nicholas - Matilda Kshesinskaya. In love so much that he tries to destroy his main rival. The future emperor Nicholas II shows unheard-of mercy to the unlucky criminal - he replaces the death penalty with compulsory treatment for pernicious passion. The clinic, by the way, is equipped according to the latest medical fashion: “There is also a prototype of a modern solarium - a light cabinet, where many residents of the Northern capital were placed, believing that they did not have enough sun, and an electromagnetic laboratory, where the doctor sets up experiments and investigates the effects electric current on the human body. There is a wheel that can put the patient into a state of trance during rotation, and even a reservoir of water, where the hero Kozlovsky will be immersed and he will have to spend several minutes without air - according to the doctors of the beginning of the last century, oxygen starvation can cure love torment and generally "set the brain" man, - says the production designer of this object Elena Zhukova. - The scene with a large flask, in which the count is immersed, has been rehearsed for several days - so far, however, without water. And Danila, who wished to perform all the tricks himself, is planning training in the pool to prepare this scene.

INTERESTING FACTS: Initially, Danila auditioned for the role of Nicholas II. Director Uchitel was pleased with the auditions and even showed the filmed episodes on August 13, 2013 at the defense of the project in front of the experts of the Film Fund, but in the end he approved Lars Eidinger, an actor from the Berlin Schaubühne Theater, for this role.

Trailer shown at the Cinema Fund pitching