Nicky and Alix. The great love of the last Russian emperor
Alexandra Feodorovna (nee Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt) was born in 1872 in Darmstadt, the capital of the small German Duchy of Hesse. Her mother died at thirty-five.
In 1884, twelve-year-old Alix was brought to Russia: her sister Ella was marrying Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. The heir to the Russian throne, sixteen-year-old Nicholas, fell in love with her at first sight. The young people, who were also quite closely related (they were second cousins through the princess’s father), immediately fell in love with each other. But only five years later, seventeen-year-old Alix reappeared at the Russian court.
Alice of Hesse in childhood. (wikimedia.org)
In 1889, when the heir to the crown prince turned twenty-one, he turned to his parents with a request to bless him for his marriage to Princess Alice. The answer of Emperor Alexander III was brief: “You are very young, there is still time for marriage, and, in addition, remember the following: you are the heir to the Russian throne, you are engaged to Russia, and we will still have time to find a wife.” A year and a half after this conversation, Nikolai wrote in his diary: “Everything is in the will of God. Trusting in His mercy, I look calmly and humbly to the future.” Alix’s grandmother, Queen Victoria of England, also opposed this marriage. However, when Victoria later met Tsarevich Nicholas, he made a very good impression on her, and the English ruler’s opinion changed. Alice herself had reason to believe that the beginning of an affair with the heir to the Russian throne could have favorable consequences for her. Returning to England, the princess begins to study the Russian language, gets acquainted with Russian literature, and even has long conversations with the priest of the Russian embassy church in London.
Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna. (wikimedia.org)
In 1893, Alexander III became seriously ill. Here a dangerous question for the succession to the throne arose - the future sovereign is not married. Nikolai Alexandrovich categorically stated that he would choose a bride only for love, and not for dynastic reasons. Through the mediation of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, the emperor's consent to his son's marriage to Princess Alice was obtained.
However, Maria Feodorovna poorly concealed her dissatisfaction with the unsuccessful, in her opinion, choice of an heir. The fact that the Princess of Hesse joined the Russian imperial family during the mournful days of the suffering of the dying Alexander III probably set Maria Feodorovna even more against the new empress.
Nikolai Alexandrovich on the back of the Greek Prince Nicholas. (wikimedia.org)
In April 1894, Nikolai went to Coburg for the wedding of Alix's brother Ernie. And soon the newspapers reported the engagement of the crown prince and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt. On the day of the engagement, Nikolai Alexandrovich wrote in his diary: “A wonderful, unforgettable day in my life - the day of my engagement to dear Alix. I walk around all day as if outside of myself, not quite fully aware of what is happening to me.” November 14, 1894 is the day of the long-awaited wedding. On the wedding night, Alix wrote in Nicholas’s diary: “When this life ends, we will meet again in another world and stay together forever...” After the wedding, the Tsarevich will write in his diary: “Incredibly happy with Alix. It’s a pity that classes take up so much time that I would so much like to spend exclusively with her.”
The wedding of Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna. (wikimedia.org)
Typically, the wives of Russian heirs to the throne were in secondary roles for a long time. Thus, they had time to carefully study the mores of the society they would have to manage, had time to navigate their likes and dislikes, and most importantly, had time to acquire the necessary friends and helpers. Alexandra Fedorovna was unlucky in this sense. She ascended the throne, as they say, having fallen from a ship to a ball: not understanding the life that was alien to her, not being able to understand the complex intrigues of the imperial court. Painfully withdrawn, Alexandra Fedorovna seemed to be the opposite example of the affable Dowager Empress - she, on the contrary, gave the impression of an arrogant, cold German woman who treated her subjects with disdain.
The embarrassment that invariably engulfs the queen when communicating with strangers, prevented the establishment of simple, relaxed relationships with representatives of high society, which were vital for her. Alexandra Feodorovna did not know how to win the hearts of her subjects at all; even those who were ready to bow to members of the imperial family did not receive a reason to do so. So, for example, in women's institutes, Alexandra Fedorovna could not squeeze out a single friendly word. This was all the more striking, since the former Empress Maria Fedorovna knew how to evoke in college students a relaxed attitude toward herself, which turned into enthusiastic love for the bearers of royal power.
The Romanovs on the yacht "Standart". (wikimedia.org)
The queen's intervention in the affairs of government did not appear immediately after her wedding. Alexandra Feodorovna was quite happy with the traditional role of a homemaker, the role of a woman next to a man engaged in difficult, serious work. Nicholas II, a domestic man by nature, for whom power seemed more like a burden than a way of self-realization, rejoiced at any opportunity to forget about his state concerns in a family setting and gladly indulged in those petty domestic interests for which he had a natural inclination. Anxiety and confusion gripped the reigning couple even when the empress, with some fatal sequence, began to give birth to girls. Nothing could be done against this obsession, but Alexandra Feodorovna, who had internalized her destiny as a queen, perceived the absence of an heir as a kind of heavenly punishment. On this basis, she, an extremely impressionable and nervous person, developed pathological mysticism. Now every step of Nikolai Alexandrovich himself was checked against one or another heavenly sign, and state policy was imperceptibly intertwined with childbirth.
The Romanovs after the birth of their heir. (wikimedia.org)
The queen's influence on her husband intensified, and the more significant it became, the further the date for the appearance of the heir moved forward. The French charlatan Philip was invited to the court, who managed to convince Alexandra Feodorovna that he was able to provide her, through suggestion, with male offspring, and she imagined herself to be pregnant and felt all the physical symptoms of this condition. Only after several months of the so-called false pregnancy, which was very rarely observed, the empress agreed to be examined by a doctor, who established the truth. But the most important misfortune was that the charlatan received, through the queen, the opportunity to influence state affairs. One of Nicholas II’s closest assistants wrote in his diary in 1902: “Philip inspires the sovereign that he does not need other advisers except representatives of the highest spiritual, heavenly powers, with whom he, Philip, puts him into intercourse. Hence the intolerance of any contradiction and complete absolutism, sometimes expressed as absurdity.”
The Romanovs and Queen Victoria of England. (wikimedia.org)
Philip was still able to be expelled from the country, because the Police Department, through its agent in Paris, found indisputable evidence of the French subject’s fraud. And soon the long-awaited miracle followed - the heir Alexei was born. However, the birth of a son did not bring peace to the royal family.
The child suffered from a terrible hereditary disease - hemophilia, although his illness was kept a state secret. The children of the royal Romanov family - Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, and the heir Tsarevich Alexei - were extraordinary in their ordinariness. Despite the fact that they were born into one of the highest positions in the world and had access to all earthly goods, they grew up like ordinary children. Even Alexei, for whom every fall threatened a painful illness and even death, was changed from bed rest to normal in order for him to gain courage and other qualities necessary for the heir to the throne.
Alexandra Fedorovna with her daughters doing needlework. (wikimedia.org)
According to contemporaries, the empress was deeply religious. The church was her main consolation, especially at a time when the heir’s illness worsened. The Empress held full services in the court churches, where she introduced the monastic (longer) liturgical regulations. The Queen's room in the palace was a connection between the empress's bedroom and the nun's cell. The huge wall adjacent to the bed was completely covered with images and crosses.
Reading telegrams with wishes of recovery to the Tsarevich. (wikimedia.org)
During the First World War, rumors spread that Alexandra Feodorovna defended the interests of Germany. By personal order of the sovereign, a secret investigation was carried out into “slanderous rumors about the empress’s relations with the Germans and even about her betrayal of the Motherland.” It was established that rumors about the desire for a separate peace with the Germans, the transfer of Russian military plans by the Empress to the Germans were spread by the German general staff. After the abdication of the sovereign, the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry under the Provisional Government tried and failed to establish the guilt of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna of any crimes.
Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova - the last Russian empress, wife of Nicholas II. Today we will get acquainted with the life and work of this undoubtedly important historical person.
Childhood and youth
The future empress was born on May 25, 1872, in the German city of Darmstadt. Her father was Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and her mother was Grand Duchess Alice, second daughter of Queen Victoria of England. The girl was baptized Lutheran and received the name Alice Victoria Elena Brigitte Louise Beatrice, in honor of her mother and aunts. The family began to call the girl simply Alice. The mother was raising the child. But when Alice was only six years old, her mother died. She cared for patients with diphtheria and became infected herself. At that time, the woman was only 35 years old.
After losing her mother, Alice began to live with her grandmother Queen Victoria. In the English court, the girl received a good upbringing and education. She was fluent in several languages. In her youth, the princess received a philosophical education at the University of Heidelberg.
In the summer of 1884, Alexandra visited Russia for the first time. She came there for the wedding of her sister, Princess Ella, with Prince Sergei Alexandrovich. At the beginning of 1889, she visited Russia again with her brother and father. IN young princess Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, who was the heir to the throne, fell in love. However, the imperial family did not attach any importance to this, in the hope that he would connect his life with the royal family of France.
Wedding
In 1894, when the condition of Emperor Alexander III sharply deteriorated, it was necessary to suddenly resolve the issue of the prince’s marriage and succession to the throne. On April 8, 1894, Princess Alice was engaged to Tsarevich Nicholas. On October 5 of the same year, she received a telegram asking her to urgently come to Russia. Five days later, Princess Alice was in Livadia. Here she stayed with the royal family until October 20, the day when Alexander III died. The next day, the princess was accepted into the fold of the Orthodox Church and named Alexandra Feodorovna, in honor of Queen Alexandra.
On the birthday of Empress Maria, November 14, when it was possible to retreat from strict mourning, Alexandra Romanova married Nicholas II. The wedding took place in the Church of the Winter Palace. And on May 14, 1896, the royal couple was crowned in the Assumption Cathedral.
Children
Tsarina Romanova Alexandra Fedorovna tried to be an assistant for her husband in all his endeavors. Together, their union became a true example of a truly Christian family. The couple gave birth to four daughters: Olga (in 1895), Tatyana (in 1897), Maria (in 1899), Anastasia (in 1901). And in 1904, a long-awaited event for the whole family took place - the birth of the heir to the throne, Alexei. He was given the disease that Queen Victoria's ancestors suffered from - hemophilia. Hemophilia is a chronic disease associated with poor blood clotting.
Upbringing
Empress Alexandra Romanova tried to take care of the whole family, but Special attention she gave to her son. Initially, she taught him on her own, later she called teachers and supervised the progress of his training. Being very tactful, the empress kept her son’s illness a secret from outsiders. Due to constant concern for Alexy’s life, Alexandra invited G.E. Rasputin, who knew how to stop bleeding using hypnosis, to the courtyard. In dangerous moments, he was the family's only hope.
Religion
As contemporaries testified, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova, the wife of Nicholas 2, was very religious. In the days when the heir’s illness worsened, the church was her only salvation. Thanks to the imperial family, several temples were built, including in Alexandra’s homeland. Thus, in memory of Maria Alexandrovna, the first Russian Empress from the House of Hesse, the Church of Mary Magdalene was erected in the city of Darmstadt. And in memory of the coronation of the Emperor and Empress, in 1896, a temple in the name of All Saints was founded in the city of Hamburg.
Charity
According to the rescript of her husband, dated February 26, 1896, the Empress took up the patronage of the imperial women's Patriotic Community. Being unusually hardworking, she devoted a lot of time to needlework. Alexandra Romanova organized charity bazaars and fairs where homemade souvenirs were sold. Over time, she took many charities under her patronage.
During the war with the Japanese, the Empress was personally involved in the preparation of ambulance trains and warehouses of medicines to be sent to the battlefields. But Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova carried the greatest labors to the First world war. From the very beginning of the confrontations, in the Tsarskoye Selo community, together with her eldest daughters, the empress took courses in caring for the wounded. Later, they more than once saved the military from painful death. In the period from 1914 to 1917, the Empress's Warehouse Committee worked in the Winter Palace.
Smear campaign
During the First World War, and in general, in last years reign, the Empress became the victim of a baseless and ruthless slander campaign. Its instigators were revolutionaries and their accomplices in Russia and Germany. They tried to spread rumors as widely as possible that the empress was cheating on her husband with Rasputin and was giving Russia over to please Germany. None of the rumors were confirmed by facts.
Abdication
On March 2, 1917, Nicholas II abdicated the throne personally for himself and for his heir, Tsarevich Alexei. Six days later, in Tsarskoe Selo, Alexandra Romanova was arrested along with her children. On the same day, the emperor was arrested in Mogilev. The next day, a convoy took him to Tsarskoye Selo. That same year, on August 1, the whole family left for exile in Tobolsk. There, imprisoned in the governor's house, she lived for the next eight months.
On April 26 of the following year, Alexandra, Nikolai and their daughter Maria were sent to Yekaterinburg, leaving Alexei's three sisters in the care. Four days later, they were settled in a house that previously belonged to engineer N. Ipatiev. The Bolsheviks called it "home" special purpose" And they called the prisoners “tenants.” The house was surrounded by a high fence. It was guarded by 30 people. On May 23, the remaining children of the imperial family were brought here. The former sovereigns began to live like prisoners: complete isolation from the outside environment, meager food, daily hour-long walks, searches, and a biased hostile attitude from the guards.
Murder of the royal family
On July 12, 1918, the Bolshevik Uralsovet, under the pretext of the approach of the Czechoslovak and Siberian armies, adopted a resolution on the murder of the imperial family. There is an opinion that the Ural military commissar F. Goloshchekin at the beginning of the same month, having visited the capital, enlisted the support of V. Lenin for the execution of the royal family. On June 16, Lenin received a telegram from the Uralsovet, which reported that the execution of the Tsar’s family could no longer be delayed. The telegram also asked Lenin to immediately communicate his opinion on this matter. Vladimir Ilyich did not answer, and it is obvious that the Urals Council considered this as agreement. The execution of the decree was led by Y. Yurovsky, who on July 4 was appointed commandant of the house in which the Romanovs were imprisoned.
On the night of July 16-17, 1918, the murder of the royal family followed. The prisoners were woken up at 2 a.m. and ordered to go down to the basement of the house. There the entire family was shot by armed security officers. According to the testimony of the executioners, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova, together with her daughters, managed to cross herself before her death. The Tsar and Tsarina were the first to fall at the hands of the Chekists. They did not see how the children were finished off with bayonets after the execution. The bodies of those killed were destroyed using gasoline and sulfuric acid.
Investigation
The circumstances of the murder and destruction of the body became known after Sokolov’s investigation. Individual remains of the imperial family, which Sokolov also found, were transferred to the Temple of Job the Long-Suffering, built in Brussels in 1936. In 1950, it was consecrated in memory of Nicholas II, his relatives and all the new martyrs of Russia. The temple also contains the found rings of the imperial family, icons and the Bible, which Alexandra Feodorovna gave to her son Alexei. In 1977, due to the influx of ladles, the Soviet authorities decided to destroy Ipatiev's house. In 1981, the royal family was canonized by the foreign Russian Orthodox Church.
In 1991, in the Sverdlovsk region, a burial was officially opened, which was discovered by G. Ryabov in 1979 and mistook for the grave of the royal family. In August 1993, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office opened an investigation into the murder of the Romanov family. At the same time, a commission was created to identify and subsequently rebury the found remains.
In February 1998, at a meeting of the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate, it was decided to bury the found remains in a symbolic grave-monument as soon as any grounds for doubt regarding their origin disappeared. Ultimately, the secular authorities of Russia decided to rebury the remains on July 17, 1998 in the St. Petersburg Peter and Paul Cathedral. The funeral service was led personally by the rector of the cathedral.
At the Council of Bishops in 2000, Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova, whose biography became the subject of our conversation, and the rest of the royal passion-bearers, were canonized in the Council of Russian New Martyrs. And on the site of the house in which the royal family was executed, a Monument Temple was built.
Conclusion
Today we learned how our rich, but short life Romanova Alexandra Fedorovna lived. The historical significance of this woman, as well as her entire family, is difficult to overestimate, because they were the last representatives of tsarist power on the territory of Russia. Despite the fact that the heroine of our story was always a busy woman, she found time to describe her life and worldview in her memoirs. The memoirs of Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova were published almost a century after her death. They were included in a series of books called “The Romanovs. The Fall of a Dynasty."
Plan
Introduction
1 Biography
2 State duties
3 Policy impact (estimates)
4 Canonization
5.1 Letters, diaries, documents, photographs
5.2 Memories
5.3 Works of historians and publicists
Bibliography
Introduction
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (Feodorovna) (nee Princess Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt; May 25, 1872 - July 17, 1918) - wife of Nicholas II (since 1894). The fourth daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse and Rhine, Ludwig IV, and Duchess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England.
Name day (in Orthodoxy) - April 23 according to the Julian calendar, memory of the martyr Alexandra.
1. Biography
Born in Darmstadt (Germany) in 1872. She was baptized on July 1, 1872 according to the Lutheran rite. The name given to her consisted of her mother's name (Alice) and four names of her aunts. Godparents were: Edward, Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII), Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich ( future emperor Alexander III) with his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, youngest daughter Queen Victoria Princess Beatrice, Augusta von Hesse-Cassel, Duchess of Cambridge and Maria Anna, Princess of Prussia.
In 1878, a diphtheria epidemic spread in Hesse. Alice's mother and her younger sister May died from it, after which most Alice lived in Great Britain at Balmoral Castle and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Alice was considered the favorite granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who called her Sunny("Sun").
In June 1884, at the age of 12, Alice visited Russia for the first time, when her older sister Ella (in Orthodoxy - Elizaveta Fedorovna) married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. She arrived in Russia for the second time in January 1889 at the invitation of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. After staying in the Sergius Palace (St. Petersburg) for six weeks, the princess met and attracted the special attention of the heir to Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich.
In the early 1890s, the latter’s parents, who hoped for his marriage to Helena Louise Henrietta, daughter of Louis-Philippe, Count of Paris, were against the marriage of Alice and Tsarevich Nicholas. A key role in the arrangement of Alice’s marriage with Nikolai Alexandrovich was played by the efforts of her sister, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, and the latter’s husband, through whom correspondence between the lovers was carried out. The position of Emperor Alexander and his wife changed due to the persistence of the crown prince and the deteriorating health of the emperor; On April 6, 1894, a manifesto announced the engagement of the Tsarevich and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt. In the following months, Alice studied the basics of Orthodoxy under the guidance of the court protopresbyter John Yanyshev and the Russian language with teacher E. A. Schneider. On October 10 (22), 1894, she arrived in Crimea, in Livadia, where she stayed with the imperial family until the death of Emperor Alexander III - October 20. On October 21 (November 2), 1894, she accepted Orthodoxy through confirmation there with the name Alexandra and patronymic Fedorovna (Feodorovna).
On November 14 (26), 1894 (on the birthday of Empress Maria Feodorovna, which allowed for a retreat from mourning), the wedding of Alexandra and Nicholas II took place in the Great Church of the Winter Palace. After the wedding, a thanksgiving prayer service was served by members of the Holy Synod, led by Metropolitan Palladius (Raev) of St. Petersburg; while singing “We praise you, God,” a 301-shot cannon salute was fired. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich wrote in his emigrant memoirs about their first days of marriage:
The family lived most of the time in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. In 1896, Alexandra and Nikolai went to Nizhny Novgorod to the All-Russian exhibition. And in August 1896 they made a trip to Vienna, and in September-October - to Germany, Denmark, England and France.
In subsequent years, the Empress gave birth to four daughters: Olga (November 3 (15), 1895), Tatiana (May 29 (June 10), 1897), Maria (June 14 (26), 1899) and Anastasia (June 5 (18), 1901 of the year). On July 30 (August 12), 1904, a fifth child was born in Peterhof and The only son- Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich. Alexandra Feodorovna was a carrier of the hemophilia gene; the Tsarevich was born a hemophiliac.
In 1897 and 1899, the family traveled to Alexandra Feodorovna’s homeland in Darmstadt. During these years, the Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene was built in Darmstadt, which is still in operation today.
On July 17-20, 1903, the Empress took part in the celebrations of the glorification and discovery of the relics of St. Seraphim of Sarov in the Sarov Hermitage.
For entertainment, Alexandra Feodorovna played the piano with the professor of the St. Petersburg Conservatory R.V. Kündinger. The Empress also took singing lessons from Conservatory professor N.A. Iretskaya. Sometimes she sang a duet with one of the court ladies: Anna Vyrubova, Alexandra Taneyeva, Emma Fredericks (daughter of V.B. Fredericks) or Maria Stackelberg.
In 1915, at the height of the First World War, the Tsarskoye Selo hospital was converted to receive wounded soldiers. Alexandra Fedorovna, together with her daughters Olga and Tatyana, were trained in nursing by Princess V.I. Gedroits, and then assisted her during operations as surgical nurses.
During February Revolution Alexandra Feodorovna was placed under house arrest in the Alexander Palace. Yu.A. remained with her. Den, who helped her look after the Grand Duchesses and A.A. Vyrubova. At the beginning of August 1917, the royal family was exiled to Tobolsk by decision of the Provisional Government. Later, by decision of the Bolsheviks, they were transported to Yekaterinburg.
Alexandra Fedorovna was shot along with her entire family on the night of July 17, 1918 in Yekaterinburg.
2. State duties
Empress Alexandra was the chief of the regiments: the Life Guards of Her Majesty's Uhlan, the 5th Hussars of Alexandria, the 21st East Siberian Rifle and Crimean Cavalry, and among the foreign ones - the Prussian 2nd Guards Dragoon Regiment.
The empress was also involved in charitable activities. By the beginning of 1909, under her patronage there were 33 charitable societies, communities of nurses, shelters, orphanages and similar institutions, among which: the Committee for finding places for military ranks who suffered in the war with Japan, the House of Charity for crippled soldiers, the Imperial Women's Patriotic Society , Trusteeship for labor assistance, Her Majesty's school of nannies in Tsarskoe Selo, Peterhof Society for Welfare of the Poor, Society for Assistance with Clothes to the Poor of St. Petersburg, Brotherhood in the Name of the Queen of Heaven for the charity of idiotic and epileptic children, Alexandria Shelter for Women and others.
Policy impact (estimates)
Count S. Yu. Witte, former Chairman of the Council of Ministers Russian Empire(1905-1906) wrote that Nicholas II:
General A. A. Mosolov, who was from 1900 to 1916 the head of the chancellery of the Ministry of the Imperial Household, testified in his memoirs that the empress failed to become popular in her new fatherland, and from the very beginning the tone of this hostility was set by her mother-in-law, Empress Maria Fedorovna, who hated Germans; According to his testimony, the influential Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna was also opposed to her, which ultimately led to society’s aversion from the throne.
Senator V.I. Gurko, discussing the origins of the “mutual alienation that has grown over the years between society and the queen,” wrote in exile:
The Empress' chamberlain M. F. Zanotti showed investigator A. N. Sokolov:
Review of the Empress ballerina M. F. Kshesinskaya, ex-lover Tsarevich Nicholas in 1892-1894, in her emigrant memoirs:
4. Canonization
In 1981, Alexandra Feodorovna and all members of the royal family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, in August 2000 - by the Russian Orthodox Church.
At canonization, Alexandra Feodorovna became Queen Alexandra the New, since Queen Alexandra was already among the saints.
Literature
5.1. Letters, diaries, documents, photographs
· August Sisters of Mercy. / Comp. N.K. Zvereva. - M.: Veche, 2006. - 464 p. - ISBN 5-9533-1529-5. (Excerpts from the diaries and letters of the queen and her daughters during World War I).
· Album of photographs of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, 1895-1911. // Russian Archive: History of the Fatherland in testimonies and documents of the 18th-20th centuries: Almanac.. - M.: Studio TRITE: Ros. Archive, 1992. - T. I-II.
· Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova. Wonderful light: Diary entries, correspondence, biography. / Comp. nun Nektaria (Mac Lees).- Moscow: Brotherhood of St. Herman of Alaska, Publishing House Russian Pilgrim, Valaam Society of America, 2005. - 656 p. - ISBN 5-98644-001-3.
· Reports on cash inflows and outflows. amounts received at the disposal of Her Majesty G.I. Alexandra Feodorovna for the needs of the war with Japan for 1904-1909.
· Report on the activities of Her Majesty's Warehouse in St. Petersburg. for the entire period of its existence, from February 1, 1904 to May 3, 1906.
· Report on the activities of Her Majesty's Central Warehouse in Harbin.
· Letters from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna to Emperor Nicholas II. - Berlin: Slovo, 1922. (In Russian and English).
· Platonov O. A. Russia's crown of thorns: Nicholas II in secret correspondence. - M.: Rodnik, 1996. - 800 p. (Correspondence of Nicholas II and his wife).
· The last diaries of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova: February 1917 - July 16, 1918 / Compiled, ed., preface, introduction. and comment. V. A. Kozlova and V. M. Khrustalev - Novosibirsk: Sibirsk. chronograph, 1999. - 341 p. - (Archive modern history Russia. Publications. Vol. 1 / Federal Archive Service of Russia, GARF).
· Tsesarevich: Documents, memories, photographs. - M.: Vagrius, 1998. - 190 pp.: ill.
5.2. Memories
· Gurko V.I. King and queen. - Paris, 1927. (And other publications)
· Den Yu. A. The real queen: Memoirs of a close friend of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. - St. Petersburg: Tsarskoe Delo, 1999. - 241 p.
The future wife of Sovereign Nicholas II, Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, was born in Darmstadt on June 6, 1872 in the family of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig IV and the daughter of the reigning Queen Victoria of England, Grand Duchess Alice.
The girl was named Alice in honor of her mother, but soon changed this name to “Alix.” She had two older brothers, three older sisters and one younger one.
Through the efforts of the English Duchess, Darmstadt palace life developed according to the model of the English Court, starting with a long line of family portraits of the royal English dynasty in the halls and ending with porridge for breakfast, boiled meat and potatoes for lunch and “an endless row of rice puddings and baked apples.”
The religious Grand Duchess Alice was the inspirer and founder of hospitals, charitable organizations, Red Cross branches, and women's unions in the country. From an early age, she took her children to help the sick in Darmstadt hospitals and shelters.
Alix, who never tired of carrying flowers to hospitals, resembled her sister Elizabeth in her beauty: gray-eyed with black eyelashes and reddish hair. This “sweet, cheerful little girl, always laughing, with a dimple on her cheek” was also called “sunshine” in the family, as she would later sign her letters to her husband, Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich. The trouble is that her 35-year-old mother died when Alix was only six years old.
At the age of 15, due to her perseverance and good memory, Alix had an excellent knowledge of history, literature, geography, art history, natural Sciences and mathematics. The main language for this German princess was English and, of course, she spoke excellent German; She spoke French with an accent. Alix became a brilliant pianist, taught by the director of the Darmstadt Opera, and loved Wagner's music most of all. She embroidered beautifully, choosing designs and colors for this with delicate taste. Friends of the Ducal House shook their heads sympathetically: such a smart and beautiful woman should get rid of her shyness...
The fourth ducal daughter Alix began to look like her former “sunshine” a few months later, when, together with her brother Ernest and her father, she came to stay with her sister Elizabeth in St. Petersburg. They stayed on Nevsky Prospect in the house of Princess Elizabeth, nicknamed Ella in Darmstadt, and now the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. Tsarevich Nikolai often came here to “Aunt Ella”, “auntie” without ceremony. Elizaveta Feodorovna was a cheerful, witty mistress of the house, where receptions and balls reigned.
It was the sprawling Russian winter of 1889, Alix, as best she could, overcame her shyness and kept up with the entertainment of the St. Petersburg high society youth: she went to the skating rink, sledding down the hill. The Tsarevich became very interested in her, and the princess fell in love with him, although she would never have admitted it to herself then. But only with Nikolai Romanov she was natural, could talk and laugh freely. Returning home, Alix realized that she would only marry the Russian Tsarevich. They began to write tender letters to each other.
They admitted their deep mutual feelings and dreamed of the day when they would unite forever. However, Queen Victoria also dreamed of making this granddaughter the Queen of England. She began to marry Alix to her grandson, Prince Albert of Clarence. The Darmstadt princess could not stand him for his godlessness and unprepossessing appearance. Albert could not compare with the smartest, graceful, spiritual, sensitive Russian Tsarevich! When Queen Victoria proposed marriage to the prince, Alix categorically rejected it. She blurted out to the distressed grandmother that their marriage would not bring happiness to either her or Albert. And the Queen had to retreat.
All these years he dreamed of marrying Alix and Nikolai Romanov, but his parents, like Alix of Hesse’s grandmother, wanted to marry their son to another person. Sovereign Alexander the Third and his wife Maria Fedorovna opposed the union of the Heir with the princess from Darmstadt, because they knew about the incurable aristocratic disease, the incoagulability of “blue” blood - hemophilia, which was plaguing her family of the House of Coburg.
This “curse of the Coburgs” existed since the 18th century, the disease passed into the English royal family through the mother of Queen Victoria, Princess of Saxe-Coburg. Moreover, boys fell ill with hemophilia, and it passed through female line. Queen Victoria's son Leopold died from this, and the royal daughters Beatrice, Victoria and Alix's mother Alice were to pass the disease on to their children. That is, the possible bride of Tsarevich Nicholas Alix was doomed to the fact that the boys born from her would be “sentenced” to hemophilia, from which they would not recover. This is what will happen to their future son, to the next Heir to the Russian Throne Alexei. But it will also happen that Only in Russia will the young Tsarevich be given a person capable of calming the “uncooperative” attacks of hemophilia - Grigory Rasputin...
That is why Emperor Alexander III and the Empress continually looked for another bride for Nika’s son. They tried to marry the daughter of the Bourbon pretender to the French Throne, Elena, in order to consolidate the alliance with France. But fortunately for the Tsarevich, who imagined only Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt for all occasions in his life, Elena refused to change Catholicism and convert to Orthodoxy. Then the Russian Tsar tried to get the hand of Princess Margaret of Prussia for his son.
The Tsarevich flatly refused to marry her, telling his parents that he would rather go to a monastery. And here he was lucky again: Margarita, like Elena before, did not want to change her heterodox, Protestant faith.
The Princess of Hesse remained, but Tsar Alexander began to insist that Alix, like the other princesses, would not agree to change her faith. Nikolai asked to be allowed to go to Darmstadt to negotiate with her, his father did not agree to this until 1894, until he fell ill.
The opportunity to ask for Alix's hand presented itself to Nikolai Alexandrovich during the marriage of her brother, Grand Duke Ernest Ludwig, to Princess Victoria Melita. The wedding took place in Coburg, where Alix met the Russian Tsarevich for the first time since 1889. He made her an offer. But what happened was what my father had expected, and what Nikolai Alexandrovich had been praying to overcome for the last five years of their separation: Alix did not want to convert to Orthodoxy.
In response to the fiery entreaties of Nikolai Romanov, the princess cried and repeated that she was not able to renounce her religion. Queen Victoria, seeing that her granddaughter might remain completely out of work, also unsuccessfully began to convince her to accept the Russian faith. Only Ella, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, began to succeed. She, eight years older than Alix, after the death of their mother, together with her sister Victoria, tried to replace the younger one who died. Elizaveta Fedorovna really wanted to be with Alix in Russia. The Grand Duchess knew Tsarevich Niki well, loved him and was sure that this marriage would be happy.
After the proposal was made, the heir wrote in his diary: “They talked until 12 o’clock, but to no avail, she still resists the change of religion. She, poor thing, cried a lot."
But the princess’s complete conversion was helped by the sincere, passionate words of the heir, pouring out from his loving heart: “Alix, I understand and respect your religious feelings. But we believe in Christ alone; there is no other Christ. God, who created the world, gave us a soul and a heart. He filled both my heart and yours with love, so that we could merge soul with soul, so that we would become united and walk the same path in life. Without His will there is nothing. Let your conscience not disturb you that my faith will become your faith. When will you find out later how beautiful, gracious and humble our Orthodox religion"How majestic and magnificent our churches and monasteries are and how solemn and stately our services are - you will love them, Alyx, and nothing will separate us."
The princess listened with bated breath to the inspired words of the crown prince, and then suddenly she noticed that tears were flowing from his blue eyes. Her heart, already filled with love and sadness, could not stand it, and a quiet voice was heard from her lips: “I agree.”
In October 1894, Alix was urgently summoned to Russia: Tsar Alexander the Third was seriously ill. In Livadia, where the Tsar was being treated, the entire Romanov Family gathered and prepared for the worst. Despite his poor health, Alexander Alexandrovich got out of bed and put on his uniform to meet his son’s bride.
Sovereign Emperor Alexander III died on October 20, 1894. On the same day, Nikolai Alexandrovich accepted the Throne, and the next day, October 21, his bride, Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, joined Orthodoxy and began to be called Alexandra Feodorovna. On November 14, 1894, the marriage of Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II to Alexandra Fedorovna took place, after which she wrote in her diary to her husband:
“I would never have believed that there could be such complete happiness in this world - such a feeling of unity between two mortal beings. We will not be separated again. Finally, we are together, and our lives are connected to the end, and when this life ends, then in another world we will meet again, and we will never be separated forever.”
The sacred coronation and holy confirmation, the crowning of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna took place in Moscow in May 1896. In Rus', according to a tradition dating back to the Byzantine Empire, there is a special ritual of crowning a king. Only after him does the King become the Anointed of God, although the ruler is immediately after the death of the previous monarch. The ability to rule the kingdom is given by the sacrament of anointing at the coronation.
The first 20 years of the royal couple's marriage were the happiest of their personal family life. More happy family no one who knew them closely had met them. The holy martyrs themselves were aware of this, so the empress wrote in one of her letters to the sovereign: “In modern times you rarely see such marriages... You are my life, my light... When my heart is heavy with worries and anxieties, every manifestation of tenderness gives strength and endless happiness. Oh, if only our children could be as happy in their married life.” And others, observing from the side their quiet happiness and exemplary family life, were surprised at this idyll of two crowned spouses.
Pierre Gilliard, the teacher of the heir to Tsarevich Alexy, wrote: “What an example, if only they knew about it, was given by this so worthy family life, full of such tenderness. But how few people suspected it. It is true that this family was too indifferent to public opinion and hid from prying eyes.” Another person close to the royal family, the aide-de-camp of Mordvinov, recalled; “I will forever be impressed by this amazing family that I had never seen before, wonderful in every way.” “I’ll tell you simply about them,” said valet Volkov, “they were the most holy and pure family.”
In the fall of 1895, the first daughter was born - a nice, large child, who caused new worries and gave new joys. “When we prayed, we named the daughter sent to us by God Olga,” the sovereign noted in his diary.
St. Princess Olga loved Russia very much and, just like her father, she loved the simple Russian people. When it came to the fact that she could marry one of the foreign princes, she did not want to hear about it, saying: “I don’t want to leave Russia. I am Russian and I want to remain Russian.”
Two years later, a second girl was born, named Tatyana in Holy Baptism, two years later - Maria, and two years later - Anastasia.
With the advent of the children of St. the queen gave them all her attention: she fed them, bathed them every day, was constantly in the nursery, not trusting her children to anyone. It happened that, holding a child in her arms, she discussed serious issues of her new institution, or, rocking the cradle with one hand, she signed business papers with the other. The Empress did not like to remain idle for a minute, and she taught her children to work. Wonderful embroideries came out from under their quick hands. The two eldest daughters, Olga and Tatyana, worked with their mother in the infirmary during the war, performing the duties of surgical nurses.
“The higher a person is,” said the martyr king, “the sooner he should help everyone and never remind of his position in his treatment. This is how my children should be.” Being himself a good example of simplicity, meekness and attentiveness to everyone, the sovereign raised his children to be the same.
Dr. Botkin, in a letter to his daughter, describes how he asked the woman who was sitting with him to lead. Princess Anastasia go out into the corridor and call the footman. “Why do you need it?” - “I want to wash my hands.” - “So I’ll give it to you.” To the doctor’s protests, she said: “If your children can do this, then why can’t I?” - and, instantly taking possession of the cup, she helped him wash his hands.
During the glorification of St. Seraphim of Sarov, the royal martyrs fervently prayed in Sarov before the relics of the newly-minted saint of God, for the granting of a son - an heir. The next year they had a boy, who in Holy Baptism was named Alexy in honor of St. Alexy, Metropolitan of Moscow. The heir was naturally endowed with exceptional beauty.
The joy of the happy parents seemed to know no bounds, but already in the second month after his birth it was discovered that the child had been transmitted a hereditary disease of the Hessian house - hemophilia, which put his life in constant danger sudden death. Even with minor bruises, internal hemorrhages occurred, from which the heir suffered greatly.
When the boy grew up, the empress taught him to pray. Exactly at 9 o'clock in the evening, he went up to his room with her, read prayers loudly and went to bed, overshadowed by her sign of the cross. The Empress herself taught him the Law of God. In one letter from Tobolsk exile, she wrote: “I am going through an explanation of the Liturgy with Alexey. God grant me the ability to teach, so that it remains in his memory for the rest of his life... The soil is good - I try as best I can...”
The Empress wrote about the children to the Emperor: “They shared all our emotional worries... The little one feels so much with her little sensitive soul - I will never be able to thank God enough for the wonderful mercy that He gave me in you and in them. We are one."
When a rioting revolutionary crowd overran Petrograd, and the Tsar's train was stopped at Dno station for the abdication to be drafted, Alix was left alone. The children had measles and lay with a high fever. The courtiers fled, leaving only a handful of loyal people. The electricity was turned off, there was no water - we had to go to the pond, break off the ice and heat it on the stove. The palace with defenseless children remained under the protection of the Empress.
She alone did not lose heart and did not believe in renunciation until the last. Alix supported the handful of loyal soldiers who remained to stand guard around the palace - now this was her entire Army. On the day when the ex-Sovereign, who had abdicated the Throne, returned to the palace, her friend, Anna Vyrubova, wrote in her diary: “Like a fifteen-year-old girl, she ran along the endless stairs and corridors of the palace towards him. Having met, they hugged, and when left alone they burst into tears..."
While in exile, anticipating an imminent execution, in a letter to Anna Vyrubova, the Empress summed up her life: “My dear, my dear... Yes, the past is over. I thank God for everything that happened, that I received - and I will live with memories that no one will take away from me...
How old I have become, but I feel like the mother of the country, and I suffer as if for my child and I love my Motherland, despite all the horrors now... You know that it is IMPOSSIBLE to tear LOVE FROM MY HEART, and Russia too... Despite the black ingratitude to the Emperor, which tears my heart...Lord, have mercy and save Russia.”
The royal family lived by the ideals of Holy Rus' and were its brightest representatives. They loved to visit monasteries and meet with the ascetics who labored in them. The Empress visited Blessed Pasha of Sarov at the Diveyevo monastery. In 1916, having visited Novgorod with its ancient monuments and shrines, she visited the holy fool, a hundred-seven-year-old old recluse Maria Mikhailovna, who lived in the Tithe Monastery. “Here comes the martyr-queen Alexandra,” blessed Marya greeted her with these words. Then she blessed her, kissed her and said: “And you, beauty, are a heavy cross - do not be afraid...” Secular society ridiculed the best religious feelings of the empress, called her a fanatic and a hypocrite behind her back, and dreamed of forcibly tonsuring her into a nun.
Three days before the murder of the royal martyrs, he visited them. last time a priest has been invited to perform the service. The priest served as a liturgist, according to the order of the service it was necessary to read the kontakion “Rest with the saints...” in a certain place. For some reason, this time the deacon, instead of reading this kontakion, sang it, and the priest sang it too. The royal martyrs, moved by some unknown feeling, knelt down. So they said goodbye to this world, sensitively responding to the calls of the heavenly world - the Eternal Kingdom.
Alexandra Fedorovna was forty-six years old when she was killed.
In the appearance and nature of this Woman, many things came together: light and shadows, smiles and tears, love and hate, farce and tragedy, Death and Life. She was strong. And - the weakest woman the world has ever seen. She was proud. And shy. She knew how to smile like a true Empress. And cry like a child when no one could see her tears. She knew how to adore and give affection like no one else. But she could hate it just as much. She was very beautiful, but for more than seventy years, after 1917, novelists and historians tried to discern devilish, destructive reflections in her flawless, refined features and the profile of a Roman cameo.
A lot of books have been written about her: novels, plays, studies, historical monographs and even psychological treatises! Her surviving correspondence and pages of diaries that were not burned in the fire of the palace fireplaces have also been published. Archivists and researchers of her life, both in Russia and abroad, it would seem, have long ago studied and given an explanation not only of her every act, but also of every turn of her head, and every letter of her writing. But... But no one has ever comprehended the strange, almost mystical secret of this woman, the essence of her nature and her character. No one has ever fully understood the true role of her personality in tragic story Russia. No one imagined clearly and accurately what she really was like: Alice - Victoria - Helena - Louise - Beatrice, Her Grand Ducal Highness, Princess of Hesse - Darmstadt and Rhineland, granddaughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Prince Albert, daughter of the Great Duke of Hesse Ludwig, goddaughter of the Russian Emperor Alexander III and wife of his eldest son, Nikolai Alexandrovich, heir to the Russian throne? The last Russian empress.
She grew up in a region where queens never depended on the will of their favorites, and, if the good of the state required it, they calmly sent their heads to the chopping block. “Personal things should not be higher than the good of the country!” – she firmly accepted this unspoken “edict of monarchs”, because it was not for nothing that she was the granddaughter of the great Queen, who gave her name to an entire era in history – “Victorian”! Alice of Hesse was German only by her father, and by spirit, upbringing and blood of her mother she was English. To your fingertips. Only now, having gotten married and converted to Orthodoxy, she became, at the behest of her heart, out of madness of love for her husband, and perhaps out of a hidden thirst to be understood, not only “more Russian than all the people around her, more even than herself her husband, heir to the throne and future Emperor Nicholas II." (Greg King).But also, having fallen into grave captivity of her own grief, loneliness, suppressed ambitions and illusions dozing at the bottom of her soul, she also became an involuntary hostage, a tragic toy in the hands of a favorite - a sectarian, the greatest hypnotist and charlatan, a sly and a simpleton in one person - Grigory Rasputin. Was she aware of this? It’s difficult to say, especially since everything, if desired, can be justified. Or, on the contrary, denial.
Forgetting and rejecting in the whirlpool of her inexpressible maternal despair the first ethical law of any monarch: “First the country, then the family!”, instilled in her from a young age by her great grandmother, the queen, she pushed herself, her Crowned husband, and children onto the death circle of the scaffold , power.. But was it only her fault? Or for the huge panel of History there are no separate destinies, no small “faults”, but everything immediately merges into something large, large-scale, and a consequence already follows from it? Who knows?...
Let's try to separate a small piece of smalt called Life from the mosaic layer of History and era. The life of one person. Princess Alix of Hesse. Let's trace the main milestones and turns of her Destiny. Or - Fates? After all, it multiplied, as in a mirror. Had several appearances. Several destinies from birth to death. Happy or unhappy, that's another question. She was changing. Like any person, throughout life. But she couldn’t change unnoticed. This is unacceptable in families where children are born for the crown. Whether it’s big or small, it doesn’t matter.
Destiny One: “Sunny Girl.”
Alice - Victoria - Helena - Louise - Beatrice, the little Princess - Duchess of the Hesse - Darmstadt family, was born on June 6, 1872 (new style), in the New Palace of Darmstadt, the main city of the duchy, which is located in the green and fertile Rhine Valley. Windows New Palace looked at the market square and the town hall, and going down the stairs into the courtyard one could immediately get into a huge shady park with linden and elm alleys, ponds and pools with goldfish and water lilies; flower beds and rose gardens filled with huge fragrant buds. Little Aliki (as she was called in the house), having barely learned to walk, spent hours walking with her nanny, Mrs. Mary Ann Orchard, in her favorite garden, sitting for a long time by the pond and looking at the fish flashing in the streams of water.
She herself looked like a flower or a small, nimble fish: cheerful, affectionate, extremely active, with golden hair, dimples on her plump, rosy cheeks!
Aliki was known as the favorite of the whole family, her father, the always busy and gloomy Duke Ludwig, her mother, Duchess Alice, and her formidable grandmother, Queen Victoria, who could not draw a portrait of her mischievous granddaughter when, in the summer, the ducal family visited her in England ! Egoza Aliki never sat quietly in one place: either she hid behind a high chair with a gold rim, or behind a massive cabinet - a bureau.
Often in the austere, coldly luxurious rooms of the grandmother's palaces in Osborne, Windsor and Balmoral, the cheerful, infectious laughter of the baby granddaughter and the tramp of her fast children's feet were heard. She loved to play with her brother Frederick and sister Maria, whom she affectionately called “May” because she could not yet pronounce the letter “R” to call her Mary. Aliki was forgiven for any mischief, even long walks on a pony - this is at four years old!
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Under the guidance of her mother, she easily learned to draw and inherited from her a subtle artistic taste and a passion for transparent watercolor landscapes. With her strict nanny, Mrs. Mary Ann Orchard, Aliki diligently studied the Law of God and did handicrafts.
The early years of her childhood flowed quite cloudlessly and happily. The family also called her “Sanny”, which means “sunshine”, “sunny girl”. Her grandmother, the queen, called her “my ray of sunshine” and in her letters every now and then affectionately chided her for her funny pranks. She loved and singled out Aliki from her grandchildren - the Hessians more than anyone else.
Aliki, the favorite, knew perfectly well how to make her silent grandmother or her mother, Duchess Alice, who was prone to frequent depression, smile. She danced and played the piano for both of them, painted watercolors and funny animal faces. They praised her and smiled at her. First - through force, and then - on their own. Aliki knew how to infect everyone around with the cloudlessness of childhood. But suddenly thunder struck and she stopped smiling. She had barely reached her fifth year when her brother Frederick died of a cerebral hemorrhage caused by an accident. They tried to cure the mother, who had fallen into despair and melancholy, by traveling to all European countries: France, Italy, Spain. We stayed for a long time in the summer of 1878 with our grandmother in Osborne. Aliki liked it there. She could play as much as she could with her Prussian cousins and her beloved cousin, Prince Louis of Batenberg. But everything comes to an end someday. This sad summer is over too. The mother felt better, she came to her senses a little. We decided to return to Darmstadt, which my father insisted on: business could not wait!
But as soon as they returned home, in the cold autumn, the cozy duchy was struck by an epidemic of diphtheria. And then Alika’s childhood ended. Sudden, bitter, scary. She was not at all ready for this, despite the fact that her mother often talked to her about Heaven, about future life, about meeting his little brother and grandfather Albert. Aliki experienced vague anxiety and bitterness from these conversations, but she was quickly forgotten. In the autumn of 1878, this bitterness filled both the mind and heart of the little girl. The sunbeam in her soul gradually faded away. On November 16, 1878, her older sister May died of defteritis. The others were dangerously ill: Ella, Ernst, and Aliki herself also began to fall ill. The grief-stricken mother, the duchess, while caring for her sick children, hid the terrible news from them as long as she could. There was a quarantine in the palace due to the epidemic. May was buried quietly, and the children found out about it only a few days later. Aliki, her sister Ella, and brother Ernie were shocked by this news and, despite all the quiet persuasion of their mother, began to cry in their cribs. To console her son, the Duchess went up to him and kissed him. This was impossible to do, but...
Ernie was recovering, and the duchess’s body, weakened from sleepless nights, was struck by a dangerous virus. Having been ill for more than two weeks, alternately losing consciousness from intense fever and then regaining consciousness, Duchess Alice of Hesse, the eldest, died on the night of December 13-14, 1878. She was only thirty-five years old.
Destiny two: “Thoughtful Princess or “Cameo – Bride”.
Aliki was orphaned. Her toys were burned because of quarantine. The sunny girl who lived in her disappeared. The next day they brought her other books, balls and other dolls, but it was impossible to return her childhood. In the mirrors of the ancient ancestral Rhine castles of Seenhau, Kranichstein, Wolfsgarten, a different princess was now reflected: melancholy and thoughtful.
In order to somehow overcome the pain of losing her mother, the unconscious childhood melancholy, Aliki went into the courtyard with an artificial lake - a swimming pool and there she spent a long time feeding her favorite fish. Tears dripped directly into the water, but no one saw them.
Her soul matured instantly, but somehow in a broken way: she became quiet and sad beyond her age, restrained her mischief, became passionately attached to Ella and Ernie, and cried when parting with them even for half an hour! She was afraid of losing them. Grandmother Victoria, with the permission of her widowed son-in-law, the Duke, almost immediately transported the children to England, to Osborne Castle, and there teachers specially hired and carefully selected by her were engaged in their education.
Children studied geography, languages, music, history, took lessons in horse riding and gardening, mathematics and dancing, drawing and literature. Aliki received an excellent education for those times, serious and unusual for a girl: she even attended a course of lectures on philosophy at Oxford and Heidelberg. She studied excellently, subjects were easy for her, with her excellent memory, only with French there were sometimes slight embarrassments, but over time they were smoothed out.
She was unobtrusively but strictly taught by her grandmother to play the piano, brilliant, complex - she could play Wagner and Schumann! - Director of the Darmstadt Opera. She was raised to be a Princess, she was destined to be like that and this did not frighten her at all. She mastered the “court science” easily and gracefully, as if jokingly. The queen-grandmother only cared about the fact that “sweet, clever Aliki” seemed to have lost her former charm and spontaneity in the whirlwind of losses: she could not smile in public, as openly as before, she became too shy and timid. She blushed easily. She was silent a lot. She spoke sincerely, sincerely, only in a narrow circle of loved ones. She played and sang too... Now, alas, there was only a reflection in her, an echo of the former Alix - “a ray of sunshine”.
Restraint undoubtedly adorned her, a tall, slender brown-haired woman with huge, gray blue eyes, which reflected all the shades of her emotional experiences - for those who knew how to observe, of course -, but she did not know how and did not look for a way to please, immediately, from the first word, look, smile, gesture.. And this is so necessary for a royal person !
The queen sadly and tirelessly instructed her granddaughter in the art of pleasing, and she was perplexed: why should she talk kindly and listen to the pompous opinions of court flatterers, when she has too little time for that: a book has not been read, a panel for the church altar has not been completed, orphans are waiting for her arrival at the shelter to have breakfast with her? Why?! Why should she strive to please everyone, when this is simply impossible, and not necessary in her position as a young duchess, mistress of Darmstadt?
Aliki willfully clutched the fan in her fragile hands and it cracked and broke. The grandmother looked at her reproachfully, but the granddaughter quietly continued to do her best. She was stubborn. She has no time to give flattering smiles! She, who celebrated her sixteenth birthday in June 1888 and took over the responsibilities of her late mother, the Duchess, has too many other concerns: charity, libraries, shelters, music and ... her father, the Duke...
Her father instilled in her the most serious fears. After his obsession with marrying Madame Alexandra de Colmin - ex-wife Russian envoy at his court - suffered a crushing fiasco, encountering the unbending will of the ex-mother-in-law - the queen, who immediately angrily rejected this misalliance, Duke Ludwig's health began to fail. He, however, also arranged a grand confirmation, pink ball for Alika, which was attended by all her relatives: aunts, uncles and cousins, and her beloved sister, Ella, who in 1888 married her brother Alexander III, Emperor of Russia, Grand Duke, also came Sergei Alexandrovich.
At that ball, Duke Ludwig brought the new princess - the duchess on the arm of the guests, and introduced him to the refined society. He said that from now on she is officially the first lady of the small duchy, and that he is proud of his daughter. The sovereign duke, however, quickly got tired, and spent the rest of the celebration in an armchair, watching his daughter dance and talk with the guests. She was very good that evening, caused everyone's delight, but she could not wipe off the light veil of sadness from her face. And she herself could no longer decide whether that sadness was “invented,” as her cousin Mary of Edinburgh always said, or whether it was real?
Alika's slight thoughtfulness and aloofness gradually became second nature, a constant companion even during exciting travels: in 1889 - to Russia, in 1890 - to Malta, in the winter of 1892 - to Italy. On board the British mine cruiser Scout, off the Maltese coast, she found among the officers very subtle connoisseurs of her beauty. They tried to please her in everything, laughingly called her “Maltese pages”, taught her to play tennis on the deck and throw a life preserver from the side. Aliki smiled charmingly, her eyes shone, but her manners remained reserved and slightly cool.
In 1892, in Florence, which captured her imagination forever, Aliki - Alix seemed to thaw a little in the company of her beloved grandmother, and her laughter sounded, as before, infectious, but... But on March 1, 1892, from a heart attack in her arms Father, Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse - Darmstadt, died. Death again changed Alix's fate.
Destiny three. “The royal bride or the shadow behind the coffin..”
Brother Ernie became the heir to the crown and ducal standards. And Alix... She was orphaned for the second time. She completely withdrew into herself, avoided society, fortunately mourning allowed. In general, she began to strongly remind Victoria of her late melancholic daughter Alice, the eldest. And then the grandmother became worried and hurried. She planned to marry Aliki to Prince Edward of Wales, her cousin, and already saw in her dreams her beloved granddaughter as the Queen of England, who came to replace her...
But Aliki suddenly violently resisted. She didn't like that lanky, foppish Eddie, whose neck was always tightly constrained by starched collars and his wrists by cuffs. She kept calling him: “Eddie – cuffs!”
He seemed to her somehow false, prosaic, he often smelled of wine, and most importantly: he was absolutely not interested in anything except his appearance. She refused Edward, decisively and firmly, citing the fact that she already had a fiancé in Russia. This is the heir to the Russian throne, Tsarevich Nicholas, the son of the Emperor’s godfather, Ella’s “nephew”! They met back in June 1884, when little Aliki went to Russia to attend her older sister’s wedding.
The shy princess immediately liked the modest, serious Tsarevich, who surrounded the then twelve-year-old Aliki with warm attention and care. On walks she held his arm, at dinner, during meetings, she tried to sit next to him. He showed her the palace in Peterhof, gardens and parks, they rode boats together and played ball. He gave her a brooch. True, Aliki returned her the very next day, but from that moment she believed that she and Niki were engaged.
Then she once again visited Ella in Ilyinsky (* Romanov family estate near Moscow, estate of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Ella’s wife - author.), five years later. I met Niki at balls and promenades, in theaters and at receptions. And I realized that their feelings only strengthened. She somehow knew in her heart that Nicky loved only her and no one else. Ella was also convinced of this. And she tried her best to persuade Aliki to change her faith. Grandmother the queen was amazed. She already found Aliki too romantic and deep in strange dreams, and now she was completely alarmed!
The Russians never enjoyed her special sympathy, although once, in her youth, she was almost in love with the sovereign reformer Alexander II. Almost. This does not mean - seriously!
Victoria tried several times to talk to her granddaughter alone, but it was impossible to break her stubbornness. She showed her grandmother her correspondence with Niki and sister Ella..
In her letters to Ella, Aliki sadly said that there was only one obstacle insurmountable in her love for the Tsarevich - a change of religion, everything else did not frighten her, she loved the Tsarevich so strongly and deeply. The Tsarevich sincerely admitted to Aliki that one of the ways to overcome the despair that gripped him upon receiving the news of the Prince of Wales's matchmaking with her was to travel around Far East and Japan, which he, Niki, undertook, and which almost ended in tragedy!* (* In Japan, in the city of Otsu, a failed attempt was made on Tsarevich Nicholas on April 29, 1892 - author.)
The wise queen immediately realized that the feelings of the young people were quite serious. And she backed down. For her, the main thing was the happiness of her granddaughter, and, in addition, as a very insightful person, she perfectly understood that it was in snowy, distant, huge and incomprehensible Russia that her intelligent, powerful, capable of strong feelings and passions, possessing a “purely masculine mind "(A. Taneyev.) beloved "beauty - a ray of sunshine" Alix will find use for her great ambitious ambitions, which she unconsciously hides under a veil of sadness and thoughtfulness.
In addition, Alix, like any girl, was time to start her own family and have children. At twenty-one years old, she was an example of a captivating young lady who could make the most sophisticated heart tremble! But how could Victoria console her granddaughter? According to the information that reached her from the ambassadors, she knew that Nika’s parents were resolutely against their son’s choice. Not because Aliki was a poor German princess, far from it. Nobody thought so. It’s just that the dynastic marriage of the heir to a huge empire presupposed healthy children in his family, and Aliki, by the blood of her mother and grandmother, was a carrier of the insidious hemophilia gene - incoagulability of blood, inherited by future sons, the successors of the family. And Queen Victoria, and Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria, his wife, Nika’s mother, and he himself, and the stubborn Aliki, understood perfectly well that if this marriage was concluded, then at the birth of the future heir to the throne, his natural title would be “Prince of the Blood.” "will take on an ominous sound and create a number of problems for Russia, where historically it has so happened - since the time of Paul the First - that the throne and crown belong only to descendants in the male line. True, the law on succession to the throne can always be changed, but reforms are very fraught with violent consequences. Especially in such an unpredictable and spontaneous country as Russia. Everyone understood everything. But the young people were irresistibly drawn to each other. Nicky stubbornly refused, when talking with his parents about the future, the parties offered to him, in particular, the hand of the daughter of the Count of Paris, Helen of Orleans or Princess Margaret of Prussia. He informed “dear dad and mom” that he would marry only Alix of Hesse and no one else!
What ultimately influenced Alexander III's decision to give his blessing to his son and see him betrothed to a shy and easily blushing German princess with the chiseled profile of a Roman cameo? Sharply and suddenly deteriorating health? The desire to see the son - the heir in the role of a determined, family man? Experience of personal happiness of the emperor himself, who lived with Danish princess Daggmar - Maria Feodorovna, happy 26 years? Or simply respect for the inflexibility of someone else's will and someone else's decision? I think it’s both, and the other, and the third. Everything turned out so that on April 20, 1894, in Coburg, where representatives of almost all European powers gathered for the wedding of Alika’s brother, Duke of Hesse, Ernie and Princess Victoria - Melita of Edinburgh, her own engagement to the Russian Tsarevich Nicholas was announced.. On the glasses The windows of the “green office” of the Coburg castle, on the second floor, preserved two letters carved with diamond edges of Alix’s family ring, intertwined into an intricate monogram: “H&A”. And in the correspondence of Nikolai and Alexandra, this day is often mentioned by them as one of the happiest in their lives. That day he returned to her the brooch that he had given her at their first meeting, at Ella’s wedding. She now considered it the main wedding gift. The brooch was found in the summer of 1918 in the ashes of a large fire in the wilderness of the Koptyakovsky forest. Or rather, what was left of it. Two large rubies.
During the engagement of her beloved granddaughter, the Queen of England wrote older sister Alix, Victoria: “The more I think about the marriage of our dear Alix, the more unhappy I feel. I have nothing against the groom because I like him very much. It's all about the country and its politics, so strange and different from ours. It's all about Alix. After her marriage, her private love life will come to an end. From an almost unknown princess, she will turn into a person revered and recognized by everyone. Hundreds of appointments a day, hundreds of faces, hundreds of trips. She will have everything that the most spoiled human soul desires, but at the same time thousands of eyes will meticulously watch her, her every step, word, deed.. An unbearable burden for dear Alix.. After all, she never really liked the noisy life in light.
In order to get used to their brilliant position, some Russian empresses, I know, needed years. Alix will hardly have a few months, alas!
The old, wise “Queen Vicky”, as always, was not mistaken. The wedding of Alix and Nikolai was scheduled for the summer of 1895, but Fate seemed to be in a hurry for Alix. Already at the end of September 1894, she received an alarming telegram from the Tsarevich with a request to urgently arrive in Russia, in the Crimea, where Emperor Alexander the Third was fading in the Livadia Palace amid the colors of the lush southern autumn. In the last month of his life, which the doctors allotted to him, he wanted to bless his son and his bride for marriage officially, already in Russia. Alix hastily left Darmstadt for Berlin. From there, by express, head east. Ella met her in Warsaw. And already on October 10, 1894, she was in Crimea, at the gates of the Livadia Palace. As soon as he heard about the arrival of his future daughter-in-law, the dying emperor, suffering from kidney edema and heart weakness, nevertheless wished to receive her standing and in a ceremonial uniform. Life physician N. Grish resisted, but the emperor abruptly interrupted him: “It’s none of your business! I do this according to the Highest command!” Having met the eyes of the Emperor, Grisha fell silent and began silently helping him get dressed.
The young, shy princess was so shocked by the affectionate reception and the boundless respect shown to her by the dying father of her beloved Niki, that many years later she recalled this meeting with tears. She was warmly received by the entire groom's family, although there was neither time nor energy for special courtesies. But Alix didn’t demand them. She understood that everything was ahead.
Exactly ten days later, on October 20, 1894, the powerful Russian Emperor Alexander III passed away. He died quietly, sitting in a chair, as if he had fallen asleep, having previously received Holy Communion from the hands of the famous Father John of Kronstadt. Five hours after the death of the Sovereign, in the palace church of Livadia, Russia swore allegiance to the new Emperor - Nicholas II, and the next day, Princess Alix of Hessen converted to Orthodoxy and became “Her Imperial Highness, Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna, Highly Appointed Bride of the Sovereign Emperor.”
The words of the Creed and others based on Orthodox rite, she pronounced the prayers clearly, distinctly and almost without errors. Together with all the members of the Imperial family and the Court, the young bride left for St. Petersburg, where the funeral of Alexander the Third was soon to take place. It happened
November 7, 1894 in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, after countless funeral services, liturgies and farewells.
And exactly a week later, on the birthday of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, the mother of the young Emperor, (with the expected easing of mourning) the wedding of the new Sovereign and the former Hessian princess took place in the front church of the Winter Palace.
For the very religious, obligatory, straightforward Alix, this was very painful and incomprehensible. She was full of some kind of bad forebodings, was very worried and even cried. In confusion, she wrote to her sister Victoria, Duchess of Baden, that she did not understand how mourning and a wedding could be mixed into one, but to object something to the uncles of her beloved Nicky, who had found a brother after the death big influence at the Court, I couldn’t. And who would listen to her! As her beloved grandmother once told her: “Possessing persons cannot be slaves to their desires. They are slaves of circumstances, prestige, court laws, honor, Fate, but not themselves!” Fate decided that Alix would come to Russia after the royal coffin. Bad omen. A tragic omen. But what can you do? Death accompanied her so often that Alix gradually became accustomed to its faithful shadow. Death changed her Fate again. For the umpteenth time. Alix gathered her courage and, casting aside all her doubts, plunging into new dreams and hopes, tried in every possible way to fill the new page of her life with meaning. Outline the roads of your new Destiny. The fate of the Empress of Russia and the Mother of the heirs of the royal family. She didn’t yet know how painful and difficult all this would be.
Fate Four: Before the Mother, Before the Empress, or a Portrait of an Ideal Family..
It was the most beautiful and most desired role in her life! The mother of the children of the man she adores. In the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoe Selo, the Empress created a happy island of Solitude and Peace for the Emperor, burdened with a heavy burden of state concerns, the decoration of which were four lovely flowers: - daughters, who appeared one after another with an interval of one and a half to two years: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia . Four Crown Princesses, so strikingly similar to each other and so different!
They loved white dresses and pearl beads, delicate ribbons in their hair, and playing the piano. They didn’t really like the lessons of writing and calligraphy and enthusiastically acted out Moliere’s plays in French for the famous guests of the next dinner party and the diplomatic corps. They selflessly played lawn tennis and furtively read books from their mother’s table: “The Voyage of the Beagle” by Darwin and “The Bride of Lamermoor” by Walter Scott. They signed their letters with the initial letters of their names, merging into a strange seal sign, mysteriously romantic, and at the same time, childishly simple-minded: OTMA. They adored their mother, she was an indisputable deity for them, and they simply did not notice her affectionate authority. With a hand “in a velvet glove” their every step, every minute of the lesson, their dress at breakfast, lunch and dinner, entertainment, bicycle riding, swimming was painted. To the detriment of herself and her majestic image of the Empress, Alexandra Feodorovna devoted so much careful attention and time to her daughters that the brilliant secular society of St. Petersburg, in which the Empress, by the way, never fully became one, since she did not collect gossip and did not gravitate towards noisy balls and masqueraders, quietly constantly expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that maternal duties overshadowed everything else for the crowned person and looked askance at her with resentment. Many people really didn’t want to feel inferior to the empress in this regard!
As if in retaliation for the cold disregard of such a high Person for her rules and laws, the elite of both capitals and beyond - all of Russia, nervously, in secret whispers, attributed to Alexandra Feodorovna everything: lovers - Count A. N. Orlov, to for example, fanatical religiosity, domineering pressure on the crowned husband, disagreements with the Dowager Empress - mother-in-law. She, knowing the rumors, pursed her lips, smiled stonyly at receptions at extremely low-cut countesses and princesses, extended her hand to them for a kiss, but never considered them “great friends,” and this is what offended the titled dragonflies - gossips, such as the princess Zinaida Yusupova, for example, most of all!
But the overly proud Empress Alexandra did not at all consider herself guilty of the fact that her passionately imperious nature, desiring activity, real dedication, the achievement of great, ambitious internal possibilities, did not find any response, sympathy, understanding from superficial and shallow creatures called “close associates.” to the Court of Her Majesty,” and are always occupied only with the splendor of their own outfits and the whims of a lightweight heart, but not of the mind! The crowned wife of the Autocrat did not pay attention to all sorts of bad rumors about herself; she did not care what or how they said about her, since she had known for a long time, since youth, more from strict grandmother that it is difficult, very difficult to hear the truth and separate it from the chaff in a select court environment and on the sidelines, where everyone is looking only for their own benefit, and all the paths to it are paved with flattery!
She undoubtedly seemed cold and unsmiling to many, but perhaps because she was simply protecting her soul from superficial “sliding” along it, not penetrating into its suffering and searching? So many things have always hurt this soul, and especially...
There were especially many wounds and scars on her after the birth of the “porphyry-born”, long-awaited, begged-for heir, whom the people called, crossing themselves: “Alyoshenka - the bleeding one!”
Talking about the suffering of a mother who has a terminally ill child in her arms, for whom every scratch could end in death, is pointless and useless. These circles of hell for the soul of Empress Alexandra also remained incomprehensible to absolutely no one, and were they even comprehensible?! Is the selfish human heart, which knows how to coldly remove other people’s suffering from itself, even capable of this? If so, then this is very rare. Mercy in all ages is not in honor, we admit frankly!
From the very moment of the birth of her son Alexei (August 12, 1905 - new style), the illusory, fragile hope for peace and happiness at least in the Family, in an unbreakable harbor where one can fully realize oneself as a Woman, left Alexandra’s restless soul forever. Instead of hope, an endless anxiety now settled in her, squeezing her heart in a vice, completely destroying her nervous system, leading not only to hysteria, but to a strange heart disease - symptomatic,
(diagnosis by Dr. E. Botkin) which was caused in the empress, for example, half an hour ago, still healthy and vigorous, by any trifling nervous shock and experience. Perhaps, to this was also added a complex of guilt in front of her son, and torment from realizing herself as a failed mother who was unable to give her desired child the happiness of childhood and protect her from unbearable pain! These endless “guilts” weighed so heavily on her that she could suppress this burden only by “letting off steam” in a unique way: by giving strict advice in a matter that she did not really understand (*politics, for example, or the military actions of the First World War - the author.) leaving the box in the theater in the middle of the performance - for desperate prayer, or even - elevating a dubious sectarian-hypnotist to the rank of “Holy Elder”. It was. And there is no escape from this. But even this has its justification in history.
Alexandra, in fact, was monstrously lonely and in order to survive “in the enormous, unimaginable loneliness among the crowd,” she gradually developed her own “philosophy of suffering”: moral or physical torments are sent by God only to the chosen ones, and the heavier they are, the more humbly you bear your cross, she believed, the closer you are to the Lord and the closer the hour of deliverance! Having found support from virtually no one in society, including her relatives, with the exception of her husband, daughters, mother-in-law and Anna Aleksandrovna Vyrubova, Alexandra Feodorovna voluntarily, schematically, selfishly went into self-isolation. Immersed in endless suffering, she turned it into a kind of obsessive cult, and they swallowed her up! This is, in general, a rather complex ethical issue - the cult of suffering, service to suffering, justification of suffering in the name of God. But will anyone dare to throw a stone at a woman who has lost hope in everyone and everything except the Almighty? Hardly.. Could she have acted differently? Then? All this requires a certain growth of the soul. It, of course, happened, this inevitable growth, but - later... After March 1917. Then she overcame all her suffering. But then Death also defeated her Fate.
The Empress seemed to some to be religious to the point of fanaticism. Perhaps this was the case: the walls of her reception room - living room and the famous lilac boudoir are almost entirely covered with icons, one wall - from floor to ceiling, but, having changed her faith, she simply tried to correctly and devoutly fulfill all religious canons. The whole point is that for strong and bright natures, which, undoubtedly, was the last Russian empress, God can become an extreme, and God can become too much. And then again there will be a suppressed rebellion of the soul and a hidden desire to express oneself, to find something unlike the rest, familiar, unlike what has not given peace for a long time. Rasputin. A man of the people. God's wanderer who visited holy places. In front of the Crowned Person, kneeling in despair at the bed of a bleeding child, he was alone, in the famous gypsy restaurant “Yar” - completely different. Cunning, unkempt, unpleasant, mysterious, possessing the magical power to charm blood, and predict the future in confused phrases - mutterings. Fool, Saint and Devil rolled into one. Either on his own, or as a servant in someone’s very experienced hands?..
Are they Masons or revolutionaries? There are a great many versions, guesses, facts, hypotheses, interpretations that have appeared now. How to understand them, how not to get confused? No matter how much you guess, go through, or imagine options, there will be many answers to the questions of history. Even - too much. Everyone sees what they want to see and hears what they want. The Siberian peasant Grigory Rasputin - Novykh was, of course, a magnificent psychologist by nature. And he knew this law of human “seeing and hearing” very well. He immediately, unmistakably, subtly caught the vibes of the Power tormented by passions and the suppressed Self-Expression of Alexandra Feodorovna’s Soul. He caught what she craved.
And I decided to play along with her. While he played along, convincing her that she could “divide and conquer,” help her Spouse bear the burden and be a Guardian Angel, the chattering “opposition to His Majesty,” the Left Bloc Party, the Duma, and ministers incapable of taking decisive steps, also ruled. Anyhow. Pulling the “blanket” in different directions. Strengthening in Alexandra Feodorovna’s tormented soul the tragic sensations that everything is falling apart, collapsing, that everything that the ancestors of her beloved husband created with titanic efforts is coming to a collapse, an end! With her last effort of will, she tried to save her destroyed nest, her son's inheritance: the throne. And who could blame her for this?
In the days of February anarchy and indiscriminate shooting on the streets of Petrograd, risking being killed by stray bullets along with her daughters every second, she behaved in such a way that she resembled the True Heroes of the tragedies of Aeschylus, Schiller, and Shakespeare. Heroes of the Spirit in the Days of the Greatest Troubles of Times. A tragic, mournful Empress, misunderstood by almost no one, she managed to rise above her suffering. There, later, in exile in Tobolsk and Yekaterinburg, in the last months of his life in the Ipatiev House. But death was already standing guard over her, fanning her with an elastic, cool wing. Death once again conducted her Fate, played her last, victorious note, a loud, sonorous chord in the strange, brilliant, incomprehensible, broken line of her Life. The line, which abruptly ended, went into the stars on the night of July 17-18, 1918, in the basement of the Ipatiev House, on Svoboda Street. Death then breathed a sigh of relief. She finally overcame, covered with a black, dull veil the appearance, features, of the one who was called at first: Aliki - Alix, Princess of Hesse - Darmstadt and Rhine, and Her Imperial Majesty the Empress of All Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna. By the way, I will note in conclusion that, probably, least of all in the world, the Last Empress would like to be, oddly enough, the Holy Great Martyr, for her soul knew and comprehended at the end of her earthly journey the whole truth of bitterness and the irreparability of mistakes from suffering elevated to a cult, placed on the altar of the deity, illuminated with a halo of infallibility and chosenness!
After all, you must admit, in such a halo, it will undoubtedly be very difficult to distinguish, find, recognize, the living, humanly attractive, vulnerable, warm, real features of an extraordinary woman, such as Alix - Victoria - Elena - Liuza - Beatrice, Princess of Hesse, Empress of Russia . All the whimsical, alluring, bewitching, mirror-multiplying images of a Woman, involuntarily, with her mere presence, changed the entire course of world history at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth century.
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*The author deliberately does not provide extensive quotes from numerous historical documents known to almost everyone, leaving the reader the opportunity to choose the tone and colors in which he sees the image of the character in this essay. Books, hypotheses, facts appear in our time at the speed of light, and the author simply does not consider it ethically acceptable to exaggerate numerous gossip and anecdotal stories published in the 1990s in various publications.
** In preparing the article, materials from the author’s personal book collection and archive were used.
*** The article was written at the request of the weekly magazine “Aif - Superstars”, but for reasons unclear to the author, it remained unclaimed.
