Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs (32 page)

Many highly placed or wealthy ladies trained as nurses. Mathilde was unsuited to nursing. Instead she wrote letters for the soldiers, helped their families materially and did what she could to cheer them up, even bringing along two male colleagues from the Maryinsky with whom she performed a Russian dance. Vova also played his part by going round Petrograd with a money-box collecting for the soldiers, and was totally preoccupied with the war.

By the end of 1914 the Western Front had reached stalemate. Nearly a quarter of the Russian army had been killed, wounded or taken prisoner.
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The men were inadequately clothed, and many of them did not even have proper boots. Soldiers were forced to wait for their colleagues to die so that they could take over their weapons, and the Russian guns were rationed to three rounds a day. Turkey had entered the war in November. Now supplies could only reach Russia through Vladivostok in the east or, during its ice-free months, Archangel, 2,000 miles from the front. As Christmas came and went, with no sign of an end to the carnage, families mourned their dead as the casualty lists grew longer and defeat followed defeat.

To try and raise the people’s morale Mathilde began the first of a series of performances in Russia’s provincial towns. For these she had a new young partner.

Pierre Vladimiroff was born in 1893 and graduated from the Theatre School in 1911, becoming a principal soloist in 1915. He had ‘the manly beauty of a strong youth, endowed with sculpturesquely shaped muscles’ and with just ‘three powerful leaps’ could cover the Maryinsky’s enormous stage. Vladimiroff, recalled Alexandra Danilova, ‘was our Clark Gable, a strikingly handsome man, besieged by admirers wherever he went’. He also had the violent temper of a genuine Kuban Cossack, and when Mathilde selected this promising young man as her partner she had no idea how difficult he would be to control.
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For the first of these tours, to Reval (now Tallin), the organiser laid on a luxurious saloon carriage decorated in Karelian birchwood with Empire-style furnishings. As they returned to Petrograd the whole company had supper in the restaurant car, specially attached to the train.

On 10 March 1915 Mathilde and Vladimiroff were invited by
the famous impresario Reznikov to dance at the Alexander Theatre in Helsingfors, Finland. This was the ‘Russian theatre’ on Sandviks-Torget, to the west of the city. Some Russian naval officers were in the audience and they invited Mathilde to visit their ship, which was trapped in the ice just outside the town. They went by sledge and on foot, and afterwards she was photographed standing on the ice with the officers.

What Mathilde did not say in her memoirs is that, by what can only be described as a strange coincidence, the Tsar was also in Helsingfors that day. He arrived at 9 o’clock that morning on the Imperial train. A film of the visit shows his progress around the city in a Delauney-Belleville, but there was little enthusiasm from the Finnish people. The Tsar’s policy of ‘Russification’ had made the Imperial regime unpopular in Finland. Considering how closely allied with the regime Mathilde was in people’s minds, it is perhaps surprising that she was able to record that her performance that night was a notable success.

Reznikov next invited Mathilde and Vladimiroff to appear at the Kiev Opera. Although it was felt to be almost an obligation for the great Russian artists to perform there, she had not yet done so. Perhaps for this reason Vladimiroff was given a good reception, while Mathilde was received coldly. Later Mathilde donated 10,000 roubles to a charity for sick and injured soldiers under the patronage of the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna.
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Their next trip was a two-week tour across Russia. Mathilde’s departure for Moscow at the beginning of April was more like a royal progress. With Vladimiroff, the tenor Vitting (who would sing in the intervals between Mathilde’s performances), the conductor Latchinov and her own staff, she travelled in Sergei’s luxurious personal carriage. With its thick carpets, embossed leather walls, fine linen and silk eiderdowns it was the last word in comfort. On one side of the spacious drawing room was Mathilde’s bedroom and dressing room, the kitchen, Arnold’s compartment and room for the luggage. On the other side was a compartment for Vladimiroff, Vitting and Latchinov, and a separate one for Natasha Roubtzova, Mathilde’s maid. Arnold prepared breakfast on the train, while other meals were usually ordered from the station buffet.

Travelling in wartime was complex but Sergei’s carriage made life comfortable. They lived in the carriage, which stood in the siding while they performed and was then coupled to a departing train. In this way they visited Moscow, Kiev (where the public redeemed itself by giving Mathilde a warm welcome) and Kharkov, where Vladimiroff developed a sore throat. The performance at Rostov-on-Don was therefore
cancelled. They travelled on to Baku in the Caucasus, a town full of oil millionaires whose bejewelled wives donned evening dresses for the theatre. Mathilde was invited to dinner at the best restaurant in town, where she was given an ovation on entering. Before the train left she was presented with caviar from a famous local factory.

As they travelled round Russia Mathilde kept in touch with Andrei, who in May 1915 became Commander of the Horse Artillery Brigade of the Guard. ‘Every one of your telegrams was a great joy for me,’ he wrote on 21 April, ‘the separation from you has become a burden so your telegrams were a great comfort for me all this time … I miss you terribly. I love you with all my heart, darling. I strongly embrace you.’ He signed it ‘your loving and devoted Andrei’.
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Their last stop was the picturesque town of Tiflis, where coincidentally Sergei Michaelovich had grown up and where they again received an overwhelming reception. Later some officers invited Mathilde to a restaurant by the River Koura where she was able to watch a performance of national dances. The next day the same officers brought an enormous basket of fruit and flowers to the departing train, which was thronged with people who had come to say goodbye. Mathilde received so many bouquets that they had to be tied to the rear platform of the train.

Back in Petrograd Mathilde presented her fees for these performances to the Committee of the Grand Duchess Olga Nicolaievna. Later she received a letter of thanks and a medal from the Tsar’s daughter.

In the spring of 1915 the Russians captured Przemysl, ‘the strongest fortress in the Austro-Hungarian Empire’.
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The air of general rejoicing soon turned to despair. Przemysl and Lemberg were lost, many of the Tsar’s subjects came under enemy occupation and refugees fled before the German advance. As the Russians retreated all their western fortresses, all of Poland and part of Lithuania were lost, together with three million men. In Russia there was anger, disillusionment and bitterness. Anger turned against the Germans and in Moscow crowds in Red Square shouted insults at the Imperial family, demanding that the ‘German’ Tsarina be sent to a convent and the Tsar abdicate in favour of Nicholasha.

The situation was not helped because the War Minister, General Vladimir Sukhomlinov, was jealous of Nicholasha and did what he could to undermine the Grand Duke’s position. Sukhomlinov and the Artillery Department were blamed for the loss of Poland and the army’s retreat. The War Minister had ‘acquired enemies in the Artillery
Department and among the Inspectors-General, whose functions the Sukhomlinite General Staff began to usurp’.
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The Inspector General of Artillery was Grand Duke Sergei Michaelovich. In 1915 when complaints again arose about a shortage of ammunition, the finger was pointed at Sergei. In return, Sergei and his brother Sandro ‘have not hesitated to say in public that Sukhomlinov is a criminal’, Andrei recorded in his diary. ‘Maybe it is due to the fact that the war has shown how poorly we are provided with artillery, and Grand Duke Sergei is trying to draw attention away from himself and therefore accuses Sukhomlinov? This is quite unjust.’ Sukhomlinov (and more especially his wife, who was said to be taking bribes) were ‘popularly believed’ to be German agents.
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It was now said that Sergei was so far under the influence of Kschessinska that he allowed her to meddle in his affairs. Mathilde was believed to be mixed up in various irregularities and the Empress was only too happy to believe the rumours. In June 1915 Alexandra told her husband that Grand Duke Paul had asked ‘whether Sergei would be relieved of his post as all are so much against him, right or wrong – and Kschessinska is mixed up again – she behaved like Mme Sukhomlinov it seems with bribes and the Artillery orders – one hears it from many sides.’
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The Tsar made no comment.

Mathilde denied these allegations, claiming that someone was trying to blacken her name in the Empress’s eyes, but Alexandra was not the only person who had heard the stories. Many highly placed people, who were in a position to know the truth, heard these rumours. No one contradicted them.

The dishonesty and the cupidity of the Artillery Department was now a common topic of conversation in Petrograd, ‘but as a Grand Duke was at its head, no one dared say a word’, commented Princess Radziwill. ‘So once again began the usual cry of treason, of German gold and German spies.’
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Mathilde was rumoured to be accepting huge bribes from arms contractors to ensure they received the contracts, and she sent a representative to negotiate with the firm of Schneider-Creusot in France. Worse still, she had used her influence over Sergei to persuade him to purchase matériel from various friends.

By 1915 profiteering was rife in Petrograd and foreign businessmen (‘one parasite after another’) arrived at the Astoria Hotel. Among them were the ‘highly placed’ Raguzo-Suszezewski, who had been a guest at Villa Alam in the spring, and the Comte de Saint-Sauveur, Schneider’s brother-in-law, who acted as the representative of
Schneider-Creusot in Russia. Michael Rodzianko, the President of the Duma, told Nicholasha that the resignations of the Minister of Interior Nicholas Maklakoff and Grand Duke Sergei Michaelovich must be demanded. He considered Sergei’s appointment as Inspector-General of Artillery a disaster: ‘the thieving gang operating under cover of the Grand Duke’s name must be got rid of’, he added.
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People now remembered the artillery documents found in Mathilde’s cellar in 1910 and rumours circulated that she was selling secrets to enemy agents. Grand Duke Nicholas Michaelovich warned Sergei that he had been ‘used’ by Kschessinska. All these rumours had reached Nicholasha, who told Rodzianko that ‘he was aware of the part taken and the influence exercised in questions of artillery supplies by the dancer Kschessinska, who acted as an intermediary for the placing of orders with different firms’. In fact Nicholasha had also been duped by Mathilde, to whom he handed over ‘privileged information which allowed [her] to negotiate contracts with intermediaries involved in the sale of matériels’.
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Such was Mathilde’s reputation that it has been suggested that she now added a third Grand Ducal string to her bow in the shape of Grand Duke George Michaelovich, another of Sergei’s brothers. George’s wife, the former Princess Marie of Greece, had gone to England with their daughters in the summer of 1914 for what amounted to a trial separation. When war broke out Marie preferred to remain with the children in England, leaving George alone. Poor George really loved his wife, but she did not reciprocate his feelings. His friendship with Mathilde was certainly close but whether he sought solace with her remains open to question.
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While rumours were running round Petrograd, at the end of May Mathilde and Vova moved to Strelna. Vova was studying at home for his examinations, which he would sit at the Classical High School. Sergei was away, receiving painful treatment for his illness. Andrei visited the dacha, ‘but not for long’, Mathilde reassured Sergei. ‘Vova is very happy here … and it is very noticeable how much weight he put on during this winter. I am glad to move here as well, it is more peaceful. For the last few days in the city I was so tired I didn’t have any energy.’
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Mathilde’s telegrams said that they were bored without him and her letters were full of concern for Sergei’s health. They usually began simply ‘dear Sergei’, but invariably ended, ‘hug and kiss you – your Malia’. Early in June Mathilde sent her car to pick up Julie and Ali. They held a modest celebration of her twenty years at Strelna, although she was sad to do so without Sergei.

Mathilde spent the summer picking mushrooms (‘I do not remember such an amount at the beginning of summer,’ she wrote incredulously)
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and playing poker with friends. ‘You were very surprised at me winning 1,187 roubles at poker,’ she told Sergei. ‘After that I won more, 127 roubles, but on Sunday I was not so lucky and lost 496 roubles. Manturov won that round, but he owed me 571 roubles which he lost to me at Julie’s, and it was very unlikely that I would receive this money soon.’
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Parties of wounded arrived from Mathilde’s hospital in specially borrowed army lorries. Their presence delighted Vova, who liked to play draughts with them. He was following the progress of the war avidly and was keen to question the men about their experiences. His special favourite was ‘the Bulgarian’. On the soldier’s regimental day Sergei provided a present, with sweets for the other wounded men.