Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs (41 page)

By the time the little party of refugees reached Villa Alam all three were standing outside to welcome them. After six years’ absence Mathilde was back in her own villa – but it was a bitter-sweet homecoming.

The joy of being home among so many familiar things was tempered by the sorrow of so much lost. Almost every week brought another rumour, or confirmation, that someone they knew had died during the Red Terror.

Arnold had brought masses of photographs and albums. These included his own photographs of Strelna and the illustrated album with photographs and reviews of Mathilde’s performances, presented at her 10th anniversary benefit. These and the few things Mathilde had salvaged now became doubly precious.

Mathilde, Andrei and Vova now had to begin a new life as
émigrés
but
at least they still had a home. In 1914 the Tsar had ordered members of the Imperial family to repatriate all their assets abroad to help the war effort. Although Andrei had paid the purchase price of Villa Alam the property was in Mathilde’s name – and she was not a member of the Romanov family. Now, arriving in France virtually penniless with only 7,000 francs in a Monte Carlo bank account (equivalent to about £3,800 today), this villa became their chief asset. The first thing they did was to mortgage it to pay the staff and buy some clothes. Mathilde only had the two dresses salvaged from Russia. Vova’s clothes were so frayed that he could not go out. Andrei was more fortunate. When they departed from Cap d’Ail in 1914 he had left some luggage behind.

One of their first visitors was Andrei’s aunt Grand Duchess Anastasia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who had been so kind to Vova before the war. She was now living in the Villa Fantasia at nearby Eze. Anastasia had no news of her brother Sergei but they continued to hope he was still alive, despite rumours to the contrary. Anastasia loved gambling at the Casino and liked to enjoy herself. Vova attended his first proper dance with the Grand Duchess. Mathilde’s neighbour the Italian Marquis Passano, whose wife was Russian, gave dinner parties. Mathilde and Andrei often went in ‘on the light’, a Russian custom whereby if the light was on in his villa all were welcome.

Other Romanovs reappeared. Prince Gabriel, who had married Nina on 9 April 1917, was at nearby Beaulieu. Gabriel had been too ill to be exiled with the other Romanov men. He was imprisoned in Petrograd’s Schpalernaya Prison in July 1918. After much persistence from Nina who knew Maxim Gorky’s ‘wife’ Maria Andreievna, Commissar for Theatres, Gabriel was released. Gorky took Gabriel and Nina into safety in his own apartment and they finally made their way out of Russia via Finland.

Andrei’s brothers had also survived. Early in 1920, after the signing of a treaty giving the Finns independence from Russia, Cyril realised that he would not be returning to Petrograd soon. He, Victoria and their children Marie, Kyra and baby Vladimir (born in the summer of 1917) left Finland and divided their time between Germany and an apartment in Paris. Boris and Zina left Russia via Constantinople and made their way to Genoa, where they were married on 12 July 1919. They settled provisionally in Nice.

Almost as soon as Mathilde and Andrei reached the south of France Raoul Guinsberg invited them to lunch at the Grand Hotel de Paris. Also present was Sergei Diaghilev. A few days later Diaghilev called
at Villa Alam and asked Mathilde to appear with the company in his forthcoming Paris season. Mathilde declined. She had kept in good shape during the arduous trek through the Caucasus but was already forty-seven and had no real wish to perform on stage now that the Imperial Ballet no longer existed. Soon afterwards Mathilde received a letter from the Paris Opéra, conveying the Director’s invitation to appear in their new season. Again, although she was flattered, she refused the offer. Recent experiences had mellowed Mathilde. She now had no taste for the power struggles of old.

During the summer of 1920 Mathilde and Andrei spent ten days at the Hotel d’Albe in Paris. The Marquis Passano invited them to dinner in the Chateau de Madrid, an exclusive restaurant in the Bois de Boulogne. The day was hot so they ate in the garden, and there they received a wonderful surprise. Among the clientele was Andrei’s cousin Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich.

Dimitri’s banishment to the Persian front after Rasputin’s murder had saved his life. After the revolution he moved to Teheran, where the British Minister, Sir Charles Marling, invited him to stay at the British Legation. When the Marlings were recalled at the end of 1918 Dimitri went with them and Lady Marling nursed him when he contracted typhoid. After living for a while in London, Dimitri, now reunited with his sister Marie, moved to Paris.

Mathilde had not seen Dimitri since the end of 1916 and, overjoyed at this unexpected meeting, they embraced and kissed in the middle of the restaurant. There was much news to catch up on. Marie and her second husband Prince Sergei Putiatin had a small apartment in the rue de Courcelles. Dimitri was living in Boulogne-sur-Seine and allowed his name to be used in connection with a
société
in Rheims whose business was connected with champagne. He invited Mathilde and Andrei to lunch at the
pavillon d’Armenonville
the following day and they met every day afterwards until their return to Cap d’Ail.

Dimitri wrote in his diary that Andrei had aged a lot, Mathilde was virtually unchanged but he disliked Vova, whom he found to be dissolute, spoilt and impudent. During a long conversation with Mathilde, Dimitri had ‘the distinct impression that she was turning Andrei against his mother, whom she says she can’t stand.’ He believed Andrei had made ‘a big mistake’ in coming to Paris with Kschessinska. ‘Naturally all the Russians know about it and it has made a very bad impression.’ Andrei, he added, ‘is apparently once again completely under the sway of Mala’s charm and seems so totally in love.’
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Lili Likhatcheva brought her husband and children to stay at Villa Alam but, at the end of July, their newfound gaiety was interrupted by a telegram from Contrexéville. Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna had been taking the cure, hoping to recover her shattered health, but Andrei was summoned when her condition seriously deteriorated. The Grand Duke stayed in Contrexéville for a month and during this time he and Mathilde exchanged some tender letters, discussing their feelings and future life together.

The Grand Duchess rallied but Andrei had barely returned home when he was summoned once more. Not knowing how long he would be away, and wanting to be with him, Mathilde decided to go as well.

They arrived at the Hotel La Souveraine to find the Grand Duchess desperately ill. Boris, Cyril and Elena had arrived and they all maintained a vigil round the bed. By now Miechen was in great pain and in no condition to object to the presence of Andrei’s mistress. She repeatedly murmured Andrei’s name and, Mathilde afterwards claimed, ‘tried to say some words about Vova’
³
before finally losing consciousness. Her death on 6 September affected Andrei greatly. He alone had remained with her all through the dark days of the Revolution and the flight from Russia.

Marie Pavlovna’s jewels were now divided among her children. Boris (his mother’s favourite) received her magnificent emeralds; Cyril received the pearls; Andrei the rubies and Elena the diamonds.

Back in Paris, Mathilde and Andrei were informed that Nicholas Sokolov was in the capital. Sokolov was the White investigator charged with looking into the presumed murders of Nicholas II and his family at Ekaterinburg, and also the fate of Sergei Michaelovich and other members of the family at Alapayevsk. Determined to find out the truth, Andrei asked Sokolov to call on him at the Hotel Lotti. Prince Gabriel, three of whose brothers had died with Sergei, was also invited to attend.

Sokolov’s investigation had concluded that Nicholas, Alexandra, their children and servants had been shot in the sinister ground-floor room of the Ipatiev House during the night of 16/17 July 1918. Their bodies were loaded on to a lorry and taken to the Four Brothers Mine where they were stripped, chopped up, burned and dissolved in sulphuric acid before being thrown down a disused mineshaft. Jewellery, clothing, and personal effects were discovered – but the family’s bodies were never found.
⁴
(Only in 1979 was the grave discovered and even this information was suppressed for many years during the Communist regime.)

Seventeen of the fifty-two Romanovs living in Russia disappeared during the Red Terror. Grand Duke Sergei Michaelovich, Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, Prince Vladimir Paley and Princes Constantine, Igor and Ioann Constantinovich (Gabriel’s brothers) were struck on the head and thrown down a disused mineshaft in the early hours of 18 July 1918, Sergei’s name day. Sergei tried to resist and was shot in the head first. The others died from haemorrhages. Unlike those of the Tsar’s family, their bodies were recovered and Sokolov showed Mathilde and Andrei the photographs.

Sergei’s brothers Grand Dukes George and Nicholas Michaelovich, together with Grand Duke Dimitri Constantinovich and Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, were shot in the SS Peter and Paul Fortress in January 1919. Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich disappeared in Perm, believed shot by the Bolsheviks in June 1918. His mother the Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna and sisters Xenia and Olga were among those who reached the west.

With all hope now gone, Andrei asked Sokolov to send him his file on the Alapayevsk investigation. He and Mathilde then sat up all night hand-copying the most important documents. A little while later Mathilde received from Grand Duchess Xenia the items found on Sergei’s body. There was a gold pendant in the shape of a potato on a gold chain, the emblem of the ‘Potato Club’ which Tsarevich Nicholas, Sergei, some of his brothers and friends had formed in the far-off days of their youth. There was also a small gold medallion with an emerald in the middle, which had been a present to Sergei from Mathilde many years earlier. It contained her portrait, a ten kopek piece minted in 1869, the year of Sergei’s birth, and was engraved with the words: ‘August 21 – Mala – September 25’.
⁵
The significance of the dates is unknown.

Mathilde knew that Sergei would never have parted with these things if he was alive. Seeing them, and the photographic evidence of the bloated dead bodies, removed any doubt in her mind as to his fate. It also settled the question of her future.

The death of Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna removed the only real obstacle to Mathilde and Andrei’s marriage. Any feelings of guilt about Sergei which Mathilde may have harboured also disappeared with the confirmation of his murder. They now decided to marry, Mathilde maintained, not only for their own happiness but to legitimise Vova, who was in an uncertain and very difficult position.

This was not quite the truth. According to Grand Duke Dimitri,
who was a guest at Villa Alam in October, there was now a great deal of ill-feeling between Mathilde and Nina Nestorovska, Prince Gabriel’s wife. ‘It’s clear that Mala can’t bear the thought that Nina, being married, has somehow left her behind. Naturally their relationship has changed,’ Dimitri wrote in his diary. Andrei agreed that because of people’s attitude to Mathilde, his own situation was difficult and he asked that she be treated ‘normally.’ He also claimed that although it would be easy to change all this by marrying her, Mathilde did not want to marry. In fact it appears the opposite was true.

The following day Mathilde learnt that Gabriel had arranged for Nina to be received by Dimitri’s sister Grand Duchess Marie. This thought gave Mathilde no peace, according to Dimitri who visited them that afternoon. As Dimitri left, Andrei said that he, Mathilde and Vova would go to the station when Marie and Dimitri departed the next day, ostensibly because Vova wanted to present the Grand Duchess with a bouquet. ‘Mala simply wants to be received by Marie, so she won’t be playing second fiddle to Nina,’ Dimitri noted. Mathilde’s plan failed, as they mistook the time of the train. On Dimitri’s next visit in December, Mathilde and Andrei were ‘rather too affectionate – a little toadying. Mala just didn’t know what to do with herself’ in her efforts to curry favour and be received by the Grand Duchess.

Things came to a head in January 1921, when Andrei and Mathilde were pointedly not invited to a dinner given by Gabriel and Nina, at which Dimitri and Marie were among the guests. Mathilde wept, while Andrei was outraged at this snub, going so far as to tell Dimitri that Marie must apologise to Mala for accepting Nina’s invitation. He insisted that the only way to ameliorate the situation was for Marie to agree to receive Mathilde.

There was more at stake here than just Mathilde’s
amour-propre
. At this juncture it seems that Andrei expected Cyril to renounce his rights to the throne. With Boris already excluded because of his unsuitable marriage, Andrei would be next in line. By marrying Mathilde he would lose his rights to the succession. ‘Sooner or later I will end up getting married, because I can’t live this way any longer,’ he told Dimitri, ‘and then, if Cyril renounces the throne, his rights will automatially transfer to you.’

The following day Marie approached Mathilde and Andrei as she left the cathedral after liturgy. Although the gesture pleased Andrei, it was still not enough. Nothing further happened though and Marie left for Nice.

It was this incident in Monte Carlo and Mathilde’s realization that she would never be received by the family while she remained merely Andrei’s mistress, which persuaded them to act. ‘It was clear to me that Andrei hadn’t married Mala right away only because of his potential career …,’ Dimitri wrote later when he heard the news of their hasty marriage. ‘Therefore she probably ruined his life before he was willing to make that decision.’
⁶

Mathilde having forced the issue, Andrei wanted to marry with the permission of Cyril, who he considered ‘head of the Imperial Family’.
⁷
This would make the marriage legal and give Mathilde and Vova a proper surname and title. Andrei therefore went to see Cyril, who gave his consent and said he would grant Mathilde the name of Krasinsky with the title of Princess. Vova would henceforth be a prince. Cyril asked Andrei to return with Mathilde immediately after the wedding so that she could be formally presented to Grand Duchess Victoria.