Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs (34 page)

The arms scandal bubbled under the surface. Sukhomlinov was under arrest in the SS Peter and Paul Fortress, facing charges of peculation and treason against the State. ‘
Au fond
, to save Kschessinska & S.M. [Sergei] he also sits there,’ Alexandra wrote to Nicholas, ‘and one dare not bring up that subject before law on account of those two – even Andrei Vladimirovich said as much [to the Assistant Minister of War] … tho’ he is Kschessinska’s lover.’
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As usual the Tsar made no comment, but the Empress resumed the attack in December. ‘Why should he [Sukhomlinov] suffer and not … Sergei who on account of her [Kschessinska] has just as much fault.’
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She also complained about the immoral behaviour of Boris and Andrei, asking why the latter had been hanging around Petrograd for two years – ‘is there no nomination for him anywhere out at the war – active?’
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Perhaps she had heard that since the summer of 1915 Andrei, Boris and Dimitri had been frequent guests for lunch at Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich’s Gatchina home, where they were strongly
critical of the Empress. Andrei was at the front by October, returning in mid-December after two months’ absence.

In December 1916 Mathilde reluctantly came to the decision to close her hospital. There had been a rush of charitable offers in 1914 when people expected the war to be short. As hostilities dragged on, people became disgruntled and wanted the army authorities to take over.
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Although Mathilde was a wealthy woman, with or without Grand Ducal help the cost of maintaining such an establishment for two years, with no end yet in sight, was undoubtedly high. In her memoirs she merely explained that the wounded were now gathered together in the more distant provinces, which the government said were more accessible than Petrograd. Consequently, the hospitals in the capital were hardly used. Mathilde had recently entertained a party of convalescents to lunch at Strelna. After a final
Te Deum
she now went round saying goodbye to the men, who would be dispersed to various other hospitals. The cook joined Grand Duke Sergei’s staff at Stavka, as did Dr Maak who had looked after Andrei in St Moritz.

The Imperial family were by now united in the belief that the throne must be rid of Rasputin’s influence, thereby hoping that the ascendancy of the Empress would also be ended. A family council was held at Andrei’s palace but some right-wing monarchists decided to take matters into their own hands.

On the night of 16/17 December Rasputin was murdered in the Youssoupovs’ Moika Palace in Petrograd by a group of conspirators who included Prince Felix Youssoupov (husband of the Tsar’s niece Princess Irina), and Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich. Shortly afterwards Felix was banished to one of his country estates, and Dimitri was exiled to the Persian front. Even though the Grand Duke was in poor health the Tsar refused the Imperial family’s joint plea for clemency, replying icily that murder is murder and it was not only Dimitri who was implicated. Dimitri’s banishment was a terrible shock to Mathilde and Andrei – but more was to follow.

On 1 January 1917 Grand Duke Nicholas Michaelovich was exiled to Grushevka, his Ukrainian estate, for supporting Dimitri and speaking out against the Empress. ‘His departure left everyone stunned,’ Andrei recorded.
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The Grand Dukes were discussing plots and counter-plots. Prince Gabriel gave a supper for his mistress Nina Nestorovska. Grand Duke Boris, Prince Igor ‘and a squad of elegant courtesans’ were among the guests, recorded Paleologue. ‘During the evening the only topic of
conversation was the conspiracy, the most favourable moment for the outbreak etc. And all this with the servants moving about, harlots looking on and listening, gypsies singing and the whole company bathed in the aroma of Moët & Chandon
brut imperial
which flowed in streams!’
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There were meetings, including one in Andrei’s palace convened by Grand Duke Paul. They were all agreed that the Emperor must be dethroned. Some wanted a regency on behalf of Alexei, but they could not agree on who should be regent. One observer concluded that the Grand Dukes were only ‘playing at revolution’.
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The nucleus of the plot was the Vladimir Palace, where Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna had not forgotten how close her sons were to the throne. After lunch one January day she became more and more excited about the Empress’s interference in affairs of state. Finally she told Rodzianko that the Empress must be ‘annihilated’,
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a statement which amounted to treason.

On 17 January Mathilde took part in the benefit performance for the Maryinsky Opera chorus. The opera chosen was
Fenella
. It was the first production of this work on the Imperial stage (although Mathilde had performed it successfully at the Conservatoire). The opera was set against the background of an uprising against a Spanish viceroy in seventeenth-century Italy and one of the scenes portrayed a revolutionary mob burning down the palace. ‘Mala was wonderful and the public very enthusiastic,’ Andrei wrote in his diary.
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Yet backstage everyone felt uneasy.
Fenella
was considered to bring bad luck.

While the family hesitated the Tsar, for once, acted. On 8 January Nicholas told Miechen that ‘in their own interests’ she, Cyril and Andrei should leave the capital for a few weeks. The Grand Duchess left for Kislovodsk, a health spa in the Caucasus, saying ‘I’ll not return until all is finished here’. Cyril went to Archangel on a tour of inspection and after a short, courteous audience with Nicholas, Andrei joined his mother, officially to take the cure.
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Andrei arrived at Kislovodsk on 21 January, happy to leave the chaos of Petrograd which was, quite literally, making him ill. When he and Mathilde were reunited it would be under vastly different circumstances.

The winter of 1917 was bitterly cold in Petrograd. In temperatures of 35–40 degrees below zero the railways, essential for bringing food to the cities and supplies to the front, froze to a standstill as the boilers burst. Factories were closed through lack of fuel and a shortage of
food in the capital pushed prices to an exorbitant level. Rumours of bread rationing provoked panic buying and women queued for hours in the snow – cold, hungry and disillusioned.

At the height of the winter, when even the British Ambassador was unable to obtain coal, four army lorries were seen outside Kschessinska’s mansion. They were filled with sacks of fuel, which soldiers were busy unloading. The British and French Ambassadors were among the crowd of dumbfounded spectators. ‘You haven’t the same claim as Mme Kschessinska to the attentions of the Imperial authorities,’ Paleologue told his colleague. This favour even extended to her staff. When M.S. Semenov, who had been Mathilde’s chauffeur for three years, was called up for active service in the army in 1916, she managed to obtain for him a prestigious place at Stavka with Sergei.
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Feeling against Mathilde and her extravagances was running high. The Chief of the 4th Petrograd Police District, General Vladislav Halle, who Mathilde knew well, warned her to leave Petrograd. She took no notice.

On 2 February, after twenty-seven years, Mathilde gave what was destined to be her last performance on the stage of the Maryinsky. With Fokine as Harlequin, she danced Columbine in
Carnival
, followed by the first act of
Don Quixote
, at a charity performance in aid of the Disabled Soldiers’ Workhouse, one of the Empress’s charities.

The atmosphere in Petrograd was becoming more and more uneasy and alarming. In the first days of February General Halle again advised Mathilde to leave the capital, saying he was afraid that her house might be in particular danger from disturbances when the Duma reopened on 14 February. The real reason was that her profiteering in arms deals and the favours she had received from the Imperial family had made Mathilde a figure of hate. Lewd poems and caricatures about her were circulating in Petrograd and probably only the Empress was more despised than Kschessinska.
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This time she treated the warning seriously.

Mathilde decided to take Vova to the Rauch Sanatorium near Imatra in Finland, once again accompanied by Pierre Vladimiroff. Finland could be reached quickly and easily. The Finnish border, at Vyborg, was only 25 miles from Petrograd and the Grand Duchy of Finland was still part of the Russian Empire.

A story later circulated that Mathilde, Vova, his tutor and Vladimiroff left the house after dinner saying they were going for a walk, ordering tea for 10 o’clock that night. With Mathilde carrying only a small handbag they then ‘disappeared’. When they
did not return the servants reported Mathilde’s disappearance to the police. Then, when the situation was calmer, Mathilde reappeared saying they had been to a health resort in Finland for a change of air and rumours of her disappearance were false. During Mathilde’s absence her house was broken into and looted, and anything left was damaged. She estimated the loss at half a million roubles.
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As General Halle knew exactly where Mathilde was, this version seems to be a garbled combination of the trip to Finland in early February and her flight when the Revolution began.

They arrived at Imatra on 8 February. The weather was wonderful, there was plenty of snow and they were able to go on excursions. The famous Imatra Falls were nearby. Like other visitors they could stand on the wooded banks and admire the sight of the gigantic rapids rushing with tremendous noise through the channel the water had carved through the rocks, then descend to the viewing platform to see the waterfall.

After a week General Halle telephoned to tell Mathilde it was safe to return. Petrograd appeared calm. Prince and Princess Leon Radziwill were planning a party and, over dinner at the Embassy, the French Ambassador and his guests were debating whether Kschessinska or Karsavina should be awarded the academic palms for excellence.

Although women were still queuing for hours outside the bakeries, life seemed normal and on Wednesday 22 February Mathilde invited twenty-four friends to a lavish dinner party. She brought out all her valuable objects which had been locked away at the beginning of the war. (These were naturally only the objects in continuous use. The largest and most valuable items were in Fabergé’s vaults.) Out came all the Fabergé trinkets – the large collection of flowers made from precious stones, a small gold fir tree whose branches shimmered with diamonds, a pink elephant, some enamel objects and a set of gold goblets. In fact there was so much that Mathilde phoned Julie to complain that there was not enough room to display everything.

The table was decorated with silver vases filled with forget-me-nots and a real lace napkin lay beside each plate. From cupboards and storerooms came her dinner service of Limoges porcelain, ordered by Andrei in France, and a Danish service whose plates were decorated with images of different fish. The gilt cutlery, a gift from Andrei, was copied from two sets in the Hermitage which had belonged to Catherine the Great.

The guests were of course ‘dazzled’ by all this finery in the midst of a war, Kschessinska wrote proudly,
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and after an animated meal they played baccarat until the early hours.

It was Nero fiddling while Rome burned. The next morning the Revolution began.

The people’s patience had reached breaking point. On Thursday 23 February, as the Tsar was returning to Stavka 500 miles away, crowds stormed the bakeries and helped themselves. Then they made for the centre of Petrograd. While Madame Roubtzova was checking the silver, glass and linen Vova burst in and announced that a large crowd was pouring down Bolshoi Dvorianskaya Ulitsa towards the Troitsky Bridge. There they joined other workers marching towards the Nevsky Prospekt, shouting ‘Give us bread!’

The following morning more workers joined the protest but the atmosphere was still not dangerous and the Cossacks bantered with the crowd.

By Saturday more than 200,000 workers were on strike. Public transport ground to a halt, there were no taxis and no newspapers. As workers swarmed through the capital carrying banners and shouting, ‘Down with the German woman! Down with the war!’ shops were looted and a policeman was shot by one of the Cossacks. Nevertheless, Mathilde went to the Alexandrinsky Theatre that night for the actor Youriev’s 25th anniversary performance, returning home without trouble. Only the sound of distant firing reminded her that all was not quite normal. Few others ventured out. At the Maryinsky that evening the violinist George Enesco played to an almost empty house.
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By Sunday morning it was becoming obvious that the situation would not improve. Mathilde had already received at least one anonymous letter with threats of physical violence.
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By the afternoon the Pavlovsky Regiment had mutinied and General Halle repeatedly telephoned to warn that the situation was now very serious. Such was the feeling against Mathilde that he advised her to save what she could from the house and leave while there was still time.

As lorry after lorry full of soldiers brandishing red flags drove past the house, Mathilde put her most valuable possessions into a small suitcase. These included her smaller jewels (the entire collection was reckoned to be valued at 2 million roubles),
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the Tsarevich’s letters, his last signed photograph and her father’s treasured icon of Our Lady of Czenstokow. Still she did not leave.