by Coryne Hall
Vova had passed his examinations with the top mark of 5 and received a certificate issued by the Gymnasium of Emperor Alexander I.39 Mathilde and Sergei now made several excursions in the small car he was allowed to keep and they may have used one of these trips to take Vova away from the dangers of the capital. Tsarskoe Selo, 15 miles south-west of Petrograd, was relatively quiet and although the Tsar and his family were still under arrest in the Alexander Palace, it was hoped that Vova could live in safety. Mathilde mentioned visiting a friend of her butler who had a small pension, so perhaps Vova was staying there.40 One day Mathilde recognised her requisitioned car. Certain that its occupants had spotted her, they hurried back home.
One of these excursions ended in tragedy. That night Djibi was restless and when Mathilde woke up he was lying on her bed, dead. He had been exploring during the day and Mathilde thought he must have eaten something poisonous. The soldiers helped Mathilde and Vova bury him in the garden at Strelna. Djibi’s death was a hard blow, as he had been Mathilde’s companion for nine years.
Mathilde visited Strelna several times. The rooms had been completely ransacked, again in a fruitless search for German gold. The dacha was now occupied by soldiers who Mathilde described as ‘very polite and correct’, and it has been mooted that this guard was organised by Sergei Michaelovich from among his loyal followers. These were decent men less affected by the revolutionary propaganda and many of them remained loyal to Sergei.41 Although much of the furniture was missing, they arranged for some of Mathilde’s possessions to be transported to Petrograd on a large cart. Vova visited all his old haunts and the men kept an eye on him, one of them even suggesting that he should come and live in his little lodge.
This is another puzzling episode. When soldiers were deserting in droves, some of them helped Mathilde bury a dog and then transported her possessions to Petrograd. It has been suggested that there was another reason for these journeys. Thirty years after Mathilde’s death rumours would circulate about these visits to Strelna.42 (See Postscript)
For Vova’s fifteenth birthday Mathilde took him to Byelo-Ostrov in Finland accompanied by Sergei and Vladimiroff, who had arranged for them to stay at the estate of Nicholas Oblakov, a teacher at the Theatre School.
The Oblakov estate, not far from the railway station, was a haven of peace, surrounded by forests, moors and swamps. Nearby was the little stream which marked the border between Russia and Finland. They remained for three or four days before returning to Petrograd, where Mathilde would soon have to make one of the biggest decisions of her life.
Early in July the Bolsheviks very nearly pulled off a successful coup and shortly afterwards their strongholds were stormed. On 6 July eight armoured cars manned by troops loyal to the Provisional Government, along with some heavy artillery, evicted the Bolsheviks from Kschessinska’s mansion. Not a single shot was fired. The Bolsheviks left without resistance, as their leaders were busy burning the files. Lenin fled over the border into Finland and only a few employees were discovered in Mathilde’s mansion.
On 7 July Alexander Kerensky became Prime Minister and Minister of War in the Provisional Government. Kschessinska’s house was occupied by a bicycle brigade and it seemed now that Mathilde had a chance to recover her property. The Provisional Government had other worries and no one was concerned about the problems of a redundant ballerina. The troops remained. When the keys were finally handed over, Mathilde complained that furs worth 227,000 roubles were missing.
With the Bolsheviks narrowly failing to take power Mathilde began to think about joining Andrei in the Caucasus. His letters said that the revolution had not reached the area and it was possible to lead a normal life. Mathilde had to think of Vova’s safety. Many people had already left for the Crimea or the Caucasus, where the climate was good and the Black Sea gave the possibility of escape if it became necessary. Sergei refused to go, believing that a sudden exodus of Grand Dukes would endanger the lives of the Tsar and his family. Leaving Petrograd would therefore mean choosing between Sergei and Andrei.
Soon after his return from Stavka, now wearing unaccustomed civilian clothes, Sergei proposed. Mathilde refused. Although she had great respect for Sergei and was grateful for his love and devotion to her and Vova for many years, Mathilde did not love him in the way that she loved Andrei. ‘He knew this …’43
Mathilde was torn between joy at the thought of a reunion with Andrei and guilt at leaving Sergei, who would be in constant danger. She also found it difficult to deprive him of Vova, who he adored. Throughout the years, while Mathilde was busy with rehearsals and performances, Sergei had devoted himself to Vova’s upbringing and education, showering him with expensive presents.
Mathilde applied to Kerensky for the necessary permit to travel to Kislovodsk, intending to return when things had settled down. She then put the Tsar’s letters into a casket, which was entrusted to Mme Inkina (whose daughter Zoia was a childhood friend of Vova), believing it would be safe. The signed photograph had still not been retrieved from Youriev’s flat.
On Thursday 13 July Sergei went to the Nicholas Station to say goodbye. Mathilde and Vova were accompanied by Ludmilla Roumiantzeva and Ivan Kournossov, Mathilde’s former butler, now demobilised, who was to look after Vova. They all crammed into a two-berth sleeping compartment. The parting was meant to be temporary but the sight of Sergei’s sad face as the train pulled away haunted Mathilde, especially after she learnt of his tragic fate.
The train reached Moscow without incident but on the journey south it was invaded by deserters, who insisted that everyone was free to do as they liked. Mathilde and her companions had to barricade themselves into their compartment. The journey seemed interminable.
Finally, at 10 o’clock on Sunday evening, 16 July, the train pulled into Kislovodsk Station, where Andrei was waiting. He immediately took them for a meal in a Caucasian restaurant. After the events of the last few months good food in peaceful surroundings bathed in moonlight seemed like a dream.
Mathilde did not know that she had left Sergei, her house, and Petrograd for ever.
Thirteen
FLIGHT FROM THE BOLSHEVIKS
The Caucasus lay in the south of Russia, in the strip of land between the Black and the Caspian Seas. Kislovodsk was the most fashionable of the north Caucasus spa resorts, famous for its curative hot spring and invigorating mountain air. Its green, wooded slopes led to the higher ranges where the rocky peaks were always covered in snow. Just before the First World War it was a town of some 14,000 inhabitants and its river, waterfalls and wonderful views from the Blue Rocks provided popular places for excursions. After their ‘cure’, visiting Russian aristocracy relaxed in the park and in the evening attended the elegant Kislovodsk Theatre. ‘There were several hotels, white villas sheltering in gardens, avenues of poplars, gold-domed churches, here and there the minarets of mosques rising above the roofs of the houses. It was a very different world from the world of Petrograd,’ recalled Meriel Buchanan.1
The region was peaceful. Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna had rented the Semeyonov Villa in Pomerantseva Street but on 24 February she received a telegram from Boris informing her of rioting. Then rumours of revolution in Petrograd circulated through Kislovodsk. Miechen and Andrei received a taste of what was to come when Andrei’s train was stopped by revolutionaries while returning from Tiflis, 300 miles south. On 13 March Andrei sent a telegram to Petrograd, saying that he had sworn allegiance to the Provisional Government.
Miechen’s villa was then searched by two representatives of the Provisional Government, who removed some of her letters and papers. Claiming they had intercepted an indiscreet letter to Boris they placed the Grand Duchess under house arrest, where she remained for three months. During her imprisonment Miechen’s health suffered and she complained of heart pains. Once released, she was offered a house in the Crimea but considered there were too many Romanovs there already. Instead the Grand Duchess took the precaution of obtaining Kerensky’s permission to
join Cyril in Finland. However, she remained in Kislovodsk with Andrei and a few members of staff, guarded by a dozen locally recruited Cossacks.
When Mathilde arrived the Grand Duchess would not permit her son’s mistress to move in with him. Andrei therefore rented rooms for Mathilde and Vova in the Stcherbin Villa. This single-storey building, only intended as a summer home, had a covered gallery giving an exit to the street on one side and to the courtyard on the other. Everyone had their own room, although it was far from luxurious and there was no heating. Ivan prepared breakfast; other meals were taken in a restaurant.
Andrei dined with his mother, although he visited Mathilde and Vova regularly. When the lease on the Grand Duchess’s villa ran out she moved into a bed-sitting room in Andrei’s villa.‘She complains most bitterly of her lot,’ a friend reported.2 Miechen’s name day was celebrated on 22 July with a Te Deum and lunch for twenty-eight people. Mathilde was not invited.
Also in Kislovodsk were Michael Fokine and his wife Vera. Over tea a few days after her arrival Mathilde and Andrei discussed the situation with them. What would happen next? Should they stay or leave?
The Grand Duchess’s loyal English friend Bertie Stopford, who ‘served nominally as an official diplomatic courier’ but may have had links to the secret service,3 smuggled some much-needed money to the Caucasus in his boots. When he returned to Petrograd Stopford hatched a plan to retrieve the Grand Duchess’s jewels.
He and Grand Duke Boris disguised themselves and, with the help of a loyal caretaker, removed all the money and jewels from the secret safe in Miechen’s bedroom at the Vladimir Palace. Stopford took the money to the British Embassy and carried the jewels back to London, where they were placed in a safe deposit box. In all, he made three trips to Kislovodsk with money for the Grand Duchess. Stopford’s ingenuity would benefit all her children when they were living in exile.
At the end of August Julie and Ali arrived and settled into a wing of Mathilde’s villa. En route their trunk had disappeared and when it reached Kislovodsk two months later Ali’s Orders and regimental insignia, all Julie’s lovely furs and several other items had been stolen. The thieves had cut a hole in the trunk and closed it up with wire.4 Three weeks later Boris arrived with his mistress Zina Rachevska, her French friend Marie, and the oil magnate Leon Mantachev. Boris’s mistress was also forced to live elsewhere, as Miechen would not have ‘the harem’, as she sarcastically called her sons’ mistresses, living with them.5
As winter approached, Mathilde searched for a new home. She finally settled on the Beliaievsky Villa at Vokzalaia Pereluk 9, a white-painted house with a green roof, a turret and several balconies, standing in a small garden. Mathilde, Vova, Julie and Ali moved in on 3 October and hired a fat red-haired cook.
Mathilde was now surrounded by friends from Petrograd. A welcome visitor was Pierre Vladimiroff, taking a cure in nearby Sotchi. According to her, during his stay he sustained severe bruising and a broken nose after falling from a horse and was unable to leave his room for some time. There is another version of this story, which says that Andrei became jealous of Mathilde’s friendship with Vladimiroff and challenged him to a duel. He shot through Vladimiroff’s nose and the unfortunate victim needed plastic surgery. This story obviously dates from a different period, as the duel was allegedly fought in the Boulogne Woods near Paris.6
In Petrograd, the Provisional Government requisitioned Andrei’s palace for the Minister of Agriculture at the end of August. Meanwhile Grand Duke Sergei continued his efforts to recover Mathilde’s possessions. He managed to store some of the remaining furniture in Meltzer’s but his efforts to send her jewellery (and also some belonging to his late mother) abroad in Mathilde’s name failed because the British Ambassador refused to help. Despite Mathilde’s urgent pleas and the fact that Count Cheremetiev offered to let the Grand Duke stay with him in Kislovodsk, Sergei still refused to leave. He remained in the New Michaelovsky Palace and frequently dined with his brother Nicholas, who was receiving gifts of food from his property in the Kherson district.
When Vladimiroff returned to Petrograd in October he promised to try and obtain permission for Sergei to go to Finland. When Vladimiroff obtained the permit it was made out only in Sergei’s name, with no mention of his manservant and secretary Feodor Remez. The Grand Duke, who was ill, was unable to travel without him.
Also, Sergei feared for the Emperor’s safety. In August Kerensky moved Nicholas and his family to Tobolsk in distant Siberia, but Sergei still feared repercussions if too many Grand Dukes tried to leave Petrograd. Vladimiroff had intended to return to Kislovodsk but told Mathilde that he would not abandon Sergei.
By the time Sergei had dealt with all Mathilde’s affairs it was too late. In September the Bolsheviks gained a majority in the Petrograd Soviet and on 25 October they staged a coup d’état.The Provisional Government fell. Bolshevik forces occupied the banks, telephone exchanges, post office and other public buildings in the capital. Kerensky fled. Lenin was now master of Petrograd.
In Kislovodsk Mathilde heard about the Bolshevik coup with dismay. She now realised that her stay in the Caucasus would be permanent and that Sergei would never be permitted to join them. Mathilde had hoped to return to Petrograd to recover her ‘most precious possessions’, the Tsar’s letters and his photograph.7 This dream now vanished. As news came that the banks and all private property had been nationalised, Mathilde lost everything. Overnight Kschessinska and her Grand Duke became literally penniless.
She also had Vova’s education to consider. As soon as it became clear that they would not be leaving he was enrolled in the local grammar school, often returning home breathless, his coat torn, after some escapade in the park with his friends.
The days now passed in an agony of uncertainty. A curfew was in force between 9 o’clock and sunrise. When Mathilde visited friends to play cards or have dinner they often sat up talking all night to avoid leaving early. Random searches by revolutionary soldiers increased. The Grand Duchess’s villa had already been searched several times and looting was widespread.
Mathilde began to hide the things she had salvaged from Petrograd. It could only be a matter of time before the Bolsheviks reached Kislovodsk, and all their lives would then be in danger. Around the third week of January 1918 the Bolsheviks arrived in the spa town of Piatigorsk, the administrative centre of the district. Officers were arrested, banks and public buildings taken over. The Bolsheviks then moved south-west to Kislovodsk.
On 27 January Mathilde was entertaining friends. Ten people had just sat down to dinner when a band of Red soldiers burst in saying they wanted to see how the ‘bourgeoisie’ lived. Andrei was wearing a Cherkeska, the Cossacks’ coat-like garment with a row of imitation cartridges along the breast, with a dagger. Hearing that the men were looking for weapons he quickly put the dagger in the hall. One of the soldiers noticed its absence and asked where it was, whereupon Mathilde quickly told him, to avoid any problems. They even tried to confiscate Vova’s small dagger but Ivan protested that he was just a child. After the soldiers left, a more decent man among them secretly returned and warned Mathilde that they should put out the lights and disperse, or they would all be in danger.
The following month Lenin abolished the old Julian calendar used by Russians for centuries. The first of February now became 14 February, in line with Western Europe.*
In March Lenin moved the capital back to Moscow and on 3 March 1918 Russia signed a separate peace with Germany at Brest-Litovsk. The terms were harsh but Lenin needed peace at any price. A quarter of Russia’s territory was surrendered as the Ukraine, the Baltic States, Finland, Poland, the Crimea and the Caucasus came under German rule. Russia was left defenceless as, overnight, Germany trebled in size. The peace treaty gave Lenin a breathing space to consolidate his position and it brought more danger for the Romanovs and their associates.
The next few weeks passed fairly quietly in the Caucasus, although the feeling of uncertainty continued. Th
ose who had remained in Petrograd were not so lucky. All male Romanovs were required to register at the Cheka headquarters. They were then exiled. On 4 April Sergei was sent to Viatka in the Urals. With him went three sons of Grand Duke Constantine (‘KR’, who had died in 1915) – princes Ioann, Constantine and Igor, with 21-year-old Prince Vladimir Paley, the son of Grand Duke Paul and his second wife Princess Paley. Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich found himself in Perm; Grand Dukes George and Nicholas Michaelovich and Grand Duke Dimitri Constantinovich were sent to Vologda.
On 26 April Commissar Bulle arrived in Kislovodsk from Moscow at the head of a commission charged with extracting a contribution of 30 million roubles from the ‘bourgeoisie’. Although Mathilde was ill and could barely stand she had to appear before the commission at the Grand Hotel. Her friend Rebecca Weinstein courageously told the commissar that Mathilde Kschessinska was ill, she had already lost her house and money during the first days of the Revolution and had nothing more to give. Commissar Bulle sent Mathilde home in a car, escorted by one of his men. No more was heard about her ‘contribution’.
Soon afterwards two of the Bolsheviks asked Mathilde to perform at a charity evening in aid of the wounded. She refused, even though they offered to send for her costumes. They persisted, assuring her that many of the beneficiaries of this performance were still sympathetic to the old regime. Finally, to avoid any unpleasantness, Mathilde agreed to sell tickets, programmes and champagne. The younger man, the handsome Martzinkevich, remained behind and told Mathilde to inform him at once if she ran into trouble of any kind. A few weeks later at a concert he respectfully kissed her hand. She suspected that Martzinkevich was not really sympathetic to the new regime, a suspicion confirmed when soon afterwards he was sent on a mission from which he never returned.
Lydia Davydova, one of the most prominent members of Kislovodsk society, asked Vova to act in a charity performance at the Casino Theatre. Although Mathilde was doubtful of her son’s theatrical ability he produced a good performance, watched from one box by Grand Duke Boris and from the other by Commissar Bulle and his fellow Bolsheviks.
