Nicholas II - Early Crushes - plus Mathilde and Alix

[Belochka]

I saw the house two years ago, just prior to the Tercentenary celebrations. Despite its unusual glass facade which gives the building some street appeal, after a century, it was looking a little tired, grungy and dark. I was surprised how small that famous balcony was where Lenin stood to address the crowd. Perhaps the building was subsequently cleaned up during the massive clean-up which SPb was undergoing.

But the location is pleasant enough. It stands on the corner of Kronverskii Prospect with a nice outlook towards a delightful promenade of tall trees which forms part of the Alexandrovskii Park.

 

[Johnny]

Belochka,
I saw the house three years ago and I have your same exact impression. I think the building is now used for some other purpose, like a social club or organization. Am I wrong about it?

[Cathy]

Hi Joanna

I tried to go to this web site per your message:

She also had a summer villa at Strelna:
                       
                      http://www.strelna.ru/en/history.htm
                       

but I can't seem to access it - it goes to a 'styles' web site.  Is there something wrong with the
address?

Thanks
Cathy

[Jmentanko]

I don't think there is anything wrong with the address. It worked for me.

[Sarai_Porretta]

Bob, when was that pillpw fight? Can you write some more??? I never knew that the Empress of all the Russians did such things

I believe the pillow fight story comes from an undated letter written by Tatiana (found on the AP site under "Letters of Grand Duchess Tatiana"; it's the last letter listed) where she writes, "Yesterday we were playing with the pillows. Mother was with us. She jumped into the pillows and fell through them." Very amusing indeed It just makes Alix seem all the more like a regular mother playing with her kids. Imagine that, her jumping into pillows and falling through them!

[Thierry]

This is what Princess Marie Louise wrote about Alix in her "Memories of Six Reigns" :

"Alix was a very wonderful person; not, perhaps, as beautiful as her beloved sister, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth, but very striking. There was a curious atmosphere of fatality about her. I once said - in the way that cousins can be very rude and outspoken to each other - "Alix, you always play at being sorrowful : one day the Almighty will send you some real crushing sorrows and then what are you going to do ?""

[Janet_W.]

In Alix's time, young ladies were supposed to comport themselves in "proper" fashion. This would include a certain amount of self-control and decorum.  Although Alix was known as "Sunny" for her beautiful smile and affectionate, happy good humor, the death of mother understandably dimminished this aspect of her personality. As an adolescent she seems to have been a thoughtful and serious girl, although certainly she could laugh and enjoy life too.  It appears that among her cousins she was more reserved than most of them.
On the other hand, Marie Louise also mentions Alix's great excitement upon confessing her engagement to Nicky.  Despite her ongoing physical dilemmas (dealt with on other threads), Alix seems to have "enjoyed life, when it let her" (borrowing from a description of Alexei), and that pillow fight with her girls is a good example.  What a nice contrast to the frigid, unflinching Empress described by so many!

[otma_gal3]

Hi, it' s me again concerning another question about Nicholas II!  

Who was his first crush? I'm just curious!

[grandduchessella]

He made note of a summertime crush on his cousin Victoria of Wales during a mutual visit to their grandparents when they were about 16(?). It didn't last long, though their familial affection did. He met Alexandra when he was still so young that there wasn't really time for others (his affair with Mathilde K notwithstanding).

[Lisa]

Mathilda Kshessinskaya

[Annie]

Oh, how interesting, I never knew he had a thing for his British cousin! I always wondered why he wasn't interested in them, there were 3 of them just his age. Well, I guess he was

[Johnny]

What has become of the house Nicholas purchased for Mathilda? Has anyone seen it?

I saw the house 3 years ago. I thought it was still in a decent shape. Later it was used by Lenin as his HQs. I took a picture of it but I can't post it because I have no scanner at home. It seems to be some sort of a social club now, because there was a large group of well-dressed people going in and out of it. Although I may be wrong, because I couldn't exactly tell that the club was a separate building attached to MK's house or just a back entrance to the mansion.

[ChristineM]

The house, from another aspect, had a very beautiful winter garden.   In fact it is a very interesting example of Style Moderne.   I first visited when it was a Museum of the October Revolution.   To my surprise, I found it quite fascinating.   There was a fabulous diorama of the city, circa 1918.   My friend and myself, apart from the staff, were the only two people in the entire building.  

Next time I visited, the Museum of the October Revolution had, largely, disappeared - there were some remnants.   It had been replaced with the ghastliest, gouliest wax museum - all Russia's Emperors, Empresses and leaders since Peter the Great.  

Most exciting of all was meeting a man who has worked in the building all his life - ostensibly for one form of museum after another, but whose entire existence was devoted to little 'K'.   After we had discussed Mathilde Felixovna, he said ' follow me, I will show you something you never imagined you would see when you woke this morning'.   At break neck speed he led us through corridors, up stairs, through more corridors and up more stairs until we arrived in the attic.  We entered a room - a museum to Mathilde.   It was so unexpected and so wonderful to be in contact with so many of her personal belongings.   Guiltily I touched them with out protective gloves, I could even smell her perfume.

For a time I tried to maintain a sporadic correspondence with him, but we lost touch.   Last time I visited K's palace, I asked for him only to be told nobody of that name worked there.   I will never know what became of him and of his priceless collection.   Sometimes I think it was all a dream, but it wasn't my husband was there too - and he is no dreamer.

During each visit I have examined the columns to see if I could find where her grand piano gouged lumps out of the marble when it was being removed from the house.   (as she recalled in 'Dancing in Petersburg'.)   To date I have failed to find any such marks.

tsaria

PS:  I echo some of the previous postings - I have noted my feelings about Mathilde on another thread.   She was not a dancer of great virtuosity.  (Dance was in her blood - both parents, brother and sister were dancers.   They were famed for their mazurka).   She was more gymnast, less musical.   She was manipulative but she was magical.

[Ming]

I, too, was sort of bothered by Alix's apparent inability to smile. Then I started thinking about it. There could be many reasons for her sad look:
1.  Because of the death of her mother, she really WAS sad.

2.  Because when Prince Albert, her grandfather, died, her grandmother, Queen Victoria, never did wear anything but mourning clothing and mourned her husband's death the rest of her life. Perhaps Alix thought this was what one SHOULD do at a loved one's loss.

3.  Perhaps because in those days, hardly ANYONE smiled in their photographs...has anyone else noticed that?  That COULD be just because "everyone else" did it that way.

4.  Finally...my own hunch:  For some men, a sad, beautiful woman is a real attraction.  The challenge is then to do all in one's manly power to make a sad lady smile.  Not that she rejected him, but remember, she DID play hard-to-get about changing her religion, etc., and to someone like Nicky, who probably had girls falling all over themselves to get his attention, this represented the supreme challenge.  And then, too, if you read their letters, they truly did love each other and weren't afraid to express it to each other in private.

Just a note about the religion thing:  I was very surprised that Alix, raised as a Lutheran, could make THAT issue her biggest stumbling block to marrying Nicky. I say this because if it was so im portant to her, and then she DID change her religion for Nicky, she STILL should have known better than to fall for a rascal like Rasputin. I just keep telling myself it had to be her deep, deep concern over the health of Alexei that caused her to use such poor judgment at times.

Just some ideas.

Ming

[Georgiy]

Ah, but Rasputin must have presented quite a different face to the Empress than to the general public. Also in Orthodoxy there are holy men (startsy in Russian, I forget the greek, but it is something like geronta), not necessarily Priests or monks, who have lived aescetic, prayerful lives, and who people talk to about their troubles, or ask advice of, etc. Rasputin must have seemed very much like a true starets at first. Also he had been on pilgrimages, and I understand spent time on mt Athos, so he may well have been able to 'talk the talk'.  

Not wishing to defend Rasputin, I think at first he was in a state of prelest, (spiritual deception), and came across as the genuine article, and not just to the imperial Family. By the time of the war, though he was obviously a charlatan, Alexandra's relience on him was very great. Also you must take into account that many elders and saints are slandered during their lifetime. With his showing one face at court and another to the public, the Empress would no doubt have convinced herself that once again people were falsely slandering a righteous person. Maybe she thought he was a Fool-for-Christ.