Thanks Dennis, very illuminating. Odd that the Church should even wish to raise the issue, as Helen suggests, as it can only invite controversy surely?
I have a bit more information, which might shed some light on the Church's interest in the matter. This information is to be found in the latest part of John Rohl's monumental biography of the last Kaiser. It was written by the Kaiser in the margin of an official report -- please be aware though, that some might find this offensive, although I have redacted part of the "worst" word, so please don't scroll down if you're sensitive or under 18. Thanks.
And please -- I didn't write this, I'm just reporting it:
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"In January 1891, Kaiser Wilhelm II reported that the Grand Duke was in the midst of a bitter fight with an elderly cleric in the Orthodox Church, who 'discovered that Serge was b****ring his handsome young domestic chaplain.
He transferred the latter at once. This so enraged the pious Prince that he contrived to have the old man transferred! I have spoken out before now of my fear that Grand Duke Serge would bring about the downfall and destruction of his family. It appears that it is so.'"
("Wilhelm II: The Kaiser's Personal Monarchy, 1888-1900," by John C. G. Röhl and Sheila de Bellaigue,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, page 123)
Generally, I find debates on Serge's personal life to be both interesting and at the same time kind of pointless. I have doubts about virtually everything I have read or heard about Serge -- every piece of testimony one way or another can be refuted by another piece of testimony. Yet it seems to me that there was SOMETHING going on in Serge's personal life.
If it turns out that Serge was merely a gay man, then I have no problem believing and accepting that he and Ella were soul-mates, and that being together to share life was more important to them than any "conventional" rewards of marriage. As several have said elsewhere, deep love is possible without sex.
But I would find the relationship with Ella unutterably more disturbing if the rumors of Serge's pedophilia were ever proven true. I am not certain how much of these rumors is current coin in the general Romanov world, but I do know that I have heard of them from serious scholars, some of whom are more inclined to believe them than not. I DO have an interest in Serge and Ella, but they are not all that high on my list of things to do, so I have not pursued this issue in primary research. For those who are interested in doing so, I have heard that memoirs of members of the Corps de Pages contain some primary testimony.
On the other hand -- and to be fair -- Serge does not seem to have scared the young children of his family at all. Dimitry and Marie seem to have had a good relationship with him, and in GK's "In The Marble Palace," he recalls how he and his brother Ioann used to shove each other all over the place on carriage rides to visit Serge and Ella, so as to be placed well enough to be first out of the carriage to "run to the study and jump in Uncle Serge's lap."
This is all I have on the question of Serge's sexuality. I hope we can continue to discuss this civilly...
