Alexander Mikhailovich (grandson of Nicholas I).

Today's sanatorium. Rosa Luxemburg occupies the territory of the former estate of the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov. His Ai-Todor estate is within walking distance of the Tolitsyn palace and park.

Estate "Ay-Todor"The estate in Gaspra was acquired by the Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich Romanov, the governor of the Caucasus, from Princess Meshcherskaya in 1869. A plot of about 70 acres was located on the post road near the Ai-Petrinskaya yayla. The estate occupied an area from the Sevastopol highway to the seashore, ending with Cape Ai-Todor. A more scenic spot on the coast was hard to find.

Many other visitors also wanted to follow the prince's example, looking out for plots that belonged to the Tatars. But then the Tatars did not have such documents according to which it would be possible to legally secure the purchase of land, and the new institutions had not yet mastered the procedure for indisputably strengthening the buyer. Therefore, many of these deals were canceled.

The Grand Duke was very proud of his purchase. Here, in the silence and coolness of a luxurious park, on the picturesque slopes of the Crimean mountains, a small palace, a suite building, and outbuildings were erected. Most of the land was allocated for vineyards, where a wine cellar was built.

In 1882, the Grand Duke celebrated his 50th birthday in the South Coast Estate. Present at breakfast was his brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, the owner of a beautiful estate in Oreanda. Baroness M.P. Fredericks presented the birthday boy with a bust of his mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. For many years there was a bust in the office in the Ai-Todor estate.

Later, Mikhail Nikolaevich divided the estate between his sons: Alexander Mikhailovich got most of the estate, and Georgy Mikhailovich got a smaller part of Ai-Todor.

Other sources say that the owner of the estate was the wife of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich - Grand Duchess Olga Fedorovna, nee Princess Cecilia of Baden. She died in 1889 on a train on the way to the Crimea, to Ai-Todor, and according to her spiritual will this southern coastal estate passed to her son Alexander Mikhailovich.

Estate of V.K. Alexander Mikhailovich "Ai-Todor"Alexander Mikhailovich, the owner of the Ai-Todor estate, had five brothers and a sister. They spent their childhood on this estate, and each of them kept vivid impressions of Crimea for the rest of their lives.

All six brothers "Mikhailovich" were exceptionally gifted people, stood out among the other Romanovs. The most famous was Nikolai Mikhailovich, an outstanding Russian historian, author of several multivolume monographs.

Like all the Romanovs, he received a military education, but already in his youth he became seriously interested in entomology. At 18 he became a member of the French Entomological Society. Works on history brought the Grand Duke the well-deserved fame: "Emperor Alexander I. The Experience of Historical Research", "Russian Portraits of the 18th and 19th Centuries" and others.

He was chairman of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, chairman of the Imperial Russian Historical Society, Ph.D. at Berlin University and Doctor of Russian History at Moscow University. The very list of ranks and positions speaks of the scholarship of the Grand Duke.

He spent all his free time in the archives of St. Petersburg and Paris, living in the modest Hotel Vendome. True, the Grand Duke had one weakness - he was a passionate roulette player and visited Monte Carlo every year to try his luck. Already on the way to Monaco, he was completely immersed in thoughts about the upcoming game, and it was impossible to interrupt the course of his thoughts and calculations.

In his personal life, the prince was unhappy. From his youth he was in love with his cousin, but the Orthodox Church did not allow marriage between cousins \u200b\u200band sisters. Remaining faithful to his only lover, the prince chose solitude.

Nikolai Mikhailovich was the eldest son of the Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich, the second in seniority was Mikhail Mikhailovich. In 1891 he married the granddaughter of A.S. Pushkin.
By the time of his marriage, Mikhail Mikhailovich was about thirty years old. He was cheerful, handsome, danced magnificently and was a favorite of the big world. When he turned twenty, according to the rules that existed in the House of Romanov, he began to receive about 200 thousand rubles and spent almost all of this money on the construction of his own palace, dreaming of settling in it with his beloved wife. But each time the choice of the Grand Duke was rejected by his family. Finally he married the English Countess S. de Mehrenberg. But the origin of the countess was not high enough for her to enter the Romanov family.

Enraged by this marriage, Alexander III telegraphed the Grand Duke of Luxembourg Adolf and Prince of Nassau Nicholas Wilhelm (father of Countess Sophia Nikolaevna): "This marriage, contracted against the laws of our country, requiring my prior consent, will be considered in Russia as invalid and had no place."

Disagreement and non-recognition by the Russian sovereign of the marriage of Pushkin's granddaughter with the grandson of Nicholas I forced the young spouses to leave Russia and permanently settle in England.
In 1908, Mikhail Mikhailovich published in London an autobiographical novel "Cheer up", which he dedicated to his wife, Countess Sophia Nikolaevna de Torbi (she received this title after marriage). In this novel, he sharply condemned the legalized rules for the marriage of dignitaries, in fact, excluding marital ties for love. This work of the Grand Duke was also on sale in Russia.

Thoughts Mikhail Mikhailovich Romanov was always with his homeland. When Russia entered the war with Germany in the summer of 1914, the Grand Duke sent a letter to Nicholas II with a request to be allowed to return to his homeland. He never received an answer. Then Mikhail Mikhailovich, "since it was embarrassing to remain in London without specific occupations during wartime," entered the service as a secretary to General NS. Ermolov - the military representative of Russia in England during the First World War.

Sophia Nikolaevna and Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich lived for many years in the rented Kenwood estate, located in the middle of a huge and picturesque parkland in the northwest part of London. This house now houses an art gallery.

Over the years, the English offspring of the poet and the Romanovs have branched out widely. In our time, it numbers more than forty people. In present-day Great Britain they occupy a special, privileged position, since they are in kinship with almost all the courts of Europe, including the Royal House of Great Britain.

The great-great-granddaughter of the poet and Grand Duke Romanov, Natalia Eisha, became the wife of the 6th Duke of Westminster, one of the richest men in England, and received the title of Duchess of Westminster. All English newspapers wrote about this wedding. The Duchess's second child, a daughter, was baptized by the Princess of Wales, the wife of Prince Charles, Lady Diana. The British press published photographs of the Duchess of Westminster with her daughter taken by the royal photographer. And Natalia Eisha herself became the godmother of Prince William, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth. These are the kindred ties that brought the descendants of the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin with the Romanovs and the royal family of Great Britain.
The marriage of Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich Romanov and his departure to England saved his life.

His brothers, including the younger, Sergei Mikhailovich, had a different fate.
Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich made a career as an artillery general, becoming at the end of his life the inspector general of this type of troops. In 1894 he was elected the first president of the Russian Theater Society.

All his life the Grand Duke loved one woman - the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya. Receiving no reciprocity, he was her loyal, devoted and generous friend. In 1904, he began construction of a famous mansion in St. Petersburg, named after his mistress. The mansion is rightfully considered a masterpiece of Art Nouveau architecture. After the October coup, V. Lenin lived in the mansion for some time.

When Matilda Kshesinekaya gave birth to a son, Sergei Mikhailovich gave the boy a middle name so that he would not be considered illegitimate. Prince Andrey, the child's father, was at that time a 22-year-old “disenfranchised” member of the royal family and could not make such important decisions.
Sergei Mikhailovich loved the ballerina's son very much, giving him all his free time, and even during the years of the civil war, when the Grand Duke, like all members of the royal family, was in danger, his thoughts were with his beloved woman and her son.

Fleeing from the Red Terror, Matilda Kshesinskaya, along with other aristocratic families, left for Kislovodsk, where at that time living conditions were relatively tolerable. There she received a telegram from Sergei Mikhailovich for the birthday of her son. The telegram was sent two days before his tragic death in Alapaevsk. This was the last word from him. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich was killed by the Bolsheviks along with other members of the royal family.

All the small things found around the dead were forwarded by Admiral Kolchak to Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, who handed them over to her closest relatives. For Sergei Mikhailovich, this was Matilda Kshesinskaya. She received a small medallion with a picture of her inside ...

The youngest of the Mikhailovichs, Alexei, died of tuberculosis when he was only 20 years old.

One of the most beloved in the Romanov family was the owner of the Ai-Todor estate, Alexander Mikhailovich, whom everyone called Sandro. The name of the Grand Duke was known to many not only because of the high position he held in Russian society at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, but also because of what he did for his fatherland. The details of his life, as well as the life of a whole generation, became known thanks to his memoirs, which he wrote in exile. This book was also published here.

By the time the Grand Duke took possession of the estate, it was already generating substantial income, mainly vineyards and winemaking, as well as the sale of fruits and flowers. Under Alexander Mikhailovich, wine cellars were built. The estate produced wines for sale such as table red, burgundy, table white, Pedro Jimenez, Semillon, Cabernet red, Sweet Muscat, Madeira. These wines were sold in Omsk, Vinnitsa, Lodz, Simferopol and other cities.
Improvement and expansion works were constantly carried out inside the farm.

Alexander Mikhailovich loved his estate very much. It was here that he decided to bring his young wife after the wedding. He first met Xenia, the younger sister of Nicholas II, when she was still a child and sat in the arms of a nanny; he was at that time eleven years old. In 1893, Alexander Mikhailovich asked Xenia's hand from her father, Emperor Alexander III. Suddenly, he quickly agreed, asking only to wait another year, since the bride was only seventeen years old. The groom went on business to America on one of the most modern Russian cruisers. Returning from America, where he spent a year, Alexander Mikhailovich received consent to marry. Their wedding took place in July 1894.

During the church service and the singing of feigned singers, he was, according to him, immersed in thoughts about the upcoming honeymoon trip to Ay-Todor. In his memoirs, the prince wrote: “When I was still a child, my mother acquired the Ai-Todor strip of land on the southern coast of Crimea. I and Ai-Todor grew up together. Over the years, Ai-Todor turned into a blooming corner, covered with gardens, vineyards, glades and cut along the coast by bays. A lighthouse was built on the shore, which allowed us to navigate the sea on foggy nights. For us children, this brightly shining sheaf of light from the Ai-Todor lighthouse has become a symbol of happiness. I wondered if Ksenia would feel it the same way my brothers did during these twenty years. "

By the arrival of the young, the palace was put in order. An emergency train from St. Petersburg took the young people relatively quickly - in just 72 hours - to Crimea. Distinguished guests were expected on the South Bank. Regimental music was ordered, and honor guards were displayed in Sevastopol and Yalta. Their Highnesses arrived in Yalta from Sevastopol on the yacht "Tamara" on August 5, 1894. Thus began their happy life in Ai-Todor.

But soon she was overshadowed by the death of the emperor-peacemaker, Xenia's father. The last Russian emperor Nicholas II came to the throne. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, almost the same age as the Tsar, was Nicholas II's great-uncle. And soon the wedding of Nicholas II took place.

The Ai-Todor estate was located next to the Livadia Palace, so families often spent time together, not getting tired of each other or their friendship. When Alexander Mikhailovich's daughter Irina was born in 1895, the tsar and his wife spent hours at the bedside of Ksenia Alexandrovna, admiring the beauty of the future princess Yusupova.

Other children followed Irina; all the rest were sons. In his memoirs, Alexander Mikhailovich wrote about a very interesting Russian custom at the birth of a child. "It consisted in the fact that at the first cry of the child, the father must light two candles, which he and his wife held during the wedding ceremony, and then must wrap the newborn in the shirt he wore the previous night." Six times, apparently, the Grand Duke had to follow this custom.

Children grew up in the Crimea, where Alexander Mikhailovich turned from an exemplary naval officer into a farmer. The increase in the family was accompanied by the expansion of the Ai-Todor estate.

Estate "Ay-Todor". Front entrance“I had tremendous delight in planting new trees, working in the vineyards and watching the sale of my fruits, wines, flowers. There was something extraordinarily encouraging in being able to get up at sunrise and say to myself, riding a horse along a narrow path bordered by impenetrable plantings of roses: “This is real! This all is mine! It will never change! Here is my place and here I would like to stay for the rest of my life ”, - Alexander Mikhailovich recalled happy days in Crimea.

The prince bought land from the Crimean Tatars in order to expand his possessions. He compared the purchase of each tithe to the pleasure he received at the birth of a son. In 1902, the estate occupied an area of \u200b\u200bmore than 200 dessiatines.

Crimea occupied a very important place in the life of the prince and his large family. People who were close in spirit and culture, relatives and friends lived here. In private life, he was sociable, friendly. Everyone loved this handsome, tall brunette.

His circle of interests was varied. Archeology occupied an important place in the life of the prince, he was especially carried away by it in the Crimea. He carried out excavations at the site of the ancient Roman fortress Kharax at Cape Ai-Todor. He found interesting things, transferred a significant part of the values \u200b\u200bto the Chersonesos Museum of Antiquities. Regular field work on Ai-Todor began only in 1896 with the participation and leadership of Alexander Mikhailovich. The archaeological collection of antiquities belonging to the prince was 500 items.

The main business of his life A.M. Romanov considered the Fleet. From the age of 15, he already sailed on cruisers. From 1892 he commanded a destroyer squadron of the Baltic Fleet. By his conviction, he entered the naval school and was a sailor all his life.

Convinced of the need for a strong navy, knowing the shortcomings of the country's naval defense, he tried to instill this in the emperor. He wrote a short note with his proposals to the tsar, but ran into opposition from naval officials, in particular Admiral Chikhachev and General-Admiral Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, who were responsible for the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War.

At the age of 34, Alexander Mikhailovich became captain of the first rank and commander of the battleship of the Black Sea fleet "Rostislav", and two years later the emperor appointed him head of the Main Directorate of Merchant Shipping in the rank of minister, conferring the rank of rear admiral on him, introduced him to the Council of Ministers, where he ended up the youngest member of the government.

Even in his youth, the Grand Duke began to collect the maritime library, which contained rare books from different countries. By the time of the revolution, it had more than 8 thousand volumes. Unfortunately, the books were lost.

The prince also left a mark in the domestic aviation. At the beginning of the 20th century, aviation was just developing, and few people then foresaw what role it would play in people's lives, and in particular in national defense. In 1909, the first aircraft were shown to the Russian Minister of War, General Sukhomlinov. The general called the first aviation week "extremely entertaining" but did not attach much importance.

The idea of \u200b\u200bcreating domestic aviation belonged to the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. During the First World War, he became the leader and organizer of the Russian military aviation and, having mastered flight business well, headed the aviation of the Southwestern Front, and then the entire military aviation of the country.

Having learned about the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne, the Grand Duke, together with the Empress Maria Feodorovna, hurried to Headquarters, where their last meeting took place.

Fearing reprisals against the Romanovs, the Provisional Government transmitted through its commissar the order to Alexander Mikhailovich to immediately go to the Crimea along with members of his family. The journey from Kiev to Ai-Todor took place under the escort of sailors.

So in 1917 the fate of the last Romanovs was divided. Those who find themselves in Crimea will be saved by a miracle. The events described by the Grand Duke in his memoirs resemble the plot of a detective novel. Several times the life of Crimean prisoners hung in the balance.

Once Ksenia Alexandrovna even decided to find out what fate was preparing for them, as they did with their brothers in childhood. She opened a scripture at random. It was the 28th page of the 2nd chapter of the book "The Revelations of St. John": "And I will give him the morning star." These words gave them hope. The next day, a German general actually arrived, who announced the capture of Yalta by German troops.

The Crimean prisoners were kept in the dark about the advance of the German troops, about the fact that they had occupied Kiev and made every day to the east from 20 to 30 miles. The general's arrival was a complete surprise to them.

A British navy arrived in Sevastopol and the commander, Admiral Keltrop, informed the members of the royal family about the proposal of the English king to put a steamer at their disposal for departure to England. So the stay in the Crimea ended happily for that part of the imperial family, which at that time was on the peninsula.

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov left Crimea before the rest of the family. On December 11, 1918, at night on the ship of His Majesty King George of England, he left Russia in order to see the heads of the allied governments in Paris and present them with a report on the situation in Russia.

The English ship "Forsyth", increasing speed, departed from Sevastopol into the open sea, coastal lights gradually disappeared from sight. What did the Grand Duke feel at these moments?

In emigration, remembering this moment of farewell to his homeland, he will write: “When I turned to the open sea, I saw the Ai-Todor lighthouse. It was built on land that my parents and I have cultivated for the past forty-five years. We grew our gardens on it and worked in its vineyards. My mother was proud of our flowers and fruits. My boys had to cover themselves with napkins to keep their shirts from getting dirty while eating our gorgeous, juicy pears.

It was strange that having lost so many faces and events, my memory retained the memory of the aroma and taste of pears from our estate in Ay-Todor. But it is even stranger to realize that, dreaming of 50 years of my life about liberation from the shy fetters that the title of Grand Duke imposed on me, I finally got the desired freedom on an English ship. "

The Grand Duke's hopes for the help of the allied governments were in vain. Clemenceau, the prime minister of France, sent his secretary to meet with Alexander Mikhailovich, who listened kindly and absentmindedly. The others were also not more attentive. Even an English visa was denied to the prince.
And in the end, what has happened happened: a new government, built on lies and terror, mass emigration ...

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich settled with his wife, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, in England. Life went on as usual. Sons got married, grandchildren were born, descendants of famous Russian aristocratic families.

Almost all representatives of various strata of society: grand dukes, landowners, industrialists, clergy, intelligentsia, lost everything and had to feed themselves with hard work. The sons and daughter of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich also experienced the "delights of emigration life".

The prince's health deteriorated, and his relatives took him to Menton, in the Alpes-Maritimes, hoping that clean air and good care would help him. Until the last minute, next to her father was daughter Irina, with whom the prince was truly friendly.

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich died on February 26, 1933, at the age of 67, and is buried in the Roquebrune cemetery, in the south of France.

His wife, Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna, died in 1960, having survived the events of the Second World War, anxiety for both Russia and her son Dmitry, who was an officer in the British fleet and took part in hostilities.

What did Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich leave behind? A book of memoirs, in which he wrote about Russia, about friends, acquaintances, relatives. Many pages in this book are devoted to life in Crimea.

Years and hard times have spared his Ai-Todor estate. After the final end of the civil war and the establishment of the power of the Bolsheviks, the estate became part of the Soviet economy "Gaspra" and was the property of the Raiskhoz.

Objects of art, the pride of the Grand Duke, archaeological finds were identified in various museums of the Crimea. In the estate itself, in 1921, a rest house for metalworkers was opened, then a sanatorium for adults suffering from tuberculosis, then for children and adolescents, and the sanatorium began to be called them. Rosa Luxemburg.

On the territory of the sanatorium, you can still see buildings of the past. The palace for children, built in 1912 by the architect Krasnov, in which the sons of the Grand Duke lived in the old days, has survived, and is now a dormitory.

The palace, built in 1860, in which the Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna, the Grand Duke, their daughter the Grand Duchess Irina, maids of honor lived, is now also a dormitory of the sanatorium.

The dining room, built in 1860 by the architect Kotenkov, is also noteworthy. Parquet floors, wooden panels, beautiful moldings, glass ceilings have been preserved, all three rooms are small, simple and elegant.

A magnificent park has also survived, along the shady alleys of which modern kids from different parts of Ukraine are running. The guys come to breathe the healing air, saturated with phytoncides, volatile substances that kill pathogenic microbes. The air in these places is really wonderful. The combination of mountains and sea makes it wonderfully healthy.

Based on materials from Tamara Bragina, Natalia Vasilyeva.

Fricke (Catherine II), Nyx and Nikki (Nicholas I and Nicholas II), Blanche Fleur and Alix (their wives, full namesake - Alexandra Feodorovna), Baby and Mary (children of the last Russian emperor Alexei and Maria) walked through the palace halls of the royal House of Romanovs. ), Georgie and Dear Floppy (his brothers George and Mikhail) ...

Even the crowned European relatives were called by the Romanovs like home. The great English Queen Victoria was simply Granny, and the German emperor Wilhelm II was Willie's uncle. Of course, numerous grand dukes also had their nicknames, also in the European or diminutive Russian way. And only two of them bore names in the Georgian way - Sandro and Gogi.

The first of them, Grand Duke Alexander Romanov, the creator of military aviation and one of the reformers of the Russian navy, also turned out to be a brilliant writer. Alas, he is not known to the wide readership, but it is not for nothing that the book of his memoirs was published in the 1930s by the New York publishing house Ferrer and Reinhert and the famous Parisian émigré magazine Illustrated History. So, Alexander Mikhailovich - the very place on the literary page. Moreover, many professional writers can envy his style and imagery, honesty and humor. So, through the gate on the then Laboratory (now Ingorokva) Street in Sololaki, we go to the Governor's Palace in the Caucasus (today it is the Palace of Students), where the restructuring and expansion will soon be completed. In the post of the governor - the Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, the brother of the king. And in one of the palace bedrooms, the spouse gives him a fourth son. However, let us leave to Sandro himself - the grandson of Nicholas I - the right to tell about his birth. I assure you you will not regret it.

Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, Viceroy of the Emperor in the Caucasus

“Her Imperial Highness, Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna, was safely relieved of the burden as a male infant,” announced on April 1, 1866, the adjutant of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich ..., running into the premises of the commandant of the Tiflis fortress. “Please fire a cannon salute in 101 shots!” “It even stops being funny,” said the old general, looking gloomily at the calendar hanging in front of him. - I already got tired of it all morning. Have fun with your April Fools' jokes with someone else, or I will report it to His Imperial Highness. " “You are mistaken, Your Excellency,” the adjutant interrupted impatiently. “This is not a joke. I am walking straight from the palace and would advise you to obey the order of His Highness immediately! " The commandant shrugged his shoulders, glanced at the calendar once more, and went to the palace to check the news. Half an hour later, the guns began to swell, and a special message from the governor notified the agitated Georgians, Armenians, Tatars and other peoples of Tiflis that the newborn Grand Duke would be named at baptism Alexander in honor of his royal uncle - Emperor Alexander II.

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (Sandro)

On April 2, 1866, at the age of 24 hours, I became a colonel of the 73rd Crimean Infantry Regiment, an officer of the 4th Infantry Battalion of the Imperial Family, an officer of the Guards Artillery Brigade and an officer of the Caucasian Grenadier Division. The beautiful mother had to show all her ingenuity to calm down the owner of all these impressive ranks. "


Palace of the Governor of the Caucasus in Tiflis

The boy was immediately called in the Georgian way - Sandro, and he himself, having matured, recalls the first years of his life in his native Tiflis as "the joy of a carefree childhood." True, from the age of seven to fifteen he already lives a different life - the one prescribed by the family traditions of upbringing, which differed significantly from the habits of the wealthy Tiflis. The children of the governor do not sleep on the softest eastern beds, but "on narrow iron beds with the finest mattresses laid on wooden boards." Wake up at six in the morning, after prayer on your knees - a cold bath and breakfast "of tea, bread and butter ... so as not to accustom you to luxury." And then - seven hours of classes with home teachers, and even lessons in gymnastics, fencing, handling firearms, horseback riding, bayonet attack and ... artillery.

So, Sandro confesses: "At the age of ten, I could take part in the bombing of a big city." And at all do not correspond to the Tiflis attitude towards children deprivation of sweets due to an error in a foreign word and standing "on my knees with my nose to the wall for a whole hour" due to an error in a mathematical problem. Agree that today's "powerful of this world" create completely different conditions for upbringing for their children ... But all this, as they say, is an internal family matter - "all the monarchs of Europe, it seemed, came to a tacit agreement that their sons should be brought up in the fear of God for a correct understanding of future responsibility to the country ”.


Sandro

But Tiflis itself, alien to the great-power conventions, pampered, attracted, charmed, could not help falling in love with himself. And again, no one can tell about this better than Sandro Romanov himself. “The windows of the office overlooked Golovinsky Prospekt ... We could not see enough of the tall, tanned mountaineers in gray, brown or red Circassians, riding purebred horses, with a hand on the hilt of silver or gold daggers covered with precious stones. Accustomed to meeting with our father representatives of various Caucasian peoples, we could easily distinguish among the crowd of careless Persians, dressed in colorful fabrics and brightly standing out against a black background of clothes of Georgians and the simple uniforms of our soldiers. Armenian fruit sellers, gloomy Tatars riding mules, yellow-faced Bukharians shouting at their heavily loaded camels - these are the main characters of this ever-moving panorama. The mass of Kazbek, covered with snow and piercing the blue sky with its peak, reigned over the narrow, crooked streets that led to the market square and were always filled with a noisy crowd. Only the melodic murmur of the fast Kura softened the noisy scale of this eternally screaming city. "

Acquaintance with the life of Tiflis, love for him - "careless happiness" for all the sons of the governor. He is so careless that he can even lead to sedition: “We loved the Caucasus and dreamed of staying in Tiflis forever. We were not interested in European Russia. Our narrow, Caucasian patriotism forced us to look with distrust and even contempt at the envoys of St. Petersburg embroidered with gold. The Russian monarch would be unpleasantly amazed if he learned that every day from one to two and from eight to half past nine in the evening, five of his nephews in the far south were making plans to separate the Caucasus from Russia. Fortunately for the fate of the Empire, our tutors did not sleep, and at the moment when we began to distribute among ourselves the main posts, an unpleasant voice reminded us that irregular French verbs awaited us in the classroom.

Georgia also gives Sandro happiness from his stay in Borjomi. Truly, there would be no happiness, yes ... At this resort a boy falls ill with scarlet fever, his parents must go to Petersburg - the emperor is waiting for them, and several courtiers are left with the patient. For six weeks they spoil the ward, a military band near the house plays his favorite tunes. But that's not all: “A lot of people passing through the Caucasus visited Borzhom to visit the governor’s sick son, and most of them brought me boxes of candy canes, toys and books of Fenimore Cooper's adventures. Doctor, Countess Alopeus and Prince. Melikov willingly played Indians with me. Armed with the saber of the adjutant, the doctor tried to scalp the lady of the court, seized with horror, who, fulfilling the role entrusted to her, called for the help of the fearless "White Man of Two Guns". The latter, leaning on a pillow, aimed at her tormentors ... ”And, of course, he saved the noble lady.


Estate in Borjomi

After recovering - picnics, trips to the forest, to the mountains and no lessons - all the mentors left for St. Petersburg! Well, how else can a boy, in love with the beauty of Georgian nature, react to all this, if not as follows: “Returning to Tiflis, I absentmindedly listened to the animated stories of my brothers. They vied with each other to admire the luxury of the Imperial Palace in St. Petersburg, but I would not exchange the time spent in Borjomi for all the jewels of the Russian crown. I could tell them that while they had to sit at attention at the Highest table, surrounded by smiling courtiers and obsequious lackeys, I lay for hours in the tall grass, admiring the flowers that grew in red, blue and yellow spots on the mountain slopes, and watching the flights of larks, which climbed high up and then fell like a stone to look at their nests. However, I kept silent, fearing that my brothers would not appreciate my simple happiness. "

Sandro left Georgia for the first time at the age of nine, and in 1875 the family went to the Crimean imperial estate. In Yalta, the guests are met and escorted to the famous palace in Livadia by Alexander II personally, who jokingly declared that he wants to see the wildest of his Caucasian nephews. On the marble staircase leading to the sea, the "wild Caucasian" meets a boy a couple of years younger than himself and a nanny with a child in her arms. The boy holds out his hand: "I am your cousin Nikki, and this is my little sister Xenia." This is how the closest friendship begins, lasting forty-two years. Sandro recalls: “I often disagreed with his policies and would like him to show more discretion in choosing senior officials and more firmness in carrying out his plans in life. But all this concerned "Emperor Nicholas II" and did not affect my relationship with "Nikki's cousin" at all. By the way, these two close friends look very similar ... As for the girl Xenia, when she turns nineteen, Sandro will marry her. He was the first among the Romanovs to violate the law, which ordered members of the reigning house to marry only with representatives of foreign dynasties of equal blood. And their first daughter Irina will become the wife of Prince Felix Yusupov, the very beauty, because of whom Grigory Rasputin will fall into a deadly trap.

Sandro with his wife Xenia and cousin Nikki

Three years later - the first trip to European Russia: “Without looking up from the carriage window, I followed the endless panorama of Russian fields, which seemed to me, brought up among the snowy peaks and fast streams of the Caucasus, monotonous and sad. I didn’t like this foreign country, and I didn’t want to recognize it as my homeland. During the day, upon our departure from Vladikavkaz (which we reached in carriages), I saw the submissive faces of men, poor villages, provincial provincial towns, and I was irresistibly drawn back to Tiflis. " A couple more years - and the first trip abroad, to the mother's homeland in German Baden. And again Sandro does not need any lands except Georgia: “For four months, thousands of miles will separate us from our beloved Caucasus. In vain I tried to resort to all sorts of tricks to stay in Tiflis, my parents did not want to reckon with my desires. "

Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich with his wife, Grand Duchess Olga Fedorovna, and their children, son Nikolai and daughter Anastasia.

But no matter how much love for Georgia, for its capital, a member of the reigning family cannot, should not submit to his childhood and youthful affections. And in 1881 the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich left his beloved land forever. He will travel around the world, predict the Russo-Japanese War, fight at sea and rebuild the fleet, lead the Merchant Shipping Council, create aviation schools and enter the Cabinet of Ministers, lead naval and field aviation in World War I, and miraculously avoid death after the revolution. And until her death in French Roquebrune she will remember the Tiflis period as the happiest in her life. And you should also read how he wrote about the death of one of the tsar's brothers - "poor George died of fleeting consumption in our country near Borzhom." Isn't it true that this pronoun “here”, which naturally came to mind after more than half a century of parting with Georgia, testifies to a lot?

And now - about another George, Sandro's brother. It was he who was the second Grand Duke, who was called by the Georgian name in the august family. Goga's fate is no less interesting, but more tragic. He was three years older than Sandro, he was also born in Georgia, but not in Tiflis, but in the village of Bely Klyuch (now Tetri-Tskaro). Like everyone else in the governor's family, which has lived in the Caucasus for almost twenty years, he adores the land in which he was born. The boy is very fond of drawing and one day, at a solemn table, in front of the guests, he timidly says that he would like to become a portrait painter. As his brother Sandro recalls, "these words were met with an ominous silence of all those present, and George realized his mistake only when the chamberlain, who served the guests with dessert, walked past his device with raspberry ice cream."

Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich

There is nothing to be done - the members of the imperial family are prepared only for the military career, it is no coincidence, already at the age of seven, George has the rank of ensign. And, becoming a young man, having grown in height under two meters, he is going to serve in the Georgian Grenadier Regiment, living in Tiflis. Moreover, it is in this city that he falls madly in love with the Georgian princess, whose name is ... Nina Chavchavadze. She is the namesake and relative of the legendary Nina, Griboyedov's wife. But the wedding breaks down, and it is not at all the fault of the Romanovs - Nina's relatives do not want a representative of a noble Georgian family to be hierarchically subordinate to the Empress's German relatives.

When the family leaves Georgia, Gogi becomes an officer of the Life Guards of the Horse Artillery Brigade, and, having fallen under the influence of one of the great dukes, "finds satisfaction in life in the atmosphere of an arena, horses and cavalry officers." However, the military career does not work out either - the young man injures his leg. This upsets everyone except himself - from Georgia he brought a passion for numismatics and history, his collection of coins has no equal in Russia. To replenish the collection, he does not spare any money, his monographs on this topic are published even to this day. And a unique case! - all the Romanovs unanimously support such a hobby of the Grand Duke.

In 1909, the emperor appoints Gogi as director of the newly founded Museum of Alexander III (now the Russian Museum), granting all the rights to replenish the collection of paintings and unique rarities. Georgy Mikhailovich transfers most of his most valuable collection of coins to this museum, and we will understand what its exhibits were if we look at an auction in London in 2008. It only has one coin from this collection selling for $ 3 million - a world record "for a non-American coin." Well, in his personal life, Gogi has no luck for a long time. Unsuccessful and the second attempt to marry - the granddaughter of the Queen of England. And only at thirty-seven years old, he marries the Greek princess Mary. He calls his first daughter, of course, Nina ...

Georgy Mikhailovich combines the management of the museum and scientific work with diplomatic and military activities, in the First World War he becomes an inspector general at the rate of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. And, having studied the state of affairs in the troops, he draws the conclusion that amazed the tsar: a revolution in Russia is inevitable if the Constitution is not adopted and democratic freedoms are not granted. In response, Nicholas II sends him on another inspection trip. But Goga's prediction is coming true. And, with the fall of the monarchy, both him and the brainchild of his whole life will die. The unique numismatic collection is partly sold out and partly melted down. And Georgy Mikhailovich, together with his brother Nikolai, who received the nickname Bimbo in Tiflis, is held hostage by the Bolsheviks. There are several other great princes with them, not of the "Tiflis" branch.


Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich

The Red Terror begins in August 1918, after the murder of the head of the Petrograd Cheka, Uritsky, and the injury of Lenin. In the newspaper "Severnaya Kommuna" we can see the "1st list of hostages" headed by the grand dukes. The next document is dated January 9, 1919 - the Presidium of the Cheka approves the death sentence already passed in advance. A short protocol of just a few lines is terrifying: “They heard: On the approval of the capital punishment of Chl. former imperial. - Romanovsk. packs. Resolved: Verdict of the Cheka to persons former. imp. packs - to approve, informing the CEC about it. " True, here a well-established KGB machine of destruction can stall: Bimbo, the brother of Gogi and Sandro, who was carried away by history back in Tiflis, is a world famous scientist. He headed the Historical and Geographical Society in Russia, the Society for the Protection and Preservation of Monuments of Art and Antiquity. Moreover, he took an active part in the “grand-ducal front” - being an ardent admirer of parliamentarism, he criticized the autocracy and immediately recognized the Provisional Government.

So, after being sentenced to death, the members of the Academy of Sciences and Maxim Gorky are horrified. They ask the Council of People's Commissars and Lenin personally to release the scientist who is in opposition to tsarism. But in the minutes of the meeting of the Council of People's Commissars, chaired by Lenin on January 16, who considered this petition, we will read another stunning phrase: "Revolutions are not needed by historians!" And the Chekists give an exhaustive answer: “The Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Profiteering under the Council of Communes of the Northern Region believes that there should be no exceptions for the former Grand Duke N.M. Romanov, at least at the request of the Russian Academy of Sciences. " There is also another, undocumented version - Lenin pretended to agree with Gorky, but deceived him. Not for the first or last time ...

Be that as it may, it turns out that revolutions do not need not only historians, but also collectors, and indeed the entire "former imperial pack". Despite the fact that none of these hostages fought in the White Army, did not prepare counter-revolutionary conspiracies, and did not export valuables abroad. Georgy and Nikolai Romanov, whose happy childhood passed on the Sololak slopes, were shot on a frosty night in the Peter and Paul Fortress, along with their relatives. Bimbo fell first, Gogi was finished off in the grave ...

Prince and Princess Pavel and Nina (nee E.I.V. Nina Georgievna Romanova) Chavchavadze

And fate made an amazing, already posthumous turn in the history of Georgy Mikhailovich. His daughter Nina, three years after the death of her father, married in London a Georgian prince named Pavel and surname ... Chavchavadze. So, Nina Chavchavadze ended up in Gogi's family. Well, after looking closely at how the family of his brother Alexander continues, we will see many members of the House of Romanov living in various countries now - the descendants of Sandro, who was born in Tiflis.

Vladimir GOLOVIN

Vakhtang YAKOBIDZE

Having received a home education, Alexander Mikhailovich, from October 1, 1885, began serving as a midshipman in the Naval Guards crew. As a naval officer, he made a number of voyages, including in 1886-1891 - circumnavigation on the corvette "Rynda"; in 1890-1891 - to India on his own yacht "Tamara". In 1892, Alexander Mikhailovich was appointed commander of the destroyer Revel, in 1893 he sailed to North America on the frigate Dmitry Donskoy. In 1894 he married the Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna (March 25, 1875 - 1960), the sister of Nicholas II. This marriage ensured the privileged position of Alexander Mikhailovich at the imperial court.
From March 1895 to July 1896, he served as a senior officer on the battleship Sisoy the Great; in 1895, he presented the emperor with a note in which he argued that Japan would be the most likely enemy of Russia in a future war at sea, named the date of the start of hostilities - 1903-1904 - the time of the end of Japan's naval construction program. Alexander Mikhailovich proposed his program of shipbuilding and preparation for war. His activity provoked opposition from the Grand Duke General-Admiral Alexei Alexandrovich. Alexander Mikhailovich's proposals were rejected, in 1896 he left the combatant composition of the fleet.
Outside of the service, the Grand Duke did not leave interest in the issues of navigation, both military and civil. From 1898 he was a member, and in 1900-1902 - the chairman of the Council for Merchant Shipping (1900-1902). On January 31, 1899, Alexander Mikhailovich returned to the navy, was appointed a senior officer of the coastal defense battleship "General-Admiral Apraksin"; On May 1, 1900, he became commander of the battleship Rostislav in the Black Sea Fleet. At the same time, the Grand Duke did not leave his worries about the civilian fleet. On his initiative, on November 7, 1901, the General Directorate of Merchant Shipping and Ports was created as a ministry. Alexander Mikhailovich headed this department. Since earlier issues of the merchant fleet and ports were in the sphere of activity of the Minister of Finance S.Yu. Witte, the creation of an independent naval civilian department caused a stir in the press, including the stupid joke "Witte has been removed from the ports." This story hurt the pride of Witte, who began the struggle to liquidate the new department and, in the end, achieved his goal on October 17, 1905.
Along with the leadership of merchant shipping and ports, Alexander Mikhailovich in 1903-1905 served as the junior flagship of the Black Sea Fleet. With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), he became chairman of the Special Committee for Strengthening the Fleet with Voluntary Donations. The Grand Duke categorically objected to the sending of the Second Pacific Squadron to the Far East of Vice Admiral Z.P. Rozhestvensky, which was later defeated in the Tsushima battle. In February 1905, Alexander Mikhailovich was appointed head of a detachment of mine cruisers in the Baltic Sea, in 1905-1909 he was the junior flagship of the Baltic Fleet, in 1906 he became the commander of a practical detachment for the defense of the Baltic Sea coast.
After the end of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), he insisted on the accelerated construction of new types of battleships and an increase in allocations for the navy, supported the creation of the Naval General Staff (1906). The Grand Duke was an honorary member of the Nikolaev Maritime Academy (1903), chairman of the Russian Shipping Society, the Russian Technical Society, and the Society of Naturalists at St. Petersburg University. Alexander Mikhailovich paid a lot of attention to the development of aviation in Russia; headed the department of the air fleet under the Committee for the strengthening of the military fleet on voluntary donations, was the initiator of the creation of an aviation officer school near Sevastopol (1910). After the outbreak of World War I, on September 20, 1914, he was appointed head of the organization of aviation in the armies of the Southwestern Front, and on January 10, 1915, in the entire active army. On December 11, 1916, the Grand Duke became a field inspector general of the Air Force under the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, in fact he commanded the Russian air fleet.
After the February Revolution, representatives of the Romanov dynasty were removed from the army, and Alexander Mikhailovich was dismissed from service on March 22, 1917. For some time he lived in the Crimea, where he owned the estate Ai-Todor, in 1918 he emigrated to Paris. In exile, Alexander Mikhailovich was the honorary chairman of the Union of Russian military pilots, the Paris wardroom, the Association of the ranks of the guards crew, the patron of the National Organization of Russian Scouts. He spent the last years of his life in France and the USA. Author of memoirs, travel notes "23 thousand miles on the yacht" Tamara ". In a marriage with Ksenia Alexandrovna, Alexander Mikhailovich had seven children. The eldest daughter Irina Alexandrovna (July 3, 1895 - 1970) became the wife of Prince Felix Feliksovich Yusupov. Six sons of princes Andrei Alexandrovich Romanov (January 12, 1897 - 1981), Fedor Alexandrovich Romanov (December 1, 1898 - 1968), Nikita Alexandrovich Romanov (1900-1974), Dmitry Alexandrovich Romanov (1901-1980), Rostislav Alexandrovich Romanov (1902-1978) , Vasily Alexandrovich Romanov (1907-1989) had numerous offspring, which makes up a significant part of the offspring of the Romanov family abroad.

Russian statesman and military leader, fourth son of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich and Olga Fedorovna, grandson of Nicholas I.
In 1885 he graduated from the Naval School, after which he was promoted to the rank of midshipman, enlisted in the Guards crew and served in the Navy.
In 1886 he sailed around the world on the Rynda corvette. In 1890-1891 he sailed to India on his own yacht "Tamara", described in the book by Gustav Radde "23,000 miles on the yacht" Tamara "" (1892-1893). In 1892 he became commander of the destroyer "Revel".
In 1893, with the rank of senior lieutenant, he sailed to North America on the frigate Dmitry Donskoy as part of a squadron sent to America on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the New World. In 1894 he was promoted to captain of the 2nd rank. On July 25 of the same year he married Xenia Alexandrovna, daughter of Alexander III.
Since 1891 - the initiator and founder of the publication of the country's first annual reference book "Military fleets" ("Military fleets and sea reference book for ... year"), headed its regular publication until 1906.
From March 1895 to July 1896 he was a senior officer of the battleship Sisoy the Great.
In 1895, he presented to Nicholas II the program to strengthen the Russian fleet in the Pacific Ocean, developed under his leadership, in which he predicted that in 1903-1904, after the completion of the Japanese shipbuilding program, a war with Japan would begin. The program and related issues were discussed but not adopted, which led to his resignation.
In 1898 he returned to active service in the Navy. From January 31, 1899 - senior officer of the coastal defense battleship "General-Admiral Apraksin".
In 1899-1900, taking into account his personal experience of service on the battleship General-Admiral Apraksin, he developed a draft design for a much more seaworthy 5985-ton coastal defense battleship. Participated in competitions for the development of projects for a 14,000-ton battleship - Alexander Mikhailovich in 1899 developed draft designs, and engineer D.V. Skvortsov in 1899-1900, on his instructions, created technical designs for the battleship. However, the projects of the squadron battleship and the armored cruiser were abandoned, and the construction of the coastal defense battleship, which was supposed to be called "Admiral Butakov", was stopped at the very initial stage due to lack of funds.
In 1901-1902 he commanded the Black Sea battleship "Rostislav". On January 1, 1903, he was promoted to rear admiral, appointed junior flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, and enlisted in the Retinue of His Imperial Majesty.
Since 1898 - member (then - chairman) of the Council for Merchant Shipping. From November 1902 to October 1905, he was the first and only head (chief manager) of the Main Directorate of Merchant Shipping and Ports. As the chief manager of a separate unit, led. book Alexander Mikhailovich became a member of the Committee of Ministers. As a result of the strongest apparatus intrigues, the Main Directorate was transformed into a department of the newly created Ministry of Trade and Industry, after which the Grand Duke refused to manage the department that no longer corresponded to his high rank.
During the Russo-Japanese War, he supervised the preparation and operations of auxiliary cruisers from the ships of the Volunteer Fleet on enemy communications, then headed the "Special Committee for Strengthening the Navy for Voluntary Donations." In 1905 he took command of a detachment of new mine cruisers (destroyers) of the Baltic Fleet, built with funds collected by this committee. He took a direct part in the development of programs for the reconstruction of the fleet, sought to draw the attention of government bodies and the public to the solution of this problem, and acted as an active supporter of the construction of qualitatively new battleships. In 1909, Alexander Mikhailovich was promoted to the rank of vice admiral. Since 1915 - Admiral.
Alexander Mikhailovich played an important role in the creation of Russian aviation, he was the initiator of the creation of an officer's aviation school near Sevastopol in 1910, the chief of the Imperial Air Force. Participated in the First World War. Since December 1916 - Field Inspector General of the Imperial WWF. In early 1917, he advocated the creation of a government with the participation of public figures (speaking out against the "responsible ministry").
After the February Revolution, when all the Romanovs were removed from the army, on March 22, 1917, he was dismissed from service on a petition with a uniform. With the permission of the Provisional Government, he was allowed to settle in the Ai-Todor estate in Crimea, where he met the Bolshevik coup and the subsequent establishment of Soviet power.
At the end of 1918, after the surrender in World War I, German troops left the occupied territories of the former Russian Empire. The territory temporarily came under the control of allies loyal to the White movement. Members of the Imperial Family received complete freedom of movement. Alexander Mikhailovich, without waiting for the family to leave Crimea, hurried to Paris, where he intended to take part in the work of the Russian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference. After the failure of attempts to convince the former allies of Russia to help the White movement in the fight against Bolshevism, he finally settled in France, leaving Russia forever.
He was the honorary chairman of the Union of Russian military pilots, the Paris mess-room, the Association of the ranks of the guard crew; participated in the activities of the ROVS, patronized the Society for Aid to Children of Russian Emigration, the National Organizations of Russian Intelligence Service (NORR) and Russian Scouts (NORS).
In emigration, he published a memoir entitled "The Book of Memories", the text of which was first published in Paris in 1933 as an appendix to the magazine "Illustrated Russia"; also the author of the books Votre âme (1924), Se connaître (1927) and others published in Paris.
Died on February 26, 1933 in Roquebrune (Alpes-Maritimes department); buried in the local cemetery.

From March 1917 to December 1918, Alexander Mikhailovich was isolated from political life, but while imprisoned in Dyulber he still considered himself the Grand Duke and one of the rulers of Russia. Finding himself in Paris in January 1919, he quickly realized that no one needed him anymore.

With gloomy thoughts, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich arrived in Paris, about which he sadly writes in his memoirs: “This mysterious mechanism of self-preservation began to work in me on that dusk January day in 1919, when at Taranto station, standing at the window of the Paris express and trying to shout down the shrill voices of the Italian porters, I said goodbye to the officers of His Majesty's ship Forsyth, which had taken me away from Russia, engulfed in a revolutionary fire.

It's a pity that I can't take you straight to Paris, to the Ritz's palm grove, ”the captain joked.

Me too, - I said in tune with him, and I myself thought: "Thank God ..."

I was deeply grateful to them for their touching attention and generosity, but all four days of sailing, the unbearably acute feeling of humiliation from the fact that the grandson of Emperor Nicholas I had to be saved from the Russians by the British did not leave me for a minute. I tried my best to drive away these bitter thoughts. I frantically tried to be cheerful and take an interest in their stories about the Battle of Jutland and the four-year naval blockade of Germany, but my inner voice, harsh and sarcastic, kept hissing in my ears.

An old fool, an incorrigible dreamer! he repeated over and over. - So you thought that you ran away from your past - and here it is, staring at you from all corners and nooks ... Do you see these Englishmen? Well done, right? And their ship is excellent, huh? But what about the twenty-four years that you killed in the Russian fleet? You fooled yourself with empty dreams that you would make him more powerful and better than English, but this is how it all ended ... You are an emigrant who enjoys the hospitality of your royal British cousin, his people saved you from the hands of your own sailors, you drink to the health of His British Majesty, when your emperor is shot, and your brothers every night await their fate, and your ship lies at the bottom of the Black Sea! You are a wonderful admiral, there is nothing to say ...

Sitting at the table in the company of the captain, I resorted to all sorts of tricks, just not to look at the portrait of George V, which hung directly opposite my seat. The similarity of the features of the British monarch and the deceased sovereign, generally striking, now, aboard the Forsyth, was decidedly intolerable ...

At night I lay awake in my cabin, fists clenched and staring out the window. It seemed to me that there was no point in prolonging the agony, that jumping overboard would put an end to all my troubles at once. There were, of course, the children - seven children, but I was afraid that I had crashed not only as an admiral and statesman, but also as a father. If I left them in Russia without hesitation, wouldn't that be the best proof of my confidence that they would be raised and educated without my participation? I could not help them with money and could not teach them anything. Unlike my mother and grandmother, who continued to believe in the infallibility of the House of Romanov, I knew that all our truths are deception, and wisdom is just a colossal accumulation of blurry mirages and sour platitudes. I could not raise my sons in the spirit of our official religion, since it went bankrupt four years ago in the fields of the Marne and Tannenberg. I could not be their mentor in such awe-inspiring subject as "duty to the state", because an exile owes nothing to the state, who died unmourned, like a vagabond under a fence ...

So I lay, a man of fifty-three years old, without money, without occupation, without a country, without a home and even without an address, frightened by the mere thought that he would fall asleep and see in a dream those who are no longer, and postponing suicide from night to night from some old-fashioned fear of damaging the reputation of the Forsyth's hospitable captain. "

Upon arrival in France, Alexander Mikhailovich hoped most of all for negotiations with the chairman of the Paris Peace Conference, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. One could think that "the well-known cynicism of this old man would help him to understand and find the right path among the stream of eloquence and idiotic theories that dominated the minds then." The Grand Duke did not want to believe that Clemenceau would not understand the world danger that was in Bolshevism.

The peace conference was supposed to open in Paris a few days after Alexander Mikhailovich arrived there. Alas, Clemenceau did not want to personally meet the Russian Grand Duke, and he had to be content with a conversation with his secretary.

Mr. Chairman of the peace conference would very much like to talk with you, - personal secretary Clemenceau addressed Alexander Mikhailovich.

What are Monsieur Clemenceau's plans for France's former ally? - asked the Grand Duke, barely restraining himself.

The secretary smiled graciously. He was delighted to have the opportunity to represent the head of the French government. He began to speak with great ardor, spoke for a long time, and the Grand Duke did not interrupt him.

In the current situation, France must think about its future. It is our duty to our children to anticipate the possibility of a revenge from Germany. Therefore, we must create on the eastern border of Germany a number of new state formations, which together will constitute a sufficiently impressive force to fulfill in the future the role that Russia previously played.

However, you have not yet told me what the French government is planning to do with regard to the Bolsheviks? - objected Alexander Mikhailovich.

It's very simple, ”the young diplomat continued with a shrug. - Bolshevism is a disease of the defeated nations. Monsieur Clemenceau subjected the Russian problem to a comprehensive study. The most sensible measure would be to declare a blockade on the Soviet government.

What ?! - the Grand Duke was surprised.

The blockade of the cordon sanitaire, as Monsieur Clemenceau calls it. A similar blockade paralyzed Germany during the war. The Soviet government will not be able to import or export. A colossal wire fence will be erected around Russia. In a short time, the Bolsheviks will begin to suffocate, surrender, and the legitimate government will be restored.

Will your boss take responsibility for the suffering that such a method is subjecting millions of Russian people? Doesn't he understand that millions of Russian children will starve from such a system?

The secretary's face was distorted by an unpleasant grimace:

Following this path, Your Imperial Highness, the Russian people will receive a reason to revolt.

You, young man, are wrong. I am sure that your blockade will only be an instrument for the propaganda of Bolshevism and will unite the population of Russia around the Moscow regime. It couldn't be otherwise. Put yourself in the shoes of the average Russian man in the street who understands nothing about politics, who learns that France is the culprit of the famine in Russia. As much as I respect the authority of Monsieur Clemenceau, I consider this idea both absurd and extremely dangerous.

What do you suggest?

The same that I suggested to the French high command in the Middle East. No bloodshed needed. No blockade needed. Do what the Germans did so brilliantly last summer in southwestern Russia. Send an army to Russia, which will declare that it brings peace, order and the possibility of organizing free elections.

Our government cannot risk the lives of French soldiers after the armistice is signed.

This ended the conversation.

On January 27, 1919, Alexander Mikhailovich sent a letter to US President Woodrow Wilson asking for a meeting. Two days later, he received a response from the president's secretary, which says that the president has to refrain from actions "of this kind".

As for the British authorities, they simply refused a visa to Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich.

Moreover, all the white generals, including Kolchak, Yudenich and Denikin, refused to hire representatives of the Romanov family and even their close relatives - the Dukes of Lechtenberg and others.

England, France, USA, Japan and other countries intervened in the Civil War in Russia not to support the white movement, but exclusively in the national interests.

In Paris, no one considered Alexander Mikhailovich as a political figure, but he had many acquaintances in military circles, in society and, of course, among the brothers of the Freemasons. He quickly realized that no one wanted to fight the Bolsheviks seriously, and that no one wanted to restore a single and indivisible one - and even more so! The winners created a cordon sanitaire against Russia from the newly created limitrophe states.

The winners at Versailles divided the lands of Eastern Europe on a globe. Neither history, nor geography, nor the will of the peoples were taken into account. So, in the Polish state there were 40% of non-Poles, whose very existence the Polish government ignored. Wise Lloyd George said about Poland: "There is no need to create a new Alsace-Lorraine." But, alas, Clemenceau took a bite at the bit. As a result, the Treaty of Versailles turned the world into a truce. Lenin prophetically remarked: "The Versailles Peace is the greatest blow that only the capitalists and imperialists of ... the victorious countries could inflict upon themselves."

Already in Paris, Alexander Mikhailovich learned about the death of his three brothers. Grand Duke Sergei was killed on July 18, 1918 in Alapaevsk, and Nikolai and Georgy were shot on January 28, 1919 in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

On November 29, 1923, Alexander Mikhailovich sent a letter to the editorial office of the Paris section of the New York Herald newspaper. This letter is extremely confused and contradictory, and it can be interpreted at random. On the one hand: "When the Russian people come to the deep conviction that the extension of the Bolshevik dominion is tantamount to constant slavery and endless grief, he will have to overthrow this power and decide what kind of state system he needs." On the other hand: "The Russian basic laws clearly indicate that the right to the Throne belongs to the Senior Member of Our Family, which is at present the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich."

But what if the Russian people decide that they need not Cyril, but another tsar? By the way, in many modern monarchist publications there are a dozen reasons why Cyril lost his right to the throne.

In the letter of Alexander Mikhailovich, it is easy to trace the evolution of his views on the struggle against the Bolsheviks. If in 1919 he frenziedly demanded intervention in Soviet Russia, then in 1923 he wrote: “Any intervention of another country, whether France, Germany, or any other country, is certainly unacceptable. When the time comes, the Russian people, mature and united, will themselves find ways to eliminate the new system ...

... I am personally an absolute opponent of the bloody counter-revolution. The resurrection of Russia should be realized as a result of the revival of the people on the basis of pure Christianity and in the spirit of forgiveness. "

There were more than enough candidates for the Russian throne. A fairly large party of emigrants rallied around the Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, the most legitimate, in their opinion, contender.

Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich was very popular among the military, and they wanted to see him on the throne. Perhaps it was Nikolai Nikolaevich who would have become the "emperor" if not for his age (years of life 1856-1929), poor health and the absence of children.

And here is how Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich described this “election campaign”: “Since the Soviet Union entered the sixth year of its existence, this three-sided battle seemed at least premature, and yet it was taken seriously by numerous Russian refugees. They ran, united, intrigued. And like true Russians, they talked to each other to the point of dullness. Ragged and pale, they gathered for monarchist gatherings in the stuffy, smoky halls of Paris, where, almost until dawn, prominent orators discussed the merits of the three grand dukes.

Some listened to lengthy quotes from the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, confirming the inalienable rights of Kirill; they were read by some elderly dignitary, dressed in a long-legged frock coat and looking like a corpse standing upright, supported behind by invisible hands. Others listened to the dressed-up Major General shouting that "the huge masses of the population of Russia" wanted to see Nikolai, the former Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army, on the throne of his ancestors. Still others were thrilled by the sweet-spoken Moscow lawyer who defended the rights of young Dmitry so penetratingly that he would surely have knocked a tear from the jury. And all this took place a stone's throw from the Grands Boulevards, where crowds of cheerful Parisians drank light and strong drinks, completely forgetting about the importance of the election of the autocrat of all Russia.

Since my political views were well known to the Russian monarchists and were clearly not shared by them, not once during that heated campaign was my name uttered even in a whisper. But one quiet December morning I woke up to find that my son Nikita had been duly elected king at a meeting of the "breakaway" royalist faction. This news upset me. I protested fervently. What began as an innocent pastime clearly took on the dimensions of a tragic and dubious farce. How my cousins \u200b\u200band nephews solved the issues of personal arrangement did not concern me at all, but I wanted to save my boy from the lot of universal ridicule. He worked in a bank, was happily married to his childhood friend Countess Vorontsova and did not have the slightest desire to compete with the Grand Duke Cyril. "

As you can see, the situation in Paris in 1922-1925 did not differ much from the confrontation between the bald and shaggy emperors in the film "The Crown of the Russian Empire".

At the end of the 1920s, Alexander Mikhailovich was already sensibly assessing the situation in Russia. And here we must pay tribute to his analytical mind. After all, 99.9% of emigrants who previously belonged to the cream of society, still felt zoological hatred for the USSR.

As for Alexander Mikhailovich, in his memoirs he perfectly showed the evolution of his views: “It occurred to me that although I was not a Bolshevik, I could not agree with my relatives and friends and recklessly stigmatize everything that the Soviets did just because this is done by the Soviets. Nobody argues, they killed three of my siblings, but they also soldered Russia from the fate of an allied vassal.

Once I hated them, and my hands were itching to reach Lenin or Trotsky, but then I began to learn about one or another constructive step of the Moscow government and caught myself whispering: "Bravo!" Like all those Christians who are “neither cold nor hot,” I knew no other way to be cured of hatred, except to drown it into another, even more burning one. The subject of the latter was offered to me by the Poles.

When, in the early spring of 1920, I saw the headlines of French newspapers announcing the triumphal march of Pilsudski through the wheat fields of Little Russia, something inside me could not stand it, and I forgot about the fact that not even a year had passed since the day my brothers were shot. I just thought: “The Poles are about to take Kiev! The eternal enemies of Russia are about to cut off the empire from its western borders! " I did not dare to express myself openly, but listening to the absurd chatter of the refugees and looking into their faces, I wished the Red Army victory with all my heart.

It doesn't matter that I was a Grand Duke. I was a Russian officer who took an oath to defend the Fatherland from its enemies. I was the grandson of a man who threatened to plow the streets of Warsaw if the Poles once again dared to disrupt the unity of his empire. Suddenly, a phrase came to mind of the same ancestor of mine seventy-two years ago. Right on the report of the "outrageous actions" of the former Russian artillery officer Bakunin, who in Saxony led crowds of German revolutionaries to storm the fortress, Emperor Nicholas I wrote in arshin letters: "Hurray for our artillerymen!"

The similarity between mine and his reaction amazed me. I felt the same when the red commander Budyonny defeated Pilsudski's legions and drove him all the way to Warsaw. This time the compliments were directed at the Russian cavalry, but otherwise little has changed since my grandfather's time.

But you seem to forget, - objected my faithful secretary, - that, among other things, Budenny's victory means the end of the hopes of the White Army in Crimea.

His fair remark did not shake my convictions. It was clear to me then, in the turbulent summer of the twentieth, as it is now, in the calm thirty-third, that in order to achieve a decisive victory over the Poles, the Soviet government did everything that any truly popular government should have done. No matter how irony it may seem that the unity of the Russian state has to be defended by the participants of the Third International, the fact remains that from that very day the Soviets have been forced to pursue a purely national policy, which is nothing more than the centuries-old policy begun by Ivan the Terrible, formalized by Peter the Great and reaching the top under Nicholas I: to defend the borders of the state at any cost and step by step to break through to the natural borders in the west! Now I am sure that my sons will also see the day when not only the absurd independence of the Baltic republics will end, but Bessarabia and Poland will be conquered by Russia, and cartographers will have to work hard on redrawing borders in the Far East ...

I asked myself in all seriousness what could be expected from a person deprived of a significant fortune and witnessing the destruction of most of his brethren: "Can I, a product of the empire, a person brought up in the belief in the infallibility of the state, still condemn the current rulers of Russia?"

The answer was yes and no. Mr. Alexander Romanov shouted yes. Grand Duke Alexander said no. The first was obviously bitter. He loved his flourishing possessions in the Crimea and the Caucasus. He desperately wanted to once again enter the office in his palace in St. Petersburg, where countless bookshelves were bursting with leather-bound volumes on the history of navigation and where he could fill the evening with adventure, cherishing ancient Greek coins and remembering the years that had gone him in search of them.

Fortunately for the Grand Duke, he was always separated from Mr. Romanov by a certain line. The owner of a high-profile title ... simply had to rely on his collection of traditions, banal in essence, but surprisingly effective in making decisions. Loyalty to the homeland. An example of ancestors. Peer advice. Staying true to Russia and following the example of the Romanovs' ancestors, who never imagined themselves more than their empire, meant admitting that the Soviet government should be helped, not hindered by its experiments, and wish it success in what the Romanovs failed in.

There were still councils of equals. With one exception, they all thought I was crazy. Incredible as it may seem, I found understanding and support in the person of a European monarch known for his insightful judgment.

If you were in my position, ”I asked him bluntly,“ would you allow your personal resentment and thirst for revenge to overshadow your concern for the future of your country?

The question interested him. He weighed everything seriously and suggested that I rephrase the question.

Let's put it another way, ”he said, as if he were addressing the council of ministers. - Which is thicker: blood or what I would call "imperial substance"? What is more precious: the life of your relatives or the further embodiment of the imperial idea? My question is the answer to yours. If what you loved in Russia boiled down solely to your family, then you can never forgive the Soviets. But if you are destined to live your life, like me, wishing to preserve the empire, be it under the current banner or under the red flag of the victorious revolution - then why hesitate? Why not find enough courage in yourself and not recognize the achievements of those who succeeded you? "

Alexander Mikhailovich did not reveal the name of his august interlocutor. But I'm sure it was about Prince of Wales Albert Edward. If he lived now, our liberals would have christened him "the red-brown prince." He will take the throne under the name of Edward VIII exactly three years after the death of Alexander Mikhailovich. He was in many ways similar to Alexander Mikhailovich, his biography is still waiting for its researchers.

In emigration, Alexander Mikhailovich lived by selling his large collection of antique coins and many other jewelry. “We have lived through Xenin's pearls in exactly three years,” writes the Grand Duke. And it was his hobby for numismatics, so unacceptable by his family and friends in his past life, that now saved Alexander Mikhailovich. “It was even stranger that the only thing that could give me the opportunity to pay the bills in Paris and get a short respite was what was always considered“ pure madness ”and“ expensive fun ”of an unlucky member of the imperial family,” wrote the Grand Duke. - Looking through the notes, I remembered the words of my father: “Just think, Sandro, what opportunities you are missing. Yes, if you invested even a fraction of what you spend digging in the land in Crimea, in reliable stocks and government bonds, you would double your annual income and would never need anything. If you don't like stocks and bonds - buy oil lands, copper, manganese, real estate, but, for God's sake, stop throwing money at these stupid ancient Greeks. "

What would I have done in January 1919 if I had obeyed the advice of my practical father and left my archeology studies in the 1900s? Stocks and bonds? They were lying in bundles in my bank safe in St. Petersburg, but even the Bolsheviks who stole them could not help out a dime for them, since the companies that issued these shares fell apart into a revolution.

Oil-bearing lands? Copper? Manganese? The property? I had all this, but I could not convince a tailor from rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré to exchange a pair of flannel trousers for the right to own my apartment buildings in St. Petersburg or oil-bearing lands in the Caucasus.

Madness pays off, I said to myself with feeling.

In addition, quite a few gave lectures during his travels to the USA. There they welcomed the real Grand Duke with pleasure. Dozens of other Pseudo-Mikhails, Pseudo-Nastasias, Pseudo-Alekseevs, etc. the Yankees had time to get pretty fed up. The first long-term offer from a New York lecture hall came in the summer of 1928. And now, fifteen years after his last visit, Alexander Mikhailovich again found himself in the United States, where he was met by his son Dmitry, who had left Europe four years earlier.

The Americans met the Grand Duke as a lecturer ambiguously: “Some of them were alarmed: their daughters were married to European titled persons, and the fact that the Grand Duke was traveling around the country and rubbing shoulders with members of the Rotary business club could have an impact on social status their sons-in-law. Some were furious: I dared to offend the sacred cows of liberalism and openly expressed my sympathy for the people of the cause. Some spoke openly and did not hesitate to express their convictions: whether there is democracy or not, they need the help of Sunday schools and churches to keep the masses under supervision. "

During his three winters in America, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich gave 67 lectures there.

There were also incidents in America. So, once Alexander Mikhailovich read in the announcement of his upcoming lecture: "Tonight in the New Baptist Church a large influx of public is expected on the occasion of the lecture of the Russian Grand Duke Alexander on the topic ..."

“It was not only my superstition about everything and everyone related to the church,” recalls Alexander Mikhailovich. - But also because the main part of my lecture was devoted to the "bankruptcy of official Christianity." When my manager promised “the most dignified environment”, I thought he just wanted to say that I would not have to perform in a circus. How could I, or any other European, know that a church could be rented for a lecture? Whether it's a Catholic church or a synagogue, I could at least count on the congregation's sense of humor, but a Baptist house of worship! I shuddered ...

The pastor turned out to be a pleasant, lively person. His handshake and manner of speaking made me question my understanding of the Baptists. He could easily pass for a New York stockbroker ...

The church was packed. The pastor said that there were eight hundred and fifty people in the hall, but to me they seemed eight hundred and fifty thousand. Never in my life have I been so scared. When the pastor said: “I had the great honor to introduce you to the great Russian Prince Alexander,” my hands trembled, and my throat went dry. I got up and was about to go to the pulpit, when suddenly burst out "God Save the Tsar," and I saw that my listeners were getting up. I was numb. For the first time in eleven years I have heard this melody.

The secretary told me later that I turned as pale as a corpse. Personally, I don't remember anything. Sometimes I feel like I just fell asleep in my New York hotel and dreamed that I was giving a lecture at the new Baptist church in Grand Rapid. Local newspapers wrote that I spoke "in a clear melodic voice, without a single hint of emotion or bitterness." I doubt it.

After that day, I gave sixty-six more lectures. In churches, universities, sororities and private homes. I have never challenged the terms of the contract, place or time, insisting on a single point: the Russian national anthem should not be sung either before, or after, or during my lectures. Suicide is not difficult for an empire. Hearing her voice eleven years later is like death. "

During his last visit in 1930, Alexander Mikhailovich amazed the Americans. On each of his visits, he received a bunch of invitations. The Grand Duke was well aware that he was invited not because of great love or strong impressions from his lectures, but “in Manhattan it was considered good form to squeeze a Russian with a“ tragic fate ”between a British fellow who knew what was wrong with American women and a German economist concerned about the future of the gold standard. "

This time, Alexander Mikhailovich received simultaneously three of the most interesting invitations in his entire American epic. A group of prominent New York Jewish leaders invited him to dine with them and discuss the so-called Jewish question. Acquaintances from Detroit asked to come and meet Henry Ford, and at the Army and Navy Club they offered to give a speech on the topic of the five-year plan.

Alexander Mikhailovich wrote about this visit: “Even more heated debates awaited me at the Army and Navy Club. His leadership took it for granted that I would curse Soviet Russia and predict the imminent collapse of the five-year plan. I refused this. Nothing disgusts me more than that performance when a Russian exile lets his thirst for retribution stifle his national pride. In a conversation with members of the Army and Navy Club, I made it clear that I was first of all Russian and only then the Grand Duke. I described to them the unlimited resources of Russia as best I could and said that I had no doubts about the successful implementation of the five-year plan.

It may take, - I added, - another year or two, but if we talk about the future, then this plan will not only be fulfilled - it must be followed by a new plan, perhaps ten or even fifteen years. Russia will never again sink to the position of a world sump. No king could ever implement such a grandiose program, because his actions were constrained by too many principles, diplomatic and others. The current rulers of Russia are realists. They are unprincipled - in the sense in which Peter the Great was unprincipled. They are as unprincipled as your railway kings half a century ago or your bankers today, with the only difference that in their case we are dealing with greater human honesty and selflessness. "

And now the Grand Duke is back in Europe, in Monte Carlo. He is sitting alone in an empty cafe. Before him is a bottle of fake Napoleon cognac: “The violinist has finished playing. Everyone has already left. I am alone. I do not annoy myself for thinking about what belongs to the distant past ... Very soon, I will have to leave. I have seen so many wars in my life that I have lost the ability to distinguish "heroism" from "cowardice." Whoever tries to be someone else instead of walking through open doors - is he a hero or a coward? I'm sure I don't know. However, I know that the strongest experiences and the most exciting adventures in my life seemed to me at first such a routine, such bad luck.

If I now get up and walk down the street to the railway embankment, I will undoubtedly remember many others who are no longer there, whom I saw off and once met at the Monte Carlo station. Father. Brothers. Sister. King Edward. When they were alive, I envied them. Now I feel sorry for them. They never had the opportunity to experience what I experienced and to look at themselves from the outside ...

... It's getting dark. Cars passing in front of the entrance to the casino turn on their headlights. Friends are waiting for me at roulette, but I'm tired of the past, and I hate to meet ghosts of the casino. These are nasty, second-rate ghosts. They speak with an accent of impotent hatred and petty greed. In their previous incarnations, they were probably politicians. They should have been buried a long time ago. "

In early January 1933, the health of the Grand Duke deteriorated sharply. Then he lived in the small town of Menton on the Cote d'Azur. There, at the Villa Saint-Terez, a few kilometers from the Italian border, his faithful friend from Kiev, Olga Vasilyeva, was waiting. “If not for her [Grand Duchess Olga. - A.Sh.] and not a young sister of mercy by the name of Vasilyeva, I would have been the loneliest person in the world in the critical days of the war, ”the Grand Duke recalled. Now she is married to captain Nikolai Chirikov. Olga and her husband took care of the patient. Irina Yusupova, who arrived soon, did not leave her father. On February 26, 1933, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich died.

The funeral of the Grand Duke was modest. They were attended by son-in-law Felix Yusupov and sons Andrey, Fedor and Dmitry. The wife was not there. The Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna lived for another 27 years and died in April 1960 in England. However, according to the will, her body was transported to France on the Cote d'Azur and buried next to her husband.