Alexander II_ The Last Great Tsar - Edvard Radzinsky [12]
“We had a fine supper with the pupils.”
Behind this awkward sentence lies the beginning of the romance.
Mathilde Kschessinska was born in 1872. She would die in Paris in 1971, just shy of one hundred years. In Paris she would write her memoirs, the touching story of the love of a young ballerina for the heir to the throne. She would write about that evening of March 23, 1890, as well, about an evening in vanished Atlantis.
After the graduation performance and ball, which the emperor and the heir attended, the tables were set. Unexpectedly they stayed for supper. They were seated at a separate table and suddenly the tsar said: “And where is Kschessinska the Second?”
The young ballerina was brought to the tsar’s table; the sovereign paid her several compliments and added that he knew her father. The emperor-father himself seated the young ballerina next to the heir and added jokingly: “Only please don’t flirt too much.” To the young ballerina’s amazement, Nicholas sat by her the entire evening without saying a word. His tender blue eyes watched her helplessly.
Let us switch from Kschessinska’s romantic tale to prosaic narrative. So the tsar himself sat the girl next to his son and even offered some advice: “Just don’t flirt.” He could scarcely have made himself any clearer.
Vera Yureneva: “This was common. When young boys from wealthy families were coming of age, a beautiful and, even more important, pure servant would be brought into the house. This was a dangerous era.”
Indeed, syphilis carried away young men by the thousands. Heavy drinking, homosexuality, and brothels were a part of life in the Guards. But the heir’s health affected the destiny of the entire country. The affair with the Jewess had been an ominous warning, and the father of the family and the country had decided to take action. Kschessinska was a brilliant candidate: a romance with a future ballet star could only enhance the young man’s biography. But still, the main thing was to make him forget the Hesse princess. The visit to the institute had been devised for just that purpose.
Did the young ballerina understand the rules of the game? Or for her was it all, in fact, cast in a romantic light: the heir, the tsarevich! But then the game was being orchestrated by adults. Whatever the scenario, this was a game.
Only in the summer did the little girl with the big eyes manage to resume the romance. In June 1890 Mathilde Kschessinska was accepted into the troupe of the Mariinsky Imperial Theater. Guards training, in which Nicholas was taking part, went on at Krasnoe Selo, where the imperial ballet danced the summer season.
She knew it would happen during the intermission: the grand dukes liked to come backstage, and he would probably come with them, because she knew he wanted to come.
And he did. So they met backstage. He was talking incoherently, and she was still waiting. The next day he was backstage again, and again—nothing. Once during an intermission she was detained, and when she ran out onto the stage, flushed, eyes blazing, so afraid was she of missing her timid admirer, he had already left. When he did see her he burst out with a jealous, helpless “I’m certain you were only flirting!” And, flustered, ran out. Thus he declared himself.
The tsar’s family had the first box on the left, which was practically on the stage. Dancing nearby, the new ballerina Kschessinska the Second devoured the heir, who was sitting in the box alongside his father, with her huge eyes. What was most surprising was that she evoked no displeasure from the terrible emperor. From that moment the director of the imperial theaters took pains to ensure that any available parts went to this ballerina. In a very short time she would win the place of prima donna in the imperial ballet.
“17 June. Detachment maneuvers. Like Kschessinska the Second quite well.”
“30 June. Krasnoe Selo. The growing affair has heated up powerfully.… Was at the theater, talked with little K. at the window [of the box].”
In Paris she recalled