Alexander II_ The Last Great Tsar - Edvard Radzinsky [74]
Vera Leonidovna:
“Handsome Felix had what are called ‘grammatical errors,’ that is, he was bisexual, plain and simple.… Gossip outlives people. But the two of them—they were an amazing couple—they were so attractive. What bearing! Breeding!”
She: “March 9th 1915.… What happiness to know, that the day after tomorrow I shall be holding you tight in my arms again, listening to your dear voice and looking into your beloved eyes.… I enclose a letter from Masha (from Austria) which she was asked to write to you, for peace’s sake. I never answer her letters, of course, now.”
In 1915, lady-in-waiting Maria Vasilchikova (Masha) was staying at her villa in Austria. One day, as she later explained, three strangers appeared at her house and proposed that she send the sovereign the following message: “Your Imperial Highness’s love of peace is well known throughout all Europe.… Austria and Germany are already sufficiently convinced of the force of Russian arms,” and so on. In short, the strangers appeared with a proposal from Germany (as yet unofficial) that the three representatives—of Austria, Russia, and Germany—meet secretly to begin talks on a separate peace. It was suggested that the meeting be arranged in Stockholm.
He understood that the story of the letter would engender all the same abominable rumors. When he read “the letter from Masha,” Nicholas immediately passed it on to his minister of foreign affairs. He wanted everyone to know that he was making no secret of these proposals, for they were unacceptable to him. Nicholas was in a hurry. A paradox: twenty years before, when the straightforward Wilhelm parted with Alix in Berlin, he had been certain that she would become a loyal support for Germany in Russia. However, precisely because she was a German princess, Alix had to be above suspicion in any peace initiative, in any attempt to conclude a peace with Germany. Appreciating the whole horror of the war, dreaming of peace with her homeland, and possessing the most enormous influence over Nicholas’s decisions, she was compelled to be silent. To suffer in silence and thereby demonstrate her adherence to all-out war.
Masha was instructed to return to Russia immediately.
Again the tsar was staying at Tsarskoe Selo, only to leave very shortly.
She: “April 4th 1915.… Once more you are leaving us, and I think with gladness, because the life you had here, all excepting the work in the garden—is more than trying and tiring. We have seen next to nothing of each other through my having been lain up. Full many a thing have I not had time to ask, and when together only late in the evening, half the thoughts have flown away again.”
Indeed, he was not talkative, and when they were together they did not talk. Only separation engendered this spate of affection.
She: “Every possible tender word for to-morrow [their beloved April 8, the anniversary of their engagement, was coming up]. The first time in 21 years we dont spend this anniversary together—How vividly one remembers all! Ah my beloved Boy, what happiness & love you have given me all these years….
“April 8th 1915.… How the years go by! 21 already. You know I have kept the grey princesse dress I wore that morning. And shall wear yr. dear brooch.”
At about that time Vasilchikova returned to Petrograd—and evidently brought with her letters from Germany.
She: “April 17th 1915.… I had a long, dear letter fr. Erni—I will show it you upon your return. He says that ‘if there is someone who understands him (i.e., you) & know what he is going through, then it is me.’ He kisses you tenderly. He longs for a way out of this dilemma, that someone ought to begin to make a bridge for discussion. So he had an idea of quite privately sending a man of confidence to Stockholm, who should meet a gentleman sent by you (privately) that they could help disperse many momentary difficulties. He had this idea, as in Germany there is no real