The artist, of course, is usually pleased with increased attention to his works. But when your opus is viewed with a magnifying glass - thank you, this is too much.
Alexey Uchitel with his long-suffering (without irony) "Matilda" found himself in such an approximate position now. The attack of Natalia Poklonskaya, which caused a muddy wave of aggressive attacks from the "Tsar-bearers" up to the expressed desire to put the director on a stake, on the one hand, added to the film's popularity in advance. On the other hand, they added to it a purely entomological interest on the part of critics, who are now forced to analyze Matilda in the light of the aggressive events around her. And this film, along with the team, did not benefit, of course.
If it weren’t for Poklonskaya and her retinue of the mentally unstable, Matilda would have modestly walked along the sidelines of film critics as another near-patriotic movie with a not very successful rolling fate, but not a failure against the backdrop of our entire film industry. Which one wants to pick up in quotation marks. But since the wave of public discussion has brought it to the surface, we have to sort through the bones. Exhibit anyway.
Let's pay tribute to the Teacher: he did an excellent job with the front side of the film. A costume historical drama from ancient times, when ladies dragged trains of silk skirts, gentlemen in sideburns savored the word “honor” with cutlets, and newly-made emperors laid out round sums from their pockets for the families of those who died during their coronation, in “Matilda” it is designed competently, lovingly and clearly with an honest application of the allocated budget. Which, you see, is already an achievement in our suspicious time.
The story told in the film unfolds against the backdrop of grand facades and elegant interiors. Here one feels not only scope, but also taste, which, again, is a rarity for our current cinema. For the most part, we have one thing - either scope or taste. The magnificent end of the 300-year reign of the Romanov dynasty, which in 20 years will end in a bloody tragedy, becomes a good backdrop for a dramatic love story between the about to Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich (Lars Eidinger) and the ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya (Mikhalina Olshanska). Love will begin with a brave experiment by young Kshesinskaya on stage - her chest will accidentally be exposed, and instead of bashfully running backstage, she, seeing the future emperor in the box, impudently looking into his eyes, will continue to dance bare-breasted, which, of course, will attract and captivate young Nicholas. Then, when Niki tries to possess her in a special tent, Matilda will slap him in the face and promise that he will now love her forever.
In the royal family of the Romanovs, Kshesinskaya was considered something of a passing banner - starting with the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, she would take care of Nikolai, and when Nikolai became an exemplary family man, she would turn her gaze to the imperial cousin, Prince Andrei, whom she would later marry. But the Teacher does not want to know anything bad about the heroine - Matilda is his girl, although she is punchy, but she sincerely and devotedly loves her Nicky. The Polish actress is remarkably good - fresh, black-browed and has that free sex appeal that our actresses are basically deprived of. Therefore, one should not be surprised that the Teacher brought the heroine from abroad. With the emperor, everything is much sadder. Lars Eidinger is an outstanding artist, it is almost impossible to get to the performances of the Berlin Schaubühne with his participation. What the director did with him - you can’t even say right away. Either he forbade, under pain of termination of the contract, to play habitually well. Whether pumped up with sleeping pills. But in any case, looking at a bearded man over 40, who is clearly bored of portraying a 22-year-old boy, is somewhat embarrassing. The dissonance between the eyes of a fairly elderly person and the youthful impulses of yesterday's puberty is too striking, and this makes the love story seem obviously false.
Although - and here again we must pay tribute to the director - he does not insist on the veracity of what was told. He does not even persuade us that, they say, such a thing could be. On the contrary, he seems to emphasize that everything told is fiction from beginning to end, and for this he attracts completely fairy tale characters. Like Prince Vorontsov (Danila Kozlovsky), a bearded man passionately in love with Matilda, ready to send the heir to the throne for her sake. This is such Koschey, Malchish-Plokhish and all the demons at once in one person. This is already funny, but even funnier when a certain Lucifer-like psychiatrist, performed for some reason by the great German theater director Thomas Ostermeier, puts Vorontsov in an aquarium with his head and starts torturing him. Isn't this a direct hint to us: don't believe it, dear viewers, don't believe it for a second!
The only problem is that the director himself did not understand whether to believe himself or not. He desperately rushes between genres, between fiction and reality, never deciding what and why he shoots. It seems to him that he is making a completely patriotic movie about that very textbook Russia before 1913, when the piglets were fat, and people believed in God. That is, "Russia, which we have lost." It is not for nothing that the film begins with an unequivocal metaphor - the very famous train crash, after which the health of Tsar Alexander III (Sergei Garmash), who held the roof of the car for a long time, was greatly shaken, like that train. Nicky soon became emperor.
At times it seems that the cunning Teacher actually made a comedy - in addition to Vorontsov and the half-mad psychiatrist, the film has many more comic characters in comical circumstances. The most charming of them is the head of the tsarist detective police, Vlasov (Vitaly Kishchenko). This sinister type, as it seems to the viewer, according to the plot, has been doing nothing but rushing after Matilda for several years, trying to separate her from the future emperor. Apparently, things in the country were going very well in terms of security, since the main guard throws all his strength into the girl-ballerina. Having overtaken her, Vlasov tries to either drown the girl or burn her. Or maybe, on the contrary, things were going badly, but the detective police were busy with the wrong thing, so everything collapsed? Then, it turns out, the Teacher digs deep. And it's really hard to believe this.
Most likely, the director wanted to please a little bit of everyone - patriots (Orthodoxy-autocracy-nationality), lovers of mass spectacle (smart salons and ferry races), housewives (an unhappy love story), critics (good actors, especially Ingeborga Dapkunaite in the role of Empress Dowager, plus room for interpretation, which we took advantage of). But as often happens in such cases, the artist missed, and the only one who was seriously interested in the film was the deputy Poklonskaya. And she doesn't want to watch the movie.
By the way, the fact that the Tsarevich always ends up in underpants after a night of love with Matilda speaks in favor of the comedy. By the way, tell someone about this Poklonskaya - maybe she will calm down?
In 1890, 18-year-old Matilda Kshesinskaya, still unknown to anyone, but a more promising girl, graduated from the Imperial Theater School. According to custom, after the graduation demonstration performance, Matilda and other graduates are presented to the crowned family. Alexander III shows special favor to the young talent, who enthusiastically follows the pirouettes and arabesques of the dancer. True, Matilda was a visiting pupil of the school, and such people were not supposed to be present at the festive banquet with members of the royal family. However, Alexander, who noticed the absence of a fragile dark-haired girl, ordered to immediately bring her into the hall, where they uttered the fateful words: “Mademoiselle! Be the adornment and glory of our ballet!”
At the table, Matilda was seated next to Tsarevich Nikolai, who, despite his position and young age(he was then 22 years old), was not seen by that time in any amorous story where he could demonstrate his ardor and temperament. Fervor and temperament - no, but devotion and tenderness - very much so.
Dreams of marriage
In January 1889, at the invitation of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt, the granddaughter of the English Queen Victoria, arrived in St. Petersburg. The girl who stopped at the Beloselsky-Belozersky palace was introduced to Tsarevich Nikolai (Alexander III was the princess godfather). In the six weeks that the future Empress of Russia arrived in St. Petersburg, she managed to win the meek heart of the future emperor and arouse in him a frantic desire to bind himself to her by marriage. But when rumors reached that Nikolai wanted to marry Alice, he ordered his son to forget about this desire. The fact is that Alexander and his wife Maria Feodorovna hoped to marry their son to the daughter of the pretender to the throne of France, Louis Philippe, Louise Henrietta, whom the American newspaper The Washington Post even called “the embodiment of women's health and beauty, a graceful athlete and a charming polyglot.
By the time he met Kshesinskaya, Nikolai already intended to marry Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
It was only later, in 1894, when the emperor’s health began to deteriorate sharply, and Nikolai, with unusual vehemence, continued to insist on his own, the attitude changed - fortunately sister Alice Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, contributed not only to the rapprochement of the heir to the throne and the princess, helping in the correspondence of lovers, but also covert methods influenced Alexander. Due to all these reasons, in the spring of 1894, a manifesto appeared in which the engagement of the Tsarevich and Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt was announced. But that was after.
"Baby" Kshesinskaya and Nikki
And in 1890, when Nikolai could only correspond with his Alice, he was suddenly introduced to Matilda Kshesinskaya - according to some historians, the cunning Alexander decided that Nikolai needed to be distracted from his love and channel his energy in a different direction. The emperor’s project was a success: already in the summer, the crown prince writes in his diary: “Baby Kshesinskaya positively occupies me ...” - and regularly attends her performances.
Matilda Kshesinskaya fell in love with the future emperor at first sight. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
“Baby” Kshesinskaya perfectly understood what game she was entering into, but she could hardly realize how far she would advance in relations with members of the royal family. When there was a shift in communication with Nikolai, Matilda announced to her father, a well-known Polish dancer who performed on the Mariinsky stage, that she had become Nikolai's lover. The father listened to his daughter and asked only one question: does she realize that the affair with the future emperor will not end in anything? To this question, which she asked herself, Matilda replied that she wanted to drink the cup of love to the bottom.
The romance of the temperamental and bright ballerina and the future emperor of Russia, who was not accustomed to demonstrating his feelings, lasted exactly two years. Kshesinskaya had really strong feelings for Nikolai and even considered her relationship with him a sign of fate: both he and she were “marked” with the number two: he was supposed to become Nicholas II, and she was called Kshesinskaya-2 on stage: the eldest also worked in the theater Matilda's sister Julia. When their relationship had just begun, Kshesinskaya enthusiastically wrote in her diary: “I fell in love with the Heir from our first meeting. After the summer season in Krasnoye Selo, when I could meet and talk with him, my feeling filled my whole soul, and I could only think about him ... "
Lovers met most often in the house of the Kshesinsky family and did not particularly hide: no secrets were possible at court, and the emperor himself covered his eyes to his son’s novel. There was even a case when the mayor rushed into the house, in a hurry to inform that the sovereign was hastily demanding his son to his Anichkov Palace. However, in order to maintain decency, a mansion was bought for Kshesinskaya on the English Embankment, where lovers could see each other without any interference.
End of story
The relationship ended in 1894. Matilda, ready from the very beginning for such an outcome, did not fight in hysterics, did not cry: when saying goodbye to Nicholas with restraint, she behaves with dignity befitting a queen, but not an abandoned mistress.
The ballerina took the news of the breakup calmly. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org It is impossible to say that this was a deliberate calculation, but Kshesinskaya’s behavior led to a positive result: Nikolai always remembered his girlfriend with warmth, and in parting asked her to always address him as “you”, to continue to call him the home nickname “Nikki” and in in case of trouble always turn to him. Later, Nikolai Kshesinskaya would indeed resort to the help, but only for professional purposes related to behind-the-scenes theatrical intrigues.
At this point, their relationship was finally broken. Matilda continued to dance and hovered over the stage with special inspiration when she saw her former lover in the royal box. And Nicholas, who put on the crown, completely immersed himself in the state cares that fell on him after the death of Alexander III, and in a still pool family life with the desired Alix, as he affectionately called - former princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt.
When the engagement had just taken place, Nikolai honestly spoke about his connection with the ballerina, to which she replied: “What has passed has passed and will never return. All of us in this world are surrounded by temptations, and when we are young, we cannot always fight to resist the temptation… I love you even more since you told me this story. Your trust touches me so deeply… Can I be worthy of it…?”
P.S.
A few years later, terrible upheavals and a terrible end awaited Nicholas: the Russo-Japanese War, Bloody Sunday, a series of murders of high-ranking officials, the First World War, popular discontent, which grew into a revolution, the humiliating exile of him and his entire family, and, finally, the execution in the basement of the Ipatiev house.
Matilda Kshesinskaya with her son. Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
Kshesinskaya, on the other hand, had a different fate - the glory of one of the richest women in the Empire, a love affair with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, from whom she would give birth to a son, emigration to Europe, an affair with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, who would give the child his patronymic, and the glory of one of the best ballerina of her time and one of the most attractive women of the era, who turned the head of Emperor Nicholas himself.
Around the film by Alexei Uchitel about the famous ballerina and her relationship with the future Emperor Nicholas II, controversy continues. Woman's Day understands what is true in the picture and what is fiction.
To the cinema
The father of Nicholas II, Emperor Alexander III, was against the marriage of his son with Princess Alice of Hesse.
In life
Indeed, at first the Russian emperor and his wife were not enthusiastic about this marriage. Although Alice was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, at that time she was a poor princess from a provincial German duchy. Her mother suffered from a nervous breakdown, but, worst of all, she was a carrier of hemophilia, which is transmitted through the female line to her sons, but the carriers themselves do not get sick. (As a result, Nikolai's son Tsarevich Alexei suffered from hemophilia). Alexander counted on the marriage of the heir to Helena Louise Henrietta, daughter of Louis Philippe, Count of Paris. But then politics, as well as the severe illness of the emperor (and he wanted to marry his son before his death) hastened the marriage of Nicholas and Alice, who became Alexandra Fedorovna in baptism.
Photo by Getty Images
Photo frame from the movie
To the cinema
Alexander III himself introduced his son to Matilda Kshesinskaya.
In life
This happened in 1890 immediately after the graduation performance at the Imperial Theater School, which, according to tradition, was visited by the monarch with his family. Alexander III unexpectedly singled out Matilda Kshesinskaya among all the dancers and told the 17-year-old graduate: “Be the decoration and glory of our ballet!” After the performance, without removing theatrical costumes, all the students gathered in a large rehearsal room - to be presented to royal people.
The action was carefully rehearsed, the best graduates were selected in advance from among the first pupils, among whom Kshesinskaya could not be just because she was listed as coming. And then the first surprise happened - in violation of all the rules, the sovereign asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya?” I had to call her. After the presentation of the graduates, a gala dinner followed, and Malechka also did not have a permanent seat at the common table. And the sovereign again ordered in his own way - he seated Kshesinskaya between himself and the heir, playfully threatening both: “Just look, don’t flirt too much!” At the same time, Nikolai and Kshesinskaya began to communicate closely only two years later. But Alexander could not show his son on the train, who after some time had an accident, a photograph of a young ballerina. After all, the collapse of the train, in which the emperor was injured, because of which he later fell ill and died early, happened two years before Nikolai met Kshesinskaya.
Photo by Getty Images
Photo frame from the movie
To the cinema
Nicholas II cannot forget his beloved in any way, intending to renounce the throne for the sake of Kshesinskaya and run away with her.
In life
Many critics of the film argue that the relationship between Nicholas and Matilda was only platonic. It is unlikely. But after the decision of his parents to marry him to Alice of Hesse, he decides to end the affair with Kshesinskaya - for sure. And Nicky wasn't going anywhere. Here is how the ballerina herself recalls this in her memoirs: “On April 7, 1894, the engagement of the heir to the throne with Alice, Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, was announced. I knew for a long time that sooner or later this must happen, but still my grief was boundless ...
After returning from Coburg and being engaged, the heir to the throne asked me for a farewell meeting. We agreed to meet on the Volkonskoye Highway, at a hay barn standing on the side of the road.
I came from the city in my carriage, and he came on horseback, straight from the training ground. And, as always happens in such cases, when you need to say a lot to each other, a lump came up in your throat, and we didn’t say what we wanted at all. A lot has remained unsaid. And what can you say goodbye to, if you know that nothing can be changed ...
When Nicky left for the training ground, I stood by the shed for a long time and looked after him until he was out of sight. And he kept looking back and looking back... I did not cry, but my heart was torn with grief, and as he moved away, my soul became heavier and heavier.
I returned to the city, to my empty and orphaned house. It seemed to me that life was over and there would be nothing ahead but pain and bitterness.
According to rumors, Kshesinskaya received 100 thousand rubles and a house as the final payment for her relationship with her august lover. In the future, they most likely never met again. But Nikolai periodically helped his ex-girlfriend in absentia in her theatrical affairs. Nothing is known about even one personal meeting Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Kshesinskaya.
Photo frame from the movie
To the cinema
Nikolai had a competitor - lieutenant Vorontsov (played by Danila Kozlovsky). He is in love with Matilda Kshesinskaya so much that he is trying to interfere with his main rival. For example, he wants to beat him with a crown. The future Emperor Nicholas II shows mercy to the unlucky criminal - he replaces the death penalty with compulsory treatment.
In life
No admirer of Kshesinskaya by the name of Vorontsov is known. The ballerina preferred members of the imperial family more: after breaking up with Nicky, she was the mistress of the Grand Dukes Sergei Mikhailovich and Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov. Yes, and a Russian officer could hardly raise his hand to the Tsarevich because of the ballerina - this does not fit into the code of noble honor. So in this case it is purely artistic fiction.
Photo frame from the movie
To the cinema
Kshesinskaya is present at the coronation of Nicholas I in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, during which the emperor faints, and the crown falls from his head.
In life
The ballerina was not present at the coronation of the emperor and, of course, she could not run up any stairs in the cathedral. In her memoirs, she writes that she wanted to look at the electric illumination of the Grand Kremlin Palace during the festive celebrations, but “I had to abandon my idea because of the crowds that overwhelmed the streets. And yet I managed to see the most beautiful patterns on the facade of the Kremlin Palace.” There is also no documentary evidence that Nikolai became ill during the coronation ceremony. According to rumors, the chain of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called only fell from the emperor’s chest.
The conflict, in the center of which was a historical melodrama about the relationship between Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich and the ballerina of the Imperial Theaters Matilda Kshesinskaya, has been gaining momentum for the past year.
The TASS correspondent watched the film on the eve of its wide release and tells how the expectations from the film, provoked by the hype around it, coincide with reality.
Love triangle
One of the unexpected decisions of the picture is that all three main roles were played by foreign actors: the German Lars Eidinger (Nicholas II), the Polish Mikhalina Olshanskaya (Matilda) and the German Louise Wolfram (Alice of Hesse). Their faces are hardly familiar to the broad Russian audience. And this is the undoubted advantage of the film.
The very history of premarital relations between the future emperor and the famous ballerina fits perfectly into the language of cinema. Moreover, the genre of the picture is historical melodrama. This means that the director knew where to try to squeeze a tear out of the viewer, where to add a passionate kiss, where - a beautiful mass scene from a ballet performance, and where just to keep the plan against the backdrop of a powerful orchestral soundtrack.
This movie is intended for those who prefer costume love melodramas. And that would have been the end of it if Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, Princess Alice of Hesse and ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya had not been named as the main characters. The role in the history of the first two is not worth recalling. But about the latter, perhaps it’s worth it - Kshesinskaya did a lot not only for the development, but also for the subsequent spread of the traditions of Russian ballet in Europe.
Historical truth versus fiction
Alexei Uchitel has several biographical paintings behind him. His first feature film was Giselle's Mania (1995), a biopic about the Russian ballerina Olga Spesivtseva. Then he shot "The Diary of His Wife" (2000) about the writer Ivan Bunin.
And in 2014, he began filming "Matilda", which took place on a special scale - in Tsarskoye Selo, in the palaces of St. Petersburg, in the specially built scenery of the Assumption Cathedral. A large-scale idea with a big budget turned into a "large-scale" story of release in films.
Communicating with the audience and journalists before the premiere, Alexei Uchitel repeatedly emphasized that he was making a feature film, which means that he had the right to fiction. There was a lot of fiction in the picture, and it is hardly worth considering "Matilda" in terms of correspondence to historical events. Here you can fall into a trap and start endlessly discussing the question "it was - it was not." It's obvious that historical truth will not be on the side of the creators of the picture.
All historical events as if compressed - the wedding precedes the coronation, after which Nicholas II allegedly immediately goes to Khodynka. The future empress comes to Moscow almost alone, and in the same way, without visible accompaniment, she moves around St. Petersburg. On the eve of the wedding, the Tsarevich's romance with the ballerina Kshesinskaya is still ongoing. And even at the time of the coronation, the persistent dancer manages to break into the cathedral and, at the most crucial moment, scream "Niki!"
On the premonition of disaster
A separate line of the picture is the very premonition of a catastrophe that no one knows about yet, but it seems to be felt in the air. Starting with the train crash in which Alexander III suffers and ending with preparations for the coronation, when the future empress is injured with a hairpin and blood flows down her face - all this persistently reminds the viewer that global upheavals and big changes are about to come.
Horror adds and actually fictional character, a strange German experimenter. In his laboratory or clinic, the most sophisticated torture is practiced. It is to him that lieutenant Vorontsov (Danila Kozlovsky) gets - a passionate and insane admirer of Kshesinskaya, who is suspected of attempting to assassinate the king. Young man they put them in a huge aquarium, where they keep them, apparently for days, giving them an occasional breath of fresh air.
The future empress is also fond of mysticism - she arranges seances and tries to get rid of her rival, resorting to the help of that same German doctor.
About throwing between three women
The future emperor Nicholas II, according to Alexei Uchitel, is almost a typical man, who is pressured by an imperious mother, he is passionate about one woman, and is forced to marry another. The relationships of the characters do not go beyond this standard scheme.
These main characters essentially do not tell the viewer anything new. Nicholas II is weak-willed and soft, Alice is stereotypically dry, as supposedly befits a German woman, Kshesinskaya is obstinate and self-willed, which, in the view of the layman, a ballerina should be. It is unlikely that an ignorant viewer will understand that Kshesinskaya, judging by the memoirs of a contemporary, was indeed an outstanding dancer, possessed charisma, and the characters of the future emperor and his wife were many times more interesting and multifaceted.
Elena Vasilyeva
Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya is a Russian ballerina with Polish roots who performed on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater from 1890 to 1917, the mistress of the last Russian emperor, Nicholas II. The story of their love formed the basis feature film Alexei Uchitel "Matilda".Early years. A family
Matilda Kshesinskaya was born on August 31 (according to the old style - 19), 1872 in St. Petersburg. Initially, the surname of the family sounded like "Krzhezinsky". Later it was transformed into "Kshesinsky" for harmony. 
Her parents are ballet dancers of the Mariinsky Theater: her father Felix Kshesinsky was a ballerina, who in 1851 from Poland to Russian empire invited by Nicholas I himself, and mother Yulia Deminskaya, at the time of their acquaintance, was raising five children from her deceased first husband, the dancer Lede, was a soloist of the corps de ballet. Matilda's grandfather Jan was a famous violinist and opera singer who sang from the stage of the Warsaw Opera.
At the age of 8, Matilda became a student of the Imperial Theater School in St. Petersburg, where her brother Joseph and sister Yulia were already studying. The day of the final exam - March 23, 1890 - a talented girl who graduated as an external student, remembered for a lifetime.
According to tradition, Emperor Alexander III sat in the examination committee, who was accompanied that day by his son and heir to the throne, Nicholas II. The 17-year-old ballerina showed herself perfectly, and in parting, the emperor gave her parting words: “Be the adornment and glory of our ballet!” Later, in her memoirs, Matilda wrote: "Then I said to myself that I was obliged to justify the hopes placed on me."
Ballerina career
Immediately after graduating from college, Matilda was invited to the main troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. Already in the first season, she was assigned small roles in 22 ballets and 21 operas. 
Colleagues remembered Matilda as an incredibly hard-working dancer who inherited a talent for dramatic expressiveness from her father. She could stand for hours at the ballet barre, overcoming the pain.
In 1898, the prima began taking lessons from Enrico Cecchetti, an outstanding Italian dancer. With his help, she became the first Russian ballerina to masterfully perform 32 fouettes in a row. Previously, only the Italian Pierina Legnani succeeded, whose rivalry with Matilda lasted for many years.
After six years of work in the theater, the ballerina was awarded the title of prima. Among her repertoire were the Dragee Fairy ("The Nutcracker"), Odette (" Swan Lake”), Paquita, Esmeralda, Aurora (“Sleeping Beauty”) and Princess Aspicia (“Pharaoh’s Daughter”). Her unique style combined the impeccability of the Italian and the lyricism of the Russian ballet schools. To this day, a whole era, a great time for Russian ballet, is associated with her name.
Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II
The relationship between Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II began at a dinner party after the final exam. The heir to the throne was seriously carried away by the airy and fragile ballerina, and with the full approval of his mother. 
Empress Maria Feodorovna was seriously worried about the fact that her son (before meeting Kshesinskaya) did not show any interest in girls, so she encouraged his affair with Matilda in every possible way. For example, Nikolai Alexandrovich took money for gifts for his beloved from a fund specially created for this purpose. Among them was the house on the English Embankment, previously owned by the composer Rimsky-Korsakov.
For a long time they were content with chance meetings. Before each performance, Matilda looked out the window for a long time in the hope of seeing her lover ascending the steps, and when he came, she danced with double enthusiasm. In the spring of 1891, after long separation(Nicholas went to Japan), the heir first secretly left the palace and went to Matilda.
Trailer of the film "Matilda"
Their romance lasted until 1894 and ended due to the engagement of Nicholas to the British princess Alice of Darmstadt, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who stole the heart of the emperor's successor. Matilda was very upset by the gap, but with all her heart she supported Nicholas II, realizing that a crowned person could not marry a ballerina. She was on the side of her former lover when the emperor and his wife opposed his union with Alice.
Before his marriage, Nicholas II entrusted the care of Matilda to his cousin, Prince Sergei Mikhailovich, president of the Russian Theater Society. Several next years he was a true friend and patron of the ballerina.
However, Nicholas, at that time already the emperor, still had feelings for his former lover. He continued to follow her career. It was rumored that not without his patronage, Kshesinskaya received the place of prima Mariinsky in 1886. In 1890, in honor of her benefit performance, he presented Matilda with an elegant diamond brooch with sapphire, which he and his wife had been choosing for a long time.
Documentary film about Matilda Kshesinskaya with video footage
After that same benefit performance, Matilda was introduced to another cousin of Nicholas II - Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich. As the legend says, he stared at the beauty and accidentally knocked over a glass of wine on her expensive dress sent from France. But the ballerina saw this as a happy sign. Thus began their romance, which later ended in marriage.
In 1902, Matilda gave birth to a son, Vladimir, from Prince Andrei. The birth was very difficult, a woman in labor with a newborn was miraculously pulled out of the other world.
Life at the beginning of the 20th century
In 1903, the ballerina was invited to America, but she refused the offer, preferring to stay in her homeland. At the turn of the century, the prima had already achieved all conceivable heights on the stage, and in 1904 she decided to quit the main troupe of the Mariinsky Theater. She did not stop dancing, but now she was under contract and received a huge fee for each performance. 
In 1908, Matilda went on a tour to Paris, where she met a young aristocrat, Peter Vladimirovich, who was 21 years her junior. They began a passionate romance, because of which Prince Andrei challenged his opponent to a duel and shot him in the nose.
After the revolution of 1917, the court ballerina was forced to emigrate first to Constantinople, then to France, where she spent the rest of her life in a villa in the town of Cap d'Ail with her husband and son. Almost all the property remained in Russia, the family was forced to sell all the jewelry, but this was not enough, and Matilda opened a ballet school, which was a success thanks to her big name.
During the war, Kshesinskaya fell ill with arthritis - since then, every movement was given to her with great difficulty, but the school still flourished. When she gave herself entirely to a new passion, gambling, the studio became her only source of a fairly impoverished income.
Death
Matilda Kshesinskaya, mistress of the last Russian emperor, lived a bright, amazing life. She did not live a few months before her 100th birthday. On December 6, 1971, she died and was buried in the cemetery of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois in the same grave with her husband. 
In 1969, 2 years before Matilda's death, the stars of the Soviet ballet Ekaterina Maksimova and Vladimir Vasiliev visited her estate. As they later wrote in their memoirs, they were met on the threshold by a completely gray-haired, withered old woman with surprisingly young eyes full of brilliance. When they told Matilda that her name is still remembered in her homeland, she replied: "And they will always remember."
