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Catherine Princess Radziwill. Behind the veil at the Russian court
Behind the veil at the Russian court
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I. NICHOLAS I. DIES
CHAPTER II. ALEXANDER II. ON THE THRONE
CHAPTER III. ANECDOTES OF THE IMPERIAL FAMILY
CHAPTER IV. THE INFLUENCE OF THE GRAND DUCHESS HÉLÈNE PAVLOVNA
CHAPTER V. THE REFORMS OF ALEXANDER II. AND HIS MINISTERS
CHAPTER VI. THE ADLERBERGS AND THE SCHOUVALOFFS
CHAPTER VII. ST. PETERSBURG BEFORE THE WAR OF 1877-8
CHAPTER VIII. THE EASTERN WAR AND AFTERWARDS
CHAPTER IX. THE BERLIN CONGRESS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES
CHAPTER X. ALEXANDER’S LOVE AFFAIRS
CHAPTER XI. ASSASSINATION OF ALEXANDER II
CHAPTER XII. ALEXANDER III. AND HIS CONSORT
CHAPTER XIII. THE IMPERIAL FAMILY IN 1881
CHAPTER XIV. THE FRIENDS AND MINISTERS OF ALEXANDER III
CHAPTER XV. ALEXANDER III IS CROWNED
CHAPTER XVI. ST. PETERSBURG SOCIETY FROM 1883 TO 1894
CHAPTER XVII. THE FOREIGN POLICY OF ALEXANDER III
CHAPTER XVIII. ALEXANDER’S MINISTERS
CHAPTER XIX. THE POLICE UNDER ALEXANDER III
CHAPTER XX. THE TRUTH ABOUT BORKY
CHAPTER XXI. LAST DAYS AT LIVADIA
BOOK II. 1894-1913
CHAPTER I. FUNERAL AND WEDDING BELLS
CHAPTER II. A CHARACTER SKETCH OF NICHOLAS II
CHAPTER III. THE EMPRESS ALIX
CHAPTER IV. THE IMPERIAL FAMILY TO-DAY
CHAPTER V. THE ZEMSTVO OF TVER INCIDENT AND WHAT CAME OF IT
CHAPTER VI. THE ENTOURAGE OF THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS
CHAPTER VII. THE CORONATION OF NICHOLAS II
CHAPTER VIII. THE SPRINGTIDE OF DISCONTENT
CHAPTER IX. THE WAR WITH JAPAN
CHAPTER X. MUKDEN AND TSUSHIMA
CHAPTER XI. THE BIRTH OF THE TSAREVITCH
CHAPTER XII. THE DEATH OF MADEMOISELLE VIETROFF
CHAPTER XIII. THE BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION
CHAPTER XIV. PEACE WITH JAPAN; WAR AT HOME
CHAPTER XV. THE FIRST TWO DUMAS
CHAPTER XVI. THE CAREER OF M. STOLYPIN
CHAPTER XVII. A CHARACTER SKETCH OF M. KOKOVTSOV
CHAPTER XVIII. THE FOREIGN OFFICE UNDER NICHOLAS II
CHAPTER XIX. ST. PETERSBURG SOCIETY AT THE PRESENT DAY
CHAPTER XX. THE EMPRESS ALEXANDRA FEODOROVNA AND HER CHILDREN
CHAPTER XXI. THE 300TH ANNIVERSARY OF A DYNASTY
Отрывок из книги
Catherine Princess Radziwill
Published by Good Press, 2021
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Of the three daughters born to the Emperor Nicholas I. and the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the second, Alexandra, died a few months after marriage; she was extremely beautiful, and it is said that her mother never recovered from the blow caused by her death. The youngest—the Grand Duchess Olga, with whom an Austrian Archduke had been in love, and whose proposed marriage had failed on account of religious questions—became Queen of Würtemberg, and had neither a happy nor a pleasant life. She also was extremely beautiful, and possessed of her mother’s grand manner, a Sovereign every inch of her, with that born dignity which it is next to impossible to acquire. Her husband was her inferior in everything, and no children were born to her in whom she could have forgotten her other disappointments. She died after a lingering illness, very much regretted by those who knew her well, but almost a stranger to the country over which she had reigned.
Not less lovely, but with a very different disposition, was her eldest sister, the Grand Duchess Marie Nicolaievna, who married the son of Prince Eugène de Beauharnais and Princess Amelia of Bavaria. Clever, with a shade of intrigue, wonderfully gifted, but of a passionate, warm disposition, she made a very inferior marriage, from sheer disappointment at having missed a brilliant alliance which her coquetry had caused to be abandoned. Extremely fascinating, a fact of which she was perfectly aware, she was a general favourite in society, and so much beloved that by a kind of tacit agreement everybody united their efforts to hide from her stern father her numerous frailties. When at length the Duke of Leuchtenberg wanted to make a scandal and separated from his wife, the Emperor interfered, and granted to his daughter’s children the title of Prince (or Princess) Romanovsky. She afterwards married Count Gregoire Strogonoff, but lacked the courage to tell the fact to the Emperor, and Nicholas I. died in ignorance of it. There is no doubt he would never have forgiven her, though the Strogonoffs rank among the great nobles of Russia. The union, indeed, was only acknowledged by Alexander II. after a long struggle. The Grand Duchess bought a villa in Florence, and spent there a great part of the year, surrounded by artists and indulging in her taste for painting and sculpture. She had been elected President of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, and her efforts were certainly directed towards the development of artistic activity in her native country. She died in Russia, whither she had wished to be brought back when it became evident that she was attacked by an incurable disease. By her first husband she left two daughters and four sons, one of whom was killed during the Turkish campaign. By her second marriage she had one daughter, called Hélène, who was the favourite of the present Dowager Empress; she was twice married, first to a Colonel Scheremetieff, and secondly to an officer named Miklachevsky, and died not long ago. She bore an extreme likeness to her grandfather, the Emperor Nicholas I., and, though a very great lady in manner, was not a favourite in St. Petersburg Society, which found her haughty and stiff.
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