The famous ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, the favorite of Nicholas II, lived a long life full of adventures. Her influence on the royal family was so strong that many contemporaries feared her.
Childhood and family
Matilda Kshesinskaya was born in 1872. Her parents were Poles and were invited to Russia as talented artists. In the Kshesinsky family, everyone danced, so the future of little Matilda was practically predetermined. By the way, the Kshesinskys had another dancer daughter, who at that time was called Kshesinskaya the first. And Matilda, respectively, became the second.
Education and acquaintance with Nicholas II
At the age of 8, Matilda entered the Imperial Theater School. The girl, according to the teachers, was extremely hardworking, although she did not have outstanding ballet skills.
She graduated from the Kshesinskaya Theater School with honors. The day of the final exam became fateful for the ballerina, since on this day the girl met Nicholas II. The heir to the throne sat in the admissions office with his father. And the young dancer, fluttering across the stage like a butterfly, won the hearts of both men. And for Nicolas II, apparently, it was the first love.
The romance of the heir to the throne with the dancer developed rapidly. Nikolai did not spare money for gifts for his beloved and once gave her a mansion in the center of St. Petersburg. Matilda herself was also very keen on the heir to the throne. She writes in her diary that Nikolai is the best man she has known.
But the heir to the Russian throne cannot marry a ballerina. For this, there are more suitable candidates from noble persons. Therefore, the romance of the ballerina and Nicholas II ended on the day when the heir to the throne married Alexandra Feodorovna, who later became empress.
Creative way
Matilda Kshesinskaya danced at the Mariinsky Theater for 27 years. She received huge royalties for her performances and performed almost all the main parts. Many people did not like her, believing that her career is going uphill only thanks to a close acquaintance with the royal family. Be that as it may, she was an excellent ballerina.
Personal life
Matilda is credited with many novels with noble persons of that time. Among other things, there are rumors that Matilda met alternately with several cousins of Nicholas II. However, rumors may be invented by ill-wishers, of whom Matilda had many.
It is only known that Kshesinskaya was married to Prince Andrei, a cousin of the Russian tsar. The ballerina has a son, Vladimir, whose fatherhood is attributed to another cousin of Nicholas II, Sergei.
last years of life
After the revolution, Matilda and her family moved to France. There she opened her own dance school and taught very successfully. The students said that in the classroom, Kshesinskaya was always tactful and never raised her voice.
Matilda Kshesinskaya died at the age of 99, and was buried in France.
