Nicholas I Pavlovich. Born June 25 (July 6), 1796 in Tsarskoye Selo - died February 18 (March 2), 1855 in St. Petersburg. Emperor of All Russia since December 14 (26), 1825, Tsar of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland.

The main dates of the reign of Nicholas I:

♦ 1826 - Establishment of the Third Branch of the Imperial Chancellery - the secret police to monitor the state of minds in the state;
♦ 1826-1832 - Codification of the laws of the Russian Empire by M. M. Speransky;
♦ 1826-1828 - War with Persia;
♦ 1828 - Foundation of the Technological Institute in St. Petersburg;
♦ 1828-1829 - War with Turkey;
♦ 1830-1831 - Uprising in Poland;
♦ 1832 - Cancellation of the constitution of the Kingdom of Poland, approval of the new status of the Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire;
♦ 1834 - The Imperial University of St. Vladimir in Kyiv was founded (the university was founded by decree of Nicholas I on November 8 (20), 1833 as the Kyiv Imperial University of St. Vladimir on the basis of the Vilna University and the Kremenets Lyceum closed after the Polish uprising of 1830-1831);
♦ 1837 - Opening of the first railway in Russia Petersburg - Tsarskoye Selo;
♦ 1837-1841 - Reform of the state peasants, carried out by Kiselyov;
♦ 1841 - Prohibited the sale of peasants one by one and without land;
♦ 1839-1843 - Kankrin's financial reform;
♦ 1843 - Prohibited the purchase of peasants by landless nobles;
♦ 1839-1841 - Eastern crisis, in which Russia acted together with England against the France-Egypt coalition;
♦ 1848 - Peasants received the right to redeem themselves with land when selling the landlord's estate for debts, as well as the right to acquire real estate;
♦ 1849 - Participation of Russian troops in the suppression of the Hungarian uprising;
♦ 1851 - Completion of the construction of the Nikolaev railway, which connected St. Petersburg with Moscow. Opening of the New Hermitage;
♦ 1853-1856 - Crimean War. Nikolai did not live to see its end - he died in 1855.

Mother - Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Nicholas was the third son of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna. Born a few months before the accession of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich to the throne. He was the last of the grandchildren born during her lifetime. The birth of Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich was announced in Tsarskoye Selo by cannon fire and bell ringing, and news was sent to St. Petersburg by courier.

He received an unusual name for the Romanov dynasty. The court historian M. Korf even specifically noted that the baby was called the name "unprecedented in our royal house." In the imperial house of the Romanov dynasty, children were not named after Nikolai. There is no explanation for the naming of Nicholas in the sources, although Nicholas the Wonderworker was highly revered in Russia. Perhaps Catherine II took into account the semantics of the name, which goes back to the Greek words "victory" and "people".

Odes were written for the birth of the Grand Duke, the author of one of them was G. R. Derzhavin. Name day - December 6 according to the Julian calendar (Nicholas the Wonderworker).

According to the order established by Empress Catherine II, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich from birth entered the care of the Empress, but the death of Catherine II, which soon followed, stopped her influence on the course of the upbringing of the Grand Duke. His nanny was Charlotte Karlovna Lieven from Livland. She was for the first seven years the only mentor of Nicholas. The boy sincerely became attached to his first teacher, and during early childhood, "the heroic, chivalrously noble, strong and open character of the nanny Charlotte Karlovna Lieven" left an imprint on his character.

Since November 1800, General M. I. Lamzdorf became the tutor of Nikolai and Mikhail. The choice of General Lamzdorf for the post of educator of the Grand Duke was made by Emperor Paul I. Paul I pointed out: “just don’t make such rake out of my sons as German princes.” In the highest order of November 23 (December 5), 1800, it was announced: "Lieutenant-General Lamzdorf was appointed to be under His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich." The general stayed with his pupil for 17 years. Obviously, Lamzdorf fully satisfied the pedagogical requirements of Maria Feodorovna. So in a parting letter in 1814, Maria Feodorovna called General Lamzdorf the “second father” of the Grand Dukes Nikolai and Mikhail.

The death of his father, Paul I in March 1801, could not but be imprinted in the memory of the four-year-old Nicholas. Subsequently, he described what happened in his memoirs: “The events of this sad day are preserved in my memory as well as a vague dream; I was awakened and saw Countess Lieven before me. When I was dressed, we noticed through the window, on the drawbridge under the church, the guards, which were not there the day before; there was the entire Semyonovsky regiment in an extremely careless form. None of us suspected that we had lost our father; we were taken downstairs to my mother, and soon from there we went with her, sisters, Mikhail and Countess Liven to the Winter Palace. The guard went out into the courtyard of the Mikhailovsky Palace and saluted. My mother immediately silenced him. My mother was lying in the back of the room when Emperor Alexander entered, accompanied by Konstantin and Prince Nikolai Ivanovich Saltykov; he threw himself on his knees before his mother, and I can still hear his sobs. They brought him water, and they took us away. It was a blessing for us to see our rooms again and, I must tell you the truth, our wooden horses, which we forgot there.

This was the first blow of fate inflicted on him during his most tender age. Since then, concern for his upbringing and education has been concentrated entirely and exclusively in the jurisdiction of the widowed Empress Maria Feodorovna, out of a sense of delicacy towards which Emperor Alexander I refrained from any influence on the upbringing of his younger brothers.

Empress Maria Feodorovna's greatest concern in the education of Nikolai Pavlovich was to try to turn him away from the passion for military exercises, which was found in him from early childhood. The passion for the technical side of military affairs, instilled in Russia by Paul I, took deep and strong roots in the royal family - Alexander I, despite his liberalism, was an ardent supporter of the watch parade and all its subtleties, like Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. The younger brothers were not inferior in this passion to the older ones. From early childhood, Nikolai had a particular fondness for military toys and stories about military operations. The best reward for him was permission to go to a parade or a divorce, where he watched everything that happened with special attention, dwelling on even the smallest details.

Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich was educated at home - teachers were assigned to him and his brother Mikhail. But Nikolai did not show much zeal for study. He did not recognize the humanities, but he was well versed in the art of war, was fond of fortification, and was familiar with engineering.

Nikolai Pavlovich, having completed the course of his education, was himself horrified by his ignorance and after the wedding he tried to fill this gap, but the predominance of military occupations and family life distracted him from constant office work. “His mind is not processed, his upbringing was careless,” Queen Victoria wrote about Emperor Nicholas I in 1844.

Nikolai Pavlovich's passion for painting is known, which he studied in childhood under the guidance of the painter I. A. Akimov and the author of religious and historical compositions, Professor V. K. Shebuev.

During the Patriotic War of 1812 and the subsequent military campaigns of the Russian army in Europe, Nicholas was eager to go to war, but met with a decisive refusal from the Empress Mother. In 1813, the 17-year-old Grand Duke was taught strategy. At this time, from his sister Anna Pavlovna, with whom he was very friendly, Nicholas accidentally learned that Alexander I had been to Silesia, where he had seen the family of the Prussian king, that Alexander liked his eldest daughter, Princess Charlotte, and that it was his intention that Nicholas ever saw her.

Only at the beginning of 1814, Emperor Alexander I allowed his younger brothers to join the army abroad. On February 5 (17), 1814, Nikolai and Mikhail left Petersburg. On this trip, they were accompanied by General Lamzdorf, gentlemen: I. F. Savrasov, A. P. Aledinsky and P. I. Arsenyev, Colonel Gianotti and Dr. Rühl. After 17 days they reached Berlin, where 17-year-old Nicholas first saw the 16-year-old daughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia, Princess Charlotte.

Princess Charlotte - the future wife of Nicholas I in childhood

After spending one day in Berlin, the travelers proceeded through Leipzig, Weimar, where they saw their sister Maria Pavlovna. Then through Frankfurt am Main, Bruchsal, where the Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna was then, Rastatt, Freiburg and Basel. Near Basel, they first heard enemy shots, as the Austrians and Bavarians were besieging the nearby fortress of Güningen. Then, through Altkirch, they entered the borders of France and reached the rear of the army in Vesoul. However, Alexander I ordered the brothers to return to Basel. Only when the news came about the capture of Paris and the exile of Napoleon I to the island of Elba, the Grand Dukes received permission to arrive in Paris.

On November 4 (16), 1815 in Berlin, during an official dinner, the engagement of Princess Charlotte and Tsarevich and Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich was announced.

After the military campaigns of the Russian army in Europe, professors were invited to the Grand Duke, who were supposed to "read the military sciences as fully as possible." For this purpose, the well-known engineering general Karl Opperman and, to help him, Colonels Gianotti and Andrei Markevich were chosen.

Since 1815, military conversations between Nikolai Pavlovich and General Opperman began.

Upon returning from the second campaign, starting in December 1815, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich continued his studies with some of his former professors. Mikhail Balugyansky read "the science of finance", Nikolai Akhverdov read Russian history (from the reign to the time of troubles). With Markevich, the Grand Duke was engaged in "military translations", and with Gianotti - reading the works of Giraud and Lloyd about various campaigns of the wars of 1814 and 1815, as well as analyzing the project "on the expulsion of the Turks from Europe under certain given conditions."

At the beginning of 1816, the University of Abo of the Grand Duchy of Finland, following the example of the universities of Sweden, most submissively interceded: “Will Alexander I honor with royal grace to grant him a chancellor in the person of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich.” According to the historian M. M. Borodkin, this idea belongs entirely to Tengström, the bishop of the Abo diocese, a supporter of Russia. Alexander I granted the request, and Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich was appointed chancellor of the university. His task was to maintain the status of the university and the conformity of university life with the spirit and traditions. In memory of this event, the St. Petersburg Mint minted a bronze medal. Also in 1816 he was appointed chief of the cavalry chasseurs.

In the summer of 1816, Nikolai Pavlovich, to complete his education, was to undertake a trip around Russia to get acquainted with his fatherland in administrative, commercial and industrial terms. Upon his return, it was planned to make another trip to England. On this occasion, on behalf of Empress Maria Feodorovna, a special note was drawn up, which set out the main principles of the administrative system of provincial Russia, described the areas that the Grand Duke had to pass, in historical, domestic, industrial and geographical terms, indicated what exactly could to be the subject of conversations between the Grand Duke and representatives of the provincial authorities, which should be paid attention to.

Thanks to a trip to some provinces of Russia, Nikolai Pavlovich got a visual idea of ​​​​the internal state and problems of his country, and in England he got acquainted with the experience of developing the socio-political system of the state. Nicholas's own political system of views was distinguished by a pronounced conservative, anti-liberal orientation.

Growth of Nicholas I: 205 centimeters.

Personal life of Nicholas I:

On July 1 (13), 1817, the marriage of Grand Duke Nicholas with Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna, who was called Princess Charlotte of Prussia before her conversion to Orthodoxy, took place. The wedding took place on the birthday of the young princess in the court church of the Winter Palace. A week before the wedding, June 24 (6) July 1817, Charlotte converted to Orthodoxy and was given a new name - Alexandra Feodorovna, and after betrothal to Grand Duke Nicholas on June 25 (7) July 1817 she became known as the Grand Duchess with the title of Her Imperial Highness. The couple were each other's fourth cousins ​​and sisters (they had a common great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother). This marriage strengthened the political union of Russia and Prussia.

Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna had 7 children:

♦ son (1818-1881). 1st wife - Maria Alexandrovna; 2nd wife - Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova;
♦ daughter Maria Nikolaevna (1819-1876). 1st spouse - Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg; 2nd spouse - Count Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganov;
♦ daughter Olga Nikolaevna (1822-1892). Spouse - Friedrich-Karl-Alexander, King of Württemberg;
♦ daughter Alexandra Nikolaevna (1825-1844). Spouse - Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hesse-Kassel;
♦ son Konstantin Nikolaevich (1827-1892). Wife - Alexandra Iosifovna;
♦ son Nikolai Nikolaevich (1831-1891). Wife - Alexandra Petrovna;
♦ son Mikhail Nikolaevich (1832-1909). Wife - Olga Fedorovna.

Alexandra Feodorovna - wife of Nicholas I

The maid of honor A.F. Tyutcheva, who lived at court for a long time, wrote in her memoirs: “Emperor Nicholas had for his wife, this fragile, irresponsible and graceful creature, a passionate and despotic adoration of a strong nature for a weak being, whose only ruler and legislator he feels. For him, it was a lovely bird, which he kept locked up in a gold and jeweled cage, which he fed with nectar and ambrosia, lulled with melodies and aromas, but whose wings he would cut off without regret if she wanted to escape from the gilded bars of her cage. . But in her magical dungeon, the bird did not even remember her wings.

Also had 3 to 9 alleged illegitimate children.

Nicholas I for 17 years was in connection with the maid of honor Varvara Nelidova. According to rumors, the relationship began when, after 7 births of the 34-year-old Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (1832), doctors forbade the emperor from marital relations with her out of fear for her health. The emperor's relationship with Nelidova was kept in deep secrecy.

Varvara Nelidova - mistress of Nicholas I

Decembrist revolt

Nikolai Pavlovich kept a personal diary irregularly; daily entries cover a short period from 1822 to 1825. The entries were made in French in very small handwriting with frequent word abbreviations. The last entry was made by him on the eve of the Decembrist uprising.

In 1820, Emperor Alexander I informed Nikolai Pavlovich and his wife that the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, intended to renounce his right to the throne, so Nikolai would become the heir as the next brother in seniority. Nikolai himself was by no means pleased with this prospect. In his memoirs, he wrote: “The sovereign left, but my wife and I remained in a position that I can only liken to that feeling that, I believe, will amaze a person walking calmly along a pleasant road dotted with flowers and with which the most pleasant views open everywhere, when suddenly an abyss opens under his feet, into which an irresistible force plunges him, not allowing him to retreat or return. Here is a perfect picture of our terrible situation."

In 1823, Konstantin Pavlovich formally renounced his rights to the throne, since he had no children, was divorced and married in a second morganatic marriage to the Polish Countess Grudzinskaya. On August 16 (28), 1823, Alexander I signed a secretly drawn up manifesto, which approved the abdication of the Tsarevich and Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich and approved Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich as the Heir to the Throne. On all packages with the text of the manifesto, Alexander I himself wrote: "Keep until my demand, and in the event of my death, open before any other action."

November 19 (December 1), 1825, while in Taganrog, Emperor Alexander I died suddenly. In St. Petersburg, the news of the death of Alexander I was received only on the morning of November 27 during a prayer service for the health of the emperor. Nicholas, the first of those present, swore allegiance to "Emperor Constantine I" and began to swear in the troops. Constantine himself was in Warsaw at that moment, being the de facto governor of the Kingdom of Poland. On the same day, the State Council met, at which the contents of the Manifesto of 1823 were heard. Finding themselves in a dual position, when the Manifesto pointed to one heir, and the oath was taken to another, the members of the Council turned to Nicholas. He refused to recognize the manifesto of Alexander I and refused to proclaim himself emperor until the final expression of the will of his elder brother. Despite the content of the Manifesto handed over to him, Nicholas called on the Council to take an oath to Constantine "for the peace of the State." Following this call, the State Council, the Senate and the Synod took an oath of allegiance to "Konstantin I".

The next day, a decree was issued on the universal oath to the new emperor. On November 30, the nobles of Moscow swore allegiance to Konstantin. In St. Petersburg, the oath was postponed until December 14.

Nevertheless, Konstantin refused to come to St. Petersburg and confirmed his renunciation in private letters to Nikolai Pavlovich, and then sent rescripts to the Chairman of the State Council (December 3 (15), 1825) and the Minister of Justice (December 8 (20), 1825). Constantine did not accept the throne, and at the same time did not want to formally renounce him as emperor, to whom the oath had already been taken. An ambiguous and extremely tense situation of the interregnum was created.

Unable to convince his brother to take the throne and having received his final refusal (albeit without a formal act of renunciation), Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich decided to accept the throne in accordance with the will of Alexander I.

On the evening of December 12 (24), 1825, M. M. Speransky drew up a Manifesto on the accession to the throne of Emperor Nicholas I. Nicholas signed it on December 13 in the morning. Attached to the Manifesto was a letter from Constantine to Alexander I dated January 14 (26), 1822 on the refusal to inherit and the manifesto of Alexander I dated August 16 (28), 1823.

The manifesto on accession to the throne was announced by Nicholas at a meeting of the State Council at about 22:30 on December 13 (25). A separate clause in the Manifesto stipulated that November 19, the day of the death of Alexander I, would be considered the time of accession to the throne, which was an attempt to legally close the gap in the continuity of autocratic power.

A second oath was appointed, or, as they said in the troops, “re-oath”, this time to Nicholas I. The re-oath in St. Petersburg was scheduled for December 14th. On this day, a group of officers - members of a secret society appointed an uprising in order to prevent the troops and the Senate from taking the oath to the new tsar and prevent Nicholas I from taking the throne. The main goal of the rebels was the liberalization of the Russian socio-political system: the establishment of a provisional government, the abolition of serfdom, the equality of all before the law, democratic freedoms (press, confession, labor), the introduction of a jury, the introduction of compulsory military service for all classes, the election of officials, abolishing the poll tax and changing the form of government to a constitutional monarchy or republic.

The rebels decided to block the Senate, send a revolutionary delegation there consisting of Ryleev and Pushchin and present the Senate with a demand not to swear allegiance to Nicholas I, declare the tsarist government deposed and issue a revolutionary manifesto to the Russian people. However, the uprising was brutally suppressed on the same day. Despite the efforts of the Decembrists to stage a coup d'état, troops and government offices were sworn in to the new emperor. Later, the surviving participants in the uprising were exiled, and five leaders were executed.

“My dear Konstantin! Your will is done: I am the emperor, but at what cost, my God! At the cost of the blood of my subjects!”, he wrote to his brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, on December 14.

The highest manifesto, given on January 28 (February 9), 1826, with reference to the “Institution of the Imperial Family” on April 5 (16), 1797, decreed: “First, as the days of our life are in the hands of God: then in case of OUR death, until the legal age of majority of the Heir, Grand Duke ALEXANDER NIKOLAEVICH, we determine the Ruler of the State and the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Finland, inseparable from him, OUR BEST BROTHER, Grand Duke MIKHAIL PAVLOVICH ... ".

He was crowned on August 22 (September 3), 1826 in Moscow - instead of June of the same year, as originally planned - due to mourning for the Dowager Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, who died on May 4 in Belev. The coronation of Nicholas I and Empress Alexandra took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin.

On May 12 (24), 1829, the coronation of Nicholas I to the Kingdom of Poland took place in the Senator's Hall of the Royal Castle - a unique event in the history of Russia and Poland.

Full title of Nicholas I as emperor:

“By God’s hastening mercy, We are NICHOLAS the First, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Moscow, Kyiv, Vladimir, Novgorod, Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Chersonis-Tauride, Sovereign of Pskov and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuanian, Volyn, Podolsky and Finland, Prince of Estonia, Livonia, Courland and Semigalsky, Samogitsky, Belostok, Korelsky, Tver, Yugorsky, Perm, Vyatsky, Bulgarian and others; Sovereign and Grand Duke of Novgorod Nizovsky lands, Chernigov, Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Belozersky, Udora, Obdorsky, Kondia, Vitebsk, Mstislav and all the Northern sides Sovereign and Sovereign of Iversky, Kartalinsky, Georgian and Kabardian lands, and Armenian Regions; Cherkasy and Mountain Princes and other Hereditary Sovereign and Possessor; Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Dietmar and Oldenburg and others, and others, and others.

Reign of Nicholas I

The first steps of Nicholas I after the coronation were very liberal. The poet was returned from exile, and V. A. Zhukovsky, whose liberal views could not but be known to the emperor, was appointed the main teacher (“mentor”) of the heir.

The emperor closely followed the process of the participants in the December speech and instructed to draw up a summary of their criticisms of the state administration. Despite the fact that attempts on the life of the king, according to existing laws, were punishable by quartering, he replaced this execution with hanging.

The Ministry of State Property was headed by the hero of 1812, Count P. D. Kiselev, a monarchist by conviction, but an opponent of serfdom. The future Decembrists Pestel, Basargin and Burtsov served under him. The name of Kiselev was presented to Nicholas I in the list of conspirators in connection with the case of the uprising. But, despite this, Kiselev, known for the impeccability of his moral rules and talent as an organizer, made a career under Nicholas I as the governor of Moldavia and Wallachia and took an active part in preparing the abolition of serfdom.

Some contemporaries wrote about his despotism. However, as historians point out, the execution of five Decembrists was the only execution in all 30 years of the reign of Nicholas I, while, for example, under Peter I and Catherine II, executions were in the thousands, and under Alexander II - in the hundreds. True, it should be noted that more than 40,000 people died during the suppression of the Polish uprising. They also note that under Nicholas I, torture was not used against political prisoners. Even historians critical of Nicholas I do not mention any violence during the investigation into the case of the Decembrists (in which 579 people were involved as suspects) and Petrashevists (232 people).

Nevertheless, in October 1827, on a report on the secret passage of two Jews across the river. Prut, in violation of the quarantine, which noted that only the death penalty for quarantine violations can stop them, Nikolai wrote: “The guilty should be driven through a thousand people 12 times. Thank God, we didn’t have the death penalty, and it’s not for me to introduce it.”

Centralization of power became the most important direction of domestic policy. To carry out the tasks of political investigation in July 1826, a permanent body was created - the Third Branch of the Personal Office - a secret service with significant powers, the head of which (since 1827) was also the chief of the gendarmes. The third department was headed by A. F. Orlov, who became one of the symbols of the era, and after his death (1844).

On December 6 (18), 1826, the first of the secret committees was created, the task of which was, firstly, to consider the papers sealed in the office of Alexander I after his death, and, secondly, to consider the issue of possible transformations of the state apparatus.

Under Nicholas I, the Polish uprising of 1830-1831 was suppressed, during which Nicholas I was declared deprived of the throne by the rebels (Decree on the dethronement of Nicholas I). After the suppression of the uprising, the Kingdom of Poland lost its independence, the Sejm and the army and was divided into provinces.

Some authors call Nicholas I the “knight of autocracy”: he firmly defended its foundations and stopped attempts to change the existing system, despite the revolutions in Europe. After the suppression of the Decembrist uprising, he launched large-scale measures in the country to eradicate the "revolutionary infection". During the reign of Nicholas I, the persecution of the Old Believers resumed, the Uniates of Belarus and Volhynia were reunited with Orthodoxy (1839).

In the Volga region, the forcible Russification of local peoples was carried out on a large scale. Russification was accompanied by administrative and economic coercion and spiritual oppression of the non-Russian population of the Volga region.

Emperor Nicholas I paid much attention to the army. The introduction of strict discipline in the army in the first years of the reign of Nicholas I, which was subsequently maintained, was associated with the extreme licentiousness that reigned in the Russian army in the last decade of the reign of Alexander I (after the end of the war with Napoleon). Officers often went not in military uniform, but in tailcoats, even during exercises, wearing an overcoat on top. In the Semyonovsky regiment, the soldiers were engaged in crafts and trade, and the proceeds were handed over to the company commander. There were "private" military formations. So, Mamonov, one of the richest people in Russia, formed his own cavalry regiment, which he himself commanded, while expressing extreme anti-monarchist views and calling the tsar (Alexander I) "cattle." Under Nicholas I, army "democracy", bordering on anarchy, was curtailed and strict discipline restored.

Drilling was considered the basis of military training. During the Eastern War, it often happened that for the construction of an insignificant field fortification, a sapper non-commissioned officer led the construction of it, since an infantry officer (or even a sapper who graduated from the cadet corps, and not the Mikhailovsky or Engineering School) had not the slightest idea about the basics of field fortification. In this situation, "the sapper non-commissioned officer conducted the work, the infantry soldiers were the labor force, and their officers were his overseers."

A similar attitude was to the shooting business.

At the height of the Crimean War, due to a significant loss of officers at the front, one of the orders of the emperor was the introduction of drill training in civilian gymnasiums and higher military sciences (fortification and artillery) at universities. Thus, Nicholas I can be considered the founder of initial military training in Russia.

One of the greatest merits of Nikolai Pavlovich can be considered the codification of law. Attracted by the tsar to this work, M. M. Speransky performed a titanic work, thanks to which the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire appeared.

In the reign of Nicholas I, the position of serfs was eased. So, a ban was introduced to exile peasants to hard labor, to sell them one by one and without land, the peasants received the right to redeem themselves from the estates being sold. A reform of the management of the state village was carried out and a “decree on obligated peasants” was signed, which became the foundation for the abolition of serfdom. However, the complete liberation of the peasants during the life of the emperor did not take place.

For the first time, there was a sharp decrease in the number of serfs - their share in the population of Russia, according to various estimates, decreased from 57-58% in 1811-1817 to 35-45% in 1857-1858, and they ceased to make up the majority of the population. Obviously, a significant role was played by the cessation of the practice of "distributing" the state peasants to the landowners along with the lands, which flourished under the former tsars, and the spontaneous liberation of the peasants that began.

The position of state peasants improved, and by the second half of the 1850s, their number reached about 50% of the population. This improvement was mainly due to the measures taken by Count P. D. Kiselyov, who was in charge of managing state property. Thus, all state peasants were allocated their own plots of land and forest plots, and auxiliary cash desks and bread shops were established everywhere, which provided assistance to the peasants with cash loans and grain in case of crop failure. As a result of these measures, not only did the well-being of state peasants increase, but also the treasury income from them increased by 15-20%, tax arrears were halved, and by the mid-1850s there were practically no landless laborers who eked out a beggarly and dependent existence, all received land from the state.

A number of laws were passed to improve the position of serfs. Thus, the landlords were strictly forbidden to sell peasants (without land) and exile them to hard labor (which had previously been a common practice); serfs received the right to own land, conduct business activities and received relative freedom of movement. Earlier, under Peter I, a rule was introduced according to which any peasant who found himself at a distance of more than 30 miles from his village without a vacation certificate from the landowner was considered a fugitive and was subject to punishment. These strict restrictions: the obligatory leave certificate (passport) for any departure from the village, the ban on business transactions and even, for example, the ban on giving a daughter in marriage to another village (it was necessary to pay a "ransom" to the landowner) - survived until the 19th century. and were canceled during the first 10-15 years of the reign of Nicholas I.

On the other hand, for the first time, the state began to systematically ensure that the rights of the peasants were not violated by the landlords (this was one of the functions of the Third Section), and to punish the landowners for these violations. As a result of the application of punishments in relation to the landlords, by the end of the reign of Nicholas I, about 200 landowners' estates were under arrest, which greatly affected the position of the peasants and the landowner's psychology.

Thus, serfdom under Nicholas changed its character - from the institution of slavery, it actually turned into an institution of rent in kind, which to some extent guaranteed the peasants a number of basic rights.

These changes in the position of the peasants caused discontent on the part of large landowners and nobles, who saw them as a threat to the established order.

Some reforms aimed at improving the situation of the peasants did not lead to the desired result due to the stubborn opposition of the landowners. So, on the initiative of D. G. Bibikov, who later became the Minister of Internal Affairs, in 1848 an inventory reform was launched in Right-Bank Ukraine, the experience of which was supposed to be extended to other provinces. The inventory rules introduced by Bibikov, which were obligatory for landowners, established a certain size of a peasant's land plot and certain duties for him. However, many landlords ignored their implementation, and the local administration, which was dependent on them, did not take any measures.

Was first started mass peasant education program. The number of peasant schools in the country increased from 60 with 1,500 students in 1838 to 2,551 with 111,000 students in 1856. In the same period, many technical schools and universities were opened - in essence, a system of professional primary and secondary education of the country was created.

The state of affairs in industry at the beginning of the reign of Nicholas I was the worst in the history of the Russian Empire. An industry capable of competing with the West, where the industrial revolution was already coming to an end at that time, did not actually exist. In Russia's exports there were only raw materials, almost all types of industrial products needed by the country were purchased abroad.

By the end of the reign of Nicholas I, the situation had changed dramatically. For the first time in the history of the Russian Empire, a technically advanced and competitive industry began to form in the country, in particular, textile and sugar, the production of metal products, clothing, wood, glass, porcelain, leather and other products developed, and their own machine tools, tools and even steam locomotives began to be produced. .

From 1825 to 1863, the annual output of Russian industry per worker tripled, while in the previous period it not only did not grow, but even declined. From 1819 to 1859, the volume of cotton production in Russia increased almost 30 times; the volume of engineering products from 1830 to 1860 increased 33 times.

For the first time in the history of Russia, under Nicholas I, intensive construction of paved highways began: the Moscow-Petersburg, Moscow-Irkutsk, Moscow-Warsaw routes were built. Of the 7,700 miles of highways built in Russia by 1893, 5,300 miles (about 70%) were built between 1825-1860. The construction of railways was also begun and about 1,000 versts of railroad tracks were built, which gave impetus to the development of their own mechanical engineering.

The rapid development of industry led to a sharp increase in the urban population and the growth of cities. The share of the urban population during the reign of Nicholas I more than doubled - from 4.5% in 1825 to 9.2% in 1858.

Having ascended the throne, Nikolai Pavlovich abandoned the practice of favoritism that had prevailed over the previous century. He introduced a moderate system of incentives for officials (in the form of rent of estates / property and cash bonuses), which he controlled to a large extent. Unlike previous reigns, historians have not recorded large gifts in the form of palaces or thousands of serfs granted to any nobleman or royal relative. To combat corruption under Nicholas I, regular audits were first introduced at all levels. Trials of officials have become commonplace. So, in 1853, 2540 officials were on trial. Nicholas I himself was critical of the successes in this area, saying that only he and the heir did not steal in his entourage.

Nicholas I demanded that only Russian be spoken at court. The courtiers, who did not know their native language, learned a certain number of phrases and uttered them only when they received a sign that the emperor was approaching.

Nicholas I suppressed the slightest manifestations of freethinking. In 1826, a censorship charter was issued, nicknamed "cast iron" by his contemporaries. It was forbidden to print almost everything that had any political overtones. In 1828, another censorship charter was issued, somewhat softening the previous one. A new increase in censorship was associated with the European revolutions of 1848. It got to the point that in 1836 the censor P. I. Gaevsky, after serving 8 days in the guardhouse, doubted whether it was possible to let news like “such and such a king died” be allowed to go into print. When in 1837 an article about an attempt on the life of the French king Louis Philippe I was published in the Saint Petersburg Vedomosti, Count Benckendorff immediately notified the Minister of Education S. S. Uvarov that he considered it “indecent to place such news in the statements, especially those published by the government ".

In September 1826, Nicholas I received Alexander Pushkin, who had been released by him from Mikhailovsky exile, and listened to his confession that on December 14, 1825, Pushkin would have been with the conspirators, but acted mercifully with him: he saved the poet from general censorship (he decided to censor his writings himself) , instructed him to prepare a note “On Public Education”, called him after the meeting “the smartest man in Russia” (however, later, after Pushkin’s death, he spoke of him and this meeting very coldly).

In 1828, Nicholas I dismissed the case against Pushkin about the authorship of the Gavriiliada after a handwritten letter from the poet, which, according to many researchers, was handed over to him personally, bypassing the commission of inquiry, contained, according to many researchers, recognition of the authorship of the seditious work after long denials. However, the emperor never fully trusted the poet, seeing him as a dangerous "leader of the liberals", Pushkin was under police surveillance, his letters were censored; Pushkin, having gone through the first euphoria, which was also expressed in poems in honor of the tsar (“Stans”, “To Friends”), by the mid-1830s, he also began to evaluate the sovereign ambiguously. “He has a lot of ensign and a little Peter the Great,” Pushkin wrote about Nikolai in his diary on May 21 (June 2), 1834; at the same time, the diary also notes “sensible” remarks on the “History of Pugachev” (the sovereign edited it and gave Pushkin 20 thousand rubles in debt), ease of handling and good language of the tsar.

In 1834, Pushkin was appointed chamber junker of the imperial court, which weighed heavily on the poet and was also reflected in his diary. Pushkin could sometimes afford not to come to the balls to which Nicholas I personally invited him. Pushkin, on the other hand, preferred communication with writers, and Nicholas I showed him his displeasure. The role played by the emperor in the conflict between Pushkin and Dantes is controversially assessed by historians. After the death of Pushkin, Nicholas I granted a pension to his widow and children, while limiting performances in memory of the poet, showing, in particular, dissatisfaction with the violation of the ban on duels.

As a result of the policy of strict censorship, Alexander Polezhaev was arrested for free poetry, and was twice exiled to the Caucasus. By order of the emperor, the magazines European, Moscow Telegraph, Telescope were closed, its publisher Nadezhdin was also persecuted, and F. Schiller was banned from staging in Russia.

In 1852, he was arrested and then administratively sent to the village for writing an obituary dedicated to memory (the obituary itself was not censored). The censor also suffered when he let Turgenev's Notes of a Hunter go to print, in which, in the opinion of the Moscow Governor-General Count A. A. Zakrevsky, "a decisive direction was expressed towards the destruction of the landlords."

In 1850, by order of Nicholas I, the play “Own people - let's settle” was banned from staging. The Committee of Higher Censorship was dissatisfied with the fact that among the characters drawn by the author there was not "none of those respectable merchants of ours, in whom piety, honesty and directness of mind constitute a typical and inalienable attribute."

Censorship did not allow publication of some jingoistic articles and works containing harsh and politically undesirable statements and views, which happened, for example, during the Crimean War with two poems. From one (“Prophecy”), Nicholas I with his own hand crossed out a paragraph that dealt with the erection of a cross over Sophia of Constantinople and the “all-Slavic king”; another (“Now you are not up to poetry”) was banned from publication by the minister, apparently due to the “somewhat harsh tone of presentation” noted by the censor.

Having received a good engineering education at a young age, Nicholas I showed considerable knowledge in the field of construction equipment. So, he made successful proposals regarding the dome of the Trinity Cathedral in St. Petersburg. In the future, already occupying the highest position in the state, he closely followed the order in urban planning, and not a single significant project was approved without his signature.

He issued a decree regulating the height of private buildings in the capital. The decree limited the height of any private building to the width of the street on which the building was being built. At the same time, the height of a residential private building could not exceed 11 sazhens (23.47 m, which corresponds to the height of the cornice of the Winter Palace). Thus, the well-known St. Petersburg city panorama that existed until recently was created. Knowing the requirements for choosing a suitable place for the construction of a new astronomical observatory, Nikolai personally indicated a place for it on the top of Pulkovo Mountain.

The first railways of the all-Russian scale appeared in Russia, including the Nikolaev railway. It is likely that Nicholas I first became acquainted with the technologies of locomotive building and railway construction at the age of 19 during a trip to England in 1816, where the future emperor visited the railway engineer Stephenson.

Nicholas I, having studied in detail the technical data of the railways proposed for construction, demanded an expansion of the Russian gauge compared to the European one (1524 mm versus 1435 in Europe), thereby excluding the possibility of delivering the armed forces of a potential enemy deep into Russia. The gauge adopted by the Emperor was proposed by the road builder, American engineer Whistler, and corresponded to the 5-foot gauge adopted at that time in some "southern" US states.

The high relief of the monument to Nicholas I in St. Petersburg depicts an episode of his inspection trip along the Nikolaev railway, when his train stopped at the Verebinsky railway bridge.

The naval defense of St. Petersburg under Admiral Travers relied on a system of wood-and-earth fortifications near Kronstadt, armed with outdated short-range cannons, which allowed the enemy to destroy them from long distances without hindrance. Already in December 1827, at the direction of the Emperor, work began on replacing wooden fortifications with stone ones. Nicholas I personally reviewed the designs of the fortifications proposed by the engineers and approved them. And in some cases (for example, during the construction of the fort "Emperor Paul the First"), he made specific proposals to reduce the cost and speed up construction.

Nicholas I, aware of the need for reforms, considered their implementation a long and cautious affair. He looked at the state subordinate to him, as an engineer looks at a complex, but deterministic mechanism in its functioning, in which everything is interconnected and the reliability of one part ensures the correct operation of others. The ideal of a social structure was army life fully regulated by charters.

Foreign policy of Nicholas I was concentrated on three main directions of the foreign policy of the Russian Empire: the fight against the revolutionary movement in Europe; the eastern question, including Russia's struggle for control of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles; as well as the expansion of the empire, advancement in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

An important aspect of foreign policy was the return to the principles of the Holy Alliance. The role of Russia in the fight against any manifestations of the "spirit of change" in European life has increased. It was during the reign of Nicholas I that Russia received the unflattering nickname of the "gendarme of Europe." So, at the request of the Austrian Empire, Russia took part in the suppression of the Hungarian revolution, sending a 140,000-strong corps to Hungary, which was trying to free itself from oppression by Austria; as a result, the throne of Franz Joseph was saved. The latter circumstance did not prevent the Austrian emperor, who was afraid of an excessive strengthening of Russia's positions in the Balkans, soon taking a position unfriendly to Nicholas during the Crimean War and even threatening her with entering the war on the side of a coalition hostile to Russia, which Nicholas I regarded as ungrateful treachery; Russian-Austrian relations were hopelessly damaged until the end of the existence of both monarchies.

A special place in the foreign policy of Nicholas I was occupied by the Eastern Question.

Russia under Nicholas I abandoned plans to divide the Ottoman Empire, which were discussed under previous tsars (Catherine II and Paul I), and began to pursue a completely different policy in the Balkans - the policy of protecting the Orthodox population and ensuring its religious and civil rights, up to political independence . This policy was first applied in the Akkerman Treaty with Turkey in 1826. Under this agreement, Moldova and Wallachia, remaining part of the Ottoman Empire, received political autonomy with the right to elect their own government, which was formed under the control of Russia. After half a century of the existence of such autonomy, the state of Romania was formed on this territory - according to the San Stefano Treaty of 1878.

Along with this, Russia sought to ensure its influence in the Balkans and the possibility of unhindered navigation in the straits (Bosphorus and Dardanelles).

During the Russian-Turkish wars of 1806-1812. and 1828-1829, Russia made great strides in implementing this policy. At the request of Russia, which declared itself the patroness of all Christian subjects of the Sultan, the Sultan was forced to recognize the freedom and independence of Greece and the broad autonomy of Serbia (1830); According to the Unkar-Iskelesi Treaty (1833), which marked the peak of Russian influence in Constantinople, Russia received the right to block the passage of foreign ships to the Black Sea (which was lost to it as a result of the Second London Convention in 1841).

The same reasons - support for the Orthodox Christians of the Ottoman Empire and disagreements over the Eastern Question - pushed Russia to aggravate relations with Turkey in 1853, which resulted in her declaring war on Russia. The beginning of the war with Turkey in 1853 was marked by the brilliant victory of the Russian fleet under the command of the admiral, who defeated the enemy in Sinop Bay. It was the last major battle of the sailing fleets.

Russia's military successes caused a negative reaction in the West. The leading world powers were not interested in strengthening Russia at the expense of the decrepit Ottoman Empire. This created the basis for a military alliance between England and France. The miscalculation of Nicholas I in assessing the internal political situation in England, France and Austria led to the fact that the country was in political isolation.

In 1854, England and France entered the war on the side of Turkey. Due to the technical backwardness of Russia, it was difficult to resist these European powers. The main hostilities unfolded in the Crimea.

In October 1854, the Allies laid siege to Sevastopol. The Russian army suffered a series of defeats and was unable to provide assistance to the besieged fortress city. Despite the heroic defense of the city, after an 11-month siege, in August 1855, the defenders of Sevastopol were forced to surrender the city.

At the beginning of 1856, following the results of the Crimean War, the Treaty of Paris was signed. According to its terms, Russia was forbidden to have naval forces, arsenals and fortresses on the Black Sea. Russia became vulnerable from the sea and was deprived of the opportunity to pursue an active foreign policy in this region.

Generally during the reign of Nicholas I, Russia participated in wars: Caucasian War of 1817-1864, Russian-Persian War of 1826-1828, Russian-Turkish War of 1828-1829, Crimean War of 1853-1856.

Death of Nicholas I

He died, according to historical sources, "at twelve minutes past one in the afternoon" on February 18 (March 2), 1855. According to the official version - due to pneumonia (he caught a cold while taking the parade in a light uniform, being already sick with the flu). The funeral service was performed by Metropolitan Nikanor (Klementievsky).

According to some historians of medicine, the death of the emperor could have occurred due to the consequences of a severe injury he received on August 26 (September 7), 1836 during a study tour of Russia. Then, as a result of a nighttime traffic accident that occurred near the city of Chembar, Penza province, Emperor Nicholas I received a fracture of the collarbone and shock concussion. The diagnosis was made by a random physician, who probably did not have the opportunity to diagnose the condition of the internal organs of the victim. The emperor was forced to stay for two weeks in Chembar for a cure. As soon as his health stabilized, he continued his journey. Due to such circumstances, Emperor Nicholas I, after a serious injury, was without qualified medical care for a long time.

The emperor, at the approach of death, maintained complete composure. He managed to say goodbye to each of the children and grandchildren and, having blessed them, turned to them with a reminder that they should remain friendly with each other. The last words of the emperor, addressed to his son Alexander, was the phrase "Hold tight ...".

Immediately after this, rumors spread widely in the capital that Nikolai had committed suicide. The disease began against the backdrop of disappointing news from the besieged Sevastopol and aggravated after receiving news of the defeat of General Khrulev near Evpatoria, which was perceived as a harbinger of an inevitable defeat in the war, which Nicholas, according to his temperament, could not survive. The tsar's exit to the parade in the cold without an overcoat was perceived as an intention to get a deadly cold, according to stories, the life doctor Mandt told the tsar: "Sir, this is worse than death, this is suicide!"

It can be said with certainty that the disease (mild flu) began on January 27, noticeably intensified on the night of February 4, and in the afternoon, already ill, Nikolai went to withdraw troops; after that, he fell ill for a short time, quickly went on the mend, on February 9, despite the objections of the doctors, in a 23-degree frost without an overcoat, he went to review the marching battalions. The same thing happened on February 10, with even more severe frost. After that, the disease worsened, Nikolai spent several days in bed, but his powerful organism took over, on February 15 he has been working all day.

No bulletins were issued on the king's health at this time, showing that the disease was not considered dangerous. On the evening of February 14, a courier arrived with a message about the defeat near Evpatoria. The news made the most overwhelming impression, especially since Nicholas himself was the initiator of the attack on Evpatoria.

On February 17, the emperor's condition suddenly and sharply worsened, and on the morning of February 18, an excruciating agony set in, lasting several hours (which does not happen with pneumonia). According to a rumor that immediately spread, the emperor, at his request, was given the poison by the medical doctor Mandt. Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna directly accused Mandt of poisoning her brother. The emperor forbade the autopsy and embalming of his body.

In honor of Nicholas I, the Nikolaevskaya Square in Kazan and the Nikolaevskaya Hospital in Peterhof were named.

In honor of Emperor Nicholas I in the Russian Empire, about a dozen monuments were erected, mainly various columns and obelisks, in memory of his visit to one place or another. Almost all sculptural monuments to the Emperor (with the exception of the equestrian monument in St. Petersburg) were destroyed during the years of Soviet power.

Currently, there are the following monuments to the Emperor:

St. Petersburg. Equestrian monument on St. Isaac's Square. Opened June 26 (July 8), 1859, sculptor P. K. Klodt. The monument has been preserved in its original form. The fence surrounding it was dismantled in the 1930s, recreated again in 1992.

St. Petersburg. Bronze bust of the Emperor on a high granite pedestal. It was opened on July 12, 2001 in front of the facade of the building of the former psychiatric department of the Nikolaev military hospital, founded in 1840 by decree of the Emperor (now the St. Petersburg District Military Clinical Hospital), 63 Suvorovsky pr. granite pedestal, was opened in front of the main facade of this hospital on August 15 (27), 1890. The monument was destroyed shortly after 1917.

St. Petersburg. Gypsum bust on a high granite pedestal. Opened on May 19, 2003 on the front staircase of the Vitebsk railway station (Zagorodny pr., 52), sculptors V. S. and S. V. Ivanov, architect T. L. Torich.

Velikiy Novgorod. Image of Nicholas I on the monument "Millennium of Russia". Opened in 1862, sculptor - M. O. Mikeshin.

Moscow. Monument to the "Creators of Russian Railways" near the Kazansky railway station - a bronze bust of the emperor, surrounded by famous figures in the railway industry of his reign. Opened August 1, 2013.

The bronze bust of Emperor Nicholas I was inaugurated on July 2, 2015 on the territory of the Nikolo-Berlyukovsky Monastery in the village of Avdotino, Moscow Region (sculptor A. A. Appolonov).

St. Nicholas Cathedral in the city of Starobelsk. In 1859, a place was determined for the construction of the temple - between Malaya Dvoryanskaya and Cathedral, Classical and Nikolaevskaya streets. The temple was built in the Baroque style and solemnly consecrated in 1862. The temple is considered an architectural monument of the 19th century and is protected by the state.

The following were named after Nicholas I: an armadillo that participated in the Battle of Tsushima and surrendered to the Japanese after it, a battleship laid down in 1914, but unfinished due to the Civil War, and a civilian steamer, on which Louis de Gekkeren and Georges Dantes arrived in Russia and sailed away to Europe Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol.

In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Nicholas I, by decrees of Nicholas II, state awards were established, namely two commemorative medals. The medal "In memory of the reign of Emperor Nicholas I" was awarded to persons who were in the service during the reign of Nicholas I, the medal "In memory of the reign of Emperor Nicholas I" for pupils of educational institutions was awarded to pupils of military educational institutions who studied during the reign of Nicholas I, but the rights did not have to wear the first medal.

The image of Nicholas I in the cinema:

1910 - "The Life and Death of Pushkin";
1911 - "Defense of Sevastopol";
1918 - "Father Sergius" (actor Vladimir Gaidarov);
1926 - "Decembrists" (actor Yevgeny Boronikhin);
1927 - "The Poet and the Tsar" (actor Konstantin Karenin);
1928 - "Secrets of an ancient family", Poland (actor Pavel Overllo);
1930 - "White Devil" Germany (actor Fritz Alberti);
1932 - "Dead House" (actor Nikolai Vitovtov);
1936 - "Prometheus" (actor Vladimir Ershov);
1943 - "Lermontov" (actor A. Savostyanov);
1946 - "Glinka" (actor B. Livanov);
1951 - "Taras Shevchenko" (actor M. Nazvanov);
1951 - "Belinsky" (actor M. Nazvanov);
1952 - "Composer Glinka" (actor M. Nazvanov);
1959 - "Hadji Murat - the white devil" (actor Milivoye Zhivanovich);
1964 - "Dream" (actor);
1965 - "The Third Youth" (actor V. Strzhelchik);
1967 - "The Green Carriage" (actor V. Strzhelchik);
1967 - "Wake up Mukhin!" (actor V. Zakharchenko);
1968 - “Mistake of Honore de Balzac” (actor S. Polezhaev);
1975 - "Star of Captivating Happiness" (actor V. Livanov);
2010 - "Death of Vazir-Mukhtar" (actor A. Zibrov);
2013 - “The Romanovs. The seventh film "(actor S. Druzhko);
2014 - “Duel. Pushkin - Lermontov "(actor V. Maksimov);
2014 - "Fort Ross: In Search of Adventure" (actor Dmitry Naumov);
2016 - "The Monk and the Demon" (actor Nikita Tarasov);
2016 - "The Case of the Decembrists" (actor Artyom Efremov)

Romanovs: Nicholas I and his children (1) Daughters

Princess Charlotte (Empress Alexandra Feodorovna) and Tsarevich and Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich (Emperor Nicholas I)

Today about the children of Nicholas I. In total, Nicholas I has seven children: Alexander II, Maria, Olga, Alexandra, Konstantin, Nikolai, Mikhail. Many people know about his son, Emperor Alexander II

A little about the three daughters of Nicholas I - Olga, Maria, Alexander.

M A R I A

Maria Nikolaevna
Maria Nikolaevna(August 18, 1819 - February 21, 1876) - the first mistress of the Mariinsky Palace in St. Petersburg, president of the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1852-1876. She was the eldest daughter and second child in the family of Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich and Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna.

P. Sokolov. Portrait of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with her daughter Maria on the Black Sea coast. 1829

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna was born on August 18, 1819 in Pavlovsk. She was the eldest daughter and second child in the family of Grand Duke Nikola I Pavlovich and Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna, nee Princess Charlotte of Prussia. The birth of a girl was not a joyful event for her father. Alexandra Fedorovna wrote:

Alexander II and Maria Nikolaevna

“Indeed, I lay down and dozed off a bit; but the pain soon set in. The empress, warned of this, appeared extremely soon, and on August 6, 1819, at three o'clock in the morning, I gave birth to a daughter safely. The birth of little Marie was not greeted by her father with particular joy: he was expecting a son; subsequently he often reproached himself for this and, of course, passionately fell in love with his daughter "
Her parents paid much attention to the upbringing of their children and gave them an excellent education.

Portrait of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, née Charlotte of Prussia with her two eldest children, Alexander and Maria Nikolaevna.

Contemporaries noted the similarity of the Grand Duchess to her father both in appearance and character. Colonel F. Gagern, who accompanied the Dutch Prince Alexander to Russia, spoke about her in his diary:

"The eldest, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, wife of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, is small in stature, but her facial features and character are the spitting image of her father. Her profile is very similar to the profile of Empress Catherine in her youth. Grand Duchess Maria is her father's favorite, and it is believed that in the event of the death of the empress, she would have gained great influence.In general, who can foresee the future in this country?Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, of course, has many talents, as well as a desire to command; already in the first days of her marriage, she took the reins of government into her own hands "

P.F. Sokolov Maria Nikolaievna, Duchess of Leuchtenberg as child

Unlike many princesses of that time, whose marriages were for dynastic reasons, Maria Nikolaevna married for love. Married to the Duchess of Leuchtenberg. Despite the origin of Maximilian and his religion (he was a Catholic), Nicholas I agreed to marry his daughter with him, on the condition that the spouses would live in Russia, and not abroad.

Maximilian of Leuchtenberg

The wedding took place on July 2, 1839 and took place according to two rites: Orthodox and Catholic. The wedding took place in the chapel of the Winter Palace. Before the blessing, two blue-gray doves were released into the church, which sat on the ledge above the heads of the young and remained there throughout the ceremony. The crown over Mary was held by her brother - Tsarevich Alexander, over the duke - Count Palen. At the end of the ceremony, the choir sang “We praise you, God,” and cannon shots announced the marriage. Later, in one of the palace halls, specially adapted for this purpose, the marriage blessing of the couple by a Catholic priest took place. Count Sukhtelen remarked in a conversation with Friedrich Gagern:

Duchess Maria of Leuchtenberg (former Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia) with her four older children.

It is very unpleasant for the sovereign that not one of the princes of kindred houses appeared for this celebration; he would put it very highly, also because this marriage found opposition in Russia itself and did not like foreign courts

By decree of July 2 (14), 1839, the emperor granted Maximilian the title of His Imperial Highness, and by decree of December 6 (18), 1852, he bestowed the title and surname of the Romanovsky princes on the descendants of Maximilian and Maria Nikolaevna. The children of Maximilian and Maria Nikolaevna were baptized into Orthodoxy and brought up at the court of Nicholas I, later Emperor Alexander II included them in the Russian Imperial family. From this marriage, Maria Nikolaevna had 7 children: Alexandra, Maria, Nikolai, Eugene, Eugene, Sergey, Georgy.

In her first marriage to Duke Maximilian of Leuchtenberg, Maria Nikolaevna had seven children:

Portrait of Maria Nikolaevna by F.K. Winterhalter (1857) State Hermitage Museum

Alexandra(1840–1843), Duchess of Leuchtenberg, died in childhood;

Maria ( 1841-1914), in 1863 she married Wilhelm of Baden, the younger son of Duke Leopold of Baden;

Nicholas(1843-1891), 4th Duke of Leuchtenberg, since 1868 he was married in a morganatic marriage to Nadezhda Sergeevna Annenkova, in his first marriage - Akinfova (1840-1891);

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna, with her daughters Maria and Eugenia

Evgeniya(1845-1925), married A.P. Oldenburgsky

Evgeny(1847-1901), 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg, was married by the first morganatic marriage to Daria Konstantinovna Opochinina (1845-1870), by the second morganatic marriage since 1878 to Zinaida Dmitrievna Skobeleva (1856-1899), sister of General Skobelev;

Sergey(1849-1877), Duke of Leuchtenberg, killed in the Russo-Turkish War;

George(1852-1912), 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg, was married by his first marriage to Teresa of Oldenburg (1852-1883), by his second marriage to Anastasia of Montenegro (1868-1935).
Children from second marriage:

Gregory(1857-1859), Count Stroganov;

Elena Grigoryevna Sheremeteva, ur. Stroganov

Elena(1861-1908), Countess Stroganova, married first to Vladimir Alekseevich Sheremetev (1847-1893), adjutant wing, commander of the imperial convoy; then - for Grigory Nikitich Milashevich (1860-1918), an officer in the retinue of His Imperial Majesty.

Of these, daughter Eugene gave birth to an only child - Peter of Oldenburg. The one with whom the sister of Nicholas II Olga lived in an unhappy marriage for 7 years. The granddaughter of Maria Nikolaevna from her son, whose name is Evgeny, was shot by the Bolsheviks. George, the only one of the brothers, entered into a dynastic marriage, but his two sons did not leave offspring, so the family stopped.

Count Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganov
Maria Nikolaevna's first husband, Maximilian, died at the age of 35, and she remarried in 1853 to Count Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganov (1823-1878). The wedding was performed on November 13 (25), 1853 in the palace church of the Mariinsky Palace, the priest of the Trinity Church of the Gostilitsky estate of Tatyana Borisovna Potemkina, John Stefanov. This marriage was morganatic, concluded in secret from the father of Maria Nikolaevna, Emperor Nicholas I, with the assistance of the heir and his wife. From this marriage, Maria has two more children - Gregory and Elena.

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna

Since 1845, the Mariinsky Palace, named after Maria Nikolaevna, has become the official residence of the Leuchtenberg princes in St. Petersburg. She and her husband were actively involved in charity work. Maximilian Leuchtenberg was the president of the Academy of Arts, after his death in 1852, Maria Nikolaevna, who was fond of collecting works of art, succeeded him in this post.

Mariinsky Palace

OLGA

Olga Nikolaevna, second daughter of Nicholas I

Born in the Anichkov Palace on August 30 (September 11), 1822, she was the third child in the family of Emperor Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna.

Saint-Petersburg, Russia. Nevsky Prospect. Anichkov Palace.

By mother, Princess Olga came from the Prussian royal house of Hohenzollern. Her grandfather and great-grandfather were Kings of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm II and Friedrich Wilhelm III. Attractive, educated, multilingual, passionate about playing the piano and painting, Olga was regarded as one of the best brides in Europe.

After the wedding of her sister Maria, who married a prince below her in rank, Olga Nikolaevna's parents wanted to find her a promising spouse. But time passed, and nothing changed in the life of Grand Duchess Olga. Those close to him were perplexed: “How, at the age of nineteen, still not married?”

Olga, Queen of Württemberg

And at the same time, there were many applicants for her hand. Back in 1838, while staying with her parents in Berlin, the sixteen-year-old princess attracted the attention of Crown Prince Maximilian of Bavaria. But neither she nor her family liked him. A year later, Archduke Stefan took over her thoughts.

Zakharov-Chechen P.Z. Grand Duchess Olga of Württemberg

He was the son of Palatine Joseph of Hungary (wife of the deceased Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna) from his second marriage. But this union was prevented by Stephen's stepmother, who did not want to have a Russian princess as a relative because of jealousy for the first wife of Archduke Joseph. By 1840, Olga decided that she would not rush into marriage, she said that she was already fine, she was happy to stay at home. Emperor Nicholas I declared that she was free and could choose whoever she wanted.

Olga Nikolaevna's aunt, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (wife of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich) began to make efforts to pass her off as her brother, Prince Friedrich of Württemberg. He was denied. But the answer to the counter proposal for marriage with Stefan had to wait a long time.

Olga and Friedrich Eugene of Württemberg

A letter from Vienna stated that the marriage of both Stefan and Olga Nikolaevna, who profess different faiths, seemed unacceptable to Austria. The Archduchess of Russian origin may become dangerous for the state due to the fact that among the Slavic population of the "explosive" regions of Austria, fermentation may arise.

Stefan himself said that, knowing about Albrecht's feelings, he considered it right to "step aside." This uncertainty acted depressingly not only on Olga, but also on her parents. She has already begun to be considered a cold nature. Parents began to look for another party for their daughter and settled on Duke Adolf of Nassau. And this almost led to a break with the wife of Mikhail Pavlovich, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna.

Queen Olga in the arm chair, two ladies-in-waiting and a reader, probably Charles Woodcock. Photographer taken in Nizza.

She had long dreamed of marrying her youngest daughter Elizabeth to him. Nicholas I, taking care of maintaining peace in the imperial house, decided that the prince himself was free to make a choice between cousins. But Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, who had not forgiven her niece for neglecting her brother, was now worried that Adolf would give preference to the royal daughter at the expense of her Lily. But Adolf, who came to Russia with his brother Maurice, asked for the hand of Elizabeth Mikhailovna. The emperor had nothing against it, but was surprised.

Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaevna of Russia (1822-1892)

At the beginning of 1846, in Palermo, where Olga was accompanied by her mother-empress, who stayed there for some time to improve her health, which had deteriorated sharply after the death of her youngest daughter Alexandra, she met the Crown Prince of Württemberg Karl, and agreed to his marriage proposal.

The wedding took place in Peterhof on July 1 (13), 1846, on the birthday of Alexandra Feodorovna and on the day of her wedding with Nikolai Pavlovich. It was believed that this number should bring happiness to the new couple. The bells rang all day long, even houses in St. Petersburg were decorated with illumination. The emperor wished his daughter: "Be Karl the same as your mother has been for me all these years." Olga's family life was quite successful, but they had no children.

Queen Olga of Württemberg (1822-1892).

Olga's family life was quite successful, but they had no children. A. O. Smirnova commented on the marriage as follows: “The most beautiful of the daughters of our emperor was destined to marry a learned fool in Virtemberg; la Belle et la Bête, they said in the city

ALEXANDRA

Alexandra Nikolaevna ("Adini") was born on June 12 (24), 1825 in Tsarskoye Selo. From early childhood, she was not like her sisters in her character and behavior. The girl preferred to deal with herself, loved loneliness and silence.

Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia, Princess of Hesse-Kassel. State Open Air Museum Peterhof, St. Petersburg

Alexandra was distinguished in the family by amazing kindness and special musical talent. She had a wonderful voice and began to sing under the guidance of the Italian Solivi. However, after a year of classes, the princess's voice began to change, something disturbed the rhythm of breathing. The doctors suggested lung disease.

On the portrait of the daughters of Nicholas I Olga and Alexandra. Olga Nikolaevna (1822-1892), Grand Duchess, since 1846 the wife of Karl Friedrich Alexander, Prince of Württemberg, is depicted sitting at the harpsichord. Nearby stands Alexandra Nikolaevna (1825-1844), Grand Duchess, since 1843 the wife of Friedrich Georg Adolf, Prince of Hesse-Kassel.

Grand Duchess Alexandra Nicolayevna of Russia (1825-1844)

Among the contenders for the hand of the princesses was Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel. Arriving in St. Petersburg, the young handsome prince, with his simple manner, won the sympathy of many, but not all: for example, to Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, the prince seemed "insignificant and without special manners."

Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel

Judging by his treatment of the Grand Duchesses, it was decided at court that he would ask for the hand of the eldest, Olga Nikolaevna. But it turned out that everyone was wrong. It soon became known that the Prince of Hesse proposed to Alexandra Nikolaevna, but she, without giving him a definite answer, came to her father's office, where she asked on her knees to agree to this marriage.

Silver toilet set. Carl Johann Tegelsten. St. Petersburg, 1842 Silver, casting, chasing. Fulda-Eichenzell, Fasaneri Palace, Hessian Landgraviate Foundation. Made as a dowry to Alexandra Nikolaevna (youngest daughter of Nicholas I), who married Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel. Exhibition "Russians and Germans: 1000 years of history, art and culture".

The Grand Duchess said that, contrary to the rules of etiquette, she had already encouraged the prince in the possibility of their happiness. Nicholas I blessed his daughter, but explained that in this case he could not finally resolve the issue: after all, Friedrich Wilhelm is the nephew of Christian VIII, he can become the heir to the throne, so you need to get the consent of the Danish court.

On January 16 (28), 1844, Alexandra Nikolaevna married Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hesse-Kassel (1820-1884). Shortly before the wedding, Alexandra Nikolaevna was diagnosed with tuberculosis. This terrible news was told to Nicholas I by the medical officer Mandt, who had specially arrived in England, where Emperor Nicholas I was visiting at that time. He told the tsar that one lung of the Grand Duchess was already so affected that there was no hope of recovery. The course of the disease only worsened during her pregnancy. The emperor, interrupting the visit, urgently returned to St. Petersburg. Due to her poor health, Alexandra and her husband did not go to Hesse after the wedding, remaining in St. Petersburg. Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna dreamed of how she would develop her husband morally and spiritually in her new homeland, how she would read Plutarch with him.

Three months before the due date, Alexandra Nikolaevna gave birth to a son, who died shortly after birth, and on the same day she herself died. "Be happy" were her last words. The father-emperor wept, not embarrassed by his own tears. He considered the death of his daughter a punishment from above for the blood shed in the year of her birth - the year of the suppression of the December uprising. Together with her son Wilhelm, she was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress. Subsequently, her burial was transferred to the grand ducal tomb built in 1908.

Peterhof. Lower park. Bench-monument built in 1844-1847 in memory of Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna (Monument restored in 2000)

Your fingers smell like incense
And sadness sleeps in the eyelashes.
We don't need anything anymore
No one is sorry now
In honor of her, the village near Peterhof is called Sashino, and the church of the Holy Martyr Empress Alexandra was built in Nizino.
In St. Petersburg, after the death of Alexandra Nikolaevna, an orphanage named after her was opened. The building at the corner of the 12th company (now the 12th Krasnoarmeiskaya) (house 27) and the current Lermontovsky Prospekt (house 51) was built by A.K. Kavos in 1846-1848 (later it was completely rebuilt).
Alexandria women's clinic.
In 1850, in Tsarskoe Selo, where her days ended, a monument was erected in the form of a chapel with a statue of the Grand Duchess with a child in her arms.
In 1853, Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm married a second time - to the Prussian Princess Anna (1836-1918), with whom he had six children.

P. I. Barteneva // Russian archive, 1868. - Ed. 2nd. - M., 1869. - Stb. 107-108.

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The interview is given by the grandson of Nicholas I Alexander Mikhailovich (part 1: about worldview and life)

... you cannot rule a country without listening to the voice of the people, without meeting their needs, without considering them capable of having their own opinion, not wanting to admit that the people themselves understand their needs.

From a letter from Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich to Nicholas II (December 25, 1916 - February 4, 1917)

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov, grandson of Nicholas I, childhood friend of Emperor Nicholas II, to whom he was a cousin. The prince was an extraordinary person and made his contribution to the history of our country, with which we briefly want to introduce readers. For many, the era of Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II, which passed before the eyes of Alexander Mikhailovich, remains a closed topic of history. Nevertheless, as the Russian historian Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky said:

The past must be known not because it has passed, but because, in leaving, it did not know how to remove its consequences.

Some of these consequences have an impact on our lives to this day, like the appearance of the portrait of Nicholas II at the Immortal Regiment worldwide campaign discussed today.

The material is an interview with Prince Alexander Mikhailovich, in which he shares his memories.

INTRODUCTION

What was so unusual that 27-year-old Alexander Pushkin could tell the 30-year-old Emperor Nicholas I, after which he, in the presence of the whole court, gave such a high assessment to the poet:

I talked today with the smartest husband of Russia.

Nikolai Pavlovich did not share the content of the conversation with anyone. Nevertheless, she did not pass without a trace for him and became the property not only of his psyche, but also of his unconscious kind. The grandson of Nicholas I, Alexander Mikhailovich, unconsciously reflected this influence in his memoirs.

CHILDHOOD

Alexander was born and raised in Tiflis, in the palace of his father, Mikhail Nikolaevich Romanov, Viceroy of the Emperor in the Caucasus.

Let us give the floor to Alexander Mikhailovich himself:

Following in the footsteps of his father Emperor Nicholas I, a man of exceptional straightforwardness and firmness of views, my father considered it necessary that his children be brought up in a military spirit, strict discipline and a sense of duty. The inspector general of Russian artillery and the governor of the rich Caucasus, which united up to twenty different nationalities and warring tribes, did not share the modern principles of gentle education. My mother before marriage, Princess Cecilia of Baden, grew up in the days when Bismarck bound Germany with iron and blood.

In childhood, everyone learns about the world around them, what questions seemed especially interesting to you, what left an impression in your memory?

…one event of greater importance coincided with my birthday. I find that it was a direct revelation to me, so much was my young soul shaken by it. I'm talking about the first confession. Good father, oh Georgy Titov tried in every possible way to soften the impression of fasting.
For the first time in my life I learned about the existence of various sins and their definition in the words of Father Titov. As a seven-year-old child, I had to repent of my involvement in the affairs of the devil. The Lord God, who spoke to me in the whisper of the colorful flowers that grew in our garden, suddenly turned into a formidable, implacable being in my mind.
Without looking into my horror-filled eyes, Father Titov told me about the curses and eternal torment to which those who hide their sins will be condemned. He raised his voice, and I, trembling, looked at his pectoral cross, illuminated by the rays of the bright Caucasian sun. Could it be that I voluntarily or unwittingly committed some terrible sin and concealed it?
- Very often, children take without asking, various little things from their parents. This is theft and a great sin - said the priest.
No, I was quite sure that I had not even stolen a lollipop from a large silver vase that stood on the fireplace, although it seduced me more than once. But I remembered the last summer I spent in Italy. Being in Naples in the garden at our villa, I picked up a brilliant red apple under one of the fruit trees, which emitted such a familiar aroma that I immediately trembled and felt sad for the distant Caucasus.
- Father Titov, tell me, will I go to hell because I picked up someone else's apple in Naples? I asked. Father Titov reassured me and promised to teach me how to atone for this sin, if I promise him never to do anything like that.
This willingness to make concessions gave me courage. Stuttering, mumbling and swallowing the words, I expressed my surprise and doubt about the existence of hell.
- You said, father Titov, when you came to us for breakfast in the palace, that the Lord God loves everyone - men, women, children, animals and flowers. So how can He allow all these torments of hell to exist? How can he love and hate at the same time?
Now it's o's turn. Titov to be horrified.
- Do not repeat this ever! This is a sin, blasphemy. Of course, the Lord God loves everyone. He is full of goodness. He cannot hate.
- But, father, you just told me about those terrible torments that await sinners in hell. This means that God loves only good people and does not love sinners.
Batiushka took a deep breath and put his big soft hand on my head.
- My dear boy, you will understand this in time. Someday, when you grow up, you will thank me for raising you in the spirit of true Christianity. Now don't ask much, but do as I tell you.
I left the church with the feeling that I had lost something extremely valuable forever, which I could never acquire again, even if I became the Emperor of All Russia.

Governor's Palace in Tiflis

How was your education as a child?

We read prayers, kneeling in a row before the icons, then took a cold bath. Our morning breakfast consisted of tea, bread and butter. Everything else was strictly forbidden, so as not to accustom us to luxury.
Then there was a lesson in gymnastics and fencing. Particular attention was paid to practical exercises in artillery, for which there was a gun in our garden. Very often, my father came to our classes without warning, critically observing the artillery lesson. At the age of ten I could take part in the bombing of a big city.
From 8 o'clock in the morning to 11 and from 2 to 6 we had to study. According to tradition, the Grand Dukes could not study in either state or private educational institutions, and therefore we were surrounded by a whole staff of mentors. Our curriculum, divided into eight years, consisted of lessons on the Law of God, the history of the Orthodox Church, the comparative history of other confessions, Russian grammar and literature, the history of foreign literature, the history of Russia, Europe, America and Asia, geography, mathematics (which included arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry), French, English and German, and music. In addition, we were taught how to handle firearms, horseback riding, swordsmanship and bayonet charge. My elder brothers Nikolai and Mikhail also studied Latin and Greek, but we, the younger ones, were freed from this torture.
The teaching was not difficult for me or for my brothers, but the excessive severity of the mentors left a residue of bitterness in all of us. It is safe to say that today's loving parents would object if their children were brought up in the way that was customary in the Russian Imperial family of the era of my childhood ...
In the tenth year of my life, I entered the third year of my studies, which meant that a new course of sciences and military exercises would be added to my former duties. Staying all the time in the company of adults and constantly hearing from them about the heavy responsibility that awaits the Grand Duke, I began to think early on issues that are the lot of a more mature age. Strange as it may seem, my emotional, spiritual and mental development was several years ahead of my physical maturity. She made herself felt only in 1882, when my parents finally moved to St. Petersburg, and I began to attend the ballet. Until that time, perhaps as a result of a strict upbringing, I had been chaste in both desires and thoughts. The study of the Old Testament, which so easily captures the imagination of a child, had the opposite effect on my train of thought. Completely unaware of the sexual meaning of certain events, I experienced the greatest excitement about the fall of Adam and Eve, not understanding its strictly legal significance. I found it a terrible injustice to expel these two innocent people from paradise. Firstly, the Lord God had to command the devil to leave them alone, and secondly, why did He create this unfortunate fruit that caused such torments to all mankind?
Father Titov, who had been somewhat suspicious of me since the day of my first confession, tried in vain to defend the Old Testament in my eyes. He left me temporarily in peace, praying for the salvation of my soul from the darkness of unbelief, but, in the end, lost patience and threatened to report everything to my father. The latter killed in me any interest in the lessons of the Law of God, and I transferred the whole arsenal of my questions and doubts to the lessons of geography and natural history.

- Already as a child you had to witness the war between Russia and Turkey, how did you perceive it?

I was eleven years old in those days, and I experienced all the excitement of my first war ...
Of course, we could not even think about our correct daily activities. We were only interested in the war. We wanted to talk only about the war. As we planned for the future, we hoped that if the war continued for another two years, we would be able to take part in the fighting.
Every morning brought exciting news. The Caucasian army took the Turkish fortress. The Danube army, under the command of our uncle, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Sr., crossed the Danube and moved towards Plevna, where the most bloody battles were to take place. Emperor Alexander II visited the main apartment, distributing military awards to numerous generals and officers, whose names we knew well ...
Turkish losses sounded like sweet music in our ears. Many years later, in command of the Russian air fleet during the World War, I grasped the unusual mechanism for issuing official military reports and could no longer relive the enthusiasm of an eleven-year-old boy who followed with shining eyes the movements of the Russian army in Turkey, without thinking about those hecatombs of human the lives that she made up along the way. In 1914, I realized that the "heavy losses" suffered by the "rapidly retreating enemy" were invariably accompanied by even heavier losses of our "glorious victorious army". It seems to me that no one is able to change the optimism of official reports, as well as the psychology of the military, who are able to look coolly at the mountains of corpses in the trenches recaptured from the enemy. On the other hand, it must be admitted that the ethics of war have changed considerably in the last forty years. That raid of chivalry, which was still noticeable in the actions of opponents in the war of 1877-1878, gave way to the brutal mutual extermination of people. Suffice it to recall Verdun with its 400 thousand dead! Reading descriptions of the nightmarish conditions in which the life of prisoners of war proceeded during the World War, I always recalled the sympathy and respect with which we Russians treated Turkish prisoners in 1877.

In today's society, the children of the "elite" have no idea how society works and how society should be organized. How was it in your time? Were you taught sociology, did you have an idea about the social structure of society?

The relative freedom that my brothers and I enjoyed during the tenure of the Viceroy at the front finally gave us the opportunity to get acquainted with the various classes of the Tiflis population and their social life.
In our visits to the hospitals, as well as in our walks through the streets, we were confronted with a terrible need. We saw poverty, suffering and overwork, lurking near the palace itself. We heard stories that destroyed all our previous illusions and dreams. The fact that I wore a blue silk shirt and red morocco boots now seemed to me shameful in the presence of boys of the same age, who had torn shirts and bare feet. Many of them were starving; they all cursed the war that had robbed them of their fathers. We told about our impressions to the educators and asked that we be given the opportunity to help these poor teenagers with emaciated, gray faces. They did not answer us, but soon our walks were again limited to the boundaries of the palace park, although this measure did not erase the severity of the impressions experienced from our memory. Our consciousness suddenly woke up, and the whole world took on a different color.
- You, the sons of the Grand Duke, live well, - said one of our new acquaintances, - you have everything and live in luxury.
We memorized this strange phrase and wondered what luxury is? Is it true that we have everything, and those others have absolutely nothing?

RUSSIA HAS ONLY TWO ALLIES: ITS ARMY AND NAVY

During your stay in St. Petersburg, Emperor Alexander III ascended the throne. How do you rate his activities?

Fortunately for Russia, Emperor Alexander III possessed all the qualities of a major administrator. A staunch supporter of a healthy national policy, a fan of discipline, and also very skeptical, the Sovereign ascended the throne of his ancestors, ready to fight. He knew court life too well not to feel contempt for his father's former employees, and his thorough acquaintance with the rulers of modern Europe inspired him with a well-founded distrust of their intentions. Emperor Alexander III believed that the majority of Russian disasters stemmed from the inappropriate liberalism of our bureaucracy and from the exceptional property of Russian diplomacy to succumb to all sorts of foreign influences.
24 hours after the burial of Alexander II, Alexander III issued a special manifesto with a list of the reforms he had planned. Much was subject to a radical change: management methods, views, dignitaries themselves, diplomats, etc. Count Loris-Melikov and other ministers were dismissed, and they were replaced by business people taken from outside the court environment, which immediately caused indignation in St. Petersburg aristocratic salons.
- The days of "black reaction" have come, - the inconsolable supporters of liberal reforms assured, but the biographies of the new ministers, it would seem, refuted this preconceived notion. Prince Khilkov, appointed Minister of Railways, spent his adventurous youth in the United States, working as a simple laborer in the mines of Pennsylvania. Professor Vyshnegradsky - Minister of Finance - was widely known for his original economic theories. He managed to bring the finances of the Empire into a brilliant state and to contribute a lot to the development of the industry of the country. The honored hero of the Russian-Turkish war, General Vannovsky, was appointed Minister of War. Admiral Shestakov, sent abroad by Alexander II for ruthless criticism of our navy, was summoned to St. Petersburg and appointed minister of the sea. The new Minister of the Interior, Count Tolstoy, was the first Russian administrator to realize that the concern for the well-being of the rural population of Russia should be the first task of state power.
S.Yu. Witte, who was a modest official of the Southwestern Railways, owed his dizzying career to the farsightedness of Emperor Alexander III, who, having appointed him as a Deputy Minister, immediately recognized his talent.
The appointment of Girs, a finely educated man, but devoid of any initiative, to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs caused considerable surprise both in Russia and abroad. But Alexander III only grinned. Most willingly, he would have preferred to be personally the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, but since he needed a figurehead, his choice fell on an obedient official who was supposed to follow the path outlined by him, the Monarch, softening the harsh expressions of the Russian Tsar with the refined style of diplomatic notes. The following years also proved the undoubted mind of Gears. Not a single "international ruler of thoughts and hearts", not a single "idol of European capitals" could embarrass Gears in his exact execution of the Emperor's orders. And thus, for the first time after centuries of mistakes, Russia found its pronounced national policy towards foreign powers.
Having formed the Council of Ministers and developed a new political program, Alexander III turned to the important issue of ensuring the security of the Royal Family. He resolved it in the only logical way - namely, by moving to permanent residence in the Gatchina Palace. The King's pride was hurt:
“I was not afraid of Turkish bullets and now I have to hide from the revolutionary underground in my country,” he said with irritation. But Emperor Alexander III realized that the Russian Empire should not be in danger of losing two Sovereigns within one year.

How did you come up with the idea of ​​serving in the Navy?

The idea of ​​entering the fleet came to my mind in 1878, when, by a happy misunderstanding, a cheerful and accommodating lieutenant, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Zelyony, got into the number of our mentors. Completely incapable of the role of a teacher or educator, he allowed us to do whatever we wanted with him, and we spent our usually so dull morning hours listening to Zeleny's stories about the free life that the sailors of the Russian navy led. If you believe all the words of this enthusiastic sailor, it seemed that the fleet of His Imperial Majesty was passing from one brilliant adventure to another, and a life full of surprises fell to the lot of everyone who was on board a Russian warship.
The infectious cheerfulness of Green determined my choice. I began to dream of mysterious women riding rickshaws through the narrow streets of Shanghai. I longed to see the magical sight of Hindu fanatics entering the sacred waters of the Ganges at dawn. I was eager to see a herd of wild elephants rushing through the impenetrable wilds of the Ceylon forests. I finally decided to become a sailor.
- A sailor! my son will be a sailor! Mother looked at me in horror.
"You're still a child and you don't understand what you're saying." Your father will never let you do that.
Indeed, when my father heard about my desire, he frowned heavily. The Navy didn't tell him anything. The only two members of the Imperial family who served in the navy did not make any career in it, according to their father. His sailor brother Konstantin Nikolaevich was looked upon as a dangerous liberal. His nephew Alexei Alexandrovich was too fond of the fair sex.
It did not matter that the Russian fleet was not in the least to blame either for the liberalism of Konstantin Nikolaevich, or for the development of the romantic inclinations of Alexei Alexandrovich. My parents wanted their son to be nothing like any of those relatives who served in the Navy!
But these opinions of my parents did not change my decision; there is considerable perseverance in my character. In the end, my parents gave in and promised to resolve this difficult issue during our autumn stay in St. Petersburg. They thought that living in the atmosphere of the court and magnificent Sunday parades would fill my heart with the desire to wear a brilliant uniform. They forgot about the fogs of St. Petersburg, the dull twilight days, the eternal dampness and the tension of the political situation. The northern capital had just the opposite effect on me, turning all my hopes more than anything towards the sea. What in the Caucasus was the fruit of the dream of a little boy, in St. Petersburg became a necessity for a young man who decided to break free. But still, I doubt very much whether I would have succeeded in carrying out my naval plan had it not been for unexpected help from the new Sovereign. In contrast to his father, Emperor Alexander III attached great importance to the navy in the defense of the borders of the Russian Empire. Having broad plans for our fleet, Alexander III believed that the entry of his cousin into the naval service would be a good example for Russian youth. His friendly intervention saved me from vegetating in the stuffy atmosphere of the capital. I owe Alexander III the greatest joys of my service career and still shudder at the thought that I could become one of those narcissistic guards officers who looked at the world through binoculars aimed at the ballet stage ...

- And how was your service in the Navy?

The four-year program ... included astronomy, the theory of deviation, oceanography, theoretical and practical artillery, the theory of shipbuilding, military and naval strategy and tactics, military and naval administration and charters, the theory of navigation, political economy, theoretical and practical fortification, the history of Russian and the most important from foreign fleets ... My teachers, all outstanding specialists, did not share the opinion of my inexorable mentor. Encouraged by them, I became interested in my new subjects. Theoretical studies at home were accompanied by visits to military courts and port facilities. Every summer I spent three months sailing on a cruiser, which sailed the cadets and midshipmen of the Naval Corps. My parents still hoped that the iron discipline that reigned on the ship would force me to change my mind at the last moment.
During the classes, I did not find any advantage whatsoever. When I did something wrong, it was pointed out to me with the same coarse sincerity as to the rest of the Cadets. Having explained my duties to me once and for all, something more was expected from me than from the rest of the cadets, and the admiral often told me that the Russian Grand Duke should always be an example for his comrades. I really liked this equality of treatment. I learned easily. My irresistible attraction to the sea increased every day. I spent all the hours assigned to our shift on watch, finding it only pleasant to spend four hours in the company of the boys who became my friends, in the immediate vicinity of the sea, which rolled its waves into the mysterious countries of my dreams ...

During your voyage, on behalf of Emperor Alexander III, you made visits to other countries. Whom did you visit?

It was January, the hottest month in South America, and the Emperor was living in his summer residence, Petropolis, high in the mountains. The only way to get there was an old-fashioned funicular that zigzag up the high mountainside.
The full, gray beard of Emperor Don Pedro and his gold-rimmed glasses made him look like a university professor. He sympathetically listened to my impressions of the jungle. The absence of political differences and irresolvable conflicts between the Russian and Brazilian Empires allowed us to talk at ease.
“Europeans talk so often about the so-called youth of the countries of South America,” he said, not without bitterness. - But none of them realizes that we are infinitely old. We are older than the world itself. There are no traces left of the peoples who lived on this mainland thousands of centuries ago, or rather, they have not been discovered. But one thing remains unchanged in South America, and that is the spirit of restless hatred. This spirit is the product of the jungle that surrounds us, which rules over our minds. The political ideas of today are linked to the demands of tomorrow by nothing less than a constant desire for change. No government can remain in power for long, for the jungle urges us to fight. At this moment, the demand of the day for us is the establishment of a democratic system. The Brazilian people will receive it. I know my people too well to allow useless bloodshed. I'm tired. Let future presidents try to maintain civil peace in Brazil.
A few years later, Brazil became a republic. Don Pedro kept his promise: he voluntarily and joyfully abdicated, baffling his impulsive subjects with the ease of their victory. His memory is honored to this day in Brazil, and the monument, erected by popular subscription, perpetuates the calm wisdom of this kind old man.
I liked him very much, and since he was in no hurry, we spent more than two hours in his modest, comfortable study with wide windows overlooking a large garden in which countless birds chirped. We spoke French. His very clear, grammatically correct, though slightly hesitant style, gave a touch of friendly shyness to this conversation between the unshakable monarch of the tropical countries and the representative of the Royal House of the Far North, so powerful at that time.

- You became the "first European" accepted by the Japanese Emperor. What were your impressions of the visit?

One fine day, a telegram was received from the Sovereign Emperor with an order to make an official visit to the mikado. The Russian envoy to the Japanese court worked out a complex program that consisted of ceremonial receptions, lunches and dinners, and which was supposed to end with a large banquet in the palace. Our envoy was very concerned, for I was to be the first representative of European states ever received by the Emperor of Japan.
At that time, the post of head of the ceremonial part at the Japanese court was occupied by a former chamberlain of the German Emperor, and therefore my reception in Tokyo and Yokohama was furnished with great solemnity. From the moment the imperial salute of 101 shots thundered in the Yokohama port, over the next nine days I ceased to be a modest midshipman from the Rynda cruiser, and I was treated in the same way as the highest persons were received in prim Potsdam. The mikado's own train was waiting for me in Yokohama, and all members of the government, headed by Count Ito, the then prime minister, met me at the Tokyo station. I proceeded to the Imperial Palace in a magnificent carriage, preceded by a squadron of the Mikado Guard in full dress.
The first audience with the Emperor lasted only a few minutes. The Emperor and Empress received me in the throne room, surrounded by a brilliant retinue of princes and princesses. I made a short speech and delivered a greeting from the King. The Emperor expressed his joy at my stay in Tokyo and his faith in Russo-Japanese friendship. Both speeches were translated by an embassy translator. I experienced some embarrassment in the company of these people, dressed in full dress uniform and barely reaching my shoulder, and tried to appear as short as possible.
Since our main stop was in Nagasaki, we returned there from our flights every three months. The Rynda followed her intended course, and we thus visited the Philippine Islands, India, Australia, and various islands in the Great and Indian Oceans. Memories of these places arouse in me an acute longing, which at one time was even the reason for my intention to renounce the title and remain forever abroad. The Moluccas, the Fiji Islands, Ceylon and Dariling in the Himalayas are especially to my liking.
I often think about all this after the revolution, and it seems to me that a distant island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean would be the most suitable place for a man whose life has been twisted by the wheels of history. These thoughts I shared with my wife and sons, but they decided to stay in Europe, which said nothing to my mind or heart even in my youth. Maybe someday my dreams will come true. Sad as it is to visit again the places where I was happy forty years ago, I firmly believe that neither the ocean, nor the rainforests, nor the mountains will betray me. Only people change... - Travel is a school of skepticism, - Montaigne rightly said. For me, the journey was a “school of unlearning,” because in every country that Rynda visited along the way, I managed to free myself from the truisms and platitudes instilled in me by a wrong upbringing.

- You've been to the UK. What would you highlight in the meeting with the Great Metropolis?

In the spring of 1889, Rynda returned to Europe through the Suez Canal and Egypt. After a short stop in Greece, where, to my great joy, I had a meeting with my cousin - Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna, Queen of the Hellenes - then in Monte Carlo, where I saw my parents, brother George and sister Anastasia - we took course to the shores of Great Britain. Here I had to be for the second time the representative of the Sovereign Emperor, who entrusted me with the duty to convey greetings to Queen Victoria of England.
Since relations between Russia and England were far from being friendly, I was not too happy about the high task entrusted to me. I had already had occasion to hear much about the coldness of Queen Victoria and braced myself for the worst.
The invitation received from the palace with a laconic postscript "for breakfast" only increased my fears. The personal audience was so good that it was supposed to be short, but the prospect of participating in a long ceremony of the Supreme Breakfast with the Monarchine, known for her hostility towards Russia, did not bode well. I arrived at the palace before my appointed time, and was led into a semi-dark living room. For several minutes I sat alone and waited for the Queen to come out. Finally, two tall Indians appeared on the threshold: they bowed low and opened the double-leaf door that led to the inner chambers. On the threshold stood a small, plump woman. I kissed her hand and we started talking. I was struck by the simplicity and cordiality of her manner. At first it seemed to me that this sincerity does not mean a radical change in British policy towards Russia. But the explanation for this was different.
"I've heard good things about you," the Queen said with a smile. - I must thank you for your kind attitude towards one of my friends.
I was surprised, because I could not remember any of the faces I met who could boast of friendship with Her Majesty the Queen of England.
“Have you already forgotten him,” the queen asked smiling, “Munchi, my teacher of the Hindu language?”
Now I understood the reason for her warm welcome, although the Hindu Munchi never told me that he was the teacher of Queen Victoria of England. I met him in Agra when I was visiting Tai Magal. He expressed a lot of profound thoughts about the religious beliefs of the Hindus, and I was very pleased when Munchi invited me to dinner. I never imagined that my tasting Munchi's bread and salt would raise that Hindu very much in the eyes of the arrogant Hindu rajas, and that he would write a long letter to Queen Victoria praising my astonishing "kindness."
The queen called. The door opened and my friend Munchi himself appeared on the threshold. We greeted each other very cordially, and the Queen happily watched our conversation.
By the time breakfast was served, I felt completely at ease and was able to answer all questions about the political situation in South America, Japan, and China. The British people had every reason to be proud of this extraordinary woman. Sitting at her desk in London, the Queen closely observed the changing picture of life in distant lands, and her apt remarks testified to her sharp, discriminating mind and subtle understanding of reality.

- Have you also visited the USA?

I was exactly 27 years old on that foggy spring day when the cruiser "Dmitry Donskoy" anchored in Hudson Bay.
I have officially come to express gratitude to President Cleveland on behalf of my cousin, Emperor Alexander III, for the help given by the United States to Russia during the crop failure. Unofficially, I wanted to take a look at this country of the future and hoped that it would determine my fate.
The World's Fair was about to open at the time of our arrival, and the whole country was in great tension. Never before had so many nations sent their fleets to the shores of the United States. Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Argentina - all were presented at a brilliant international show at the New York port in May 1893.
The visit of the Spanish Infanta Eulalia was a sensation of the exhibition. Emperor Wilhelm sent Germany's most prominent diplomat, von Bülow, to counter this "Spanish intrigue". The Scottish Highlanders played the bagpipes, and the French were represented by a special band of the Republican Guard. And the fact that all the great powers fought for the favor and friendship of the United States was very significant. One hot July night, driving down the decorated Fifth Avenue to the residence of John Jacob Astor and looking at the rows of illuminated houses, I suddenly felt the dawn of a new era.
I thought about my uncle, uncle and cousin. They ran a country that was larger than this new country, facing the same problems as America's vast population of several dozen nationalities and creeds, the colossal distances between industrial centers and agricultural areas that required long railroad lines. The difficulties facing the American government were no less than ours, but our asset was greater. Russia had gold, copper, coal, iron; its soil, if it were possible to raise the productivity of the Russian land, could feed the whole world. What was missing in Russia? Why couldn't we follow the American example? We had absolutely nothing to do with Europe, and we had no reason to imitate the nations that were forced to this or that method of government because of their poverty.
Europe! Europe! - this eternal desire to keep pace with Europe delayed our national development for God knows how many years.
Here, at a distance of four thousand miles from European cockfights, the gaze of the observer was a living example of the country's capabilities in conditions similar to those of Russia. We should have put just a little more common sense into our politics.
And right there, in those few minutes that my walk lasted that evening, the broadest plan for the Americanization of Russia matured in my head.
I was fascinated by youth and life. It was a joy to think and repeat over and over again that the old blood-stained nineteenth century was drawing to a close, leaving the arena free for the new work of future generations.

End of the first part of the interview.

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Now about his other two sons - Konstantin and Nikolai and their two branches - "Konstantinovichi" and "Nikolaevichi". Both had two marriages, like their brother Emperor Alexander II, but both Konstantin and Nicholas had a second marriage with ballerinas.

Nikolai Nikolaevich (1831-1891) and Konstantin Nikolaevich (1827-1892)

Moreover, Nikolai did not register his second marriage, but cohabited without terminating the marriage with his first wife, by the way, who became a saint. More on this later, and now a little about the three daughters of Nicholas I - Olga, Maria, Alexander.

Olga Nikolaevna (1822-1892) Maria Nikolaevna (1819-1876) Alexandra Nikolaevna (1825-1844)

Maria Nikolaevna (August 18, 1819 - February 21, 1876) - the first mistress of the Mariinsky Palace in St. Petersburg, president of the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1852-1876. She was the eldest daughter and second child in the family of Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich and Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna. Unlike many princesses of that time, whose marriages were for dynastic reasons, Maria Nikolaevna married for love. Married to the Duchess of Leuchtenberg. Despite the origin of Maximilian and his religion (he was a Catholic), Nicholas I agreed to marry his daughter with him, on the condition that the spouses would live in Russia, and not abroad.

The wedding took place on July 2, 1839 and took place according to two rites: Orthodox and Catholic. By decree of July 2 (14), 1839, the emperor granted Maximilian the title of His Imperial Highness, and by decree of December 6 (18), 1852, he bestowed the title and surname of the Romanovsky princes on the descendants of Maximilian and Maria Nikolaevna. The children of Maximilian and Maria Nikolaevna were baptized into Orthodoxy and brought up at the court of Nicholas I, later Emperor Alexander II included them in the Russian Imperial family. From this marriage, Maria Nikolaevna had 7 children: Alexandra, Maria, Nikolai, Evgenia, Eugene, Sergey, George.

Of them daughter Evgeniya gave birth to an only child - Peter of Oldenburg. The one with whom the sister of Nicholas II Olga lived in an unhappy marriage for 7 years. Another daughter Maria , married the elder brother of Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna, whom I already wrote about. But the daughter of Maria Nikolaevna - Alexandra died in infancy. Granddaughter of Maria Nikolaevna from her son, whose name is Evgeny , was shot by the Bolsheviks. George - the only one of the brothers entered into a dynastic marriage, but his two sons did not leave offspring, so the family stopped.

Son of Maria Nikolaevna Nicholas in 1868 in Bavaria he entered into a morganatic marriage with Nadezhda Sergeevna Annenkova, in his first marriage - Akinfova (1840-1891), which caused displeasure of the emperor. The Duke of Leuchtenberg was forced to leave Russia. This union was recognized as legal only 11 years later, and Nadezhda Sergeevna, by decree of Emperor Alexander II, received the title of Countess of Beauharnais in 1879. They had two children - George and Nicholas.
Sergey, son of Maria Nikolaevna, was not married, left no offspring. Sergei Maksimilianovich was killed by a bullet wound to the head. Prince Romanovsky became the first member of the Russian Imperial House to die in the war. He is buried in the Grand Duke's tomb in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. In his memory, a chapel was built in the name of St. Sergius of Radonezh in the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Lesnoy.

Maria Nikolaevna's first husband, Maximilian, died at the age of 35, and she remarried in 1853 to Count Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganov (1823-1878). The wedding was performed on November 13 (25), 1853 in the palace church of the Mariinsky Palace, the priest of the Trinity Church of the Gostilitsky estate of Tatyana Borisovna Potemkina, John Stefanov. This marriage was morganatic, concluded in secret from the father of Maria Nikolaevna, Emperor Nicholas I, with the assistance of the heir and his wife. From this marriage, Mary has two more children - Gregory and Elena.

Olga Nikolaevna, the second daughter of Nicholas I was born in the Anichkov Palace on August 30 (September 11), 1822 and was the third child in the family of Emperor Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna. By mother, Princess Olga came from the Prussian royal house of Hohenzollern. Her grandfather and great-grandfather were Kings of Prussia Friedrich Wilhelm II and Friedrich Wilhelm III. Attractive, educated, multilingual, passionate about playing the piano and painting, Olga was regarded as one of the best brides in Europe. After the wedding of her sister Maria, who married a prince below her in rank, Olga Nikolaevna's parents wanted to find her a promising spouse. But time passed, and nothing changed in the life of Grand Duchess Olga. Those close to him were perplexed: “How, at the age of nineteen, still not married?” And at the same time, there were many applicants for her hand. Back in 1838, while staying with her parents in Berlin, the sixteen-year-old princess attracted the attention of Crown Prince Maximilian of Bavaria. But neither she nor her family liked him. A year later, Archduke Stefan took over her thoughts. He was the son of Palatine Joseph of Hungary (wife of the deceased Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna) from his second marriage. But this union was prevented by Stephen's stepmother, who did not want to have a Russian princess as a relative because of jealousy for the first wife of Archduke Joseph. By 1840, Olga decided that she would not rush into marriage, she said that she was already fine, she was happy to stay at home. Emperor Nicholas I declared that she was free and could choose whoever she wanted. Olga Nikolaevna's aunt, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (wife of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich) began to make efforts to pass her off as her brother, Prince Friedrich of Württemberg. He was denied. But the answer to the counter proposal for marriage with Stefan had to wait a long time. A letter from Vienna stated that the marriage of both Stefan and Olga Nikolaevna, who profess different faiths, seemed unacceptable to Austria. The Archduchess of Russian origin may become dangerous for the state due to the fact that among the Slavic population of the "explosive" regions of Austria, fermentation may arise. Stefan himself said that, knowing about Albrecht's feelings, he considered it right to "step aside." This uncertainty acted depressingly not only on Olga, but also on her parents. She has already begun to be considered a cold nature. Parents began to look for another party for their daughter and settled on Duke Adolf of Nassau. And this almost led to a break with the wife of Mikhail Pavlovich, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna. She had long dreamed of marrying her youngest daughter Elizabeth to him. Nicholas I, taking care of maintaining peace in the imperial house, decided that the prince himself was free to make a choice between cousins. But Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, who had not forgiven her niece for neglecting her brother, was now worried that Adolf would give preference to the royal daughter at the expense of her Lily. But Adolf, who came to Russia with his brother Maurice, asked for the hand of Elizabeth Mikhailovna. The emperor had nothing against it, but was surprised. At the beginning of 1846, in Palermo, where Olga was accompanied by her mother-empress, who stayed there for some time to improve her health, which had deteriorated sharply after the death of her youngest daughter Alexandra, she met the Crown Prince of Württemberg Karl, and agreed to his marriage proposal. The wedding took place in Peterhof on July 1 (13), 1846, on the birthday of Alexandra Feodorovna and on the day of her wedding with Nikolai Pavlovich. It was believed that this number should bring happiness to the new couple. The bells rang all day long, even houses in St. Petersburg were decorated with illumination. The emperor wished his daughter: "Be Karl the same as your mother has been for me all these years." Olga's family life was quite successful, but they had no children.

Alexandra Nikolaevna (June 24, 1825 - August 10, 1844), the youngest daughter of Nicholas I was famous for her beauty and easy character, she was distinguished by her amazing kindness and musical character. She died of tuberculosis at the age of 19, leaving her husband - Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hesse-Kassel (1820 - 1884) - a widower. She did not give birth to children. Therefore, Frederick remarried the Prussian princess Anna.

HIkolay Nikolaevich Senior (1831-1891) - Russian military and statesman; third son of Emperor Nicholas I and Alexandra Feodorovna; Field Marshal General (April 16, 1878). He was called the Elder from November 24, 1856, according to the Highest Command - to distinguish him from his firstborn son, who was born then, named by the same name; He also had a court nickname - Uncle Nizi. Member of the State Council (1855) and honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In his youth, judging by the diary entries, he was in love with Maria Anna of Prussia, but the marriage did not take place due to close relationship. There is also a version that Maria Alexandrovna Pushkina (Gartung) was in love with Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, perhaps they had a secret affair, which is why she did not marry for so long. In 1856, in St. Petersburg, he married Alexandra Friederike Wilhelmina, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Oldenburg Konstantin Friedrich Peter (in Orthodoxy, Alexandra Petrovna).
Children:
Nicholas (1856—1929);
Peter (1864—1931).

After 10 years, the marriage de facto broke up; Nikolai Nikolaevich publicly accused his wife of adultery with the rector of their palace church and confessor of the Grand Duchess, Archpriest Vasily Lebedev. Nikolai Nikolaevich expelled Alexandra Petrovna from the Nikolaevsky Palace, taking away jewelry, including his own gifts. Emperor Alexander II took the side of the Grand Duke, however, taking all the expenses for the maintenance of the exiled daughter-in-law at his own expense. She never returned to St. Petersburg and ended her days in the Kiev Intercession Monastery founded by her. Canonized in the face of the venerable UOC.

Not like that!

On whom?

White marble bust of a classical hero. The strict antique profile of the emperor faces the window of the Gatchina Palace. Somewhere out there, on a spacious parade ground, stands, as if accepting a parade, the bronze Emperor Paul I.

Nikolai Pavlovich does not look like his father ...

I shrug my shoulders, but in the museum hall, where portraits of emperors, empresses, members of imperial families side by side, I hear again:

No, it doesn't look like ... Take a closer look.

How not to look? The family resemblance between Peter III and his son Pavel Petrovich - at least in the portraits - is obvious. The eldest sons of Paul are also an undoubted continuation of the royal family. Here is a cameo depicting Pavel's older children: in 1790, Empress Maria Feodorovna personally carved it! Everyone has a snub-nosed "Pavlovian profile": Alexander, Konstantin, Alexandra, Elena, Maria, Ekaterina ...

But Nicholas?

It seems nothing from Paul. That one, even according to the recognition of loyal courtiers, is “ugly”, this one, even according to the recognition of very critical publicists like the insidious Marquis de Custine, is the first handsome man. That snub nose, this one has “beautiful, majestic, almost antique features” (V. V. Stasov). That one is “small in stature”, this one is under two meters (both children and grandchildren will be tall: “Nikolaev breed”). That one will hide from the conspirators behind the fireplace screen, this one will ride on horseback under bullets to the rebellious square ...

Doesn't look like Paul. And who does he look like?

The information that has been preserved on this subject is based on oral traditions, which, however, create a stable tradition. From the poet-partisan Denis Davydov to the publicist and publisher Alexei Suvorin, through the entire 19th century: “Emperor Pavel the First knew very well that his third son Nikolai was adopted by Maria Fedorovna from the gof-furier Babkin, whom he looked like like two drops of water ... »; "Paul the First was going to imprison his wife in a monastery and declare Nikolai Pavlovich and Mikhail Pavlovich illegal." Suvorin was sure that Emperor Nicholas II knew about this, who himself "read all the papers to Panchulidzev ...".

The papers were probably secret, but one of the testimonies seems to have survived to the court of curious descendants: a copy of the old letter was published in the journal Byloye in 1925.

If the publications are trusted, it turns out that on April 15, 1800, Emperor Pavel, driven to despair by the hostility of his environment, opened up with one of his close associates, Count Fyodor Rostopchin:

“To you, as one of the few whom I absolutely trust, I bitterly admit that the cold, official attitude of Tsarevich Alexander towards me depresses me ... It is all the more sad that Alexander, Konstantin and Alexandra are my blood children. Others?<…>God knows! It is wise to end with a woman everything in common in life, to have more children from her. In my vehemence, I drew up a manifesto "On the recognition of my son Nikolai as illegal," but Bezborodko begged me not to make it public. Nevertheless, I am thinking of sending Nicholas to Württemberg "to uncles", from my eyes: the Hoff-Fourier bastard should not be in the role of the Russian Grand Duke!<…>But Bezborodko and Obolyaninov are right: nothing can be changed in the secret life of kings, since the Almighty has determined so.

Dear Count, this letter must remain between us. Nature requires confession, and this makes it easier to live and reign. I abide to you, gracious Paul."

Despite the persuasion of the first persons of the empire (Chancellor Alexander Andreevich Bezborodko, Prosecutor General Pyotr Khrisanfovich Obolyaninov), Paul, apparently, nevertheless decided to fulfill his threat regarding his younger sons. Denis Davydov's entry about this has been preserved:

“Count Rostopchin was a wonderful person in many respects ... Having once received a letter from Paul, who ordered him to declare Grand Dukes Nikolai and Mikhail Pavlovich illegitimate, he, among other things, wrote to him: “You have the power to order, but I am obliged to tell you that if this will be carried out, in Russia there will not be enough dirt to hide the redness of your cheeks under it. The emperor attributed in this letter: "You are terrible, but fair."

These curious letters were brought to Nikolai Pavlovich, through Count Benckendorff, by the stupid and insignificant son of the Count.

The anxiety of the crown bearer brings a special meaning to almost the only dialogue that has come down to us between Paul and the very young Nikolai Pavlovich.

Why, - the Grand Duke asked, - is the emperor called Paul the First?

Because there was no other sovereign who would bear this name before me, - the emperor explained.

Then, - Nikolai reacted, - they will call me Nikolai the First!

If you still ascend the throne, ”Paul answered rather harshly, then looked at Nicholas in thought and left the rooms ...

All surviving evidence, although left in notes and diaries, is based on oral traditions. Pavel's letter to Rostopchin emerged from non-existence at the beginning of the 20th century - but returned to non-existence again. The original, according to the publishers, burned down in 1918 during a fire; neither the copy published in the Byloe magazine in 1925, nor even a copy of the copy, has survived. Only "dark, unproven and unrefuted tradition" remained.

Documents are silent, paintings and sculptures speak. And in our time, no, no, yes, and it rustles in the museum hall, between the portraits of Pavel and Nikolai: “No, it doesn’t look like ...”

Be that as it may, Empress Catherine had no such doubts. Nicholas himself later sincerely believed that his birth - the birth of the long-awaited third grandson - "was the last happy event she experienced." Even during the pregnancy of her daughter-in-law, Maria Feodorovna, the empress was touched by the rude jokes of her second grandson Konstantin (they say, “I have never seen such a belly in my whole life; there is enough room for four”), and the very birth of a boy, so big, was met by her exclamation: "What a hero!"

All the early morning of June 25, 1796, Catherine did not leave the newborn, and at five o'clock the peacefully sleeping Tsarskoe Selo shuddered from cannon thunder: it was a salute in honor of the Grand Duke. The baby was special: he screamed in a bass voice, turned out to be a arshin without two inches (61 centimeters), and his hands were, as Catherine wrote, "a little smaller than mine."

And the name of the child was given a special, unprecedented before in the royal house - in honor of St. Nicholas of Myra. No more Petrov! Especially Pavlov...

The rite of baptism took place on Sunday, July 6. By that time, a special gift from the Empress had already been prepared: a measured icon. According to the old Russian tradition, an icon depicting the patron saint, after whom the child is named, was written on a narrow board the size of his height at birth. This custom, coming from pre-Petrine Russia, Nikolai will keep: for his children, measured icons will also be made.

The widow of General Liven solemnly carried the "high-born" into the Tsarskoye Selo church, passing by the stiffened tall guard-transfigurators: on an eye-catching pillow, under a coverlet of white muslin. And Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich took the boy from the font. This was the wish of Catherine, based on political calculation. Nikolai acquired in his elder brother a godfather, whom the empress intended to enthrone, bypassing her son Paul, and Alexander assumed special responsibility for his possible heir (he still had not got offspring in three years of marriage). Catherine seemed to look into the future and hurried to bring it closer. She did not have time: the term of her earthly life was coming to an end. The empress could still rejoice at how “by leaps and bounds” the “knight Nikolai” (as she called him) was growing, but she did not live up to six months of her grandson.