Front matter

Contents. List of Photogravures (In certain versions of this etext [in certain browsers] clicking on the image will bring up a larger version.) (etext transcriber's note)

THE CHILDREN OF THE TSAR

Grand Duchess Olga Grand Duchess Marie Grand Duchess Tatiana Grand Duchess Anastasia

The Tsarevitch Alexis

Photos: Boissonnas & Eggler, St. Petersburg

With Twenty-Three Illustrations in Photogravure Cassell and Company, Limited London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne 1913

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Some thirty years ago considerable interest was aroused by the publication, in the Nouvelle Revue, of Letters dealing with the Society of the different European capitals. These letters were by Count Paul Vassili.

They were clever, amusing, and, it must be owned, rather ill-natured letters. People wondered at the extraordinary amount of truth which they contained, at the secrets they revealed. The real name of their author to this day has never been disclosed; yet Count Vassili existed. He held an important post at the Russian Court, he had travelled widely, and everywhere had been welcomed as befitted his rank in the world. Cynical, intelligent, and wonderfully observant of everything that went on around him, his greatest interest in life was to commit to the leaves of a diary all that he saw or heard.

That diary, which stretches from the time of the Crimean War to the present year, it was his intention to publish before he died. Alas, death came too soon. The Count passed away a few months ago.

Nevertheless, the volumes which contained this diary became accessible, and their contents are now given to the public with the conviction that they will be read with the same interest that always attended the writings of Count Vassili.

At the same time, we would warn the reader that the present volume is not historical, but merely anecdotal. Yet sometimes anecdotes are also history. They very often explain events wide in their influence over the affairs of the world in general and Royal Houses in particular, which at first sight seem extraordinary, whilst, in reality, they are but the development of some small circumstance.

So far as we know there exists no chronicle of the Russian Court, and true anecdotes concerning it are extremely rare. Much has been written on the subject by outsiders upon hearsay; but here we have a book penned by a man who spent his life in the milieu which he describes, who knew intimately the people he writes about, who was present at most of the scenes which he describes. That alone would ensure an interest to this volume. We therefore hope that it will amuse its readers, and perhaps contribute in a small degree to reveal the truth concerning Russian Society and the Imperial Family.

More we cannot say, except that we leave to Count Vassili the entire responsibility of the judgments expressed and the facts divulged.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Publisher’s Notev

BOOK I. 1855-1894

CHAPTER

1.Nicholas I. Dies3

2.Alexander II. on the Throne16

3.Anecdotes of the Imperial Family25

4.Influence of the Grand Duchess Hélène Pavlovna38

5.The Reforms of Alexander II. and His Ministers48

6.The Adlerbergs and the Schouvaloffs60

7.St. Petersburg before the War of 1877-871

8.The Eastern War and Afterwards79

9.The Berlin Congress and its Consequences89

10.Alexander’s Love Affairs99

11.Assassination of Alexander II.108

12.Alexander III. and His Consort116

13.The Imperial Family in 1881122

14.The Friends and Ministers of Alexander III.130

15.Alexander III. is Crowned143

16.St. Petersburg Society, from 1883 to 1894152

17.The Foreign Policy of Alexander III.163

18.Alexander’s Ministers171

19.The Police under Alexander III.179

20.The Truth about Borky185

21. Last Days at Livadia 192

BOOK II. 1894-1913

1.Funeral and Wedding Bells203

2.A Character Sketch of Nicholas II.212

3.The Empress Alix224

4.The Imperial Family To-day238

5.Zemstvo of Tver Incident and what came of it250

6.The Entourage of the Emperor and Empress261

7.The Coronation of Nicholas II.270

8.The Springtide of Discontent278

9.The War with Japan288

10.Mukden and Tsushima296

11.The Birth of the Tsarevitch308

12.The Death of Mademoiselle Vietroff320

13.The Beginning of the Revolution324

14.Peace with Japan; War at Home334

15.The First Two Dumas343

16.The Career of M. Stolypin353

17.A Character Sketch of M. Kokovtsov364

18.The Foreign Office under Nicholas II.375

19.St. Petersburg Society at the Present Day383

20.The Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Her Children392

21.The 300th Anniversary of a Dynasty399

LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURES

The Imperial Family of Russia, 1913Frontispiece

Facing page

Emperor Nicholas I.16

Emperor Alexander II.16

Grand Duke Constantine Nicolaievitch34

Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievitch34

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovitch34

Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovitch34

Emperor Alexander III.116

Empress Marie Feodorovna116

Nicholas II., Tsar of Russia212

Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarina of Russia225

The Winter Palace, St. Petersburg342

Prince Gortschakov364

Count Ignatieff364

M. de Giers364

M. Kokovtsov364

M. Stolpyin364

Grand Duchess Olga392

Grand Duchess Tatiana392

Grand Duchess Marie392

Grand Duchess Anastasia392

The Tsarevitch Alexis392