The first and only man of Ekaterina Dolgorukova sought her for a whole year. Nineteen-year-old Katenka surrendered on the first day of July 1866, in the park pavilion of Peterhof, trembling with fear and almost losing consciousness in the arms of her Sasha, the Russian emperor.

The age difference between these lovers was almost thirty years, and Katenka met His Imperial Majesty for the first time when she was not even ten. Alexander II, who arrived for maneuvers near Poltava, stopped at the estate of her father, Prince Mikhail Dolgorukov. Seeing a graceful, big-eyed girl in the garden, he found out that Katenka was walking in the hope of seeing the king, and asked her to show the garden.

Alexander always favored the prince, and when Mikhail Dolgorukov died, leaving his family with a bunch of debts, he took his six children under his care. Katenka studied at Smolny, where the emperor quite often met with her during his visits to the institute. But at the age of eighteen, the sweet girl turned into a charming woman, and Alexander II, accidentally bumping into her on a walk in the Summer Garden, literally lost his head from a flash of passion.

The emperor was never distinguished by his fidelity to his wife - novels followed one after another, Alexander quickly caught fire and just as quickly cooled off to his passions, and therefore a really strong feeling for the young princess discouraged even himself. Perhaps the reason for this feeling was age - forty-eight years old, at least the emperor himself believed that late love was really the hottest. But be that as it may, Ekaterina Dolgorukova became for him not just a mistress, but almost the only meaning of life. Other women for Alexander no longer existed, and nothing else now interested him as deeply as Katenka. Surprisingly, Ekaterina Mikhailovna herself reciprocated - her passion for the emperor was just as all-consuming and strong, and after all, Alexander was fit for the princess as a father ...

Their first intimate date, of course, led to the following. Until the rains began, the lovers met all in the same pavilion, and then Alexander gave Katenka a personal key that opens the secret door to the Winter Palace. The novel did not go unnoticed, but at first no one took it seriously - just another royal hobby. And besides, Alexander II always very cruelly suppressed gossip about his personal life.

The emperor in no way advertised the affair with the princess, but he didn’t really try to hide it either, and very soon the emperor’s associates had to understand that Ekaterina Dolgorukova was not at all an accidental phenomenon. She followed the king wherever he went. She lived near where he lived. She settled in modest hotels abroad when the emperor traveled to Europe, and came to him in the evenings. Wanting to see his beloved constantly, Alexander appointed the princess as a maid of honor to the Empress, and Catherine shone at balls and receptions, although she did it very reluctantly. She was modest and reserved by nature, did not like dinner parties, did not attend theaters, but she came to balls at the first call of the king - after all, Sasha loved to watch her dance.

It is curious that the emperor's love was by no means limited to bed comforts. Alexander devoted his beloved to all his affairs - including state affairs. God did not offend Ekaterina Mikhailovna with her intellect, and sometimes she suggested reasonable decisions to the emperor and gave the right advice. This woman could have had tremendous power at court - but she never took advantage of her position. Apparently, the princess was really interested not in the king, but in the man.

In 1872, Ekaterina Dolgorukova gave birth to Alexander's son George, and it was impossible to hide this event. The imperial family was horrified - after all, she had been seriously ill for a long time, and after her death, Alexander II could well have made the favorite his lawful wife. By the way, this is exactly what he swore to his Katenka during the first night in Peterhof, saying that from now on only she is his wife before God ...

A year after the birth of George, daughter Olga was born, then again a boy who died in infancy, and in 1878 a second girl named after her mother. After the birth of Olga, the head of the secret investigation, Count Shuvalov, nevertheless considered it necessary to fulfill his official duty and report to the emperor that both the royal family and society were extremely upset by his relationship with Princess Dolgorukova. Alexander listened in silence - Shuvalov's duties really included monitoring how the person of the emperor was treated in different circles. But the count spoke out in other places, noting that his majesty was now looking at everything through the eyes of a favorite. Alexander could no longer stand this and sent Shuvalov as an ambassador to England, thus closing the mouths of all those who were dissatisfied.

During the Russian-Turkish war, the lovers still had to part - the emperor was at the disposition of the troops. But letters flew every day, and after the conclusion of peace, Alexander became even more attached to Catherine, finally realizing that he could not live without his beloved. She was the only person who sacrificed honor and normalcy for the sake of the king. family life and she certainly adored him. In 1878 the emperor settled the princess and her children in the Winter Palace. Empress Maria Alexandrovna accepted this stoically, although she could not forgive her husband.

Alexander II was widowed on May 22, 1880 and fulfilled the oath given to his beloved, without even waiting for the end of mourning. General Ryleev and, the closest friends of the emperor, learned about his decision two days before the wedding. And on July 6, the wedding took place - however, the marriage was morganatic, that is, it did not give the princess the status of empress. On the same day, a decree was signed on the new name of Ekaterina Mikhailovna - the Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya. The same surname was given to their children, endowed with legal rights, - however, without the right to inherit the throne. In September, Alexander deposited more than three million gold rubles in the state bank in the name of the princess and her children, thus securing them financially forever.

This haste was justified: the emperor very often thought about and spoke no less about his own death - after all, with the rampant terrorism in Russia, he was in danger every day. There was a real hunt for Alexander II, and by the time of his second marriage he had already escaped death six times. But luck could not last forever - and the seventh attempt was successful. On March 1, 1881, Alexander II died from wounds received as a result of a Narodnaya Volya bomb explosion. The eyes of the deceased emperor were closed by Ekaterina Mikhailovna, who did not leave his bed.

Alexander II, in love, cherished the dream of abdicating the throne and settling with his beloved in Nice for quiet human happiness. We can say that Ekaterina Dolgorukova fulfilled his dream - after the death of the emperor, she left with her children for Nice, where she lived until her death, praying for the repose of the soul of her Sasha.

Who would be interested in some princess Dolgorukova (you never know there were princesses in Russia?), if not for the great love that intertwined her fate with the life of Emperor Alexander II? Not a favorite who would have twisted the Sovereign as she wanted, Ekaterina Mikhailovna became his only love, created a family for him, which he dearly loved and protected.

First meeting

Princess E. M. Dolgorukova was born in 1847 in the Poltava region. There, in the estate of her parents, when she was not yet twelve years old, she first saw the emperor. Moreover, he honored the girl with a walk and a long conversation.

And a forty-year-old adult did not get bored in the company of a child, but he was entertained by the simplicity of communication. Later, two years later, having learned about the disastrous financial situation of Prince Dolgorukov, he helped ensure that both sons of the prince received military education, and appointed both princesses in

Second meeting

Ekaterina Mikhailovna, Princess Dolgorukova, while studying at Smolny, received a good education. At the institute for noble maidens, they taught languages, secular manners, housekeeping, music, dancing, drawing, and very little time was devoted to history, geography, and literature. On the eve of Easter 1865, the emperor visited Smolny, and when the seventeen-year-old princess was introduced to him, he remembered her, oddly enough, but even more strange that he did not forget her in the future.

And the girl was in the prime of her youthful and innocent beauty.

Third meeting

After graduating from the Institute for Noble Maidens, Ekaterina Mikhailovna lived in the house of her brother Mikhail. She loved to walk in the Summer Garden and dream that she would meet Alexander II in it. And her dream came true. They met by chance, and the emperor uttered a lot of compliments to her. She, of course, was embarrassed, but from that time on they began to take walks together. And there it was close to the words of love. While the novel developed platonically, Ekaterina Mikhailovna more and more deeply comprehended her position and flatly refused to get married: every single young people seemed uninteresting to her.

And the girl decided her own fate. She wanted to make a lonely man happy, like the Emperor.

Family of Alexander II

And at home she was a cold and dry person. Alexander Nikolaevich did not have a family warm hearth. Everything was strictly regulated. He had not a wife, but the Empress, not children - but the Grand Dukes. Etiquette was strictly observed in the family, and liberties were not allowed. A terrible case with the eldest son, Tsarevich Nicholas, dying of tuberculosis in Nice. The time of daytime sleep has changed for the patient, and Maria Fedorovna stopped visiting him, since during his wakefulness she had walks according to the schedule. Did such a family need a middle-aged man who wants warmth? The death of the heir, with whom he was close, was a huge blow to the emperor.

secret family

Open and challenging public opinion, which later developed not in her favor, Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova surrounded the aging, but still full of strength and ideas, Sovereign with warmth and affection. When their relationship began, she was eighteen, and her lover was thirty years older.

But nothing, except for the need to hide from others, overshadowed their relationship. Maria Fedorovna, ill with tuberculosis, did not get up, and the entire Romanov family expressed an extremely negative attitude towards the young woman, especially the heir, Tsarevich Alexander. He himself had a very strong and friendly family, and he refused to accept and understand his father's behavior. He expressed his dislike so clearly that Alexander II sent his wife, for whom he considered Catherine Dolgoruky, first to Naples and then to Paris. It was in Paris in 1867 that their meetings continued. But not a single step of the emperor went unnoticed. He was watched by Their extensive correspondence, full of genuine passion, has survived to this day. Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova was an ardent lover and did not skimp on tender words. All this, apparently, was not enough for Alexander Nikolayevich in his frozen and shackled official family.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova and Alexander 2nd

The one whom the Sovereign immediately promised to make his married wife at the first opportunity had to show feminine patience and wisdom. She humbly waited for this happy day for her for fourteen years. During this time, they and Alexander had four children, but one of the sons, Boris, died as an infant. The rest grew up, and the daughters got married, and the son George became a military man, but died at the age of forty-one, having outlived his crowned father for many years.

Morganatic wedding

The Empress had not yet died when Alexander Nikolaevich moved his family to the Winter Palace and settled right above the chambers of Maria Feodorovna. There were whispers in the palace. When Maria Feodorovna died in 1880, even before the end of official mourning, less than three months later, a modest, almost secret wedding took place. And five months later, Ekaterina Mikhailovna was granted the title of the Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya, their children also began to bear this surname. Alexander Nikolayevich was distinguished by fearlessness, but he was afraid of attempts on his life, because he did not know how this would affect the Yuryevsky family. More than 3 million rubles were assigned to the name of the princess and her children, and five months later he was killed by the Narodnaya Volya. His last breath was taken by the completely heartbroken Ekaterina Mikhailovna.

Existence in Nice

At the villa, the Most Serene Princess lived with memories. She kept all the clothes of a loved one down to her dressing gown, wrote a book of memoirs and died in 1922, forty-one years after the death of her beloved husband and lover. At the age of 33, she lost her husband, and for the rest of her life she was faithful to his memory.

This concludes the description of the life that Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova led. Her biography is both happy and bitter at the same time.

Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova - secret mistress, and then morganatic wife of Alexander II

The personal life of Alexander II Nikolaevich was in many ways similar to the personal life of his father, Emperor Nicholas I.

In 1841, a 28-year-old young man, Alexander Nikolayevich married the Princess of Hesse and the Rhine (also a German princess, like his father) Maximilian-Wilhelmina-August-Sophia-Maria, after her adoption of Orthodoxy, she was named Maria Alexandrovna (1824–1880). Despite the fact that she was a fragile and sickly woman, she gave birth to Alexander Nikolaevich a whole bunch of heirs - 6 boys and 2 girls - 8 children, of which their first-born - daughter Alexander - died at the age of seven, and the heir Nikolai - at the age of 22 years old. 1865. 8 childbirth over 19 years finally undermined the health of Maria Alexandrovna: in the difficult climate of St. to refrain from further childbearing, and consequently, to stop performing marital duties. Alexander II at that time was only 48 years old, he was in good shape and loving by nature. Like his father, he turned out to be a “straw widower” by the will of circumstances.

Naturally, he, an esthete and connoisseur of female beauty, had mistresses who were distinguished by their special beauty, mainly from among the court ladies and maidens. At court, they called him a favorite either Princess Alexandra Dolgoruky, or Labunskaya, or Zamyatin, or Makarov, or Wanda Carozzi, or Makova. All of them were superbly beautiful, but the strings of the emperor's heart were not touched, and he changed his mistresses one after another. From these connections were children. It is believed that one of the illegitimate children of Alexander II was Admiral Evgeny Ivanovich Alekseev, a prominent naval figure of the early 20th century, governor of the Far East, one of the initiators of the 1905 war with Japan, which ended in defeat for Russia.

Based on the memoirs of Princess Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva, where she is rather vague, but hints at her origin from Alexander II, one can consider the illegitimate daughter of the emperor and her unusually energetic and talented collector, philanthropist, artist, art critic and ethnographer, who created the museum "Russian Antiquity" in Smolensk, art school for peasant children in Flenov, which represented Russian folk art in Paris during the Russian seasons.

Despite the kaleidoscope of hobbies, and even complicated by illegitimate children, Alexander II did not feel a sense of satisfaction: he was looking for true love.

The Emperor liked to take walks in the Summer Garden in his free time, and one day (this was in the spring of 1865) the public noticed an unusually beautiful and graceful girl with large radiant eyes, accompanied by an elegant lady, walking next to him. Both of them were fashionably and tastefully dressed. It turned out that Alexander Nikolayevich had long been familiar with this girl and her bonne - the maid of honor Varvara Shebeko. This was Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, who, together with her sister, studied at the Smolny Institute and whom the emperor knew as a little girl. In the summer of 1857, he carried out large maneuvers near Poltava and stopped at the estate of her father, Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Dolgoruky. There he saw for the first time nine-year-old Katenka, who struck him with grace, modesty, spontaneity and some special kindness. The emperor became friends with the Dolgorukovs, Prince Mikhail and his wife, Princess Vera, and a few years later he learned that, being impractical people, they went bankrupt. Their estate was described several times by creditors. Princess Vera Dolgorukova sold all her gold and diamonds, but was only able to pay interest, which saved her Teplovka estate from a public sale under the hammer for a while. The reform of 1861 carried out by Emperor Alexander II had a disastrous effect on their well-being. And on top of all the misfortunes, their large and rich house burned down, in which Emperor Alexander II stayed in 1857. Despite the protests of her husband, Princess Vera turned to the sovereign with a letter in which she spoke about all the misfortunes that had befallen the family. Alexander Nikolaevich considered it necessary to help the family, whom he had known for a long time, and ordered the four Dolgorukov boys to be assigned to the cadet corps of St. Petersburg at public expense, and Katenka and her sister Mashenka to the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens on the same terms. In addition, he stopped the bank's claims against the Dolgorukovs, which saved the family from final ruin.

The heart of Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich, who had endured so many misfortunes, could not stand it, and he left this world, leaving the widow alone. Princess Vera moved to St. Petersburg, rented a small apartment and lived there on modest means with expensive visits on Sundays to her sons in the cadet corps, then to her daughters at the Smolny Institute, rejoicing at the achievements in military affairs of her boys and the successes of her girls, who aspired to become the first in their classes.

Sisters Katenka and Mashenka, both beautiful girls, did not look alike. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Mashenka was a brown-haired woman with delicate skin of the color Ivory. And Katenka was a bright blonde with a "lilac" complexion.

For the "Smolyanka" the most joyful events were visiting relatives on parental day and "royal days", when the emperor or empress came to Smolny, when a sumptuous dinner was arranged and all the girls received gifts. Before meeting with Ekaterina Dolgorukova in the Summer Garden, Alexander II came to Smolny on Palm Sunday, where all the teachers, mentors and pupils of the senior classes were introduced to him by the head Leontieva. Among the latter, he immediately recognized the Dolgorukov sisters, whose family he patronized. He especially liked Katenka, and he asked the maid of honor Varvara Shebeko, her bonne, to bring his ward for walks in the Summer Garden.

The meeting in the Summer Garden with eighteen-year-old Ekaterina Dolgorukova disturbed the emperor's peace of mind. He fell in love with her like a young boy.

Conversations with Ekaterina Dolgorukova during walks, her freshness of youth, radiant eyes, blush all over her cheek, and most importantly - complete indifference to his high status, but only timidity and embarrassment of communicating with him - everything captivated the emperor, and he began to meet with her first in the Summer Garden, then, seeing that they are paying attention, - on the Elaginsky, Krestovsky or Kamenny Islands, more and more fascinated by her. Their relationship was romantic and platonic, although Alexander Nikolaevich, in love, dreamed of real intimacy. And he began to win the pure soul of Katenka Dolgorukova, who was still within the walls of the Smolny Institute. To this end, he turned to his longtime friend, maid of honor Varenka Shebeko, who had previously carried out his delicate assignments, and in addition, was a relative of the head of the Smolny Institute, Madame Leontieva. With Varenka Shebeko, he began to send fruits and sweets to the Dolgorukov sisters, to come to Smolny on a visit. Once, when Katenka caught a cold, she was admitted to the institute's hospital, in a small separate ward, Shebeko took Alexander incognito to the patient. Of course, Leontieva guessed what was happening, but did not interfere with the development of events. On that day, Katenka realized that the Tsar really liked her.

And the maid of honor Shebeko, on behalf of Alexander II, went to Princess Vera Dolgorukova (nee Vishnevetskaya), offered her to move to decent, already paid apartments, lent the princess money and said that this help comes from Emperor Alexander II. She asked to keep everything a secret so that there would be no gossip in the world. Varenka Shebeko made it clear to the princess that this was “the happiness of the Vishnevetskys”, whose great-great-grandfather, Colonel Vishnevetsky, brought to the court of Empress Anna Ioannovna the vociferous shepherd Alyosha Rozum, who later became Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky, the favorite, and then the husband of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Of all that was said to her, Princess Vera understood only one thing, that the sovereign really liked her daughter Catherine.

Alexander II at that time was already over 50, but he had not yet lost either his masculine form or beauty. Theophile Gauthier, a French poet, left us a description of his appearance: “The sovereign's hair was cut short and well framed a high and beautiful forehead. The facial features are amazingly regular and seem to be carved by a sculptor. The blue eyes stand out especially due to the brown tone of the face, weathered during long journeys. The outline of the mouth is so thin and defined that it resembles Greek sculpture. The expression of the face is majestically calm and soft, from time to time adorned with a gracious smile. Picturesque portraits of Alexander II confirm this description of Gauthier.

Princess Dolgorukova, although she was younger than Alexander by more than a quarter of a century, could not help but be carried away by this handsome man, who treats her so tenderly, sharing with her both the romantic attraction of love and life's concerns. However, between the lovers there was a big and almost insurmountable problem, and above all - the difference in social status.

Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (1847–1922) was from the most ancient princely family Dolgoruky (Dolgorukov), known for his closeness to the grand ducal and royal families and his ancestors: for example, Yuri Dolgoruky - the founder of Moscow; Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova, the bride of Emperor Peter II, her brother, favorite of Peter II Ivan Dolgorukov, quartered for forging the will of the emperor, his wife Natalia Borisovna Dolgorukova, daughter of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, a famous commander of Peter the Great; Princess Maria Vladimirovna Dolgorukova, the first wife of Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov; Field Marshal Prince Vasily Mikhailovich Dolgoruky-Krymsky, known for his victories, and many other representatives, glorious in their deeds, especially for the benefit of the Fatherland.

But Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova was not a princess of royal blood, and therefore, with the further development of the novel, the emperor could only count on a morganatic marriage with her. Passionately in love, Alexander II, after their first love affair, promised his beloved to marry her as soon as he was freed from his first marriage (that is, after the death of Empress Maria Alexandrovna), but for now he took upon himself the sin of seducing an innocent girl, and placed the sin on her cohabitation, not consecrated by the church, and even with a married man.

It was in 1866, which turned out to be difficult for both Ekaterina Dolgorukova and Alexander II. In the spring of this year, the mother of Ekaterina Dolgorukova died, and, feeling her loneliness, Ekaterina began to appreciate even more her platonic dates with Alexander Nikolayevich, who treated her attentively, gently and carefully. In fact, he became her only support, the closest person to her, because both her brothers and sister Masha lived their own lives and at the same time far from her. Constantly next to her was "Aunt Vava" - the maid of honor Varvara Shebeko, assigned to her by Alexander II and fulfilling all his instructions, which Catherine, of course, was not aware of. And Aunt Vava, taking care of Katenka and following the emperor’s instructions, constantly told her that true love was illuminated by God, who bequeathed to people: “Yes, love each other,” and therefore it is not sinful under any circumstances if people love each other from everything heart, sincerely and disinterestedly.

On April 4 this year, an extraordinary event took place. Alexander II, having finished his usual promenade through the Summer Garden at four o'clock in the afternoon, went out the gate where his carriage stood, and just wanted to get into it, when a young man suddenly ran up to him and pointed the gun straight at his chest. Suddenly, a man standing nearby with a quick movement hit the shooter on the arm. The bullet whistled past the sovereign. The gendarmes and some of the public rushed at the shooter, knocked him down. The terrorist shouted: “Guys! I shot for you!" The emperor, who had already boarded the carriage, ordered the terrorist to be brought up to him and asked him:

You're polish?

Russian, he replied.

Why did you shoot me?

You deceived the people: you promised land, but did not give it.

The sovereign gave the order to take both the shooter and the one who prevented the shooting to the Third Section. The shooter called himself the peasant Aleksey Petrov, and the second detainee called himself the St. Petersburg savior Osip Ivanovich Komissarov, who came from the peasants of the village of Molvitino, Kostroma province, located 12 versts from the village of Domnina, the birthplace of Ivan Susanin, which gave reason to call this sovereign savior the second Ivan Susanin.

After the assassination attempt, Alexander II immediately went to the Kazan Cathedral and thanked the Lord for the miracle of his salvation. Thanksgiving prayers were held at evening services in churches.

In the evening members of the State Council, senators, ministers, generals gathered in the Winter Palace. Osip Komissarov was also invited there. Representatives public service congratulated the emperor on his miraculous salvation, even shouted "Hurrah!". And the sovereign warmly thanked Osip Ivanovich Komissarov for his salvation, and then elevated him under the name of Joseph Ivanovich Komissarov-Kostroma to noble dignity.

Even more solemn act of Komissarov was noted by the Moscow nobility. In the English Club on 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya, a magnificent banquet was arranged in his honor, at which Osip Ivanovich was elected an honorary member of the club. Then, on behalf of the Moscow nobility, he was presented with a golden sword. It was decided that the Commissars, newly accepted into the nobility, should become, like a true nobleman, the owner of the estate. A subscription was announced to raise funds for the purchase of an estate for him. The money was collected quickly, and just as quickly a house with an estate was bought in the Kostroma province.

But, the former manufacturer and merchant of caps, who became a wealthy landowner, respected nobleman Iosif Ivanovich Komissarov-Kostromsky, could not endure this metamorphosis: he drank bitter and hanged himself.

The investigation of the assassination attempt on the emperor showed that the terrorist, who called himself the peasant Petrov, was in fact a Saratov nobleman Dmitry Vasilyevich Karakozov, cousin of which N. A. Ishutin headed the student revolutionary organization "Moscow Circle", of which Karakozov was a member. Karakozov was hanged, and Ishutin the death penalty was replaced by life imprisonment, a reference to Kara. He died there in 1877 with signs of apparent insanity.

All the circumstances of the difficult year of 1866: the emperor’s miraculous deliverance from death, the death of Katenka’s mother, the investigation of 197 detained revolutionaries, the trial of 36 “Ishutins”, the execution of Karakozov, Ishutin’s exile, Varvara Shebeko’s move to Katenka, impossible without the participation of the emperor, conversations with Ekaterina of the maid of honor Barbarians, "Aunt Vava", about the sovereign's extraordinary love, about his patience and nobility - prepared Princess Catherine for the transition of her relationship with the emperor from innocent to close, intimate This happened on the night of July 1 to 2, 1866 in Peterhof, in the pavilion "Babigon", located three miles from the Main Palace, not far from the road leading to Tsarskoye Selo.

The pavilion "Babigon" was a secluded and truly heavenly place. It was quiet, calm, only bird chirping was heard; and the trees growing around it, flowering shrubs and flower beds with fragrant flowers seemed to want to "hide the secret of the ongoing changes." And inside the pavilion, in its mezzanine, all the comforts were provided: somewhat splendid, tastefully furnished rooms, marble bathrooms and toilets, supplied with hot and cold water and all necessary accessories.

Varvara Shebeko brought Katenka to "Babigon" in the evening to stay here overnight. She put her to bed in one of the rooms, and she retired to the next room. Alexander came to Babigon late in the evening. For the purpose of conspiracy, he walked from Peterhof alone, without the usual escort.

Subsequently, Ekaterina Mikhailovna, Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya, recalled that during this meeting she was so worried that she was simply shaking, and she was close to fainting. But oddly enough, Alexander Nikolaevich, a man with vast experience in dealing with women, was no less worried than she was.

At parting, she recalled, the emperor gave her an oath: “I am not free now, but at the first opportunity I will marry you, because from now on and forever before God I consider you my wife.”

From that day on, Catherine considered herself the wife of Alexander Nikolayevich, the Emperor of All Russia. Their meetings in the "Babigon" became almost daily, and when autumn came, it started to rain and the Imperial Court moved to St. Petersburg, they began to meet in the Winter Palace, in the former study rooms of Emperor Nicholas I on the ground floor, connected by a secret staircase with the chambers of Alexander II and having a separate entrance from the side of the square. For quite a long time, no one guessed about this secluded nest of theirs. But was it possible to deceive the yard? Soon all the courtiers were aware of the emperor's new novel. But they reacted calmly to this event, because they believed that this novel, like all previous ones, would soon end. “Even those closest to the emperor,” wrote Alexandra Tolstaya, lady-in-waiting of the Imperial Court, “did not expect a serious turn of affairs. On the contrary, everyone was very far from suspecting that he was capable of a real love affair, a romance that was ripening in secret. They only saw what was happening before our eyes - walks with frequent, as if by chance meetings, looking at each other in theater boxes, etc., etc. They said that the princess was pursuing the emperor, but no one knew yet that they saw each other not only in public, but also in other places - by the way, and with her brother Prince Michael, who is married to an Italian. I recalled such meetings in public and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich in the Book of Memoirs: “Where did I see Princess Yuryevskaya? I asked myself, listening to the conversation of my parents. And in my recollection the picture of a court ball on one of our last visits to St. Petersburg was resurrected.

The huge halls of the Winter Palace were decorated with orchids and other tropical plants brought from the imperial greenhouses. Endless rows of palm trees lined the main staircase and along the walls of the galleries. Eight hundred employees and workers worked for two weeks to decorate the palace. Court cooks and confectioners tried to outdo one another in the manufacture of food and drinks. ‹…› The highest exit opened the ball. The sovereign walked in the first pair hand in hand with the Tsarina Maria Feodorovna (the wife of the heir to Alexander Alexandrovich), he was followed by the grand dukes and grand duchesses in order of seniority. Since there were not enough Grand Dukes to pair up, junior Grand Dukes like myself had to be paired with the ladies of the court. My lady was old and remembered my father's childhood. Our procession was not really a dance in the perfect sense of the word. It was a solemn procession with several chamberlains in front, who announced our passage through all the halls of the Winter Palace. ‹…› Dancing, sitting and passing through one of the halls often raised their eyes to the choir, pointed to a young, beautiful lady and whispered about something. I noticed that the Emperor often looked at her, smiling affectionately. This was Princess Yuryevskaya.

Empress Maria Alexandrovna died on May 22, 1880. All these years - from July 1866 to May 1880, that is, 14 years - Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova was the secret mistress-favorite of the emperor, gave birth to him a boy and two girls and, at the request of her lover, secretly followed him everywhere.

In May 1867, Alexander II, at the invitation of Napoleon III, with a large retinue and his two sons, Alexander and Vladimir, went to the World Exhibition in Paris. The protocol of the stay of the Russian emperor and the grand dukes in Paris provided for a number of magnificent celebrations: a dinner and a ball at the Tuileries, a performance at the Opera, a visit to the World Exhibition. But this was not very interesting for Alexander II. He managed to get out of the networks of protocol events, his personal guards, French and Russian agents, to see Katenka, who was waiting for him in Paris, in the house on Rue Rampart, where she settled with the second wife of her brother Mikhail Mikhailovich, Princess Louise Dolgorukova, nee Italian Countess Vulcane. After visiting Kitty Dolgorukova on Rampar Street, Alexander II managed to settle her in the Elysee Palace so as not to frighten the chief of gendarmes Shuvalov with his nightly disappearances. Everything seemed to be going well: political problems were intertwined with romantic ones. But on May 22, 1867, after a review of the troops on the Longchamps field, arranged in honor of the Russian emperor, Alexander II, Napoleon III and both Grand Dukes solemnly rode in an open carriage, accompanied by the retinues of both emperors. Suddenly a shot rang out. The bullet hit the horse of the French equestrian, who was riding next to the carriage of the emperors. Security managed to detain the shooter. It was a Polish emigrant, the son of a poor nobleman of the Volyn province, Anton Iosifovich Berezovsky, who announced that he shot at the Russian Tsar in revenge for the age-old oppression of Poland and for the cruel treatment of the Poles that Russian troops showed during the suppression Polish uprising 1863. The French jury sentenced Berezovsky, who made an attempt on the life of the emperor, a guest of France (!), Not to deprivation of life, but only to life imprisonment.

Alexander II endured the fact of the second assassination attempt on him outwardly calmly and imperturbably. But Catherine was seized by two heterogeneous feelings - enthusiastic pride in her lover and fear for him and her life.

In Paris, Katenka Dolgorukova realized that she was the Emperor's favorite. She walked the same streets and the same garden of the Elysee Palace as Madame Pompadour. Katenka Dolgorukova could not leave such an influence and such a mark in the history of the country as Madame Pompadour left, because she did not have such knowledge, such energy in creating for the benefit of her homeland and such recognition in society, which the brightest and most famous became famous for. mistress of Louis XV. And although the Russian emperor swore to Princess Dolgorukova that she was his wife before God and that since he fell in love with her, he had not brought a single woman closer to him, Princess Dolgorukova remained a favorite mistress, private matter All-Russian Emperor.

After the second assassination attempt, the connection between Alexander II and Princess Dolgorukova became even stronger. Worried about each other, they were now always together.

When they returned to St. Petersburg, it was no longer possible to meet at Babigon and in the Winter Palace: the places of their meetings became known to many people. For some time, Katenka's brother, Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Dolgorukov, and his wife Louise provided them with their apartment, but this is a refuge for lovers it was soon closed: the Dolgorukovs were afraid to ruin their reputation in the world. No matter how the tsar begged them, even in letters not to deprive them of the opportunity to be together with Katya, the Dolgorukovs did not agree, because they knew that this refuge of lovers had already been opened by the court and the world. The opinion of the court that Princess Dolgorukova was pursuing the emperor did not seem unfounded Indeed, where whenever the emperor appeared, the princess was there: in the theater, for a walk, at a court ball. Of course, she did not go unnoticed in Paris, settling in the Elysee Palace. This position was awkward for both the emperor and the princess. And the emperor found a way out.

When in 1870 Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna went once again to Ems for treatment, at his request, Ekaterina Mikhailovna went there this time as well. But now officially, as the maid of honor of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Alexander II persuaded his wife to accept maid of honor Dolgorukov in her retinue, although everyone understands how hard it was for Maria Alexandrovna to see this favorite of her husband in her retinue on large and small exits, on pilgrimage trips, at ceremonial receptions and court balls. But it was necessary to “save the face of the august couple”, and therefore endure. And the Empress endured.

Having received a categorical refusal to grant asylum from Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Dolgorukov and his wife, Alexander was at a loss, not knowing what to do. Oddly enough, the native grandson of the executed Decembrist poet K. F. Ryleev, the head of the personal guard of the sovereign, General A. M. Ryleev, who provided them with his apartment, helped the lovers.

In September 1871, the princess informed the emperor of her pregnancy.

On the evening of April 29, 1872, Ekaterina Mikhailovna felt that childbirth was approaching. By agreement with the emperor, she quickly left the house, hired a carriage and went to the Winter Palace, to the old office of Nicholas I.

At 10 am on April 30, 1872, a boy was born to her, who was baptized a few days later and named George. And at the end of 1873, daughter Olga was born there. It became clear that the Emperor of All Russia, in addition to the official family, had a second, as it were, side family. This scandal was experienced not only by the sick and offended Empress, but also by the Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses, dissatisfied with the behavior of their father, who feared that side children could someday claim the benefits that rely on the august family, and possibly the throne. There was talk at the court, the courtiers defended the honor of the empress, expressed their negative attitude towards Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova.

The chief of the gendarmes, Count Shuvalov, who was reputed to be the favorite of the emperor, considered it his duty to report to the emperor about the atmosphere that had developed at court regarding his connection with Princess Dolgorukova. Alexander II listened to Shuvalov very coldly and made him understand that he would not allow anyone to interfere in his personal life. And then he took action: in 1874, he unexpectedly, without asking Count Andrei Shuvalov for either advice or consent, appointed him ambassador to London, and granted his bastard children, as descendants of Yuri Dolgoruky, the title of His Serene Prince Yuryevsky. On July 11, 1874, in Tsarskoe Selo, Alexander II wrote a decree: “We grant the minor Georgy Alexandrovich and Olga Alexandrovna Yuryevsky the rights inherent in the nobility and raise them to princely dignity with the title of Most Serene.” (In parentheses, we note that Ekaterina Mikhailovna gave birth to four children: Georgy (1872–1913), Olga (1873–1925). Boris (b. and mind 1876) and Ekaterina (1878–1959), but, as we see, Boris and Catherine were born after 1874, when the Decree was issued, and therefore they were not included in the decree.) This Decree was not published immediately. Alexander II, after writing, did not hand it over to the Senate, but handed it over to General Ryleev, in whose apartment he lived with Ekaterina Mikhailovna for quite a long time, and ordered that it be kept until the time when it was needed to be published.

Empress Maria Alexandrovna for the last 14 years of her life (from 1866 to 1880) was only the nominal wife of Alexander Nikolayevich Romanov, but on the other hand, she was the central figure of the Imperial Family. She was the head of the charitable "Institutions of Empress Maria Feodorovna", the wife of Paul I, the mother of Alexander I and Nicholas I, the grandmother of Alexander I. This means that under her vigilant attention were all the institutions of noble maidens, educational houses, boarding houses, schools - all women's educational establishments, widows' homes, hospitals under the patronage of sisters of mercy, workhouses, kindergartens and nurseries. She was the successor to the work of Empress Maria Feodorovna, the main benefactor Russian Empire and therefore earned deep respect for herself not only from the court and the world, but also from the common people.

All these years, his favorite, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, was relentlessly next to the emperor, which greatly upset the sick empress and aroused a reprehensible attitude, first of all, towards the princess, and then towards Alexander II, both on the part of members of the august family, and on the part of the whole society.

On July 6, 1880, as soon as the Petrovsky post ended, forty-five days after the death of the empress, on the fifth day after her forties, without waiting for the prescribed annual mourning period, Alexander II decided to fulfill the promise he had made to Princess Dolgorukova, and married her. The wedding was not church and was furnished very modestly: it took place in one of the small rooms of the Grand Tsarskoye Selo Palace, where a camp altar was placed - an ordinary table on which stood a cross, a gospel, candles, crowns and wedding rings.

Only four of the closest people were present at the wedding: Count Alexander Adleberg, Adjutant General of His Majesty A. M. Ryleev, Mademoiselle Varvara Shebeko and Adjutant General Count E. T. Baranov. Considering this act his personal affair, not of the emperor, but of a civilian who “corrects a mistake and restores the reputation of a young girl,” Alexander II was at the wedding in civilian clothes. (Note that he called his love, his passion, the seduction of an innocent girl “a mistake.”) After the wedding, Alexander invited his young wife with their older children George and Olga, as well as Varvara Ignatievna Shebeko for a walk in the Tsarskoye Selo garden.

After a walk on the same day, the emperor drew up a marriage certificate, which witnesses certified with their signatures: Adleberg, Ryleev, Baranov, Shebeko and himself, and then wrote a decree to the Senate dated July 6 (19), 1880 with the following content: marriage with Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, We order her to be named after Princess Yuryevskaya with the title of “Most Serene”. At the same time, We order that the same name with the same title be given to our children: Our son George, daughters Olga and Catherine, as well as those who may be born later, We grant them all the rights that belong to legitimate children in accordance with Article 14 of the Fundamental Laws of the Empire and Article 147 Institutions of the Imperial Family".

However, the articles of the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, to which Alexander II referred (in the last edition of the Code of Laws, respectively, 36 and 188), did not give him the authority to grant them “all the rights belonging to legitimate children,” because they said: “Children descended from marriage union of a person of the Imperial Family with a person who does not have the appropriate dignity, that is, who does not belong to any Reigning or Possessing House, they have no right to inherit the Throne. And further: “A person of the Imperial Family who enters into a marriage union with a person who does not have the appropriate dignity, that is, who does not belong to any Reigning or Possessing House, cannot communicate to him the rights belonging to members of the Imperial Family.”

Thus, Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova and her children, although they were declared in the decree of Alexander II, as if full members of the Imperial Family, in fact, according to the laws of the Russian Empire, they were not. They remained children from a morganatic marriage, and Ekaterina Mikhailovna herself was the morganatic wife of the Emperor of All Russia, who did not have the right to the title of empress.

On September 11, 1880, Alexander II transferred 3,302,970 rubles to the State Bank in the name of Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova with a power of attorney and a will: “I give her alone the right to dispose of this capital during my life and after my death”, thereby ensuring a comfortable existence for my new family .

After the wedding, Alexander Nikolaevich with his wife and children left for the whole summer and autumn in the Crimea, in Livadia. This, in fact, an escape from his official family and his environment was aimed at giving everyone the opportunity to get used to the thought of what had happened, and for him to take a break from all his affairs and live the life of a private person in the circle of a secondary family.

Members of the imperial family, especially the Heir Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich, were shocked by the hasty marriage of Alexander II during the days of unfinished mourning. This act of disrespect for the late Empress and the entire august family was attributed to the influence of Princess Dolgorukova (Highness Princess Yuryevskaya). Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich wrote in his memoirs: “The destructive influence of Princess Yuryevskaya was the topic of all conversations in the winter of 1880/81. Members of the Imperial House and representatives of St. Petersburg society openly accused her of intending to transfer dictatorial powers to her favorite Count Loris-Melikov and establish a constitutional form of government in the Empire.

As always happens in such cases, the women were especially ruthless towards Goga's mother. Guided by wounded pride and blinded by envy, they hurried from one salon to another, spreading the most incredible rumors and encouraging slander. The fact that Princess Yuryevskaya (Dolgorukaya) belonged by birth to one of the oldest Russian families of Rurikovich made her position even more difficult, for restless gossips spread fantastic rumors about the historical enmity between the Romanovs and Dolgoruky. They passed on the legend, how some old man, 200 years ago, predicted an untimely death to that of the Romanovs who would marry Dolgoruky. In confirmation of this legend, they referred to the tragic death of Peter II. Didn't he die on the day appointed for his marriage to the fateful Princess Dolgoruky? And wasn't it strange that the best doctors could not save the life of the only grandson of Peter the Great?

Of course, not all members of the Imperial House shared this opinion, but the Heir Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich could not forgive his father for the insult inflicted on the memory of his mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, because he, without waiting for the end of at least a year of mourning, seemed to be driven by someone , urgently married Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova.

In fact, no one knew and will never know what really guided the emperor in this matter. And after four attempts on him, including in the palace, the most seemingly safe place, he could not help but see the inevitable approach of his end, and was afraid that he would not have time to free his beloved from the shame of adultery, and children from the shameful the names of "bastards", and therefore was in a hurry to give Catherine the status, although a morganatic wife, but the wife of the Emperor of All Russia, the Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya. However august family, the court and secular society, and behind them the entire nobility understood the situation differently and condemned the king for his hasty marriage.

Assuming what thoughts might overcome the heir, and considering it necessary to improve relations with his eldest son, Alexander II summoned him and his wife to the Crimea. But, having arrived, the Grand Duke and Princess discovered that Princess Yuryevskaya, not having any respect for the late Empress, occupied all her apartments in the Livadia Palace. For them, this was an intolerable insult and evidence of her demonstration of her greatness, based on the lack of spiritual nobility. Therefore, reconciliation was out of the question. The Grand Duke and his wife, staying in Livadia, avoided meetings with Princess Yuryevskaya in general, and at the dinner table in particular, and Alexander Nikolayevich had to regulate the dinner table schedule: when his son and daughter-in-law dined, Ekaterina Mikhailovna was absent, and when she dined, the heir with wife went for a walk.

When the emperor returned to St. Petersburg with his new family at the end of November, Princess Yuryevskaya settled in the chambers of the Winter Palace, specially decorated for her with special pomp and luxury, which also caused her to be reprimanded for her immodesty and bad taste. But Alexander II continued his policy of rapprochement between his two families and in St. Petersburg again made an attempt to reconcile them. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, the nephew of Alexander II, in his Book of Memoirs, describes this attempt by the emperor as follows: “The old master of ceremonies himself was noticeably embarrassed when, on the following Sunday after our arrival, in the evening, members of the Imperial family table to meet Princess Yurievskaya. The voice of the master of ceremonies, as he tapped three times on the floor with an ivory-handled wand, sounded uncertain:

His Majesty and Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya!

My mother looked away, Tsesarevna Maria Feodorovna looked down...

The emperor quickly entered, leading a young, beautiful woman by the arm. He cheerfully nodded to my father and cast a searching glance at the mighty figure of the heir. Fully counting on the complete loyalty of his brother (our father), he had no illusions about the heir’s view of this second marriage of his. Princess Yuryevskaya kindly answered the polite bows of the grand duchesses and princes and the village next to the Emperor in the chair of the late Empress. Full of curiosity, I did not take my eyes off Princess Yuryevskaya. I liked the look on her sad face and the radiant glow coming from her blond hair. It was clear that she was worried. She often addressed the Emperor, and he soothingly stroked her hand. She, of course, would have managed to win the hearts of all men, but women watched them, and her every attempt to take part in the general conversation was met with polite, cold silence. I felt sorry for her and could not understand why she was treated with contempt for being fell in love with a handsome, cheerful, kind man who, unfortunately for her, was the Emperor of All Russia?

Long life together did not diminish their mutual adoration. At sixty-four, Emperor Alexander 11 behaved with her like an eighteen-year-old boy. He whispered words of encouragement into her little ear. He asked if she liked wine. He agreed with everything she said. He looked at all of us with a friendly smile, as if inviting us to rejoice in his happiness, he joked with me and my brothers, terribly pleased that we obviously liked the princess.

Towards the end of dinner, the governess brought their three children into the dining room.

And here is my Goga! the Emperor exclaimed proudly, lifting the merry little boy into the air and putting him on his shoulder. - Tell us, Goga, what is your name?

My name is Prince Georgy Aleksandrovich Yuryevsky, ”Goga answered and began to fiddle with the Emperor’s whiskers, fiddling with them with his little hands.

It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Yuryevsky! - the Sovereign joked. “Don’t you want, young man, to become a Grand Duke?”

Sasha, for God's sake, leave it! the princess said nervously.

With this joke, Alexander II, as it were, was testing the ground among his relatives on the issue of legitimizing his morganatic children. Princess Yuryevskaya came to the greatest embarrassment and for the first time forgot about court etiquette and called the Sovereign - her husband - publicly by a diminutive name.

Fortunately, little Goga was too busy playing the role of His Majesty's hairdresser to think about the advantages of the imperial title, and the Tsar did not insist on an answer. One thing was clear: the Emperor decided to ignore the displeasure of the members of the Imperial family and wanted to make a fun Sunday for his children from this first family dinner. ‹…› On the way back from the Winter Palace, we witnessed a new quarrel between the parents:

No matter what you say, my mother declared, I will never recognize this adventuress. I hate her! She is deserving of contempt. How dare she call your brother Sasha in the presence of the entire Imperial family.

The father sighed and shook his head in despair.

You still do not want to understand, my dear, - he answered meekly, - whether she is good or bad, but she is married to the Sovereign Since when is it forbidden for wives to call their lawful husband a diminutive name in the presence of others? Do you call me "Your Imperial Highness"?

How can you make such stupid comparisons! my mother said with tears in her eyes. I didn't break up anyone's family. I married you with the consent of your and my parents. I am not plotting the downfall of the Empire.

Then it was the father's turn to get angry.

I forbid, - he emphasized every word, - to repeat these shameful gossip! To the future Empress of All Russia, you and all members of the Imperial family, including the heir and his wife, will have to show her full respect! This is the end question."

Alas! The Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya was not destined to become the Empress of All Russia, although Alexander II, according to legend, was ready to break the law and crown her. And to some extent it was her own fault.

Public opinion connected the beginning of the Sovereign's affair with Princess Dolgorukova with the beginning of the active action of the nihilist revolutionaries against the tsar, apparently suggesting some secret connection between the princess and the nihilists.

In 1880, Count Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov (1825–1888) was appointed to the post of Minister of the Interior, who, for the successful command of the corps on the Caucasian front in the Russian-Turkish war of 1877–1878, received the title of count and was appointed head of the Supreme Administrative Commission for the Protection of state order and public peace, which received unprecedented broad powers. Count M. T. Loris-Melikov enjoyed the full confidence of the emperor, and he was entrusted with the development of a project for a radical reform of the Russian state system, which he considered necessary to base on the principles of the English constitution. He was also entrusted with the protection of the person of the emperor and the fight against nihilists, which he succeeded quite successfully when he was the Kharkov governor-general. But in the conditions of the vast territory of St. Petersburg, this struggle against the nihilist revolutionaries required much larger reserves, both financial and human, and the work of Loris-Melikov obviously failed. A state of emergency was declared, terrorists were caught and executed one after another, but in fact this did not give the desired results. An attempt was made on Loris-Melikov himself. A certain Molodetsky, a Narodnaya Volya terrorist, shot at him, but the brave general, despite his 55 years, managed to dump him on the sidewalk, disarm and hand over to the policemen who arrived in time, Molodetsky, according to the laws of the state of emergency, was sentenced to 24 hours and hanged. But the Narodnaya Volya did not pacify. They literally opened the hunt for the emperor.

In high society, the enemies of Loris-Melikov spread rumors that he had become an obedient instrument in the hands of Princess Yuryevskaya. And she begged him to come to an agreement with the terrorists " People's Will”, Thinking that “a bad peace is better than a good quarrel”, that they will understand: the emperor did and does everything for the benefit of the people - and they will stop hunting for her husband.

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich later wrote: “After long hesitation, he decided to heed the pleas of a woman in love and extend a hand of reconciliation to the revolutionaries, which accelerated the catastrophe. The revolutionaries redoubled their demands and began to threaten an open uprising. People loyal to the throne were indignant and shied away from activity. And the people - those one hundred and twenty-five million peasants scattered all over the face of the Russian land - said that the landlords had hired Armenian general to kill the king because he gave the peasants will.

A surprising conclusion, but it seemed quite logical, if we take into account that, except for St. Petersburg, Moscow and several large provincial centers in which newspapers were published, the rest of the country fed on rumors.

Despite the obvious hunt for him by the terrorist militants of Narodnaya Volya, Alexander II did not agree, for security reasons, either to leave St. Petersburg for Gatchina, or to stop his trips to parades and to the Senate, or to stop walking in the Summer Garden. After the fourth assassination attempt in the dining room of the Winter Palace, under which a bomb was blown up in the guardroom and many soldiers from the guard died, despite all persuasion, Alexander II went to bury the dead soldiers. He did not change his daily routes, and the terrorists Andrei Zhelyabov and Sofya Perovskaya had the opportunity to place their bomber fighters along these routes and thoroughly prepare for the assassination attempt on the tsar. The main date for the assassination attempt was March 1, 1881.

And although after the arrest of Grigory Goldenberg, who betrayed a significant number of Narodnaya Volya terrorists, the bombers caught by the police were executed, although Andrei Zhelyabov was also caught, this did not change the matter: the terrorists stood on all routes of the emperor’s exits, ready at any convenient moment to throw him under bomb legs.

Having entrusted Loris-Melikov not only with the fight against the revolutionaries, but also with new reforms, Alexander II wanted to take the second step after the liberation of the peasants in 1861 - to transform Russia from an absolute and autocratic into a constitutional monarchy. And besides, to crown Ekaterina Mikhailovna, making her an empress and thereby atoning for her sin before God and fulfilling her promise and her desire. And then, having transferred power to his eldest son Alexander Alexandrovich (Alexander III), together with his new family, leave Russia for Nice or Pau and live there as a private person.

On Saturday, February 28, 1881, on the proposal of Loris-Melikov, a manifesto was signed on the introduction of State Council delegates from representative organizations, which meant moving towards a constitution. The manifesto was to be published on March 2 this year. The Minister of the Interior warned the emperor about the impending assassination attempt on him, but Alexander turned the conversation to another topic.

On the morning of March 1, Alexander II went to the arena for the parade, and then to his beloved cousin Ekaterina Mikhailovna at the Mikhailovsky Palace. From there he went to the Winter Palace. His carriage, having driven along Inzhenernaya Street, turned onto the deserted embankment of the Ekaterininsky Canal. A boy walked towards him, some officer followed him, and then a young man stood with a bundle in his hand. When the carriage caught up with him, he threw a bundle under it, there was an explosion, the carriage shook, skidded to the side. A boy and two Cossacks from the convoy were killed. The horses were also killed. Some people grabbed the bomber and held him, twisting his arms behind his back. The emperor approached him and asked:

Who is that?

The tradesman Glazov, - he answered. (That was not true: his last name was Rysakov.)

The coachman Frol Sergeev shouted for the emperor to go to the palace as soon as possible. But Alexander II could not leave the wounded, just as he could not leave the wounded on the battlefield during Russian-Turkish war. At this time, there was a second explosion. Alexander's foot was torn off, his legs were twisted. He tried to get up, but he couldn't. He whispered: “Help… Is the heir alive? Take me to the palace. There to die…”

Let us further provide a story to an eyewitness of further events, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich: “On Sunday, March 1, 1881, my father went, as usual, to the parade at half past one. We boys decided to go ice skating with Nikki and his mother. We were supposed to pick them up at the Winter Palace after three in the afternoon.

Exactly at three o'clock there was a sound of the strongest explosion.

This is a bomb! - said my brother George.

At the same moment, an even stronger explosion shook the panes of the windows in our room. We rushed out into the street, but were stopped by our tutor. A minute later a panting footman ran into the room.

The sovereign is dead! he shouted. - And Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich too! Their bodies were taken to the Winter Palace.

At his cry, his mother ran out of the next room. We all rushed to the exit in the carriage, which was standing at the entrance, and rushed to the Winter Palace. On the way we were overtaken by a battalion of the Life Guards. Preobrazhensky regiment, which, with guns at the ready, fled in the same direction.

Crowds of people gathered around the Winter Palace. Women screamed hysterically. We entered through one of the side entrances. Questions were superfluous: large stains of black blood showed us the way along the marble steps and then along the corridor to the Tsar's office. The father stood there at the door, giving orders to the servants. He put his arms around mother, and she, shocked that he was unharmed, fainted.

Emperor Alexander II was lying on the sofa at the table. He was in an unconscious state. Three doctors were near him, but it was obvious that the Sovereign could not be saved. He had a few minutes left to live. His appearance was terrible: his right leg was torn off, his left was broken, countless wounds covered his face and head. One eye was closed, the other stared straight ahead without any expression.

Every minute, one after another, members of the Imperial family entered. The room was full. I grabbed the hand of Nikki, who was standing close to me, deathly pale in his blue sailor suit. His mother, the princess, was right there, holding the skates in trembling hands.

I found the Tsarevich by his broad shoulders: he was standing at the window.

Princess Yuryevskaya ran in half-dressed. Some overzealous guard was said to have tried to stop her at the entrance. She fell back on the body of the Tsar, covering his hands with kisses and shouting: “Sasha! Sasha!“ It was unbearable. The Grand Duchesses burst into sobs. ‹…›

Stay calm, - the heir whispered, touching my shoulder.

The mayor who arrived made a detailed report on the tragedy. The first bomb killed two passers-by and wounded a Cossack officer, whom the intruder mistook for my father. The emperor got out of the carriage unharmed The coachman begged him to return by the side streets back to the palace, but the Sovereign began to help the wounded. At this time, some stranger, who had been standing all the time on the corner, threw a second bomb at the feet of the Sovereign. This happened less than a minute before my father appeared; he was delayed by a visit to the Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna. The delay saved his life.

Quiet! - said the doctor. - The sovereign ends!

We approached the dying. The eye, expressionless, was still staring into space. The life surgeon, who was listening to the Tsar's pulse, nodded his head and lowered his bloodied hand.

Sovereign Emperor is dead! he said loudly.

Princess Yuryevskaya screamed and fell, as if knocked down, on the floor. Her pink and white robe was soaked with blood.

We all got down on our knees. To my left stood the new Emperor. ‹…›

The insensible Princess Yuryevskaya was carried out of the room of the deceased to her chambers, and the doctors took care of the body of the late Emperor.

Somewhere in the distance, little Goga was weeping bitterly.

In some historical publications, the death of Alexander II and the reaction of Catherine Mikhailovna Princess Yuryevskaya to it are presented differently. Thus, we read: “The fleeing doctors could only stop the bleeding. Ekaterina Mikhailovna helped them as best she could, not losing her self-control and standing next to the wounded to the end. Unexpectedly for everyone and, probably, for herself, she turned out to be the most collected and steadfast, and all the rest wept inconsolably and uncontrollably at the body of the deceased. Sobs shook the mighty thirty-six-year-old heir to the throne and all his brothers ”(V. N. Balyazin).

It is not known where this information about the stoic behavior of Ekaterina Mikhailovna and the unrestrained sobbing of Alexander III came from. More truthful is the description of this sad event by Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, who was present along with other members of the Imperial Family at the time of the death of Alexander II and saw the state of Alexander III and Princess Yuryevskaya at that tragic moment.

Alexander II was buried in St. Petersburg, in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Her Serene Highness Princess Yuryevskaya remained, despite the decree of Alexander II, only the morganatic wife of the emperor, and therefore, according to the laws of the Russian Empire, neither she nor her children - George, Olga and Ekaterina Alexandrovich - could claim the rights of members of the Imperial House to Princess Yuryevskaya with children, not having received recognition from Emperor Alexander III, the court and the world, it was uncomfortable to live in Russia. And the family of the Most Serene Princes Yuryevsky mostly lived abroad, in France, in a beautiful palace located between Biarritz and Nice.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna died on February 15, 1922 in Nice at the age of 75. Her so sensational love story with the Emperor of All Russia was the plot for films with the participation of the famous actresses Daniel Darier and Romy Schneider, who played the role of Princess Katenka Dolgorukova, the Serene Princess Yuryevskaya.

The son of Alexander II from a morganatic marriage with Princess Dolgorukova, His Serene Highness Prince Georgy Alexandrovich Yuryevsky (1872–1913), Goga, served in the guard. He married Countess Alexandra Konstantinovna Zarnekau, daughter of Prince Konstantin Petrovich of Oldenburg from a morganatic marriage. He died young, at the age of 41, 9 years earlier than Ekaterina Mikhailovna, his mother. In 1900, his son Alexander Georgievich (d. 1988) was born, from whom in 1961 a grandson, the great-grandson of Alexander II, Hans-Georg, was born.

The eldest daughter of Alexander II and Ekaterina Dolgorukova, Most Serene Princess Olga Alexandrovna (1873–1925), married in 1895 Count Georg-Nikolai Merenberg, son of Prince Nicholas Wilhelm of Nassau from a morganatic marriage with Natalia Alexandrovna Pushkina, daughter of the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin. Thus, through morganatic marriages, the Romanovs became related to the Pushkins.

Their youngest daughter, the Most Serene Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna (1878–1959), was married in her first marriage to the captain, Prince Alexander Vladimirovich Baryatinsky (1870–1910), and six years after his death, she married Prince Sergei Platonovich Obolensky-Neledinsky-Meletsky ( 1890–1978), who, being 12 years younger than her, outlived her by 18 years.

Thus ended the story of the last mistress of the Russian imperial throne.

Emperors Alexander III and his son Nicholas II were faithful spouses and did not have any favorite mistresses in their persons.

| |

In March 1855, a new emperor ascended the Russian throne. Alexander II. The era of his reign, which began with a defeat in Crimean War and ended with the death of the emperor himself, was one of the brightest periods in Russian history.

Alexander II decided on something that his predecessors were not ready for - he embarked on large-scale reforms that Russia badly needed.

These reforms affected almost all spheres of life, although in the first place the abolition of serfdom is credited to the emperor.

But behind the busy life of Emperor Alexander II, there was also the life of Alexander Nikolayevich Romanov, ordinary person, not devoid of feelings and weaknesses inherent in all people. And there was a love story in his life for which he had to fight ...

The unloved one is waiting for me in the palace...

In 1841, the 23-year-old heir to the throne, Grand Duke Alexander Nikolayevich, married a 17-year-old Maximilian Wilhelmina August Sophia Maria of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of the Grand Duke Ludwig II of Hesse.

Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Portrait of Franz Winterhalter, 1857 (Hermitage)

The parents of the Grand Duke had serious doubts about this union, but the future emperor, with young years distinguished by amorousness, insisted on his own. In Orthodoxy, the young wife of the prince took the name Maria Alexandrovna.

Maria Alexandrovna was a worthy wife of the Grand Duke, and then the Emperor. She bore him eight children despite poor health; she devoted a lot of time to charity, did not interfere in the political affairs of her husband - in a word, an exemplary wife of the monarch.

The problem was only one thing - Alexander quickly lost interest in his wife. Men from the Romanov family did not differ at all marital fidelity, but Alexander II stood out even among them, changing favorites like gloves.

Maria Alexandrovna knew about this, and her worries on this score did not add to her health. To the credit of Alexander II, he did everything that depended on him for the recovery of his wife. The imperial couple spent a lot of time in foreign resorts, and the empress got better for a while.

Maria Alexandrovna's health was greatly shaken after the death of her eldest son, the Tsarevich. Nikolai Alexandrovich. The 21-year-old heir to the throne died in 1865 in Nice from meningitis.

The emperor, who was also experiencing the loss of his son, surrounded his wife with care, but not love. His real, sincere love belonged to another ...

"I want to see the Emperor"

Ekaterina Dolgorukaya. Photo: Public Domain

In 1859, Alexander II went on a trip near Poltava, where exercises were to be held dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Battle of Poltava. The emperor stopped at the Teplovka estate, owned by the captain of the guards, prince Mikhail Dolgorukov belonging to an ancient but impoverished branch of the Dolgoruky family.

One day, while walking in the garden, the emperor came across a girl about ten years old. Alexander II asked who she was. “I am Ekaterina Mikhailovna,” the girl answered importantly. "What are you doing here?" the king asked. “I want to see the emperor,” the girl admitted.

This girl was the daughter of Prince Mikhail Dolgoruky Ekaterina. The emperor found Katenka amusing and not stupid, and spent several hours talking and walking in the garden with her, which led her to complete delight.

Two years after this meeting, the emperor was informed that Prince Mikhail Dolgoruky, with whom he stayed, was completely ruined, and his family was left without a livelihood.

Remembering the hospitality of Dolgoruky, and his sweet and funny daughter, Alexander II ordered to take four sons and two daughters of the prince under the "imperial guardianship".

The boys were assigned to the capital's military schools, and the girls to the Smolny Institute.

Meeting in the Summer Garden

Empress Maria Alexandrovna patronized the Smolny Institute, but because of her illness, the emperor himself often visited the educational institution. Once he was introduced to the 17-year-old pupil Ekaterina Dolgoruky. Alexander II remembered his little interlocutor from Teplovka, but now instead of her, a young girl of amazing beauty stood in front of him.

This meeting turned the life of Alexander II. He suddenly discovered that his thoughts were constantly returning to Katya Dolgoruky.

Egor Botman. Portrait of Alexander II. 1856. (Fragment). Photo: Public Domain

After graduating from the institute, Ekaterina Dolgorukaya settled in St. Petersburg in the house of her older brother Mikhail, and often walked along the alleys of the Summer Garden. Alexander II also liked to walk there alone. Once this habit almost made him a victim of an assassination attempt ... But let's not talk about politics.

During one of his walks in the Summer Garden, the emperor literally ran into Katenka Dolgoruky, the girl he now thought about all the time. Alexander II walked with Katya for a long time that day, uttered a bunch of compliments to her, which confused her a lot.

From that moment on, their joint walks took place more and more often. From simple compliments, the emperor moved on to words of love - he lost his head, like a boy.

"I consider you my wife before God"

From the notes of Ekaterina Dolgoruky: “... after much thought, I decided that my heart belongs to him and I am not able to connect my existence with anyone. The next day I announced to my parents that I would rather die than get married. There were endless scenes and questions, but I felt an unprecedented determination to fight all those who tried to marry me, and I realized that this force that supported me was love. From that moment on, I made the decision to give up everything, the worldly pleasures so desired by young persons of my age, and devote my whole life to the happiness of the One I loved.

Their relationship for several months was purely platonic in nature, which is completely uncharacteristic for Alexander II, who was used to receiving everything from women at once. But this time everything was different - for the first time in his life, he was possessed by a high feeling that did not allow him to treat his young lover rudely.

They spent their first night together in July 1866 at the Belvedere, near Peterhof. Katya Dolgoruky was not yet 19 years old, Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov was 48 ...

The emperor said to Catherine: “I am not free now. But at the first opportunity I will marry you, because from now on and forever I consider you my wife before God ... ".

Ekaterina Dolgorukaya. Own sketch of Emperor Alexander II. Photo: Public Domain

"I won't rest until I see your charms"

The relationship of the emperor named after Ekaterina Dolgoruky was quickly learned at court. At first, this was taken for another intrigue, but it soon became clear that this time Alexander II fell in love for real.

And the legal wife, Maria Alexandrovna, continued to fade away, getting sick more and more often.

The emperor faced strong opposition to his new romance from his family, including his son Alexander Alexandrovich, heir to the throne.

The conflict was so serious that he decided to send Catherine abroad for a while. However, Alexander II was not going to leave her - he came to visit his beloved even in Paris, where French police agents secretly followed their romance.

Those who expected that "the emperor's infatuation will pass" were mistaken - the "infatuation" dragged on for years. Alexander and Ekaterina corresponded with passion, and the content of many letters is capable of infuriating even Russians of the 21st century who are not prone to puritanism. Emperor - Catherine Dolgoruky: “We possessed each other the way you wanted. But I must confess to you: I will not rest until I see your charms again..

Ekaterina Dolgorukaya - Alexander: “Everything trembles in me from the passion with which I want to see you. I love and kiss you all, my dear, my life is my everything.

Catherine gave birth to four children from the emperor - two girls and two boys (one of whom died in infancy).

“Son, do you want to be a Grand Duke?”

By the end of the 1870s, an amazing picture emerged: the All-Russian Emperor lived in two families, not really hiding this fact. This, of course, was not reported to the subjects, but members of the royal family, high-ranking dignitaries, courtiers were well aware of this.

The relationship of Alexander II with his son and heir Alexander Alexandrovich on this basis was teetering on the brink of the Cold War.

And Alexander II also threw firewood into this family conflict, settling Catherine with her children in the Winter Palace, in separate chambers, but next to her legal wife and children.

Georgy, Olga and Ekaterina Yuryevsky Photo: Public Domain

May 22, 1880 Maria Alexandrovna died. Alexander II was determined to fulfill the promise made to Catherine 14 years ago.

On July 6, 1880, Alexander II married Catherine Dolgoruky. This happened before the end of the mourning for the deceased empress. Alexander understood everything, but to those who asked him to wait, he answered: “I would never marry before the end of mourning, but we live in a dangerous time when sudden assassination attempts to which I expose myself every day can end my life. Therefore, it is my duty to secure the position of a woman who has been living for me for fourteen years now, and also to secure the future of our three children.”

The marriage was morganatic, that is, it did not make Catherine Dolgoruky an empress, but it seems that Alexander II was ready to go further.

In any case, members of the imperial family were instructed to behave with Catherine Dolgoruky as with the empress.

Alexander II himself, playing with his little son George, whom the family called Goga, once in the presence of the heir to the throne asked the baby:

Goga, do you want to be a Grand Duke?

Catherine, who was sitting next to her husband, breaking etiquette, exclaimed:

Sasha, stop it!

The fact that the future Emperor Alexander III thought about all this could be guessed from his changed face.

Love that conquered death

By decree of December 5, 1880, Ekaterina Dolgoruky complained of the title Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya, which correlated with one of the family names of the Romanov boyars; the children of Catherine and the emperor also received the princely title and the surname Yuryevsky.

If the men from the imperial family, with the exception of the heir, reacted to everything that happened with restraint and understanding, then the ladies behaved like bazaar women or inhabitants of the communal kitchen. Streams of dirty gossip and outright hatred accompanied the short period during which Catherine was destined to be the lawful wife of Alexander II.

On March 1, 1881, the emperor was mortally wounded by a Narodnaya Volya bomb Ignatius Grinevitsky.

Ekaterina Dolgoruky was only 33 years old, but along with the death of the person to whom she once decided to devote her life, the world faded for her. She never married again, remaining faithful to Alexander.

Alexander II gave his second wife not only a title, but also money capital in a bank in the amount of more than 3 million rubles. The emperor foresaw that with his death, the Romanov relatives would try to recoup Catherine and the childrenAnd so it happened. The new emperor Alexander III did not show nobility, and Ekaterina Dolgoruky and her children were strongly advised to leave Russia.

The Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya emigrated to Nice, where she spent the rest of her life in her own villa, leaving memories of the happiest years, of her love for the great emperor and an ordinary person.

Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukaya died in Nice in 1922, outliving Alexander by 41 years...

Ekaterina Dolgorukaya (Yurievskaya) in Nice

Despite the fact that Alexander II practically left his wife, and the fact that Alexander II had a second family was an open secret (that is, a secret that everyone knows), nevertheless, at the official level, everything looked very decent. Family anniversaries were regularly celebrated. So, on March 13, 1874, the 35th anniversary of the first meeting of Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna was celebrated in the family. At the so-called hunting dinner, there were roses and the first strawberries. In 1876, another family anniversary took place, connected with the 35th anniversary of the wedding of Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna. On April 16, Alexander II gave his wife a bracelet with a large diamond (diamond), which could also be worn as a brooch. The bracelet is engraved memorable dates"1841-1876". In addition, he transferred "gift" 100,000 rubles to his wife's account. At the end there was a big family dinner.
But by this time, little Katenka Dolgorukova had long and firmly held her civil husband in her hands. Alexander II really loved his “darling”, although he already knew all its shortcomings well. In 1868 he wrote to his Katenka: “The little whims that my evil and adored minx sometimes allows herself to express in a letter do not in the least anger me, but only make me laugh, for I know my nasty minx to the very core and love my darling to madness with all her shortcomings, as God created her, and she is still dearer to me than anyone in the world."
...

Ekaterina Dolgorukova

They had an interesting and rather passionate relationship. This is evidenced by all their correspondence. They had their own language. In the photographs donated by twenty-year-old E. Dolgorukova, fifty-year-old Alexander II on French wrote: "Your disgusting Munka who adores you"(1868); " From your Munky, who loves you more than his soul» (1878). Dolgorukova herself was no less frank: “I love you with passion like crazy ... find yourself in your arms and forget the whole world"(1868); " So, until tonight, until 3/4, and let's scream like cats. This is what I have a terrible passion for. I kiss you passionately» (1870).

However, he is an emperor. huge country, and she came from an impoverished princely family. Therefore, in the love of Katenka Dolgorukova, there was also frank practicality. All extensive correspondence between E. Dolgorukova and Alexander II is imbued with the princess's concern for her position, for the future of her children. Ekaterina Dolgorukova made it so that the emperor, at the beginning of their relationship, swore before the icon that he would marry her when he was free. Dolgorukova wrote in her memoirs:He swore to me before the image that he was devoted to me forever and that his only dream was to marry me if ever he was free.". Alexander II, as best he could, reassured "Dusya" and in his will, drawn up on September 8/20, 1876, provided for her and the future of their children financially. This testament he repeatedly supplemented. Ultimately, in the fall of 1880, in the name of E.M. Dolgorukova was given capital to the State Treasury, which by the time of the death of Alexander II amounted to more than 3 million rubles.

Ekaterina Dolgorukova

Alexander II, not particularly hiding, lived in two families. When the official royal family moved to Tsarskoye Selo, E.M. Dolgorukov with children. Until 1877 she lived in the house of the Commandant of the Imperial Headquarters A.M. Ryleeva. This single and childless general was engaged in raising the children of Dolgorukova, and after the death of Alexander II became their guardian. Over time, in Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof for E.M. Dolgorukova bought dachas.

In 1877, repair work began in the Zubovsky wing of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo on the "half" of Alexander II. Several rooms, previously used as office space (Reinknecht and Standard), were turned into living quarters. It is quite possible that E. Dolgorukova settled in these rooms. It is known for sure that in 1877 E.M. Dolgorukova was given rooms next to the apartments of Alexander II in the Grand Palace of Tsarskoye Selo.

For adult children of Alexander II, the fact that the father had a second family was not a secret. However, everyone behaved as if no Katenka existed in nature, although Ekaterina Dolgorukova did not miss the opportunity to indicate her presence next to the emperor. Mostly scandals. So, in August 1877, in an anonymous letter to the head of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace Administration, Rebinder, she demanded “send to the apartment of Adjutant General Ryleev that share of fruit that is assigned to the sovereign himself during his stay here". Rebinder ignored the letter and continued to send the best fruits from the Tsarskoye Selo greenhouses to Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Then Katenka wrote a complaint to Alexander II, who at that time was in the Danube army, which was besieging Plevna. As a result of this correspondence from the banks of the Danube, Rebinder received a telegram with the highest order to send Dolgorukova "fruits intended for the sovereign himself».

Ekaterina Dolgorukova

At the beginning of 1879, even before a series of assassination attempts on Alexander II, the emperor moved his second family to the Winter Palace. Ekaterina Dolgorukova was placed on the third floor of the southwestern risalit of the imperial residence. According to memoirists, the laughter and cries of small children were clearly audible in Maria Alexandrovna's living room, which was located on the floor below. However, the empress did not reproach her husband with a word or a look.

From that time on, Ekaterina Dolgorukova began to interfere in state affairs. Judging by the memoirs of E. Dolgorukova, her influence even extended to the protection of the emperor. So, after the April 1879 assassination attempt on Palace Square, Alexander II, at the request of E. Dolgorukova, abandoned daily morning walks around his residence and instead took a daily morning walk through the large halls of the Winter Palace "in the company of his three children born from his marriage to Princess Yurievskaya". She constantly consulted on security issues with Count Loris-Melikov and A. Ryleev, and discussed these issues with Alexander II. According to her, "sand with such information she usually applied, guided by cares inspired by her sincere affection.". Her energy can be understood: a young, thirty-three-year-old woman with three children (one child died) understood that all her well-being rests on the life and health of Alexander II, who was 63 years old and who was constantly assassinated.

Some of the courtiers immediately "changed their orientation", giving E. Dolgorukova the closest attention. All sorts of businessmen began to revolve around Katenka, who well represented the degree of her influence on the aging Alexander II. So, S.Yu. Witte, a prominent political figure, mentioned that Katenka did not disdain booty in favor of these dealers in "various concessions and benefits." And, of course, not disinterestedly.

Alexander II with Empress Maria Alexandrovna, children, daughter-in-law and grandson

“Finally”, on May 20, 1880, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, after a long illness, faded away alone in the Winter Palace. Alexander II at that time lived with his "darling" in the Zubovsky wing of the Great Catherine Palace. From May 20, hot days began for Katenka Dolgorukova, during which she showed frantic energy and iron will. She literally "forged while it's hot ...".

Their correspondence gives an idea of ​​how relations between Alexander II and Ekaterina Dolgorukova developed in May-June 1880. On the day of his wife's death, May 20, 1880, Alexander II wrote to Dolgorukova: "Tyou know ... that I will do my duty, only circumstances will allow me to do this". The next day, Alexander II informed the Minister of the Imperial Court A.V. Adlerberg about his desire to enter into a legal marriage with Ekaterina Dolgorukova. The tsar recorded the results of this conversation in his diary on May 22, 1880:Adlerberg, having presented many objections, does not advise me to enter into a new marriage. I must admit that in some respects he is right, but I could not speak to him with complete frankness. I gave my word of honor and must keep it, even if Russia and History do not forgive me for this.».

Only after the death of Alexander II did the Minister of the Imperial Court A. V. Adlerberg share his impressions of this conversation with close people. He emphasized that "the late sovereign was completely in the hands of Princess Yuryevskaya, who would have brought the sovereign to the most extreme recklessness, to shame". According to the minister, he was "extremely indignant" at the king's intention to marry when the body of his wife, the mother of his children, had not yet been interred. Adlerberg was categorically against this marriage, Alexander II insisted on his desire: “The sovereign, for his part, proved the necessity of the proposed marriage, considering himself obliged to this by a sense of honor, conscience and religion. He got excited, worried, and our heated argument lasted more than an hour.". Finally, Adlerberg succeeded in persuading the tsar to observe the minimum propriety and postpone the marriage.

For Katenka, the delay seemed like a catastrophe. She began to press hard on Alexander II, demanding the immediate fulfillment of the promise to marry. The tsar did not renounce his promise, but wanted to observe elementary decency, and the persistence of the "dusi" began to irritate him. In a letter to her dated May 27, 1880, Alexander II wrote: “But you must understand, dear darling, that it is unpleasant for me to touch such an object when the body of the deceased has not yet been interred. So let's not talk about it, because you know me well enough not to doubt my word.».

Ekaterina Dolgorukova

Alexander II really kept his word. When the 40th day after the death of Empress Maria Alexandrovna passed, he decisively announced A.V. Adlerberg about his desire to marry: "The sovereign, at one of my reports, again struck me, announcing his decision not to postpone the fulfillment of the intention any longer and to perform the ceremony immediately, in a secret way. I again tried to reject it, presenting all the indecency of such an act before the expiration of a year after the death of the Empress. During the whole time that I spoke, the sovereign sat silently, pale, embarrassed, his hands trembled, suddenly gets up and, without saying a word, goes into another room. I am completely bewildered at what remains for me to do, and I also intended to leave, when suddenly the door opens again, and a woman enters; behind her I see the figure of the sovereign, who, having let the princess into the study, closes the door behind her. My position was strange - to find myself face to face with a woman with whom I had to speak for the first time and who attacked me with sharp reproaches for dissuading the sovereign from fulfilling the duty of honor. I was forced to object to her, so a stormy scene took place between us, which continued for quite some time. In the midst of our heated argument, the door to the office half-opened, and the head of the sovereign appeared, who meekly asked if it was time for him to enter. To this the princess replied vehemently: "No, leave us to finish the conversation." The sovereign slammed the door again, and only a few moments later entered the office, when the princess herself, pouring out all her anger on me, left the office.».

This scene struck the Minister of the Imperial Court A.V. Adlerberg. For the first time he saw and heard how the autocratic master of a multi-million dollar empire was being thrown out of his own office! At that moment, he apparently quite clearly understood who would run this empire.

The wedding of Alexander II and Catherine Dolgorukova took place on July 6, 1880, 46 days after the death of the Empress, in the Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo in front of the marching altar of Alexander I. Despite the secrecy, the fact of the wedding became immediately widely known. The imperial family and the Petersburg high society were shocked by the act of Alexander II. In the autumn of 1880, in the Crimean Livadia, the young wife was officially introduced to the children of Alexander II from his first marriage.

For the young grand dukes, the younger sons of Alexander II, this was a real tragedy. At the same time, Alexander II informed his sons about his marriage through their tutor Arsentiev, “for them it was a terrible blow; they had a cult to the memory of their mother, who had so recently died. Sergei Alexandrovich knew about his father's connection, but he set himself the task of preventing his younger brother, Grand Duke Pavel, from learning anything about it.».

Alexander II and Princess Yurievskaya with children

Shortly after returning to St. Petersburg from Livadia, Ekaterina Dolgorukova, by the Highest Decree (dated December 5/17, 1880), turned into Princess Yuryevskaya. According to rumors that circulated in St. Petersburg living rooms, such a “surname” was associated with one of the Romanov family traditions. Allegedly, Emperor Paul I "by a posthumous order named the born daughter Yuryevskaya, who had been born, which prompted the late sovereign to name his side children and their mother Yuryevsky."

The reaction of the children was passive-demonstrative. For example, Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich, who in the 1870s. He willingly lived in Tsarskoye Selo, in the Alexander Palace, from the day of the wedding of Alexander II with Princess Yuryevskaya, he stopped visiting the Alexander Palace.

In St. Petersburg, the events of the summer and autumn of 1880 became the main subject of conversation. Almost everyone condemned the aging emperor and sympathized with his children. A.N. Benois was then a child, but he also remembered the unanimous condemnation of the hasty marriage of Alexander II. Much later he recalled:This summer we did not move to the dacha, and Aunt Liza did not interrupt her weekly visits, which is why I especially remember her anger, accompanied by completely convinced prophecies: God will certainly punish him for such a violation of divine and human laws!»

The pace of development of events in the second half of 1880 did not satisfy the claims of the ambitious "darling". In the bowels of the Ministry of the Imperial Court, unofficial preparations began for her coronation and the transformation of Princess Yuryevskaya into Empress Catherine III. The ambitions of Princess Yuryevskaya were strongly supported by the then all-powerful "dictator", Minister of the Interior M.T. Loris-Melikov, who maintained the most friendly relations with Yuryevskaya.

The coronation was planned for August 1881. M.T. Loris-Melikova. According to Professor B.N., close to the Court, Chicherina, "Bishop of the Jerusalem Church, now State Comptroller Tertiy Filippov even went to Moscow on this occasion to extract details about the coronation of Catherine I from the archives .... Having obtained archival information in Moscow for the future coronation, he triumphantly returned to St. March 1st event».

Relations in the family escalated so much that Alexander II periodically, in a moment of anger, directly told his eldest son that he could lose his status as crown prince. Relations in the large family of Alexander II at the beginning of 1881 were very difficult.

However, the death of Emperor Alexander II at the hands of terrorists on March 1, 1881 put an end to the ambitious claims of the “dusi”. Many dignitaries, devoted associates of Alexander II, to a certain extent, accepted with relief the news of the tsar's martyrdom, which "written off" all his earthly sins. Minister of the Imperial Court A.V. Adlerberg privately expressed the following opinion:It is hard to say what this woman, impudent and at the same time stupid and undeveloped, could bring the sovereign to! That is why I said that the martyrdom of the sovereign, perhaps, prevented new reckless actions and saved the brilliant reign from an inglorious and humiliating finale.».

Princess Ekaterina Yurievskaya

At Alexandra III, after a series of scandals, Princess Yuryevskaya, together with her children, left Russia for France. Under Nicholas II, she periodically came to Russia. On the eve of the First World War, Yuryevskaya sold all her Russian real estate and left for France for good, where she died in 1922.

Source- Igor Viktorovich Zimin "The adult world of imperial residences. The second quarter of the 19th - early 20th centuries"

Alexander II and Princess Yurievskaya