Nikolai Konstantinovich novels. Cold cynic and playboy

Nikolai Konstantinovich is a graduate of the Academy of the General Staff, which he entered on his own initiative in 1868. Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich was the first of the Romanovs to graduate from a higher educational institution, and among the best graduates with a silver medal. After completing his studies, he traveled abroad, where he began to collect his collection of Western European painting. After traveling across Europe, the Grand Duke entered the Life Guards Horse Regiment, and after a while he became the squadron commander at age 21. At this time, at one of the masquerade balls, he met with an American dancer and adventurer by nature - Fanny Lear, who by then had already managed to travel to Europe, be married and had a young daughter. They started a romance.

The stormy romance of the Grand Duke bothered his father and mother. The discussion of this problem even led to the meeting of his parents, who by that time did not live together. His father found a completely suitable excuse to remove him from St. Petersburg: in 1873, Nikolai Konstantinovich went as part of the Russian expeditionary forces on a campaign against Khiva.

Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich, who by that time already had the rank of colonel, received a baptism of fire in this campaign. He led the vanguard of the Kazalinsky detachment, which suffered the greatest losses, followed one of the most difficult routes, through the Kyzylkum desert. The very first reconnaissance group led by him fell into such dense artillery fire that they were no longer waiting for them to return alive in the detachment. In this campaign, Nikolai Konstantinovich showed personal courage and was an example to others. For participation in the Khiva campaign, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 3rd degree.

After returning from Central Asia, which he was fascinated by, he was seriously interested in Orientalism. He began to take part in the work of the Russian Geographical Society: there, among scientists, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Amu Darya expedition matured. Its goal was to maximally study the territory just conquered by Russia and to subject its potential to a detailed scientific analysis. Such plans excited, captured the brilliant outhouse adjutant of the sovereign. In the Geographical Society, of course, they were glad for the August attention. Nikolai Konstantinovich was elected an honorary member of this society and was appointed head of the expedition.

After returning from the Khiva campaign, he again traveled to Europe in the company of his lover - Fanny Lear. There he continued to replenish his art collection.

But in the spring of 1874, when he was 24 years old, an event happened that completely changed the life of the grand duke.

Family scandal

In April 1874, the mother of Nikolai Konstantinovich - Alexander Iosifovna - discovered in the Marble Palace the disappearance of three expensive diamonds from the salary of one of the icons, which at one time the emperor Nicholas I blessed the marriage of his son Konstantin with the German princess, who became Alexandra Iosifovna in marriage. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich called the police, and soon diamonds were found in one of the pawnshops in St. Petersburg.

First, they came to the person who took the diamonds to a pawnshop - the adjutant of the Grand Duke E.P. Varnakhovsky, whose opinion about the guilt remained even later. At the interrogation on April 15, he categorically denied any involvement in the theft and said that he only carried the stones transferred to him by the Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich to the pawnshop.

Nicholas, who was present at the interrogation, swore in the Bible that he was not guilty - which, as they said, exacerbated his sin. But he told his father that he was ready, helping Varnakhovsky, not just an adjutant, but his comrade, to take the blame on himself. Emperor Alexander II, who took the matter under his personal control, involved Count Shuvalov, chief of the gendarme corps, in the investigation.

For three hours, Shuvalov was interrogated in the Marble Palace of the arrested Nikolai Konstantinovich in the presence of his father, who later wrote in his diary: “There was no remorse, no consciousness except when denial was already impossible, and then I had to pull out the vein behind the vein. Bitterness and not a single tear. They conjured all that remained of him holy, to alleviate the fate that awaited him, with sincere repentance and consciousness! Nothing helped!"

In the end, they came to the conclusion that the diamonds were stolen by Nikolai Konstantinovich, and the proceeds should have been donated to the prince's mistress, the American dancer Fanny Lear. At the family council - the general meeting of members of the monarchial family after a long debate (as options were proposed: to be sent to the soldiers, put to public trial and sentenced to hard labor), a decision was made that caused minimal harm to the prestige of the royal family. It was decided to recognize Grand Duke Nicholas as mentally ill, and then, by decree of the emperor, he was forever expelled from the capital of the empire. Fanny Lear was expelled from Russia with a ban on ever returning here. She never met the Grand Duke again.

In fact, two sentences were announced to Nikolai Konstantinovich. The first - for the public - consisted of declaring him insane. From which it followed that from now on and forever he would be in custody, under compulsory treatment, in complete isolation. The meaning of the second sentence - the family - consisted in the fact that in the papers concerning the Imperial House, it was forbidden to mention his name, and the inheritance belonging to him was transferred to the younger brothers. He also lost all ranks and awards and was struck off the list of the regiment. He was expelled from Petersburg forever and was obliged to live under arrest in the place where he would be told.

In 1917, a translation of Fanny Lear’s memoirs appeared in Argus magazine, where she talked about her august novel, the bitter fate of Nikola (as his close friends called him), which she did not believe for a minute, and how it ended her trip to Russia.

Fanny wrote in her memoirs that in the capital of the Grand Duke they were holding in a straitjacket, pumped up with drugs and even beat. The soldiers who were guarding Nicholas were clouding over him, although yesterday he was still out of reach for them and offered the arrested children toys. Judging by the record he left, Nikolai Konstantinovich himself regretted that he did not go to hard labor.

In the memoirs of Fanny Lear there is a record very eloquently characterizing this woman herself, who was born and raised in the family of a Protestant priest: “If such a loss had happened in the family of ordinary people,” Miss Lear wrote, “they would have hidden her there; here, on the contrary, they raised the police to their feet ... ”

There is another oddity in this matter. Despite the fact that the parents of Nikolai Konstantinovich and his august relatives did not leave confidence that Nikolai Konstantinovich was ruined by love for the courtesan and the lack of funds to satisfy her whims, it remains indisputable that during the search in the desk of Nikolai Konstantinovich the amount was found, much larger than the one received for stolen diamonds in the pawnshop.

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Nikolai Konstantinovich was taken from St. Petersburg in the autumn of 1874. Before his last “stop” in Tashkent in the summer of 1881, that is, for less than 7 years, he changed at least 10 places of residence. He was not allowed anywhere to find at least any home, to acquire ties, to take root. The places of exile were: Vladimir province, Uman - 250 miles from Kiev, the town of Tivrovo, near Vinnitsa, and so on.

When he was sent to Orenburg, Nikolai Konstantinovich assumed that there his supervision would not be very strict, since there, on the border of the endless desert, in the extremely difficult climatic conditions, military operations were constantly ongoing. Indeed, here in Orenburg, the local authorities turned a lot of "impermissible" eyes. It was in Orenburg in 1877 that the 27-year-old Nikolai published his work, “The Waterway to Central Asia, Indicated by Peter the Great,” published without indicating the name of the author. Here he managed to make trips deep into the Kazakh steppes - on horseback, along with the same enthusiasts, he traveled from Orenburg to Perovsk. He was captured by the idea of \u200b\u200bbuilding a railway from Russia to Turkestan. The project sent to St. Petersburg was declared unprofitable due to the sparsely populated lands.

In Orenburg, the Grand Duke did extraordinary things. So, in the winter of 1878, he married the daughter of the city police chief Nadezhda Alexandrovna Dreyer. The wedding was secret, but rumors spread - and the corresponding report flew to Petersburg. As a result, the marriage was terminated by a special decree of the Synod, and the Dreyer family was ordered to leave the city. The young wife flatly refused to leave her husband. Nadezhda Aleksandrovna, being a Cossack family, had a firm character - the many-difficult hikes on the steppes on horseback, passed alongside Nikolai Konstantinovich, emphasized this very well. Nadezhda Alexandrovna Nikolai Konstantinovich in honor of Alexander the Great (Iskander Zulkarn? Yna) called "Princess Iskander."

Being in exile, the Grand Duke also showed a peculiar self-will - sometimes he threatened to put on all his orders and go out to the people, who, in his opinion, should release the exiled. At the same time, rumors began to be circulated at the imperial court about past meetings of the disgraced prince with the people's commander Zhelyabov. According to rumors, they were even friends.

The younger brother of the Orenburg prisoner, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, did not approve of the tough line of the imperial house: “Will the painful situation soon end, from which poor Nicola is not given any way out? Thus, the meekest person could be deduced from patience; Nikola still has enough power to endure her imprisonment and moral prison. ”

Having finally heeded the arguments of common sense, the cousin of the disgraced grand duke - Emperor Alexander III - allowed to legalize the morganatic marriage, however, while the young were ordered to go to Turkestan, to Tashkent.

In Turkestan

In Turkestan, the grand duke first lived under the name of Colonel Volynsky. Later he began to call himself Iskander. This name is carried by all his descendants - the princes of Iskander. Subsequently, he married another lady - Daria Chasovitinova, the 15-year-old daughter of a Tashkent resident belonging to the Cossack estate. From this union he had several children. Moreover, he could appear in society at the same time as his two wives.

From Nadezhda Alexandrovna, the Grand Duke had two sons: Artemy and Alexander. Nadezhda Alexandrovna herself, under the name "Princess Iskander," repeatedly visited St. Petersburg, trying to establish ties with her Romanov relatives. Perhaps she did not quite succeed in this, but both of their children were taken to St. Petersburg privileged Page Corps.

Being contradictory in nature, the Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich was also capable of quite noble deeds. Having received 300 thousand rubles from the emperor for the construction of the palace, he spent this money on the construction of a theater in Tashkent. And the magnificent palace for his residence, built in the center of Tashkent, is now one of the most notable sights of Tashkent - now it is the house of international receptions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan.

It is known that Nikolai Konstantinovich established 10 scholarships for people from Turkestan who were not able to pay for their studies at the main educational institutions of Russia.

With the name of the Grand Duke, rumor and the recollections of eyewitnesses connected a number of sometimes curious, and sometimes quite serious social and near-social scandals in Tashkent. This was facilitated by the ambiguous position of Nikolai Konstantinovich - on the one hand, he formally continued to be under house arrest, the decision of which was not canceled, on the other hand, he remained the Grand Duke and thereby was under the auspices of the imperial house, and was also very popular a person among the local European population of the city.

Entrepreneurship of the Grand Duke

The Grand Duke was engaged in entrepreneurship, he owned a number of enterprises in Tashkent - he opened a soap factory, photographic workshops, billiards, sale of kvass, rice processing, soap and cotton manufactories, registering, in order to avoid family anger, all organized enterprises were registered for his wife. With the money received from his entrepreneurial activity, he built the first cinema in Tashkent (also as a business project) - “Khiva”, with his own money he was engaged in laying irrigation canals in the Hungry Steppe.

The income from his entrepreneurial activities amounted to an impressive amount of up to one and a half million rubles a year. For comparison: from St. Petersburg, the prince was sent for maintenance a year 200 thousand rubles.

Nikolai Konstantinovich turned out to be an excellent entrepreneur. He was one of the first to turn to the most profitable field of industry at that time in the Turkestan Territory - the construction and operation of ginneries. At the same time, he used the most advanced technical ideas of his time - a waste-free technological cycle was used at his plants - the cotton seeds remaining after processing the raw material into fiber were used as raw material in oil mills, and the cake was used both for fertilizers and livestock feed.

Already with his first irrigation works he gained great popularity among the population. The first of these is the removal from Chirchik along the right bank of the river of the canal named by him Iskander-aryk.

Then on these lands there were only a few houses of poor farmers who had evicted from Gazalkent. After the Iskander-aryk, the “grand-princely” village of Iskander was laid here. Away from the village, the Grand Duke set up a large garden. During the works related to the construction at Iskander-aryk, Nikolai Konstantinovich performed an archaeological excavation of the barrow channel located near the channel, from which weapons and other items were removed.

In 1886, the Grand Duke began to "withdraw" the Syr Darya water, wishing at all costs to irrigate at least part of the Hungry Steppe between Tashkent and Jizzakh, spending a lot of energy and personal funds. Work related to the canal cost the prince over a million rubles. On the coastal rock near the river, at the headquarters near Bekabad, the letter “H” was crowned in large size, crowned with a crown.

On the irrigated lands rose 12 large Russian villages. Nikolai Konstantinovich wrote: "My desire is to revive the deserts of Central Asia and make it easier for the government to populate them with Russian people of all classes." By 1913, 119 Russian villages had already grown there.

But the grand duke's favorite idea was a project to restore the "old current" of the Amu Darya to the Caspian. As early as 1879 in Samara, he organized a society for the study of Central Asian routes, which aimed to choose the direction of the Turkestan railway and study the turn of the Amu Darya to Uzboy. In March 1879, Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich published a pamphlet entitled "Amu and Uzboy" (the book was published without indicating the name of the author). In it, the author, relying on the evidence of sources - the works of ancient and medieval writers - argued that the river repeatedly changed its direction “exclusively by the will of man”. But the government did not support the initiative of the prince - it itself was engaged in the development of a draft of a river turn.

In the pamphlet Amu and Uzboy, the Grand Duke wrote: “Russia over the past 25 years has taken possession of most of Central Asia, but the once-flourishing Turkestan went to the Russians in a state of decline. He is endowed by nature with all favorable conditions for the rapid development of his rich productive forces. By expanding the irrigation network, pushing the boundaries of the oases, Turkestan can be made one of the best Russian regions. ” The plan for the "turn of the Amu Darya" was probably quite fair, and was also considered inappropriate. But the expedition itself, which has traveled more than a thousand-kilometer journey through completely unexplored places, has brought material of exceptional value. This was noted by the scientific community, and even by the authorities in St. Petersburg, who awarded all its participants, with the exception of the Grand Duke.

In Central Asia, work related to irrigation, especially new lands not previously used for agricultural crops, was always highly valued. Therefore, the aforementioned irrigation activities of Nikolai Konstantinovich, the largest for their time and, moreover, carried out not by force, but with the payment of labor of all participants, contributed to the rapid spread of the popularity of the Grand Duke among the local population. He built at his own expense a 100-kilometer irrigation canal, reviving 40 thousand acres of land.

Grand Duke Collection

The collection of European and Russian paintings collected by the Grand Duke and brought from St. Petersburg by him was the basis for the creation in 1919 of an art museum in Tashkent, which has one of the richest collections of European paintings among art museums in Central Asia.

The fate of one sculpture

During his second trip to Europe, Nikolai Konstantinovich and Fanny Lear visited Rome at Villa Borghese. Here he admired the famous sculpture of Antonio Canova, depicting Pauline Borghese, the younger sister of Napoleon, in the form of a naked beauty lying on a marble bed in the form of a Venus-winner with an apple in her left hand. Nikolai Konstantinovich immediately ordered a sculpture by Tomaso Solari to make an exact copy of the sculpture, but instead of Pauline Borghese, his lover, Fanny Lear, should have been lying on the marble bed.

In her memoirs, Miss Lear recalled the unpleasant impression that she had from the plaster mask imposed on her face, with which the sculptor subsequently reproduced the features of her face in marble. The sculptor assured them that at the end of the work, the sculpture would be sent to St. Petersburg. He kept his promise.

Many years later, when the Grand Duke was already in Tashkent exile, his mother, Alexandra Iosifovna, gave him a present. While walking in the park, she came across a marble sculpture of a half-naked woman with an apple in her hand. She recognized in this woman Fanny Lear - the beloved of her eldest son. And soon the sculpture, packed in a wooden box, was sent to Tashkent to Nikolai Konstantinovich. Later, this marble sculpture became one of the decorations of the Tashkent Museum of Fine Arts.

Grand Duke and Revolution

The last Russian emperor Nicholas II, brought the scandalous relative to his cousin's nephew, but he never allowed him to return to the capital. Therefore, the abdication of the emperor in February 1917, the Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich took with enthusiasm. He raised a red flag over his house and sent a welcome telegram to the Provisional Government.

Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky personally knew Nikolai Konstantinovich from Tashkent, since they lived in the neighborhood for almost 10 years.

The death of the Grand Duke

Shortly after the October Revolution and the establishment of Soviet power in Turkestan on January 14, 1918, the former Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov died in a summer house near Tashkent from pneumonia; buried at the fence of a military cathedral in Tashkent. A number of later publications indicated that he was shot by the Bolsheviks, but the data from the newspaper publications of 1918 and the archives do not confirm this.

In a resolution of July 17, 1998 on the termination of criminal case No. 18 / 123666-93 “On Clarifying the Circumstances of the Death of Members of the Russian Imperial House and People from Their Environs during the Period 1918-1919”, issued by the Senior Prosecutor-Forensic Officer of the Main Investigation Department of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation The Federation, senior adviser of justice V.N. Solovyov, who conducted the relevant verification of the case, stated in paragraph 10.4 of the resolution (the project “The Tsar’s Family: Last Days, rel, finding the remains of "):

10.4. The death of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov.
Various sources have speculated about the execution or other violent cause of the death of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov (1850-1918), who was exiled to Tashkent by emperor Alexander II in 1874 and died there in 1918 [ so in the text]
So, in the periodical Nasha Gazeta No. 13 of January 17, 1918 (the executive committee of the Tashkent Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies), a note was read as follows: “The funeral of citizen Romanov. The funeral of b was held in Tashkent yesterday. Grand Duke, citizen Nikolai Romanov, who died on Sunday, January 14, at 6 a.m. Romanov’s body is buried near the fence of a military cathedral. ” Also, in the newspaper Novy Put, dated January 18, 1918, an obituary was given as follows: “On the death of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov (b. 1850), died on the night of January 13-14, 1918 from pneumonia in a summer house near Tashkent and was buried on January 16, 1918 in Tashkent, in the square next to the Military St. George’s Cathedral. "
There is also a protocol of the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Tashkent Council of Soldiers 'and Workers' Deputies dated January 15, 1918, at which the request of the wife of Romanov N.K. on the place of his burial was considered - "They listened to the request of the wife of Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov for permission to bury the deceased former Grand Duke at the military the cathedral. They decided to allow, bury, but with a proposal not to produce any processions. "
The investigation considers the established fact of the death of Romanov Nikolai Konstantinovich unrelated to any repression by the authorities.
…

Thus ended the life of the Grand Duke, full of dramatic collisions, most of which he spent in the Turkestan region and left a bright mark here.

He was buried near the church of St. George - St. Joseph's Cathedral, located opposite the entrance to the palace of the prince. Later in Soviet times, this church was “converted” into a puppet theater and a dumpling cafe, and also an ice cream parlor. Some time after Uzbekistan gained independence, these buildings - the old puppet theater and dumpling cafe - were demolished. At present, a small public garden is broken up at this place.

A family

Wife (December 15, 1878 - March 7, 1900) Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Dreyer (1861-1929?), Daughter of the Orenburg police chief Alexander Gustavovich Dreyer and Sofia Ivanovna Opanovskaya. April 22 (May 4), 1899, the noblewoman Nadezhda Dreyer was commanded by the highest to be called henceforth the name "Iskander".

She was a custodian of the museum, then she was fired. She found shelter in the gatehouse at the former palace of Nikolai Konstantinovich, lived there surrounded by dogs. According to eyewitnesses, in the last years of her life she looked like a real beggar, walked in torn clothes and ate what the residents who remembered the kindness of the great prince left at her door. Nadezhda Alexandrovna died in 1929 from a bite of a rabid dog.

The eldest son, Artemy (born December 19 (31), 1878 in Samara), was bestowed with the surname Iskander and the rights granted to a personal nobleman on August 12 (24), 1889. According to one version, he died during the Civil War, fighting on the side of the whites, according to another - he died of typhus in Tashkent in 1919.

The youngest son of Nikolai Konstantinovich - Prince Alexander Iskander

The youngest son is Alexander (born on November 15 (27), 1887 in Tashkent), he was bestowed with the surname "Iskander" and the rights assigned to a personal nobleman on March 10 (22), 1894. A combat officer who participated in the anti-Bolshevik uprising in Tashkent in January 1919, fought in the Russian army of Wrangel, then evacuated to Gallipoli, and then to France, where he died in the city of Grasse in 1957. He wrote a memoir about the civil war - “Heavenly campaign”.

Kirill Nikolaevich Androsov (Prince K.A. Iskander; 1915-1992)
Natalya Nikolaevna Androsova (Princess N. A. Iskander; 1917-1999), has lived all her life in the USSR and Russia; engaged in motorcycle racing, performed in the circus (vertical race), USSR master of sports in motorcycle racing; in the Great Patriotic War was a driver on the "lorry".

In 1901, he married Barbara Khmelnytsky (1885—?). The marriage was not recognized.

Extramarital affairs and children

Mistress Alexandra Alexandrovna Demidova (crop Abaza) (1853-1894)

Olga (1877-1910) - went crazy.
Nikolai (1875-1913) - a participant in the Russo-Japanese War, retired colonel of the guard, wrote a number of works on the history of Russian cavalry.

In 1888, they received from the Emperor Alexander III a nobility with the surname “Volynsky” and the patronymic “Pavlovichi”, since at that time their mother’s husband (from 1879) was Count Pavel Feliksovich Sumarokov-Elston (1853-1938), Prince Yusupov’s uncle , the future killer of Rasputin.

Mistress Daria Eliseevna Chasovitina (1880-1953 / 1956)

Nikolay (-1919/1920)
Svyatoslav (-1919) - shot
Daria (1896-1966) - lived in Moscow and for some time worked as secretary of the Soviet writer Marietta Shaginyan.

The case (documents) of the Grand Duke are stored in the Central Russian Archive.

Sources of information. Related Links

Lyudmila Tretyakova “Exile from the Romanov family”, magazine “Around the World” No. 4 (2751) of April 2003.
Old Tashkent Forum - Dec 16 2006, 11:41 PM Post # 2190
AiF - Fate. How the grandson of Nicholas I found himself in Tashkent

Svetlana Makarenko. READY REJECTED ...
Palace of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich on the map of Tashkent
Grand Duke's Business

Yu. A. Kuzmin Russian imperial surname 1797-1917. Bibliographic reference. St. Petersburg, Dmitry Bulanin, 2005, p. 155-156, 267-269 (ISBN 5-86007-435-2)

Prince Michael of Greece Every family has its black sheep. Biography of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich. - M .: "Zakharov", 2002. - 272 p. - ISBN 5-8159-0263-2

See also Grand Dukes of the Romanov dynasty

: Documents of the archives of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the last years of the life of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov // Article in the journal "Domestic Archives" No. 6 (2009)

Nikolai Konstantinovich became a victim of passion for an American dancer

It is even surprising that the action-packed adventure film with elements of a love drama has not yet been shot about this offspring of the royal family of the Romanovs. Especially in the year of the centenary of the Great October Socialist Revolution, when there is special interest in the ousted last name. The grandson of Nicholas I, the nephew of ALEXANDER II and the cousin of ALEXANDER III - Nikolai ROMANOV, is certainly one of the most scandalous and mysterious representatives of the three hundred year old dynasty.

A member of the government, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich gazed out of the window. From the Marble Palace, one of the most beautiful buildings of St. Petersburg, the Peter and Paul Fortress on the other side of the Neva was clearly visible with dazzling sun bunnies jumping gaily on the spire. There, in the "Secret House" of Alekseevsky ravelin, who of the important criminals did not sit: the Decembrists, and Petrashevists, and Narodnaya Volya, and even the writer Fedor Dostoevsky.

“Is it really time for a member of the imperial family to be within these walls? - Admiral General mused gloomily. - Nicola, of course, is not political. But do not put him in the “Crosses” with criminals! ”The general had something to despair of. At stake was the fate of his son Kolya.

Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov, who was called Nicola in the family circle, was born in February 1850. And from childhood, he showed brilliant abilities, although he grew up in a nervous environment. His father, marrying a second cousin, a German princess Alexandre Saxe-Altenburg(in Russia, she became Alexandra Iosifovna), began to walk to the left. He began a serious affair with the ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater Anna Kuznetsova. Father did not consider it necessary to hide the adultery from his wife and as a result he shook five children on the side. Beyond six legally married!

Perhaps these circumstances influenced the character of the teenager, making Kolya quick-tempered and capricious. And even a strict German teacher could not pacify him and set him on the right path. When the guy turned 18, the Shrew, celebrating his release from the guardianship of a foreigner, defiantly made a bonfire of notebooks and books right on the stone floor of the family palace.

Fatal Fanny Lear

Deception revealed quickly

However, as he grew older, the boy began to turn into a sensible youth. Nicola, the first of The Romanovs, on a personal initiative, enters the Academy of the General Staff. And he is engaged so hard that catastrophically spoils his eyesight. But it becomes one of the best graduates, having received a silver medal.

At the age of 21, Nikolai Konstantinovich was appointed commander of the squadron of the life guard of the cavalry regiment. At this point, he is considered the most beautiful among the Grand Dukes, shines at balls and social events. Collects Western European painting. A dream, not a groom! His family owns not only the Marble Palace, but also the famous Pavlovsky in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, as well as the estate in Strelna near the Gulf of Finland.

Nicola could choose the most brilliant girl from high society. And got confused with a rootless American dancer Fanny Learmeeting her at the ball.

At first, Romanov tried to impersonate the son of a wealthy merchant, but an experienced American quickly saw through him. When Nikolai Konstantinovich brought his beloved to the theater box, where imperial monograms were embroidered on chairs, she said to his face: “The officer should not be lying!” I had to admit.

At first, the relatives looked at the affair through their fingers, but then they began to worry. Is the bearer of the imperial family planning to marry an adventurer who has managed to be married and have a daughter ?! Nicola, away from sin, is decided to be removed from the capital.

In 1873, a 23-year-old colonel sent as part of a military expeditionary force to Central Asia to fight with the Khiva Khanate. And I must say, he showed himself worthy in battle. He went into reconnaissance under heavy artillery fire, crossed the Kyzylkum desert, where more people died from heat and thirst than from bullets. And at every opportunity he sent letters to his beloved Fanny.

Palace of the noble exile in Tashkent

Mom's necklace

A few months later, Nicola triumphantly returned to the capital with an award - the Order of St. Vladimir of the III degree. The novel flares up with renewed vigor. Fanny herself recalls in her memoirs about expensive gifts, about a luxurious carriage with a giant coachman and a groom-dwarf, about the magnificence of the palace. But behind these lines her bitchy character is visible. In particular, the American woman scolded the magnificent cuisine of the Grand Duke, repeating: "French cooks, but the country ruined them."

There wasn’t enough money, Nikolai was rich, but no one would have allowed him from relatives to openly spend tens of thousands on his mistress. And then ...

On April 14, 1874, a theft occurred in the Marble Palace. She was also outrageous with regard to the heirloom - the icon with which Nicholas I blessed the parents of our hero for marriage. Diamonds disappeared from her salary. The investigation took control personally by the chief of the corps of gendarmes count Peter Shuvalov. They didn’t have to look for a long time - they found jewelry in one of the pawnshops. It was then that it turned out that their officer from the retinue of Nikolai Konstantinovich brought them by name Varnakhovsky. He did not long open, stating that the Grand Duke himself had sent him there for the sake of his beloved. Nicola admitted under the pressure of evidence, but showed no shadow of remorse.

Romanov is a house thief, unheard of! Gossip spread throughout the capital. One of them - as if Nicola had stolen a mother’s necklace, presented it to an American, and she went to the theater with him - then everything was revealed. Hush up the scandal was already impossible.

They still didn’t put him in the prison - what a shame for the dynasty! Declaring crazy, Nikolai Konstantinovich was expelled from the capital, depriving all awards, titles and titles. And the fatal Fanny was forced to immediately leave Russia without the right to return.

Cinema "Khiva", opened by the prince

Not allowed to the funeral

For seven years, Nikola has changed at least ten places of residence: Uman (250 versts from Kiev), Orenburg, Samara, Crimea, Vladimir province, the town of Tivrovo near Vinnitsa ... He was not allowed to settle anywhere and find at least some social position .

In Orenburg, Romanov falls in love with the daughter of the city police chief Hope Dreyer. In the winter of 1878, they secretly get married, but of the wedding, of course, immediately becomes known in the Winter Palace. By a special resolution of the Synod, marriage is declared invalid.

Changes in the fate of the exile came in 1881. Alexander II was blown up by the people of the Volunteers. Shocked Nikolai Konstantinovich asks permission to come to the funeral. Alexander III answers harshly: “You dishonored us all. While I am alive, your feet will not be in St. Petersburg! ”However, it is graciously allowed to legalize marriage with the daughter of the police chief. Moreover: the eternal wanderings are over. Spouses are allowed to reside permanently in Tashkent.

Billiard rooms of the disgraced ROMANOV brought good profit

Millionaire Harem

It was then that the prince turned around in full force.

He opens a soap factory, five cinemas, a billiard network, trades in rice, kvass, and organizes his own manufactory. Near the railway station, a market is organized under the big name: "The Bazaar of the Grand Duke in the Hungry Steppe." The annual turnover of his enterprises reaches a fantastic amount - 1.5 million rubles a year!

Nikolai Konstantinovich no one decree. Having met at the fair the Governor General, who dared to say that he was under house arrest, Romanov went to him in physiognomy.

The genes of the loving dad were picked up: the exiled nobleman starts a harem in Tashkent. In the local theater, Romanov could appear with two lovers at the same time. He even fictitiously married a 15-year-old Cossack. The prince took care of all his children on the side, but he did not forget the lawful ones, having attached two sons to the prestigious Page Corps.

Nikolai Konstantinovich died in 1918. The Bolsheviks did not have time to get to it - this extraordinary man died from pneumonia.

February 02, 1850 - January 14, 1918

the first child of the Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, the younger brother of the future Russian emperor Alexander II, the grandson of Nicholas I

Youth of the Grand Duke

After returning from the Khiva campaign, he again traveled to Europe in the company of his lover - Fanny Lear. There he continued to replenish his art collection.

But in the spring of 1874, when he was 24 years old, an event happened that completely changed the life of the grand duke.

Family scandal

In April 1874, the mother of Nikolai Konstantinovich - Alexander Iosifovna - discovered in the Marble Palace the loss of three expensive diamonds from the salary of one of the icons, which the emperor blessed the marriage of his son Konstantin with the German princess, who became Alexander O. Iosifovna in marriage. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich called the police, and soon diamonds were found in one of the pawnshops in St. Petersburg.

Prince A.N. Iskander about the father November 3rd, 2011

Repost from the magazine jnike_07
Prince A.N. Iskander

I found interesting evidence in the memoirs of Prince Alexander Nikolayevich Iskander, born on November 15, art. Art. 1889 in Tashkent, died in Grasse on January 26, 1957, was buried in the Russian cemetery in Nice. This is the youngest son led. Prince Nikolai Konstantinovich Iskander-Romanov (1850-1918), about whose death I spoke. The father was the grandson of Nicholas I and the cousin of Nicholas II, the son, respectively, the great-grandson of Nicholas I and the second cousin of the last king. Godmother A.N. Iskander, by the way, was the father’s sister - led. Prince Olga Konstantinovna (1851-1926), the first queen of the Hellenes.

In 1911, he was among the graduates of the 67th course of the Alexander Lyceum, the former Pushkin Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Enrolled in the Life Guards cuirassier Her Majesty the Empress Empress Maria Fedorovna regiment. That is, despite the fact that his father was the eternal exile of the Romanov family, his mother, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Dreyer, daughter of the Orenburg police site, managed to establish contacts with the Romanov family through her mother-in-law - he led. Prince Alexander Iosifovna, the widow led. Prince Konstantin Nikolayevich, brother of Alexander II, in Romanov family terminology - "Aunt Sunny." N. A. Dreyer became Princess Iskander, and attached her two sons to prestigious educational institutions. Having served for a short time in the regiment of the Tsaritsyn cuirassiers, Prince. A.N. Iskander injured his leg while driving in Italy, and after treatment was sent to Verny (now Alma-Ata) as an assignment officer under General Folbaum, military governor of the Semirechensk region.

After the outbreak of the First World War, the cuirassier returned to his Tsaritsyn regiment and fought the whole war in its composition, as he writes about himself: "covering himself with the glory of an undaunted warrior." The October Revolution found him in the Crimea, where he was in a hospital in Yevpatoria after being wounded in the leg. On February 1, 1918, he left the Crimea for parents in Tashkent. However, having arrived in Tashkent, he no longer finds his father alive. At that time, his wife Olga Rogovskaya with two young children lived in Tashkent. Until January 18, 1919, he calmly lives in the city and works in the prosecutor's office. Then he adjoins the rebellion of the Turkestan commissar Kostik Osipov, a Socialist Revolutionary, a former ensign. All that Colonel Rudnev's officer partisan detachment was able to do, as he was called, was to rob a bank and release Madaminbek from the Ferghana Basmach prison. Then the rebellion was instantly suppressed by the workers of the railway workshops and the Red Army.

The officers went to the "Heavenly campaign", so the book. A.N. Iskander named his story-recollection. In winter, through the impassable mountain passes of the Chatkal Range, pursued by detachments of the Red Army, they stubbornly sought salvation in the Ferghana Valley. Helped them a lot of gold pieces from the Tashkent Bank, which they paid with local guides. In the Ferghana Valley, they were met by the people of Madaminbek, who did not forget his release from the Tashkent prison. Biography of Prince A.N. Iskander is like an adventure novel. From Ferghana, the remnants of an officer partisan detachment make their way to Bukhara to the emir and the British intelligence residents. Then they leave for Iran, migrate to Menshevik Georgia, and from the port of Poti are transported to Crimea to Baron Wrangel. In 1920, Prince A.N. Iskander still managed to fight cuirassier as part of his Tsaritsyn regiment already in the Wrangel army, with which he was evacuated to Constantinople.

Partly, of course, he was helped by Aunt Olya, the godmother and the Greek Queen, in emigration, but the second cousin of Nicholas II had to work hard. He moved to France, married the daughter of General Khanykov, chauffeured like all Russian emigrants, tried to start his own business for pickling pickles in Belgium, but went broke. At the end of his life, he began writing memoirs (the first publication in the Parisian newspaper Russian Thought in 1951) that did not lose their historical interest.

At least this fact is about how his father led. Prince N.K. Iskander-Romanov, helped Russian immigrants in Turkestan.

I already wrote about the ethnosubstitution policy pursued by representatives of the Romanov family and which reached its peak during the reign of Catherine II. And what does the "outcast of the Romanov family" do? Also, by the way, a man without a drop of Russian blood and married to a German. He does the opposite! This is how the son writes about this in the memorial story "The Palace". The case takes place in Tashkent in 1896, because the author indicates that he was then seven years old:

"For every migrant, the Father (in the manuscript of Prince A. N. Iskander writes the word" father "with a capital letter, probably you can leave it that way), he gave: a couple of piglets, two chickens, two ducks and a drake and, of course, some the amount of money to get an economy. I remember how one day a Cossack arrived with a Cossack for gifts. I don’t know how it happened, but only one pig escaped and ran around the garden, followed by a Cossack with a Cossack and several gardeners. I, of course, I took a hot part in catching the piglet, rushing after him with laughter and screams. .. Really, when piglet caught and interesting fun was over I was then seven years old, and perhaps even less pigs were taken away in the newly formed settlement father - Nicholas.

It takes more than a year. I come with my parents to the former "Hungry Steppe" and in the village of Nikolsky looked, of course. I ask friends-Cossacks:

- Where are the pigs?

- Piglets? - exclaims with a laugh the whole family. “Well, come on, we'll show you.”

Bring and show huge beefy pigs! One of them is already walking with small, pretty piglets.

- And here is the piglet you were chasing! - says, affectionately smiling, Cossack, pointing to a pig with piglets.

I was shocked. A herd of ducks was already wandering in the courtyard and, poking around in the ground, led by a black and red rooster, a substantial number of chickens. I wonder how quickly the feathered kingdom decomposes to good poop! "

So it turns out that he led. Prince N.K. Iskander-Romanov was the first of his former royal family to help Russian immigrants. 10 years before the wretched Stolypin reform. The peasants also helped the peasants, gave loans secured by land allotment, paid for the examination fare. Only now 20% of the peasants who took the loans went bankrupt, and 16% of the immigrants could not stand the hardships on the new lands and returned.

The first child of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, the younger brother of the future Russian emperor Alexander II, the grandson of Nicholas I.

To justify the reasons for assigning N.K. Romanov to the Russian Germans, we suggest considering two genealogical charts:

As can be seen from the tree, after Peter 1, Russia no longer had kings - Russians by nationality: his wifeCatherine I (Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya, Ekaterina Alekseevna Mikhailova - The Russian Empress from 1721 as the wife of the reigning emperor, from 1725 as the ruling sovereign) was born into a family of either Latvian, Lithuanian, or Estonian peasants. Then there were various tricks and changes to the law on succession, but invariably the previous half had the second half of German blood (only AlexanderIII the spouse was a Danish princess, but this does not change the essence - she was not Russian). And the monarch's siblings, too.

Tree of N.K. Romanov-Iskander:

Nikolai Konstantinovich graduated from the Academy of the General Staff; became the first of the Romanovs to graduate from a higher educational institution, and among the best graduates with a silver medal.

He traveled abroad, where he began to collect his collection of Western European painting.

He entered the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, and at age 21 became the squadron commander.

In 1873, N.K., already with the rank of colonel, went as part of the Russian expeditionary force under the command of General Skobelev on a campaign against Khiva. In this campaign he showed personal courage and set an example for others, was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir of the 3rd degree.

Central Asia fascinated him, after returning, he seriously took up orientalism. He took part in the work of the Russian Geographical Society: there, among scientists, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Amu Darya expedition matured. Its goal was to maximize the study of the territory just conquered by Russia and to analyze its potential in detail.

In the Geographical Society, of course, they were glad for the August attention. Nikolai Konstantinovich was elected an honorary member of this society and was appointed head of the expedition.

... And then there was an ugly story in which there was a lot of obscurity, but the Romanovs' family made everything public, although they forgave more serious tricks and deeds to many of their other members. Nikolai K. Romanov annoyed everyone - both with his education, and versatility of interests, and with his appearance (beautiful, tall, handsome!) And, most importantly, his independent and masterful character.

He was declared insane and was removed from St. Petersburg in 1874, and nowhere was he allowed to settle down and settle down - for three years he was relocated several times from city to city.

In 1877, N.K. was sent to Orenburg, here he published his work “Waterway to Central Asia, indicated by Peter the Great”, published without indicating the name of the author. Here he managed to make trips deep into the Kazakh steppes - on horseback, along with the same enthusiasts, he traveled from Orenburg to Perovsk.

He was captured by the idea of \u200b\u200bbuilding a railway from Russia to Turkestan. The project sent to Petersburg was declared unprofitable due to the sparsely populated lands ...

In the winter of 1878 he secretly married Nadezhda Alexandrovna Dreyer (daughter of the Orenburg police chief Alexander Gustavovich Dreyer and Sofia Ivanovna Oganovskaya). But rumors spread, and a report was sent to Petersburg. As a result, the marriage was terminated by a special decree of the Synod, and the Dreyer family was ordered to leave the city.

The young wife flatly refused to leave her husband. Nadezhda Aleksandrovna, being a Cossack family, had a firm character and went with her husband on difficult trips on the steppes on horseback. Hope Alexandrovna N. K. in honor of Alexander the Great (Iskander Zulkarnayna) called "Princess Iskander."

Of the whole family, only the younger brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, did not approve of the tough line of the imperial house: “Will the painful situation soon end, from which poor Nicholas is not given any way out? Thus, the meekest person could be deduced from patience; Nikola still has enough power to endure her imprisonment and moral prison. ”

In the end, Emperor Alexander III allowed to legalize the morganatic marriage, however, while the young were ordered to go to Turkestan, in tashkent.

Turkestan

In Tashkent, Nikolai Konstantinovich, finally, was able to realize his dreams - to turn Turkestan into a prosperous land. About his main good deeds both in Tashkent and in the Hungry Steppe is written on page, but one could write about them again and again ...

Nikolai Konstantinovich is an honorary member of the Russian Imperial Geographical Society.

The head of two research expeditions, again at his own expense, in 1877-1878, exploring the Turkestan region.

The Syr Darya and Amu Darya, Kyzylkum and Karakum, the Gissar Range and mountains, others, sometimes still nameless ...

And also - a library of five thousand volumes.

And also - personal, nevertheless demanded and brought to Tashkent numerous collections of paintings, and much more. They are still enthusiastically demonstrating about these paintings. Especially for some reason about the "Bather" A. Belloli, perhaps the most famous painting of the Museum of Art.

... In Tashkent, the Grand Duke first lived under the name of Colonel Volynsky. Later he began to call himself Iskander. This name is carried by all his descendants - the princes of Iskander.

Subsequently, he married another lady - Daria Chasovitinova, the 15-year-old daughter of a Tashkent resident belonging to the Cossack estate. From this union he had several children. Moreover, he could appear in society at the same time as his two wives.

Parents N.K. Romanova: Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, son of Emperor Nicholas I,

and his second cousin Alexander Frideric Henrietta Paulina Marianna Elizabeth, the fifth daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Altenburg Joseph (in Orthodoxy Alexandra Iosifovna):

A family:

Wife (15.2.1878-7.3.1900) Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Dreyer (1861-1929) (daughter of Orenburg. Police chief Alexandra Gustavovich Dreyer, a Lutheran buried in a Lutheran cemetery in Orenburg.).

She and the children received the nobility and the count's title (February 1917) under the name Iskander . The title was not formalized.

She was a museum attendant, then she was fired. According to eyewitnesses, in the last years of her life she looked like a real beggar, walked in torn clothes and ate what the residents who remembered the kindness of the great prince left at her door. Nadezhda Alexandrovna died in 1929 from a bite of a rabid dog.

Children

* The eldest son Artemy (born 1883), according to one version, died during the Civil War, fighting on the side of the whites, and according to another, he died of typhus in Tashkent in 1919.

* The youngest son, Alexander (born 1887), a combat officer, fought in the Wrangel army, then evacuated to Gallipoli, and then to France, where he died in 1957.

He wrote a memoir about the civil war - "Heavenly campaign"

The second time, Prince N.K. in 1901 he married Barbara Khmelnitsky (1885-?). The marriage is not recognized.

Extramarital affairs:

* Lover Alexandra Alexandrovna Demidova (nee Abaza)

Children

* Nikolai (1875-)
* Olga (1877-)

In 1888, they received from the Emperor Alexander III the nobility with the surname “Volynsky” and the patronymic “Pavlovichi”, because at that time, their mother’s husband (from 1879) was Count Pavel Feliksovich Sumarokov-Elston (1853-1938), the uncle of Prince Yusupov, the future killer Grigory Rasputin.

* Lover Daria Eliseevna Chasovitina (1880-1953/1956)

Children

* Svyatoslav (-1919) - shot
* Nikolay (-1919/1920)
* Daria (1896-1966)

The fate of legitimate children.

Wife of Alexander Nikolayevich Romanov, Count Iskander:

Olga Iosifovna Rogovskaya (1893-1962), stayed with children in Tashkent, then moved to Moscow.

The second wife in France is Natalya Hanykova (1893-1982).

Children:

Kirill Nikolaevich Androsov, in fact, - Cyril Iskander - had no offspring. He died on February 6, 1992 in Moscow.

His sister Natalia Alexandrovna ( Natalia Nikolaevna Androsova, circus artist, motorcycle racer) was married to the director of "Mosfilm" Nikolai Dostal (1909 - 1959, died tragically on the set). USSR Master of Sports in motorcycle racing; in the Great Patriotic War was a driver on the "lorry". She also did not have offspring.

With her death in Moscow in 1999, the Iskander family ended, since her father, His Serene Prince Alexander Nikolayevich Romanovsky, Iskander from his second marriage in France with Natalia Konstantinovna Khanykova did not have children.

In w. "Spark" No. 52 for 2008 an interview was published Olga Lunkova withNatalia Nikolaevna Androsova shortly before her death, here are excerpts from him:

- INas, the dashing, dazzlingly beautiful motorcycle racer, was called the queen of Arbat. Alexander Galich, Alexander Mezhirov, Andrey Voznesensky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Yuri Kazakov, Yuri Nagibin dedicated to you their poems and prose ...

... -Alexander Nikolaevich Iskander graduated from a prestigious military school and, according to many, was a very dashing and brave officer. He married Olga Rogovskaya, who came from an old Polish princely family. They had two children - in 1915 Kirill was born, and in February 1917 I was born, Natalia Alexandrovna Iskander-Rogovskaya. Soon the family moved to Tashkent, to the grandfather's palace. It was calmer in Central Asia, the revolution came there a few years later.

This may seem strange, but grandfather welcomed the 1917 coup and even sent a telegram to Alexander Kerensky, the text of which was then published in many newspapers. He was shot in 1919. True, during this time he managed to become my godfather.

Father served in the White Army and went abroad with the retreating troops. I well remember how he held me in his arms. I remember neither time nor circumstances, only a huge, immeasurable feeling of love. And that’s it.

- What is preserved in the memory from the Tashkent period of life?
- Grandfather's Palace. Large and luxurious. Grandfather collected paintings, he had a gorgeous collection of paintings. Soon after our arrival, the palace turned into a museum, and then into the House of Pioneers. We lived in a small house nearby. There, around the palace, many flowers grew, I remember their abundance and fragrance. Another is a very beautiful garden. Many nut trees grew in that garden, and when my brother and I ran under them, nuts hit our heads.

My Tashkent childhood lasted about five years.

- In the 1920s, you and your mother and brother moved to Moscow ...
- First, my mother married a second time. Thus, my brother and I found a caring stepfather. He was a man much older than his mother, a responsible financial officer. Already in Moscow, Nikolai Androsov enrolled us in the passport as his own children, thereby relieving subsequently of many unpleasant explanations. I became Natalia Nikolaevna Androsova.

Upon arrival in the capital in 1922, we settled in an ordinary ("compacted") apartment on Plyushchikha. Until the fourth grade, I studied privately, at home with two sisters, teachers from the gymnasium. They dressed me very well then. But as soon as my mother put a new thing on me, by the evening she was already losing not only her appearance, but also some details - buttons, a strap, part of the sleeve or pocket. So I was a fidget. I was not afraid of anything - neither fire, nor darkness, nor height. I probably should have been born a warrior.

We did not live there for long - a neighbor neighbor told us who should be. In 1929, the family was forced to move to the basement on the Arbat. I lived there until 1970.

... The stepfather died in the early 30s. We lived very poorly. I managed to finish only seven classes. But I had the ability to grammar, arithmetic, drawing. This is what I earned: where I will do the drawing work, where I will conduct a literacy campaign, where I am a bookkeeper ... Mom took homework - reprinted manuscripts on a typewriter. In addition, constantly pawed things in a pawnshop. I'm not sure that these were family diamonds, but some expensive little things in the family were still preserved by that time.

Continue to study at least in college was not possible.

I was always a risky person, I loved speed. As a child, she was crazy about riding horses, then she was engaged in a motorcycle club. In the 30s, young people were very drawn to technology. As a member of the club, I participated in a sports parade on Red Square. Depicted a statue of a discus thrower. Stagnating on a tall platform, sailed in front of the podium of the mausoleum, on which Stalin stood.

In 1939, already an experienced motorcycle racer, I came to work on the "Racing Vertical" attraction, which was located in Gorky Park. The Americans built the attraction, but didn’t work for long - they were considered spies ... I drove along a vertical barrel wall, tested new motorcycles, fell a lot, then drove again.

- It is hardly possible to hide such a noble origin for a long time. Was it customary in the family to talk about this?
- What are you, being the granddaughter of the Grand Duke and great-great-granddaughter of Nicholas I - this is a death sentence! My mother was a very cautious person - life taught. She never even hinted at a kinship with the royal family. But some family photographs always stood in our house, they were never hidden. I examined them, I knew that these were ancestors, relatives, no more ...

At the Museum of the Russian Imperial Family, on Malaya Semenovskaya, part of the exposition is dedicated to you. How do you feel in the halo of attention, being the only representative of the Romanov family in Russia?
- If it could change something in life. I’ve lived for so many years with Androsova ... But I always felt my roots. This can probably be called the "voice of blood." And it’s not that I lifted my nose in front of someone, but there was something inside that always made me keep my back. And I held. And did not bend under any circumstances. Now I understand that this has not always been in my favor, maybe I should have been cunning somewhere, "smearing myself," letting a tear out. I always lifted my head high and smiled, even if it was fit to howl with pain.

Have you ever met the Grand Duchess Leonida, what is your relationship with foreign relatives?
- We met with Leonida once when she visited Russia. As far as she is the heiress of the Russian throne, the question is very controversial. I note, I do not pretend to this place.

... There are many relatives abroad, I only learn about them from the media. We do not talk. Either everyone is very proud, or everyone conceals thoughts about the right to inheritance, or simply they think that a poor Russian relative will ask them for money or asylum ...

... All his life, the Grand Duke of the Romanov family hated this very kind with fierce hatred. “Dog’s blood” called him publicly. During the new accession to the royal throne, this time by Nicholas II, he almost made an attempt at a coup. By kinship of their wives, the Cossacks conspired with the Cossacks of Orenburg and even the Urals, calling them under their authority. By a local decree, he gathered many Kazakhs who had migrated from distant steppes near Tashkent. I was ready to go with them - with all the militia - to Moscow and St. Petersburg, to fight the throne.

Did not work out.

The administration easily persuaded the Kazakhs to leave for nomads. They parted. The prince himself received a new link. Now to Siberia, to Chita.

If this city were to be the death site of the Grand Duke, the diseases did not lag behind, and the local killing climate completely overwhelmed him, but only the tormented and conscientious Nicholas II did not remember the evil, especially not perfect, especially not groundless, all the more - more like to political craziness, not a secret conspiracy.

He rescued from Siberia, made it possible to be treated at the royal cottage in the Crimea, in the famous Livadia Palace. Nikolai Konstantinovich was even invited to stay here, to stay permanently.

Did not stay.

Even those who are trying to conquer Tashkent, sooner or later, but Tashkent itself conquers.

Documents from the archive

In the biography of the Grand Duke, whose contemporaries left memories of the Turkestan period of his life, many more blank spots remain: controversial, in particular, are the circumstances of the death and the burial place of Nikolai Konstantinovich.

An analysis of the documents of the Central State Archive of the Republic of Uzbekistan (TsGA RUz) allows us to make a reasonable conclusion that Nikolay Konstantinovich has been seriously and seriously ill since October 1916, as evidenced by the records and medical history of the Grand Duke, compiled by physician P.F. Borovsky.

It was during this period, when the doctors gave the most disappointing forecasts, Nikolai Konstantinovich drew up the so-called Testament Letter. Addressed to the Turkestan Governor-General A.N. Kuropatkin, it is interesting in that it is, in fact, not so much a will as a memoir.

The circle of individuals and legal entities mentioned in it is noteworthy. During his lifetime, Nikolai Konstantinovich divided the Golden Horde estate into the Hungry Steppe into ten parts and bequeathed these inheritances after the death of his wife and Nadezhda Alexandrovna to property, for eternal times, without the right of alienation: to develop a shelter for Russian soldiers; the city of Tashkent; future higher education institution of Turkestan; national teachers of the region; to maintain a system of irrigation facilities built at the Prince’s expense and transferred to the treasury; to their children and their descendants.

However, the study revealed that this was not the only testament of Nikolai Konstantinovich. Since the health of the Grand Duke remained unstable throughout 1917, on December 12 he made a new testament, according to which, after his death, the property passed into the lifetime possession of Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Dreyer-Iskander, and after her death - into the full ownership of Tashkent University.

... In the periodical Nasha Gazeta No. 13 of January 17, 1918 (the executive committee of the Tashkent Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies), a note was published as follows: "The funeral of citizen Romanov. The funeral of b was held in Tashkent yesterday. Grand Duke, citizen Nikolai Romanov, who died on Sunday, January 14, at 6 a.m. Romanov’s body is buried near the fence of a military cathedral. ” Also, in the newspaper Novy Put, dated January 18, 1918, an obituary was given as follows: “On the death of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov (b. 1850), died on the night of January 13-14, 1918 from pneumonia in a summer house near Tashkent and was buried on January 16, 1918 in Tashkent, in the square next to the Military St. George’s Cathedral. "
There is also a protocol of the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Tashkent Council of Soldiers 'and Workers' Deputies dated January 15, 1918, at which the request of the wife of Romanov N.K. on the place of his burial was considered - "They listened to the request of the wife of Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov for permission to bury the deceased former Grand Duke at the military the cathedral. They decided to allow, bury, but with a proposal not to produce any processions. "
The investigation considers the established fact of the death of Romanov Nikolai Konstantinovich unrelated to any repression by the authorities.