Secrets of dethroned royalty

Front matter

OF

DETHRONED ROYALTY

PRINCESS CATHERINE RADZIWILL

Foreword

The talented American woman writer, Rheta Childe Dorr, in her amusing book on Russia, relates a conversation which took place between her and the intimate friend of the unfortunate Czarina Alexandra, Anna Wyrubowa. The former asked what a Court was like, and the question drew forth the characteristic reply that the only word to describe it was "rotten." The expression was certainly not elegant and the person who uttered it was perhaps the last one who ought to have done so, considering that she, more than anyone else, was responsible for the corruption of the one Court at which she had been received, and which she had ruled, in fact if not in name, for many years. But the expression was, in a certain sense, justified, because there is no doubt that the haunts and abodes of royalty in Europe were the centres of so many intrigues that the only wonder is they existed as long as they did. Royalty, in the three great countries where it is now abolished, certainly did not set any good example to the world. All, or vi Foreword

nearly all, the scions of these royal houses, brought up as they were in the conviction that, thanks to their high position, everything vv^as allowable for them, so abused their privileges that when the wave of revolution which overturned the Romanoffs, Hapsburgs and HohenzoUerns swept over Europe, hardly one soul could be found to defend them, or even to take their part and try to shield them from the indignation of the mobs clamouring for their downfall. Most of these princes and princesses had had a story, and in the majority of cases it was not one calculated to do them honour or to raise them in the opinion of their contemporaries.

Royal love affairs and, if the truth be told, royal financial affairs could fill a volume of greater bulk than I intend to write ; but I think it may amuse the public to read certain little stories connected with Russian, Austrian and German royal personages and Court life, which up to now have been known only to a small and select number of people. They may open the eyes of those who have heard nothing about the conditions under which these exalted personages spent their lives, and do away with the halo which surrounded them — no one knows why. They

Foreword vii

may also serve to ameliorate the pangs of future American travellers through Europe at missing the opportunity of being presented to the rulers of these different countries. All these kings and queens, emperors and empresses, whose favours were sought with such eagerness, and whose smiles made so many human creatures happy, have had their day — and a very good day it was for them while it lasted. Now the story is at an end and the curtain has fallen on the comedies and tragedies which gave rise to so much gossip and caused so many heartburnings in the select society circles of two continents. Let me give you a peep behind the scenes before the drama has quite faded from my memory and recall for you certain anecdotes and events — both amusing and serious — ^which appeared so supremely important to all who were connected, either directly or indirectly, with them. This may procure for my readers a few pleasant hours, and more than that I do not aspire or pretend to do in this present volume.

CONTENTS PART I

KUSSIA CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Russian Imperial Family in Olden Times 15 II. Relatives of Nicholas II 27

III. The Vladimir Family 40

IV. The Youthful Adventures of Some Grand

Dukes 54

V. Some Russian Morganatic Marriages . . 64

VI. The Empress Alexandra and Her Sister . 75

VII. Love Affairs of the Grand Duke Michael . 85

Part II Austria

I. The Love Affairs of Francis Joseph . . 101 II. The Idiosyncrasies of the Hapsburgs . Ill

III. Imperial Morganatic Marriages . . . 121

IV. The Crown Princess Stephanie and Her

Daughter 136

V. The Story of the Archduchess Elizabeth 147

VI. The Story of the Princess Zita . . 161

VII. Two Royal Madwomen 171

10 Contents

PART m

GEBMANT CHAPTER PAGE

I. An Old Family Scandal of the Hohenzol-

LERNS 183

II. The Berlin Court Under William I . . 191

III. A Sister-in-law of the Kaiser .... 200

IV. The Grand Ducal Family of Weimar . . 211

V. The Story of Two Little Mecklenberg

Princesses 221

VI. The Kaiser's Romance 230

VII. The Princess Charlotte op Meiningen and

Her Adventures 241

ILLUSTRATIONS

PART I— RUSSIA

Ex-Empebob Kael of Atisteia, and Family, m

Exile Frontispiece

FAcraa

PAGE

Empebob Nicholas I and Empeeoe Alexandeb II . 16 Gband Duke Constantine Nicolaiewitch and

Gband Duke Michael Nicolaiewitch ... 28 Empebob Alexandeb III and Empbess Marie

Feodobowna 42

The Late Czab Nicholas II of Russia .... 56 Gband Duke Vladimir Alexandbowitch .... 60 Gband Duke Dimitbi Pavlowitch, the Son of

Gband Duke Paul, Uncle of the Late Czab

of Russia 70

The Late Czabina Alexandbia of Russia . . . 76

Grand Duke Sebgius and his Wife, Gband Duchess

Elizabeth 82

Grand Duke Michael 86

Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, Sisteb of the

FoBMER Czab 92

PART II— AUSTRIA

Francis Joseph 102

Archduke Francis Febdinand and his Wife, the

Countess Sopht Chotek 112

12 Illustrations

FAcmu

PAGE

Akchduke Frederick 1^^

Princess Stephanie of Belgium 13®

Ex-Emperor Charles Francis Joseph and Ex- Empress ZiTA OF Austria 162

PART III— GERMANY Emperor William I of Germany, Signing an

Official Document on His Deathbed . 192

Grand Duchess Theodora of Saxe- Weimar, Wife

The Kaiserin in 1881 and the Kaiser in 1883 . 230

Empress Frederick with her Daughter, Princess

Charlotte of Meiningen 242

PARTI RUSSIA

THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL FAMILY IN OLDEN TIMES

The Court of Russia has always been famous for its immorality. Yet this reputation was only justified in so far as it concerned the Imperial family and the small number of people closely connected with it. Russian society itself was very moral in its views, manners and customs. The levity which existed in the fashionable circles of other countries was unknown in that of St. Petersburg, where an unspoken but very real indignation existed at the sayings and doings of those who occupied high places. At the same time it must be confessed that, as a general rule, the Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses of Russia were anything but moderate in their tastes and fancies, though they never exhibited their peculiarities in public and abroad in olden times with the same unconcern as during the reign of Nicholas II when anarchy showed itself in the bosom of his family long before it grasped the rest of his subjects. In former days the Czar was feared by his kindred more, perhaps, than by anyone else: no member of the Romanoff family would have dared to remain any length of time abroad without the express permission of the head of his house, and it behooved him to give the busy-bodies of St. Petersburg no opportunities of criticising his conduct, in so far as his public sayings and doings were concerned. His private life, no matter how irregular it may have been, was kept secret, and he would no more have tried to do what the younger generation of his race openly did during the last five and twenty years or so which preceded the Russian Revolution, than he would have attempted to fly. Sovereigns and Grand Dukes had their love affairs, but did not make them public property, and it was only during the reign of Alexander II that any scandal arose to shatter the Imperial prestige both at home and abroad.

His father, Nicholas I, had had a lady friend in the person of a maid-of-honour of his wife, the Empress Alexandra Feodorowna, but this frier 1- ship had been conducted in an extremely quiet anc subdued manner, and though everyone in the capital knew about it, no one could have accused Mademoiselle Nelidoff (this was the lady's name) of putting herself forward in any way. She did not go out into society, and no one, with the exception of a small circle of intimate friends, ever saw her except on official occasions when etiquette required of her to be in attendance on the Empress. The latter had a warm sympathy for this rival who, on her side, showed herself invariably submissive and respectful towards her Imperial mistress. The Emperor used to visit her in the apartments she occupied in the Winter Palace every afternoon when he was in town, and invariably consulted her on all important matters, and she often gave him very sound advice. She was a remarkably clever woman, extremely well read and well educated. But she had none of the ambitions of a Madame de Pompadour or de Maintenon, and after the death of the Emperor she withdrew into private life. Her death took place some forty odd years after that of Nicholas. She had really loved him, and he had truly loved her, but this had not prevented him from showing himself always an affectionate husband, and treating his wife with the utmost respect and the tenderest of care. The immorality of the situation was quite overlooked because of the dignified manner in which the affair was conducted.

Alexander II was a very different man from his father. He had no deUcacy of feeling, and he made no secret of the numerous liaisons and intrigues in which his life was spent. He married for love a Hessian princess who was considered unmarriageahle on account of certain irregularities connected with her birth, which had been such a surprise to her father that he never wished to see her and had had her brought up away from him, in a solitary castle in Thuringia, where the then Czarewitsch had accidentally met her. He forthwith fell in love with her and insisted upon making her his wife, thus transforming her into so important a personage that the Grand Duke of Hesse was compelled to seek, in his turn, her favour and good graces. She was a very pretty woman, with lovely expressive eyes; and she was possessed of extreme dignity, which carried her through many an unpleasant and sad time, when her husband, having wearied of her, openly exhibited his admiration of other women. Alexander II was a great flirt, and might easily have rivalled Louis XIV by the multiplicity of his love affairs. When quite a young man he had entertaiiied a real and sincere affection for one of his mother's ladies-in-waiting, Mademoiselle Sophie Dachkoff, but had found himself confronted by high principles and a stout determination on her part to have nothing to do with him. The Grand Duke, as he was at the time, had tried his best to induce her to respond to his feelings in regard to her, but all his efforts had been in vain, and he had been forced to turn his attentions towards another quarter.

A Polish lady. Mademoiselle Kalinowska, endowed with remarkable beauty and all the propensity for intrigue which is one of the characteristics of the nation to which she belonged, was the next person to attract Alexander II. There he did not meet with the resistance which he had encountered in the case of Mademoiselle Dachkoff, but found his feehngs fully reciprocated. The girl (she was nothing else at the time) was ultimately married, thanks to his help, to a Polish magnate. Prince Oginski, and endowed beyond the dreams of avarice by her Imperial admirer. She lived to a very old age, and became quite an important personage in St. Petersburg society, leaving, when she died, a fortune valued at several millions of roubles to the two sons she had borne to Prince Oginski.

Her career had been an entirely successful one.

After Mademoiselle Kalinowska's marriage the Emperor found himself again free to dispose of his affections, but for a long time the Imperial handkerchief was not thrown to anyone but remained in the pocket of its owner. Then one day St. Petersburg began to talk about its Sovereign, and when St. Petersburg talked it was as in the times of the Borgias when people used to say that the Pope had sent out invitations to supper.

The next romance of Alexander II was not quite what might have been expected even of so amorous a gentleman as he had always shown himself to be. It had this peculiarity: the heroine of it, Princess Mary Dolgorouky, was quite a young girl, almost a child, who, having been left at her father's death to the care of the Emperor, had been placed by him, with her sister Catherine, in the Institute of Smolna, where the daughters of poor scions of the nobility were educated. Alexander was accustomed to visit this Institute, knew all the pupils, and often petted and caressed those who specially appealed to him. The little Mary, even as a mere baby, was his particular favourite; she continued to be so when she grew up, until at last Alexander removed her from the hospitable roof which had sheltered her and established her in a magnificent house on the English Quay, where he soon adopted the habit of visiting her daily.

Of course, St. Petersburg was indignant — and was not wrong in showing itself scandalized by proceedings which were so unusual, to say the least. But it was to be more scandalized as time went on, for very soon it was whispered that the young Princess was about to be married to a dashing young officer, Count Berg, and that her younger sister, Catherine, had taken her place in the affections of the Emperor. To all the old Dowagers (whose word was law in the Russian capital) this was "a hard nut to crack," and they raised their hands to heaven in mute protest at such doings.

Of course, they all said that they did not believe it, but for once gossip did neither lie nor exaggerate. Mary Dolgorouky married Count Berg and went to live in Paris and Nice, and her sister Catherine settled in her place in the house on the Quay, where nothing was changed except its mistress.

The Emperor seemed to become reckless. He carried his infatuation for the Princess Catherine to such an extent that he insisted on her accompanying him whenever he travelled abroad, and once, when he passed through Berlin on his way to Ems, made her stay with him at the Russian Embassy, to the horror of the old Kaiser and, still more, the Empress Augusta of Germany, who immediately took to her bed, so that she should not have to receive her nephew the Czar, whom she hoped in this way to impress with her indignation. And later on, when nihilist attempts to murder him had made it difficult for Alexander II to walk freely and unattended in the streets of St. Petersburg as he had been in the habit of doing, he brought Catherine Dolgorouky to the Winter Palace, and lodged her in rooms which were situated immediately above those occupied by the Empress, who could hear all day long, above her head, the patter of little feet — the feet of her rival's children.

Six weeks after his wife had breathed her last the Emperor married Catherine Dolgorouky in the private chapel of the Imperial Palace of Tzarskoie Selo, to the indignation of the entire Court and even of his best and most intimate friends, one of whom. Count Adlerberg, who occupied the important position of Minister of the Imperial Household, had implored Alexander on his knees not to contract such a union. The Emperor, however, felt that it was his duty to make "an honest woman" of the lady who, he firmly believed, had sacrificed so much for him, and to legitimate the three children she had given him. She had so entirely fascinated him that he could refuse her nothing, and it is certain that but for the bomb which ended his life he would have had his new wife solemnly crowned in Moscow, and thus have made her an Empress. She ruled him with an iron hand, and at last he dared not move a step without her permission. She was a stupid woman, but she was very ably advised, and ■ she contrived, moreover, to make for herself friends among some of the most intelligent men in Russia, who, eager for reform and a change of government, hoped to succeed in bringing about what they desired through the support and co-operation of the Emperor's young wife.

Alexander's children had looked with anything but favour on their father's love affair with the Princess Youriewsky — such was the name bestowed by the enamoured Czar on his morganatic consort on the day he married her. The heir to the throne and the Grand Duchess Cesarewna particularly felt very deeply the insult to their mother's memory which this hasty marriage implied. In consequence of this the relations between the Winter Palace and the Anitchkoff, where the Emperor's eldest son and family were living, became very strained. The Princess Youriewsky, who felt deeply the ostracism to which she was subjected by the entire Imperial family, tried to avenge herself by repeating to her husband all kinds of tales concerning his children, and these stories were all of a nature calculated to arouse his anger against them. The last incident, which preceded by a few days the murder of Alexander, caused a great deal of talk in St. Petersburg and was the means of a cruel humiUation to the then Grand Duchess Marie Feodorowna, now the Dowager Empress of what was once Russia. She and the Grand Duke had gone on an expedition to a restaurant in the islands surrounding the capital to hear one of the Bohemian choruses which at that time was so famous, A few of their personal friends accompanied them; among others one who in after years was to become Alexander II's most trusted and devoted adviser. The Grand Duchess returned home in a sleigh with him, her husband following in another sleigh with the Countess Worontzoff, They never supposed that the Emperor would hear of this expedition, but hear of it he did, through the Princess Youriewsky, who made it her particular business to keep herself well informed as to all that her enemies (so she considered them) were doing. The Emperor was quite fiu-ious at what he considered an unpardonable breach of etiquette. He sent for his daughter-in-law and treated her to such a scene that she returned to her own home in tears, while her escort, who had also called down upon his head the Sovereign's wrath, made up his mind that the best thing for him to do was to send in his resignation of the post he held of Assistant Minister of the Interior.

The day following this incident was a Sunday — March 13th. As usual, Mass was celebrated in the chapel of the Winter Palace, and all the Imperial family were present. When the service was over the Grand Duchess Cesarna approached the Emperor to take leave of him. He seized her by the shoulders and, pushing her towards the Princess Youriewsky, said roughly: "Dites done adieu a la Princess" "Say good-bye to the Princess," The heiress to the Throne made a deep curtsey, which might have been intended for either the Sovereign or his wife, and then silently withdrew. But later,, during a tete-a-tete luncheon, she and her husband discussed the situation, and almost made up their minds to ask the Czar to allow them to go and spend a few months abroad, during which time matters might adjust themselves and a more pleasant condition of affairs greet them on their return.

While they were talking the sound of an explosion startled them. A few moments later they saw an ofRcei', bareheaded, drive posthaste through the Anitschkoff Palace gates, and they heard that the bomb thrown had put an end to their perplexities. A few hours later the Czar was dead, Alexander III was reigning, and Marie Febdorowna found herself Empress of all the Russias.

II

Alexander II had three brothers who all made themselves notorious, though in different ways. The eldest, Grand Duke Constantine, was considered the clever man of the family, and with good cause. He was a liberal (if such a term can be used in regard to a Romanoff) and it was to his influence over the Czar that the greatest act of the latter's reign — ^the emancipation of the serfs — ^was attributed. Afterwards he was sent as Viceroy to Poland, but in that capacity did not prove a success. Perhaps no one could hiave achieved anything like a success in Warsaw, where the position was attended with so many difficulties that the most tactful person in the world could hardly have hoped to succeed in pleasing the Polish and Russian political parties. But perhaps matters might not have failed so uterly if someone less occupied in trying to please the fair sex had been sent to rule over the compatriots of Kosciuszko. The Grand Duke flirted with the Polish ladies until one of them was foolish enough to think that he could be induced to divorce his wife in order to marry her. When she had to give up the idea the disappointment aroused her jealousy and vindictiveness, so she induced one of her relatives to aim his revolver at the Grand Duke one afternoon when he was driving with the Grand Duchess in the park of Lazienki near Warsaw. The result of this shot was disastrous, because it brought about the recall of Constantine Nicolaiewitsch from Poland and the adoption of repressive measures in regard to the Poles which culminated in the insurrection of 1863.

When the Grand Duke returned to St. Petersburg he was made very much of by the Emperor, who did not wish the public to think that he disapproved of anything his brother had done, and he resumed the happy-go-lucky existence which he preferred to any other. He was too clever not to care to surround himself with clever people, but at the same time he could not check the propensity for intrigue which was his most prominent trait. Soon people began to discuss his friendship for a lady belonging to the highest social circles who had recently been divorced. And gossip became even

Grand Duke constantine

NiCOLAIEWITClI

{Left)

Geand Duke Michael

NiCOLAIEWITCH

(Right)

Bbothebs of Alexander II.

busier when it transpired that the lady in question was established in a lovely villa in the Crimea close to the Grand Duke's palace, where he spent the greater part of the year. This villa was surrounded by beautiful gardens in which her pretty children (none of whom bore the slightest resemblance to her divorced husband) used to play to their hearts' content.

Constantine Nicolaiewitsch remained for years — indeed, until his brother's assassination — the head of the Russian Navy, and during the long period of his administration the expenses of the fleet were stupendous, though there was nothing to show for this tremendous expenditure. But the Grand Duke's income seemed to increase every day, and he seemed as lavish with his money for personal requirements as for the welfare of his beloved navy. Of course, people talked, but in Russia at that time no one minded what the public said and the Great Admiral's actions were never questioned until the day when his nephew, Alexander II, ascended the throne. The latter had never liked his uncle and he hastened to put an end to his activities. The Grand Duke was told that the best thing he could do was to resign, which he hastened to do, retiring this time definitely to the Crimea, never to return to St. Petersburg until he came in his coffin. And simultaneously with his departure the expenses connected with the fleet diminished in a remarkable manner, while it was discovered that new ships could be built with a facility no one had supposed possible.

Among the numerous children of Constantine Nicolaiewitsch, the eldest. Grand Duke Nicholas, achieved rather tragic notoriety through his intrigue with a famous demi-mondaine, Fanny Lear, who found herself suddenly (no one knows by what means) in possession of the diamonds of the Grand Duchess Alexandra, the mother of her admirer; as a consequence of which she had to leave St. Petersburg in a hurry, and the Grand Dukef himself was sent to Taschkent, where he remained, if not exactly confined, at least under strict orders never to leave his place of banishment. His name was mentioned no more in the St. Petersburg drawing-rooms, where he had been a great favourite before this catastrophe, and people, including his family, tried to forget him, more especially when he married a person to whom they naturally objected — the daughter of a policeman. It seems, however, that she made him very happy and that he never had occasion to regret having chosen her to enhven his exile.

Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinowitsch died during the war, before the downfall of his dynasty. He had of his own free will renounced the title of Grand Duke, and signed his letters Nicholas Romanoff, declaring, to all who wished to hear, that he was a Repubhcan by sympathy and a SociaUst by profession.

The yoimgest brother of Alexander II, the Grand Duke Nicholas, father of the Grand Duke of that same name who commanded the Russian armies in the beginning of the war, was also a prominent personage in St. Petersburg society during his brother's reign. He, too, was fond of spending money, but in his case it was his own which he squandered right and left, until he became seriously financially embarrassed towards the end of his hfe. He was a very handsome man, but inexpressibly stupid, though he considered himself clever. An amusing anecdote is related of him. One afternoon he was presiding at one of the nimaerous committee meetings of which he was chairman. It was a business meeting connected with the financial affairs of the army, and the Grand Duke had made some remarks not at all to the point which at last exasperated an old general who noticed that Nicholas Nicolaiewitsch was working his fingers under the table-cloth in the manner of a school-boy when confronted by some arithmetical problem. Unable to control his irritation, the General interrupted the Grand Duke with the brutal remark: "When a person can only count on his fingers, he would do better to hold his tongue."

The only practical member of that generation of the Romanoff family was the Grand Duke Michael, who, perhaps because he was married to a very clever woman, contrived to add considerably to his already large fortune, and to remain upon excellent terms with his brother, as well as with his nephew and great-nephew when they ascended the throne. He was much respected by Alexander III and slightly feared by Nicholas II, during whose reign he was not often seen in St. Petersburg, preferring to spend the greater part of the year in Cannes. He did not at all approve of the young Empress Alexandra, nor of her doings, but he forbore from saying anything about her, being of the opinion that "discretion is the better part of valour." His was an easy-going, placid temperament, and he was far too much of an epicure to allow himself to be seriously disturbed by anything which did not concern his personal and immediate comfort. Even his son's escapades left him more or less indifferent.

He was for many years Viceroy of the Caucasus, and it was principally during his sojourn in that country that his fortune increased to the enormous amount it ultimately reached. He bought large estates, the value of which augmented fabulously, and which certain Caucasian chiefs were very glad to sell him because they knew that it would be impossible for them to retain their possession once they had attracted his attention. And he showed himself a prudent administrator of the land over which he ruled, and contrived to make himself popular with its population, so that when he retired he was generally regretted.

I have said that his wife, the Grand Duchess Olga, was a very clever woman. I may also add that she was also very charming and could, when she liked, make herself pleasant and amiable. She was ambitious and a perfect type of a Grande Dame of the old Regime, dignified and proud, and though condescending, never disagreeably so. She had read a good deal and absorbed what she had read and she brought up her numerous children with extreme care. But she ruled her household with a rod of iron and her will was never disputed, either by her husband or children. She married her daughter, much against her will, to a Geiman Prince, who never made her more happy than upon the day that he departed for a better world. The Grand Duchess Olga was such an autocrat in her family that she died from anger and disappointment when her second son clandestinely married the present Countess Torby. Young Grand Duke Michael had been for a long time in love with the Countess Catherine Ignatieff, the daughter of the famous General and diplomat who for so many years represented Russia in Constantinople. He had promised to marry her, no matter what opposition he should encounter, and had he only persevered in his good intention it is probable that Alexander III would have relented and allowed the marriage. In fact, the reason the Czar objected to this union was that the .Grand Duchess Olga had declared she would never sanction it, and had begged her nephew to uphold her in this matter. It was she who had sent her son abroad, hoping that travel would cause him to forget the lady to whom he had solemnly plighted his troth. He Md forget her, but perhaps not in the way his mother had expected, for it was the sight of another pretty face that made him forsake the Countess Ignatieff. The blue eyes of the Countess Meremberg, the morganatic daughter of Duke Nicholas of Nassau, worked the change, and he became her husband without asking leave either of his parents or the Czar.