Tea at Trianon: The Real Mathilde Kschessinska

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, January 17, 2022

The Real Mathilde Kschessinska

An old article about the Russian film Matilda. I thought the film was vile and turned it off. From The History Press:

Nicholas II and his family have been canonised as Passion-Bearers and opponents consider the film sacrilegious. Outside the offices of the production company activists have burnt cars and there have been processions, protests and threats to burn down any cinemas who show the film. Many Russians are offended because the film shows intimate scenes between Nicholas and his mistress, even though he was still unmarried at the time (as was Mathilde). State Duma Deputy Natalia Poklonskaya said that showing saints having sex ‘offends the feelings of believers.’

And all this before it has even been on general release.

From what I have heard from friends in Russia the film is pure fiction, with a whole load of events included which simply did not happen. Yes, there was an affair between Nicholas and Mathilde – Nicholas’ own diaries bear witness to this, as do surviving portions of Mathilde’s diaries. No, she was not at the coronation and nor could Nicholas have seen her there. And ‘no’ to a whole lot of other things included in this film.

When I was writing Imperial Dancer I investigated claims that she and Nicholas continued to meet after his marriage and found them to be untrue. Like his father Alexander III, Nicholas II was entirely faithful to his wife. The Russian Orthodox Church has placed billboards around Moscow which display ‘words about love’ exchanged between Nicholas and Alexandra. No-one has ever doubted their love for each other. (Read more.)