The Forgotten Romanov by Karla Stover

 

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The Forgotten Romanov

    When my great-grandmother was expecting my grandmother, she told her two older daughters that if it was a girl, they could name the new baby. It was and she was named Zenaida after Zenaida Yusupov, one of Russia's most beautiful princesses. Thus began my life-long fascination with Romanov history. And let me just add that most of my family, including this great-grandmother came from Cornwall but my DNA test does show a trace of Russian blood. 

    Over the years I have amassed a large collection of histories and memoirs about Russia and the Romanovs so I was thrilled when, in 1990, I learned about a book called The Grand Dukes by Prince David Chavchavadze. (His mother was Princess Nina Georgiyevna Romanov.) I could go on about his family, but suffice it to say, I couldn't find the book here and since phone numbers were easy to find back then, I looked his up and called him. The prince was charming and offered to send me a book. I said I'd send a check, and I now have an autographed copy addressed to me.

    Over many years of reading, I've come to the conclusion that there isn't much to distinguish one Grand Duke from another with the exception of Nicholas Konstantinovich who may or may not have been insane but who was definitely interesting.

   Nicholas was born in 1850. As a young man he wrote a poem so risque that it offended his tutor and the fellow quit. Nevertheless, the Grand Duke was considered a "gifted military officer,  a competent engineer and irrigator, good musician, brilliant scholar, and a patron of the arts." His downfall was said to be an obsession with sex. In fact, Nicholas's doctor warned him that his overindulgence might lead to insanity. After countless numbers of forgettable conquests came and went, in 1872 Nicholas met the American woman Hattie Blackford but who, in Europe, went by the name, Fannie Lear.

It happened during a masquerade at St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater. She was a piquant blonde with a good brain, he a twenty-two year old man who stood 6 feet tall and who had a dimpled chin and "full, sensual red lips." What started as a fling became, naturally, an obsession, not to mention a headache for his family. So, Nicholas was sent away on a military expedition. Existing correspondence shows the intensity of their feelings for each other and as soon as he returned, the Grand Duke and Fannie, by then his "fiancee", took off on a European journey during which time they attempted to marry. However, Nicholas's father showed up and foiled their attempt. Nevertheless, during their sojourn, the infatuated young man spent enormous sums of money on her. "Grand Dukes and Duchesses had their own private incomes: at their births, their parents traditionally invested a certain amount in securities with the earned interest replenishing the personal capital of the royal offspring. In addition, they were given significant sums for their private expenses. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough for the spendthrift Nicholas. Once he was home, and using his teeth, he extracted (good pun, huh) and pawned three large diamonds from his mother's icon of the Virgin Mary. An investigation ensued. Though the Grand Duke had his best friend, Count Verpochovsky pawn the diamonds and swore on the Bible that he was innocent, the truth came out. And through it all, "he remained in a disgustingly good mood," his father Konstantin Nikolayevich wrote in a journal, adding, “No remorse, no confession, except when denial was no longer possible, and even then you had to pull it out of him." 

    

    Nicholas's mother had already been declared insane, the result of her holding endless seances. Thus, when a group of doctors met, it was easy to claim the Grand Duke suffered from some sort of inherited insanity. Hearing this, Nicholas said, no doubt cheerfully, "I am not to blame, it is in my blood." The Tsar took charge and banished the Grand Duke. At first he roamed around, living in 10 different places, including Samara, Crimea, Vladimir province, Uman (near Kiev), near Vinnitsa in Podol province, then Orenburg." He eventually settled and lived for many years under supervision in Tashkent where Russian officials felt he wasn't quite sane. His younger brother, Grand Duke Constantine felt the same way. During a visit he said the first day Nicholas was fine but by the third day he was decidedly peculiar. Whether insane or not, Grand Duke Nicolas built a theater and an aqueduct, worked on irrigation projects and raised cotton. He was an honorary member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and wrote research papers on Central Asia. He married the daughter of a police prefect and had two children. In 1918 he was either murdered by the Bolsheviks or died of starvation.

    Meanwhile, back in St. Petersburg, during the diamonds theft, Fanny managed to stash her ill-gotten gains and her lover's "incriminating letters" at the American Legation before being arrested. The crown bought the letters and kicked her out of the country. The memoir she wrote, first in English and later French became an instant bestseller. Fanny spent the rest of her life in European high society, and remained a prominent figure throughout the 1870s and 1880s. According to the Evansville Journal, she died sometime around 1900 in London having spent all her money.