Whatever the king was not amused, if only he did not rule.

I will share the sacred knowledge of the secrets of the imperial courts, including the Russian sovereign's court.

From the literary works of our great writers, the people of Russia know about all sorts of ladies-in-waiting of the sovereign's court. There were many of them, these same ladies-in-waiting. They changed like butterflies. Some, toothy butterflies, managed to linger for a long time in the palaces. Moreover, these same toothy and toothless ladies-in-waiting had their apartments in palaces. Although, it would seem, why?

All ladies-in-waiting were girls from noble families of the country. All were provided. All had dwellings not frail, but very worthy of all kinds of boasting. And yet, for some reason, it was prestigious and honorable to receive the title of a lady-in-waiting and start "sleeping" in the palace.

Help from Wikipedia:

The title was given to unmarried women. When appointed to the maid of honor, the girl received a “cipher”, that is, adorned with diamonds of the royal person, in whose retinue she entered. Upon marriage, this title was removed from them, but they retained the right to be presented to the Empress and receive invitations to court ceremonies and balls in the Great Hall of the Winter Palace along with their husbands, regardless of their rank.

About a third of the ladies-in-waiting belonged to titled families; about half of them were the daughters of persons who had court ranks and titles. Perhaps the main advantage of the ladies-in-waiting was the possibility of getting married, since at court it was possible to find the most profitable, noble and rich groom. The maids of honor at the same time received a dowry from the court. Even in the middle of the XIX century. there are known cases of awarding the title of maid of honor to young girls.

“In 1826, Nicholas I installed a set of ladies-in-waiting - 36 people. Part of the "complete" ladies-in-waiting were appointed to "consist" with the empresses, grand duchesses and grand duchesses (these ladies-in-waiting were called retinues). Many of them were constantly at the court (and often lived there). The ladies-in-waiting of the empresses were considered older than the ladies-in-waiting who were with the Grand Duchesses, and they, in turn, were older than the ladies-in-waiting of the Grand Duchesses. The ladies-in-waiting of the “highest Court” did not have permanent duties. Many of them were on vacation for a long time (sometimes living outside the capital) and appeared at court only occasionally.

“Noble daughters of fourteen or twenty years of age were usually accepted for this service. They lived in the Winter (autumn - spring) or Summer (spring - autumn) palaces under the supervision of Madame Ekaterina Petrovna Schmidt. The ladies-in-waiting were on duty at the empress in shifts, staying near her around the clock and performing various high orders. Each was given a salary of 600 rubles a year; two cameras-maids of honor - 1000 rubles a year. The girls enrolled in the maid of honor's list as minors (mainly due to orphanhood) from May 30, 1752 had a salary of 200 rubles a year. The ladies-in-waiting left the court service automatically after getting married. At the same time, the Empress rewarded the bride with a good dowry - cash, precious things, a dress, bed and bedding, haberdashery items in the amount of 25 to 40 thousand rubles and a beautifully made image of the holy newlywed.

The maid of honor's badges were worn on a bow in the color of St. Andrew's blue ribbon and attached to the court dress on the left side of the bodice. Every year, the list of ladies-in-waiting was published in the address-calendar of the Russian Empire. The list was built according to the length of service in the rank of maid of honor.

maid of honor 1
maid of honor 2

If gentlemen are good, to translate all these beautiful words for you into our usual rough modern language, then it looks something like this:

Every year, at balls arranged by the sovereign or empress, every noble family had to deliver or put on display in front of the emperor and his wife their children, starting from the age of 14. I must say, the age is still almost a minor. The girls were just starting to mature. But this did not bother anyone in strange palaces, where no less strange laws reigned.

In fact, the sovereign recruited 14-year-old girls as ladies-in-waiting to satisfy his own carnal desires. The ladies-in-waiting were recruited into the harem. And they were obliged to live in the palace until they annoyed their masters. A brothel behind golden curtains.

You know, I am writing ... and it is most disgusting that money and power over people gave the right to some kind of invader impostors, practically gangsters from the main road, to mock children and noble families of the country. The ladies-in-waiting served for the intimate pleasures of both the sovereign and the empress.

And now I will explain the secrets behind the simple words from Wikipedia. For example: "They lived in the Winter (autumn - spring) or in the Summer (spring - autumn) palaces under the supervision of Madame Ekaterina Petrovna Schmidt." As you can see, the girls were not allowed to go home. After choosing a crowned special next victim, they had to settle immediately in the palaces of their masters. And it is not difficult for a modern enlightened person to imagine what the debauched with a crown on their heads did with young charmers. The overseer of the young fools was the feisty Ekaterina Schmidt. She was also the main teacher in comprehending the science of love pleasures, and in particular the Kama Sutra. Yes, do not be surprised, this science was in demand especially in those days. Can I tell you with what cynicism Katya Schmidt taught innocent bodies and souls? I think you can imagine it. Horror stories and a whip, punishment cell and hunger in the neighborhood with rats.

“The ladies-in-waiting left the court service automatically after getting married. At the same time, the Empress rewarded the bride with a good dowry - cash, precious things, a dress, bed and bedding, haberdashery items in the amount of 25 to 40 thousand rubles and a beautifully made image of the holy newlywed. The ladies-in-waiting left the palace mainly due to pregnancy. Only this way and nothing else. Or severely crippled and no longer needed in the Harem of sovereigns. Having received a child in her womb as a gift from the sovereign, and a dowry for this sovereign's bastard, the maid of honor married the one recommended to her by the sovereign's court. At the court there was a special department that was engaged in "matchmaking", the selection of personnel, fathers for future crowned bastards. From that, the dowry was "good". And, as a rule, the horned groom of the pregnant bride received a good post in the public service.

“Even in the middle of the XIX century. there are known cases of awarding the title of maid of honor to young girls. The sovereigns took into their chambers not only girls from the age of 14, but also minors. That is, pedophilia flourished in the sovereign's courts. Completely legal. The legitimate grounds were the wishes of the sovereign and the empress. It was the law.

In those days, they knew well that if a child was taken to the palace, then they were taken to the Harem. How many rich families today would like it if their children, instead of Oxford and the best Swiss schools, would be sent to harems for the joy of one and only and unique, unique in multitude and constantly multiplying?

The children of the oligarchs of past centuries were held hostage to keep their wealthy, recalcitrant parents in line. Children at court as ladies-in-waiting are the chains on the hands of their parents. After that, one could only pray that the child would soon become pregnant, receive a dowry and a groom, and would soon return to a normal human family life.

But it was not there! Very often, if the sovereign liked the maid of honor, then she gave birth to him child after child with enviable constancy. That is, the sovereign did not stop at one child. Thus, having given the pregnant maid of honor in marriage, the sovereign did not allow her husband to the chambers of his legal wife, but he himself often visited these chambers, or the maid of honor was brought to the palace at night from time to time. The horned husband had to endure all this and rejoice at the "favors" of the despot.

An example is the family of the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. But more on that next time.

And one more thing: “Fre;ilena (from obsolete German Fr;ulein - an unmarried woman, girl, maiden)” - this title, which sounds in German, and not in any other, indicates that debauchery in the palaces of Russia came from Germany, from those who came to Russia as invaders of the throne.

This is what maids of honor are at the courts of sovereigns and kings of the recent world, only 100 years ago. Sovereigns had no time to govern the country. They were mainly busy conceiving bastards. It got ridiculous. Often the sovereigns did not have enough time to conceive the first-born heir. All forces went to the bastards.

After the October Revolution of 1917, all close and trusted persons of the Russian Tsar were mercilessly destroyed. The name of the best friend of the Empress was to appear on this death list. Alexandra Feodorovna- ladies-in-waiting Anna Vyrubova(nee Taneeva), but she miraculously eluded the Cheka.

Anna Taneeva at a costumed court ball in the Hermitage, January 22, 1903. Photo: public domain

In 1922, her book “Pages of My Life” was published in Paris, which was actively disliked by both the Soviet authorities and individual representatives of the white emigration. The truth from Anna Vyrubova pricked the eyes of both, but even her many ill-wishers understood: the “dear martyr,” as the empress called her in her letters, had the right to vote more than others.

"Cheap Rings"

In December 1920, a barefoot woman in a tattered coat crossed the Soviet-Finnish border in the area of ​​the strait. Hearing the noise, she thought it was a chase. It turned out that the icebreaker "Ermak" passed behind. A little more - and escape would be impossible. These "slightly" pursued Anna. All 5 times that she was in prison, the maid of honor found herself between life and death. The first time she was arrested by a "little shaven man" - Kerensky. In the cell, they tore off the chain from her along with the Orthodox cross. They beat me with a fist in the face, spit in a bowl with burda - the only food. The soldiers who ripped off Anna's jewelry were indignant that "the rings are cheap."

Anna was never obsessed with jewelry, she invested in charity. So, in 1915, Anna received huge money for those times - 80 thousand rubles - as compensation from the railway for injuries sustained during the accident - the train derailed. Anna was bedridden for six months. All this time, the Empress visited the maid of honor every day, causing the envy of the courtiers. Then Anna Alexandrovna moved around in a wheelchair, and later on crutches or with a stick. Feeling what it was like to be an invalid, the maid of honor spent all the money without a trace on the creation of a hospital for war invalids, where they would be taught a craft so that they could feed themselves in the future. Another 20 thousand rubles added Nicholas II. Up to 100 people were in the hospital at the same time.

Anna's own family after the breakup of a short marriage with a naval officer Alexander Vyrubov was not, in this way she gave all of herself to the service of her neighbors. Good deeds often returned to her a hundredfold. Once in prison, a pockmarked soldier, one of Anna's most malicious persecutors, suddenly changed dramatically. While visiting his brother, he saw a photo of Anna on the wall. He said: "For a whole year in the hospital, she was like a mother to me." Since then, the soldier did his best to help the best friend of the Empress. She also remembered forever the matron who secretly gave her a red testicle in the hell of the prison on Easter. Anna did not hold a grudge against her persecutors, she prayed to God: "Forgive them, they do not know what they are doing."

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, august daughters Olga, Tatyana and Anna Alexandrovna (left) - sisters of mercy. Photo: public domain

After the fall of the Provisional Government, the Bolsheviks took up the maid of honor with renewed vigor. She was either put in a cell with raiders and prostitutes, then released, then arrested again. With sophisticated torture, they tried to slander the royal family. And at the end of 1919, they decided to get rid of Vyrubova, forcing her to hobble along the streets of Petrograd on her own to the place of execution. Realizing that Anna did not have the strength to escape, only one Red Army soldier was assigned to her guards. “God saved me. This is a miracle, ”she will write about how she met a woman among the crowd, with whom she often prayed in the monastery on Karpovka, where the relics of the saint are buried. John of Kronstadt. “Do not fall into the hands of the enemy,” she said. - Go, I pray. Father John will save you.” As if something pushed Anna in the back, and she was able to get lost in the crowd, to cling to the wall of the house. The Red Army soldier ran past in a panic. And then someone called out to her - an acquaintance whom she had once helped. “Anna Alexandrovna, take it, it will come in handy!” - He thrust 500 rubles into her hand and disappeared. She gave the money to the cab driver, giving the address of her acquaintances outside Petrograd. Calling them at the gate, she lost consciousness. Then Anna found out that an ambush with a “motor” (car) had been guarding her for three weeks on Gorokhovaya Street, where she lived. The Cheka also sent a photo of Vyrubova to all stations. Like a hunted animal, Anna hid for several months first in one dark corner, then in another. She wandered among kind people: “I left prison. Will you accept me?" There were dozens of believers who sheltered Anna for the sake of Christ, risking their lives in the process.

The empress from imprisonment in Tobolsk wrote to Anna in Petrograd in December 1917: “I love you endlessly and grieve for my“ little daughter ”(Anna was 12 years younger than the empress. - Ed.) - but I know that she has become big, experienced , a real warrior of Christ... I know that you are drawn to the monastery.” She took monastic vows with the name Maria Anna in 1923 on Valaam in the Smolensk Skete (from 1917 to 1940 the island was under the jurisdiction of Finland). Her first spiritual father was a resident of the Valaam Monastery, the elder Hieroschemamonk Ephraim (Khrobostov). She continued to live in the world as a secret nun, since it was difficult to find a monastery where a disabled person would be accepted. Anna earned by teaching foreign languages, of which she knew several. Her parents gave her an excellent education. Her father, Alexander Taneev, was the manager of the personal office of Nicholas II, and his mother, Nadezhda Taneeva, - great-great-granddaughter of the great commander Kutuzov.

Anna survived the royal family by almost half a century and was buried in 1964 at the Orthodox cemetery in Helsinki. She left in peace, remaining faithful to God, the Tsar and the Fatherland to the end, for whose salvation she prayed tirelessly.

The fate of the maid of honor

The fate of the ladies-in-waiting was sometimes very bizarre, and this unpredictability, in part, was due to their proximity to the imperial family. In this regard, the biography of the maid of honor of the last Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Sophia Orbeliani, is quite remarkable.

A feature of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was a clear division of the people around her into “friends” and “strangers”.

"Own" were among her personal friends, as far as possible in her position. We must pay tribute to the Empress, she was faithful to her friends to the end. Literally. The fate of the lady-in-waiting Sonya Orbeliani is very indicative in this respect.

Freilina S. I. Orbeliani

Sonya Orbeliani was born in 1875. She was the only daughter of Prince Ivan Orbeliani and Princess Maria Svyatopolk-Mirskaya. The degree of influence of this family is evidenced by the fact that the mother's brother served as the Minister of the Interior of the Empire in 1904-1905, that is, he occupied one of the most influential ministerial posts in the bureaucratic structure of the Russian Empire. Sophia's father came from an ancient Caucasian aristocratic family.

Sonya Orbeliani inherited independence and fearlessness of character from her Caucasian ancestors. This was manifested in various semi-sports entertainments at the court of the young empress, first of all, she was an excellent rider, she was distinguished by a cheerful and open character. Like many young aristocrats, Sonya was fluent in foreign languages, drew well, danced well and was richly gifted in music: she played the piano well, sang well.

In 1898, the lady-in-waiting Princess M. Baryatinsky got married. In the environment of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, a vacant place of the "regular" maid of honor appeared. The new appointment took place as a result of an underlying struggle of influences at the Court. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, then close to the imperial family, a childhood friend of Nicholas II, married to his younger sister Xenia, offered the twenty-three-year-old Sonya Orbeliani to the vacant seat. He believed that a cheerful and independent girl, not involved in court intrigues, would be an ideal companion for a painfully withdrawn empress. As a result of complex, multi-way combinations, Sonya Orbeliani took the place of a full-time maid of honor in 1898.

The new maid of honor, small in stature, blond with regular features, was distinguished by an extraordinary mind. Baroness Sophia Buxgevden noted in her memoirs that Orbeliani, at the same time, had a wonderful sense of humor and was able to arouse love for herself, all who came into contact with her 246 .

One of his contemporaries recalled that Orbeliani “was a great athlete, she rode wonderfully and played tennis superbly. He was a real lively, cheerful, always on the move, always ready for anything, where he could show his dexterity and dashing.

After the "smotrin" Sonya is appointed to the number of maids of honor of Alexandra Feodorovna. The current environment of the empress was very jealous of the “newcomer”. The head of one of the divisions of the imperial guard A.I. Spiridovich called her "an uncultured girl from the Caucasus", but at the same time noted her cheerfulness, which diluted the lean court atmosphere. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna quickly became attached to the new maid of honor, which was largely facilitated by Sonya's "eastern devotion" to her new mistress. And the empress very sensitively and, as a rule, accurately guessed this sincere devotion, so rare among the court aristocracy, and appreciated it all the more. According to the memoirs of Countess Buxgevden, Sonya allowed herself to tell the empress the truth in the eyes, no matter how bitter she was.

Young women often spent time together, for half a day, playing four hands on the piano. Very quickly, Sonya became the closest confidante of the Empress. At the suggestion of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, Sonya tried in traditional ways to overcome the tragic isolation of the Empress. She arranged musical evenings in the Empress' half, inviting the capital's women's beau monde to them. Sometimes the Empress herself played at these impromptu concerts.

In October 1903, the maid of honor Sonya Orbeliani accompanied the imperial family to Darmstadt, where they attended the wedding of Alexandra Feodorovna's niece, Alice of Battenberg and George of Greece, with whom Nicholas II had been intimately acquainted since the 1891 journey.

During this visit Sonya fell ill. She had a fever and the Empress, despite the abundance of official and unofficial events, visited her friend two or three times a day, who was treated by the court doctors of her brother, the Duke of Hesse of Darmstadt. Such attention of the empress to her maid of honor was perceived by many in her entourage as a violation of court etiquette.

It was German doctors who came to the conclusion that Sonya Orbeliani was terminally ill. In the future, she was expected to have a gradual restriction of mobility, a wheelchair, and then complete paralysis and death. Knowing these prospects, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, however, did not leave the sick maid of honor with her. Sonya Orbeliani was settled in the Alexander Palace, which since 1905 became the permanent imperial residence. On the second floor of the Svitskaya half (right wing) of the Alexander Palace, she was given an "apartment" of three rooms (No. 65, 66 and 67).

All expenses for her treatment and maintenance Alexandra Fedorovna took upon herself. For the empress, a rather stingy woman, this meant a lot. Naturally, for health reasons, Sonya was not able to fulfill the duties of a lady-in-waiting, but Alexandra Fedorovna refused to accept her resignation. Figuratively speaking, Orbeliani retained her "regular staff". For the ill lady-in-waiting, “special carriages and other devices were designed so that she could lead an ordinary life, as if she were healthy and could accompany the empress everywhere on her trips” 248.

The Empress visited Sonya at the Alexander Palace daily. The high society, strict towards the empress, condemned this manifestation of human feelings. According to A.I. Spiridovich, the reproaches boiled down to the fact that it was absolutely not useful for the imperial daughters to live next to a dying woman. But Alexandra Fyodorovna, in her characteristic arrogant manner, coldly ignored all reproaches.

At the same time, one should not exaggerate the empress's affection for her lady-in-waiting. Of course, as a person, and even more so as an empress, she behaved very dignified. But life went on and a new friend appeared next to the Empress - Anya Vyrubova. How the “changing of the guards” took place can be seen from the published diary entries of Nicholas II.

For the whole of 1904, Sonia Orbeliani was invited to the imperial table only twice (March 23 for breakfast and April 28 for dinner). It should be noted that very few "full-time" ladies-in-waiting were honored with such an honor. At the same time, at the end of November 1904, under Alexander Feodorovna, a new “full-time” maid of honor appeared - Baroness Sofia Karlovna Buxgevden, to whom Sonya Orbeliani began to “hand over things”.

On September 22, 1905, “A.A. Taneyev”, as Nicholas II wrote in his diary. But this autumn of 1905, Sonya Orbeliani was still invited to the table (to dinner - October 9, November 15, November 27). At the beginning of 1906, everything remained the same, Orbeliani was invited to dinners (February 7, March 14, July 3, August 28). On October 21, 1906, the new and old friends almost crossed paths. On this day, “A.A. Taneeva had breakfast, and Sonya Orbeliani and Princess Obolenskaya had lunch. After that day, Sonia Orbeliani was no longer invited to the table. Since November 23, 1906, her place has been firmly occupied by "Anya Vyrubova", as the emperor begins to call her in the diaries.

Nevertheless, Sonya, as best she could, tried to be useful to the Empress. While she was able, she performed maid of honor duties. After she finally took to her bed, she sorted through the numerous correspondence of the Empress. Over time, she transferred her duties to Sonya Buksgevden and initiated her into all the nuances of the relations of the court world of Tsarskoye Selo. They became friends, and S. Bukshowden spent a lot of time in her rooms.

For nine long years, the empress did everything to make life easier for the dying lady-in-waiting. During this time, much has changed in the life of the Empress. A new soulmate appeared - Anna Vyrubova, but the Empress did not forget her old friend, once and for all ranked among her "friends". It is noteworthy that few knew about these relationships. Rasputin and Vyrubova completely overshadowed Orbeliani in the eyes of the idle world. For the capital's high society, she had long since died. When in December 1915 the doctors announced that the end was near, Alexandra Fedorovna did not leave her dying friend. Sonya Orbeliani died literally in the arms of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

The empress took upon herself all the worries about the funeral of the maid of honor. At the funeral, Alexandra Fedorovna was present in the form of a sister of mercy. Fraylina S.K. Buxhoeveden testified that she saw how the empress, sitting at the coffin of her friend, stroked her hair in the last minutes before the coffin was closed.

Fraylina S.K. Buxhoeveden

Another maid of honor, who became quite close to the imperial family, was Sofia Karlovna Buxgevden. She first appeared in the Alexander Palace on November 28, 1904. But only from 1913 did she enter the so-called "inner circle" of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Evidence of this was her nickname Isa. The maid of honor mentions that she lived in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoye Selo from 1913 to 1917, and her "room was connected by a corridor with the apartments of the Grand Duchesses" 249 .

She was a tall, rather stout, dark-haired, not very attractive woman. She had her own weakness - Sofia Karlovna smoked a lot. But at the same time, she shared Nicholas II's passion for tennis and went kayaking.

S.K. Buxhoeveden could win over and, most importantly, was sincerely devoted to the imperial family, devoted "without flattery." She was, perhaps, the only one of the ladies-in-waiting who was initiated into the family secrets of the royal family. It should be noted that Alexandra Fedorovna was quite careful in dealing with her ladies-in-waiting, because she understood that they, first of all, serve in a palace. S.K. Buxgevden mentions that Alexandra Fedorovna “considered it unacceptable to enter into friendly relations with her ladies-in-waiting, because it seemed to her that a special sympathy expressed by one could cause a feeling of jealousy in another .... There was always a certain distance between us and the Empress, which no one was allowed to move. Only when her ladies-in-waiting ceased their service at the Court (this was the case with Princess Baryatinsky or with Sonya Orbeliani, who became disabled), the Empress could afford to express to them the disposition that she always felt for them.

A. Vyrubova and S. Buxhowden

The Empress also allowed some “opposition” to “her own”. Isa Buxhoeveden had a negative attitude towards Rasputin. For the Empress, this was not a secret. But she knew that Iza would not betray her, and no rumors would come from her.

The Empress was not mistaken in her maid of honor. Iza Buksgevden followed the royal family to Siberia and only miraculously survived. Having borrowed money from Sydney Gibbs, she managed to cross Siberia and through China to England, which became her second home. In the 1920s she wrote two books about her life in Tsarskoye Selo. She dedicated another book to her royal friend, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, in which she refuted many legends that saturated the public consciousness of that time. At the same time, she did not fall into a simple praising of the Empress. She was perhaps the first to create an objective and honest portrait of the last Russian empress, a complex and controversial woman.

Freilina A.A. Vyrubova

Anna Aleksandrovna Vyrubova, nee Taneeva, was born in 1884 into an influential family of aristocratic officials. Her grandfather (Sergey Alexandrovich Taneev) and father (Alexander Sergeevich Taneev) headed His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery for 44 years and had the right to report personally to the emperor.

First time A.A. Taneeva saw the Empress in 1896 at the age of twelve, when the royal family was visiting the village of Ilyinsky, the estate of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich near Moscow, who was married to the elder sister of Alexandra Feodorovna, Elizaveta Feodorovna. At the age of 17, she was officially introduced to the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. From that time began her social life. It should be noted that Anya was not a beauty. She was a plump girl with kind eyes, who sang beautifully and played the piano. At the age of eighteen, in January 1903, she received Empress Alexandra Feodorovna's maid of honor studded with diamonds - the dream of many aristocratic girls. Then, in February 1903, Anya Vyrubova took part in the legendary costume ball in the Winter Palace. Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna were dressed as Russian tsars of the 17th century. The aristocracy, in accordance with their position, shone with boyar clothes. Then no one knew that this ball would be the last magnificent ball in the Winter Palace. And this was the first appearance in the big world of the "debutante" Ani Taneeva.

Extensive connections and a strong position of the Taneyev family at the Court allowed Anna in February 1905 to be in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoye Selo among the "regular" ladies-in-waiting of Alexandra Feodorovna. She was then 20 years old, and the Empress 32 years old. Taneeva then "replaced" one of the sick ladies-in-waiting 251 .

While on duty at the palace, at the request of Alexandra Fedorovna, Anya Taneeva spent time with the maid of honor S. Orbeliani. Vyrubova recalled that Orbeliani developed progressive paralysis and her character became very difficult. She often made fun of the young and blooming lady-in-waiting.

During her first duty, A. Taneeva saw the Empress only once, when she rode a sleigh with her along the alleys of Alexander Park. In memory of her first duty, the Empress presented the lady-in-waiting with a medallion: a gray heart-shaped stone surrounded by diamonds 252 .

Imp. Alexandra Fedorovna and A. Vyrubova. 1910

At first, Anya Taneeva was appointed only as a “temporary” maid of honor, replacing one of the sick full-time maids of honor, but in a short time she managed to please the empress. She liked it so much that in August 1905 she was invited to sail to the Finnish archipelago on the imperial yacht Polar Star. A. Taneeva for this voyage became close to all members of the royal family: “Every day we went ashore, walked through the forest with the Empress and the children, climbed rocks, picked lingonberries and blueberries, looked for mushrooms, explored the paths” 253 . This trip decided the fate of the lady-in-waiting. According to Vyrubova: “The sovereign said to me, saying goodbye at the end of the voyage: “Now you are subscribed to travel with us,” and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna said: “I thank God that He sent me a friend.” 254 As a result of this trip, "my friendship with the empress began, a friendship that lasted twelve years" 255 .

Alexandra Fedorovna was passionately fond of music, she sang well. The Empress had a contralto 256, Ani Taneeva had a high soprano. They began to sing in a duet, play the piano "in four hands". But the main thing is the character of Anya Taneeva. She constantly showed the empress her endless adoration and devotion. Every person needs this. Alexandra Fedorovna also needed this.

Imp. Alexandra Fedorovna and A. Vyrubova on the banks of the Dnieper

The life of Alexandra Feodorovna was not cloudless. Shy to the point of painful isolation, by the nature of her "profession" she had to constantly meet with many strangers and communicate with them. She passionately loved her husband and did not want to share him either with her mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, or with influential dignitaries. Brought up in England, where the position of the monarch was determined by the formula - "I reign, but do not rule", - she was a passionate champion of the idea of ​​​​autocratic power. Being a Protestant until the age of 22, she was imbued with the extreme, mystical ideas of Orthodoxy. Only after the sixth pregnancy, she was finally able to give birth to an heir, but it immediately became clear that he was terminally ill and could die at any moment. She endlessly needed sincere friendship, which was very hard to find in the hypocritical environment in which her life passed. Alexandra Fedorovna believed and accepted Anya Taneeva's sincere affection.

Anya's service as a "temporary lady-in-waiting" did not last long, 257 but the empress remembered the young, unsophisticated, sincere girl. It was what she needed so badly.

Therefore, the following summer of 1906, Anya Taneeva was again invited to take part in sailing through the Finnish skerries on the imperial yacht Shtandart. The capital's beau monde, which was extremely jealously following the emergence of new favorites, immediately noted this repeated invitation, since only the people closest to it surrounded the royal family at the Shtandart.

Joint rest brings together, as well as joint business. It was then that Anya Taneeva finally became “her own” in the closed world of the royal family. She made friends with her older daughters, Olga and Tatyana, who grew up without girlfriends. She had fun with the younger ones - Maria and Anastasia. She learned about the incurable disease of the heir. She received, like many of her own, the unpretentious nickname Cow. She was not offended, since the empress herself called herself the Old Hen. Vyrubova was full and, of course, did not fit into the existing canons of beauty. This is also a plus. Later, she was introduced to Grigory Rasputin, for whom she was filled with reverence. It also worked in her favor.

In turn, the royal family took part in the life of Anya Taneeva. For a 22-year-old girl, not without the participation of Alexandra Feodorovna, they picked up the appropriate party. Ani Taneeva's fiancé was naval lieutenant Alexander Vasilyevich Vyrubov. By this time significant events had taken place in his life. He was among four miraculously escaped officers from the battleship Petropavlovsk. This battleship, on the captain's bridge of which was the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov, hit a mine and sank in a few minutes while trying to break out of the blocked harbor of Port Arthur in 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War. Naturally, the young sailor walked in heroes.

The young people were married. In December 1906, Vyrubov proposed by letter from the village. Anya Taneeva consulted with the empress and she approved the "game". In February 1907, the wedding was announced. The marriage of the maid of honor Anna Alexandrovna Taneeva with Lieutenant Alexander Vasilyevich Vyrubov took place on April 30, 1907 in the highest presence in the church of the Grand Tsarskoye Selo Palace 258 .

A. Vyrubova and members of the imperial family. 1914

From that moment on, Anna Vyrubova could no longer be a lady-in-waiting, since only unmarried girls could be ladies-in-waiting. Anya Taneeva turned into Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova, and it was under this surname that she entered the history of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.

The presence of the imperial couple at the wedding was a very high honor for the newlyweds. Moreover, Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna personally blessed the young with an icon. After the marriage, the young "drank tea with Their Majesties", in a very narrow circle, since very few guests were invited to the wedding and they all passed the approval of Their Majesties 259 .

The aristocratic beau monde immediately reacted to this with the first gossip. In secular salons, they were surprised not only by the very fact of the presence of the imperial couple at the wedding, but by the active participation that Alexandra Feodorovna herself took in it. It was alleged that during the wedding, the Empress sobbed as if she were marrying off her daughter. But then, in April 1907, this was attributed to the costs of the emotional nature of the empress.

However, the family life of the young did not work out from the very beginning, and the marriage was short-lived. There was Rasputin's gloomy prediction, which, of course, came true, and the sadistic, unnatural inclinations of the young lieutenant, and even his madness, suddenly revealed. Vyrubova herself wrote briefly about this many years later: “Marriage brought me nothing but grief. The state of my husband's nerves probably reflected all the horrors experienced when the Petropavlovsk was sinking, and soon after the wedding he showed signs of a serious mental illness. At first I thought it was only a temporary condition and carefully concealed my husband's illness from my mother. But, in the end, my husband was declared insane, was admitted to a medical institution in Switzerland, and I got a divorce” 260 .

This family drama was the impetus for the beginning of many events. Therefore, a number of points need to be clarified. Firstly, the personal drama did not prevent Anna Vyrubova in September 1907 from accepting an invitation to go on another voyage on the Shtandart to the Finnish skerries together with the royal family. It was then that rumors about the "unnatural" relationship between the Empress and Vyrubova began to persistently circulate in society for the first time.

A. Vyrubova next to the impi. Nicholas II

The fact is that during this voyage, the Shtandart ran into a pitfall and almost sank, having received two holes in the hull. The royal family and its entourage were urgently transferred to one of the ships of the convoy. A few months later, on February 2, 1908, a very knowledgeable General A.V. Bogdanovich, wrote in her diary 261: “Everyone is struck by the strange friendship of the young tsarina with her former maid of honor Taneeva, who married Vyrubov. When, during a trip to the skerries, the boat stumbled upon a stone, the royal family spent that night on the yacht "Alexandria" 262 . The tsar slept in the cabin, and the tsarina took Vyrubova into her cabin, slept on the same bed with her ... ”263. At the same time, Bogdanovich also names his "source" - Captain 1st Rank, Assistant Chief of the Main Naval Staff under the Naval Minister Sergei Ilyich Zilotti.

Apparently, Vyrubova was well aware of these rumors, and in her memoirs she considered it necessary to specifically dwell on "who slept where." According to her, "the Empress slept with the heir", Nicholas II and his retinue in the cabins upstairs. Later, the imperial family switched to a sailing yacht.

"Alexandria". But even there it was very crowded, so Nicholas II slept in the cabin on the sofa, the children in a large cabin, except for the heir. Then came the cabin of the Empress. Nearby was the cabin of the heir, in which he slept with the nanny M. Vishnyakova. Vyrubova vaguely specifies: "I slept nearby in the bathroom" 264 .

Secondly, already after the divorce, in the autumn of 1908, 265 Vyrubova immediately received an invitation from her royal friend to settle near the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoye Selo. As a personal friend. According to Vyrubova, by that time she and her husband had already lived in Tsarskoye Selo, since Vyrubova's influential father had placed his son-in-law in the Palace Department. It is unlikely that the young husband could have liked the rumors about the closeness of his wife with the Empress. Perhaps it was then that the "sadistic" inclinations of the young lieutenant manifested themselves. Vyrubova wrote: “I did not have an official position. I lived with the queen as an unofficial lady-in-waiting and was her close personal friend. She said: "At least there is one person who serves me for me, and not for a reward." 266 It should be noted that there were no such precedents in the scandalous history of the Imperial family. And this decision of the empress only contributed to the spread of "lesbian" gossip, which peaked in the second half of 1908-1910.

Thirdly, a few words must be said about the failed marriage. About the "sadism" and "perversions" of Alexander Vyrubov, we know only from the memoirs of Vyrubova herself. There is practically no information about Alexander Vyrubov in the historical literature. It is only mentioned that from 1913 to 1917 the "pervert" and "crazy" Vyrubov was the district marshal of the Poltava nobility. It should be noted that this was an elective position and it is unlikely that the Poltava nobles would have chosen a pervert and a sadist as their leader. They chose an officer of the Russian fleet who participated in the defense of Port Arthur. Now, of course, it is difficult to say what "perversions" Vyrubova wrote about. But it is known for sure that there were no marital relations between the young, and Vyrubova, after 18 months of marriage, remained a girl. Is it possible that the "sadistic perversions" were reduced to the fact that the lieutenant was simply trying to fulfill his marital duty? Or he couldn't do it? Or was Vyrubova categorically against marital relations?

Livadia. Farm tea. 1914

Fourthly, for 1907-1910. it was the time of the greatest influence of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers P.A. Stolypin on the internal politics of Russia. He was a powerful man who did not want to share influence. Therefore, the rumors that swirled around the Empress and Vyrubova discredited one of the centers of power opposing Stolypin. A. A. Bobrinsky wrote about this in his diary in 1911: “The Empress Alexandra Fedorovna is not as ill as they say. It is to Stolypin's advantage to inflate her incapacity and her illnesses, since it is unpleasant to him. The rightists will now defiantly expose the empress, otherwise, as it turns out, to please Stolypin, they boycotted her and hushed her up, and replaced her with Maria Feodorovna. They say that her lesbian relationship with Vyrubova is exaggerated.

In the spring of 1917, the Provisional Government created an Extraordinary Investigative Commission in order to collect dirt on the royal family and its entourage. A special subcommittee was formed in this Commission, which specialized in investigating the activities of the so-called "dark forces" that surrounded the royal family. Of course, Anna Vyrubova was also included among these "dark forces". In March 1917 she was arrested

and placed in one of the cells of the Peter and Paul Fortress. In the summer of 1917 Comrade Vyrubova insisted on having her undergo a gynecological examination. Such an unusual request of a prisoner is associated with common accusations that she cohabited with Grigory Rasputin. An examination established that Vyrubova was a virgin 268 .

In the “Conclusion of Dr. Manukhin, given on the basis of the results of a medical examination carried out in the Trubetskoy bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress,” it is said that “she got married at the age of 22 ... she lived with her husband for only one year. According to her, her husband suffered from sexual impotence with a penchant for sadism; after one of the scenes, when her husband threw her naked on the floor and beat them, they broke up; since then, the testified sexual life has not lived.

At the end of last year, due to the pains she had in her lower abdomen and in order to clarify the cause of the disease in her right leg, she was asked to examine the genitals; unexpectedly, for the production of research per vaginat, it turned out to be necessary to incise her virgin pleura, since it was not completely disturbed by the weak husband; According to her, the senior paramedic of the Palace Hospital in Peterhof Karaseva can be a witness to the foregoing. Petrograd June 6, 1917" 269 ​​.

At the time, it shocked many people. But not the immediate tsar's entourage, since the retinue knew about Vyrubova's virginity from January 1915. After Vyrubova got into a railway accident in January 1915, she was examined by Professor S.P. Fedorov. Subsequently, the head of the tsar's mobile guard, Colonel A.I. Spiridovich wrote that he was “astonished when the life surgeon Fedorov told me that while doing a medical examination of Mrs. Vyrubova with another professor due to a hip fracture, they suddenly became convinced that she was a virgin. The patient confirmed this to them and gave some explanations about her married life with Vyrubov.

This fact is now interpreted in different ways. E. Radzinsky claims that, in his opinion, Vyrubova, of course, was a closeted lesbian. He suggests that the empress did not care about the sexual orientation of her friend, she was only interested in her sincere affection. For Alexandra Feodorovna, it does not matter what dictated this affection. It was important that this affection-love was vitally needed for the neurotic empress, surrounded by general hostility.

With this statement, in our opinion, we can agree. Alexandra Feodorovna, with her characteristic maximalism, divided the whole world into “us” and “them”. There were very few "friends", and she highly valued them. A woman closed in very difficult family problems, carefully hidden from the eyes of strangers, really needed such a friend. And what kind of “orientation” she is is the tenth thing.

The end of 1907 was difficult for Alexandra Feodorovna. She was ill. The nature of the disease is not indicated in the medical documents, but judging by the number of visits, the medical problems turned out to be serious. From November 11 to November 30, 1907, the doctor of the Palace Hospital of the Court Medical Unit, Dr. Fischer, paid 29 visits to the Empress. From December 1 to December 21, he also visited the Empress 13 times 271 . That is a total of 42 visits. Apparently, these visits continued further, since the Empress herself wrote to her daughter Tatyana on December 30, 1907: “The doctor just gave an injection again - today in the right leg. Today is the 49th day of my illness, tomorrow will be the 8th week” 272 . Since the empress wrote notes to her daughter, it can be assumed that she was isolated from the children. According to her account, the disease begins in early November 1907. Based on memoirs and diary entries, it can be assumed that from 1906–1907. The Empress begins to have serious heart problems. But since these problems were not advertised, rumors about the mental imbalance of the empress, manifested in a “vicious connection” with Vyrubova, begin to superimpose on them.

The rumor about the "lesbian relationship" of the Empress continued to spread in the second half of 1908. He was "warmed up" by a divorce from Lieutenant Vyrubov. It was then that another rumor began to circulate that the fleeting marriage was simply to “cover up” the “vicious connection” between Vyrubova and the Empress.

Quoting these rumors also needs comments. In June 1908 A.V. Bogdanovich wrote down, with reference to the "source" - Princess D.V. Kochubey 273 that the reason for Vyrubova's divorce from her husband was that "the husband of this Taneeva, Vyrubov, found letters from the tsarina in her, which lead to sad reflections" 274 . It is now known that the Empress did indeed write huge and highly emotional letters. That she was quite frank in them and, from the point of view of the layman, careless. And the letters that Vyrubov found could well have taken place. And he could misinterpret their content. Similar things happened later. In 1912, letters from Alexandra Feodorovna to Rasputin fell into the hands of the Duma opposition. There, too, there were ambiguous phrases that allowed the opposition to immediately launch gossip that the Empress was unfaithful to her husband, Emperor Nicholas II. Apparently, the empress drew conclusions from these stories and in March 1917, according to Vyrubova: “the empress destroyed all the letters and diaries dear to her and personally burned them in my room six boxes of his letters to me(Emphasis mine. - AND. Z.)" 275 .

In September 1908, Vyrubova again traveled on the Shtandart. It was from this time that they began to attribute political influence on the royal family to her. The immediate environment is forced to reckon with it. A.V. Bogdanovich, there were very reliable "sources" who could observe not only the official, but also the unofficial side of the life of the imperial family. These were the personal valets of the tsar - N.A. Radzig 276 and N.F. Shalberov 277, they regularly visited the salon of A.V. Bogdanovich and shared the latest palace news with the hospitable hostess. Shalberov "was surprised that the tsarina loved such a 'scoundrel' like Vyrubova so much that she spent the day and night with the tsarina" (entry dated November 3, 1908) 278 . A few days later N.A. Radzig said that he saw a photograph of Vyrubova, where she was taken "next to a peasant" who has "brutal eyes, the most disgusting, impudent appearance" (record dated November 5, 1908) 279 . The man, of course, was Grigory Rasputin.

But the final "diagnosis" in the relationship between Vyrubova and Alexandra Fedorovna was made by A. Bogdanovich at the end of November 1908. We must again admit that she had first-class "sources". On November 21, 1908, she wrote, referring to Silotti, that "the tsar is very nervous, that the reason for this is the tsarina, her abnormal tastes, her incomprehensible love for Vyrubova" 280 . We must give the general her due - she double-checked this information and, with reference to the palace commandant, Lieutenant-General Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dedyulin 281, quoted him as saying that "in Tsarskoye Selo there is 'adultery'" 282 .

One more important event in the tsar's entourage should be noted, which took place in 1908. In 1907, the family doctor of the imperial family, the life surgeon Gustav Ivanovich Girsh, died 283 . As a result of complex undercover intrigues, Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin became the new family physician 284 . This episode is important for us, because it shows the operation of the mechanism for holding positions close to the "family" of "our" people. One of the important levers of this mechanism was Anya Vyrubova, “stupid”, according to the idle secular society.

The final choice of the doctor was made personally by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, but "at the suggestion" of Vyrubova. A.A. Vyrubova wrote about this in her memoirs: “Her choice was E.S. Botkin, a doctor in the Georgievsky community, whom she had known since the Japanese War, she did not even want to hear about the celebrity. The Empress ordered me to call him to her and convey her will. Dr. Botkin was a very modest doctor and listened to my words not without embarrassment. He began by putting the Empress to bed for three months, and then completely forbade her to walk, so that she was carried in an armchair through the garden. The doctor said that she broke her heart, hiding her poor health.

E.S. Botkin was supported by very influential forces. Among others, E.S. Botkina is his relative, the maid of honor of the Empress O.E. Byutsova. A.V. Bogdanovich, according to valet Shevich, wrote in her diary about the reasons for the appearance of a new doctor: “The former court doctor Fisher, who treated the queen, directly stated in writing to the king that he could not cure the queen until she was separated from Vyrubova. But this letter had no effect: Vyrubova remained, while Fischer was fired, and Botkin, Taneyev's henchman, was appointed in his place. It seems that Bogdanovich's version most fully shows the true reasons for the appearance of a new doctor, and the death of the old Hirsch was only a pretext for this.

April 4, 1908 Chief Marshal P.K. Benckendorff sent a notice to the Minister of the Imperial Court, Vladimir Borisovich Frederiks, in which he reported that the Empress “wants that, by the day of Holy Easter, Honorary Physician E.S. Botkin would have been appointed as a life physician, in place of the late G. I. Hirsch 288 . On April 8, 1908, Fredericke imposed the resolution "The Highest Command to Fulfill".

After the appointment of E.S. Botkin to the position of life physician, the very nature of the provision of medical care to the Empress changed. If before that Alexandra Fedorovna was treated a lot and willingly by the leading professors of the Military Medical Academy, then from 1908 she limited herself to the services of one E.S. Botkin. This, too, has not gone unnoticed. In May 1910 A.V. Bogdanovich wrote: “There was a Rhine 289. He said about the young queen that she was repeatedly offered to call him, but she rejects everything, does not want to appear to a specialist. One must think that she has something secret that she does not dare to entrust, and, knowing that an experienced doctor will understand what is the matter, she rejects the help of specialists.

It is known that memoirs and diary entries, as a rule, are subjective, so the materials presented must be supported by archival, official documents. The most informative in the context of our topic are the daily reports of the Palace Police, which recorded in detail all the movements of royal persons and all their contacts. Officially, they were called "Diaries of departures of Their Imperial Majesties." Since the Palace Police at that time performed the functions of the personal protection of the imperial couple, these documents can be treated with unconditional trust. Analysis of documents allows us to restore the documented outline of the daily life of the king and his family. We will use the records for 1910.

By this time, the Empress had her own daily routine. In the morning - classes with children and common prayer. Alexandra Fedorovna preferred to have breakfast alone. This year, she generally tried not to be in public, which is connected both with her “sores” and with the peculiarities of her character. For example, on January 22, 1910, Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna, the Tsar's younger brother Grand Duke Mikhail and Prince Peter of Oldenburg with his wife, the Tsar's younger sister, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, arrived from St. Petersburg for breakfast (at 1 pm). Only the family gathered, but the empress preferred to have breakfast separately. The guests did not stay long and left at 14.28.

Such "unsociableness" of the Empress is associated with the exacerbation of her illnesses. Heart problems are mentioned in the diary of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna: “Poor Nicky is worried and upset about Alyx's health. She again had severe pains in her heart, and she became very weak. They say it's on the nerve lining, the nerves of the heart sac. Apparently, this is much more serious than people think. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich then in 1910 wrote in his diary: “Between breakfast and the reception, the Tsar took me to the Empress, who was not getting better. For more than a year she has had pains in her heart, weakness, and neurasthenia. For the treatment of the Empress, a soothing massage was actively used. Nevertheless, the disease did not prevent her from meeting with Vyrubova every day.

This situation in the family probably did not suit the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. For the whole year, she saw her daughter-in-law only 4 times: three times in April 1910 during the arrival in St. Petersburg of Alexandra Feodorovna's older sister, Irena Prusskaya, and once in May 1910, at official events related to the memorial service for the deceased English king. Twice during Maria Feodorovna's visits to Tsarskoe Selo, on January 22 and May 14 (a solemn breakfast on the occasion of the next anniversary of the coronation, which was attended by 360 people), Alexandra Feodorovna preferred to stay in her apartment. This was due to her illness. Alexandra Fedorovna herself visited St. Petersburg only 4 times in 1910. And once (April 8) she and her husband stopped by for 45 minutes at the Winter Palace and immediately left for Tsarskoye Selo. The remaining visits to the capital were of a forced nature and were associated with official events and visits.

This year Alexandra Feodorovna's social circle is very limited. On March 21, her elder sister, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, visited her, on April 23, Irena of Prussia arrived for the Empress's birthday, she stayed until May 9.

On the eve of the birthday of Nicholas II (from May 3 to May 6), all three sisters got together for the last time.

But in the first half of 1910, Vyrubova's name was mentioned almost every day in the reports of the Palace Police. Throughout January, the Empress and Vyrubova meet almost daily, spending half an hour on the "New Terrace" near the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, as a rule, from 15:00 to 15:30. In February, the Empress sleds in the park and Vyrubova accompanies her on foot, they sled around the city. Starting from the end of February 1910, in addition to daytime meetings, the Empress's evening, but rather nightly, visits to her friend were included in the daily routine. Usually Alexandra Fedorovna left the palace at 11 p.m. and returned back after midnight. She adhered to this routine even on very busy days. On April 24, after morning prayers (11 a.m.), the empress leaves for a short time to Vyrubova (from 11:12 a.m. to 11:50 a.m.), then, together with her sister, goes to St. Petersburg, where she pays secular visits, returns late in the evening back to Tsarskoye Selo and visits Vyrubova again (from 23:35 to 24:25). And so from day to day. Such, almost convulsive, attachment of Alexandra Feodorovna to Vyrubova against the background of ignoring even mandatory official events, of course, unflattering rumors awaited the empress. All of them were connected with rumors about the "painful" hobby of the Empress and about her "lesbian relationship" with Vyrubova.

It can, of course, be assumed that the Empress's frequent visits to Vyrubova are connected with her regular meetings with Rasputin. But in the data of the external guard, the name of the elder for this year is not mentioned at all, although all contacts of the royal family on a personal and official level were carefully monitored. But it is known from other sources that in 1910 both Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II saw Rasputin on more than one occasion. The tsar's diary for January and the first half of February 1910 mentions 10 such meetings. Nicholas II in his diary entries, as a rule, was very concise, therefore he simply recorded the very fact of the meeting, sometimes indicating the time. On January 3, 1910, among the references to household chores of that day, the tsar recorded that “we saw Gregory between 7 and 8 o'clock” 293 . Sometimes he mentioned that he had a long conversation with him.

A. Vyrubova's house in Tsarskoye Selo. 1910

By the nature of the records, it can be argued that most of these meetings took place in the Alexander Palace. Apparently, the emperor forbade officially recording these meetings. But it should be noted that the Empress went to Vyrubova only alone. The police in 1910 did not record a single joint trip of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna to Vyrubova's house.

A few words about Vyrubova's house. In 1908, Anna Vyrubova settled in Tsarskoye Selo in a small country house, literally a few steps from the imperial residence. This yellow-white dacha was built by the architect P.V. Nilov in 1805. Since it was a country house, it was very cold in winter. After 1917, this dacha was leased to the artist I. Ershov, who worked at the Leningrad Conservatory. From 1936 until the German occupation in 1941, the house was used by the conservatory. Currently, this house is the registry office of the city of Pushkin.

Speaking about the relationship between Alexandra Fedorovna and Vyrubova, one should also touch on the “money issue”. A.A. Vyrubova, being a maid of honor, received 4,000 rubles. in year. Having lost status after marriage, she became "just" a friend of the Empress. However, this "position" was not paid. Therefore, A.A. Vyrubova found herself in a difficult financial situation. Her parents, of course, "fed", however, life under the monarchs was quite costly. Minister of the Imperial Court

V.B. Frederike tactfully made it clear to Alexandra Feodorovna that her friend had problems with money. As a result, Alexandra Fedorovna began to give her friend dresses and cloth for the holidays. This did not add any money to Vyrubova. Finally, a substantive conversation took place between the Empress and her friend. According to A.A. Vyrubova, “she asked how much I spend per month, but I could not say the exact figure; then, taking a pencil and paper, she began to calculate with me: salary, kitchen, kerosene, etc. It came out 270 rubles. per month. Her Majesty wrote to Count Frederiks to send her this amount from the Ministry of the Court, which she gave me every first number. In recent years, the Empress paid for Vyrubova's dacha (2,000 rubles) 294 .

On May 26, 1910, the royal family, according to tradition, moved to Peterhof. However, the routine of family life has not changed much. Vyrubova also moved to Peterhof following the royal family. June 21, 1910 the royal family on the yacht "Alexandria" departs for a traditional holiday in the Finnish skerries. The leisurely voyage continued for a long time, and they returned to Peterhof only on July 19. The royal family was accompanied by the indispensable Vyrubova. On August 15, 1910, the royal family departed abroad. The purpose of the trip was the treatment of Alexandra Fedorovna at a resort in Nauheim. According to A.A. Vyrubova, this trip was undertaken in the hope that "staying there would restore the Empress's health." The treatment was not particularly effective and A.A. Vyrubova writes that upon her arrival at Nauheim, she "found the Empress thinner and tired from the treatment." Nikolai Aleksandrovich himself in September 1910 wrote to P.A. Stolypin from Friedberg Castle: “Her Majesty tolerates the treatment well, but it is still far from over” 295 . In November 1910, the royal family went home. According to A.A. Vyrubova, the situation stabilized somewhat: “The treatment was beneficial and she felt pretty good.” However, as follows from the tsar's letter to his mother in November 1910: "Alik is tired from the road and again suffers from pain in her back and legs, and at times in her heart" 296 . The royal family arrived in Tsarskoye Selo on the morning of November 3, 1910.

This trip rekindled the old rumors. These rumors are reflected in a diary entry for November 1910 by one of the memoirists, who noted that the Empress “was not at the exit. Her mental illness is a fact. In December 1910 A.V. Bogdanovich, according to Nicholas II's valet Radzig, again mentioned Vyrubova: “More than ever, she is close to Vyrubova, to whom everything says what the tsar says to her, while the tsar constantly expresses everything to the queen. Everyone in the palace despise Vyrubova, but no one dares to go against her - she is constantly with the queen: in the morning from 11 to one, then from two to five, and every evening until 11 4/2 hours. It used to happen that during the arrival of the tsar Vyrubova was reduced, but now she sits all the time. At 11 4/2 the tsar goes to study, and Vyrubova and the tsarina go to the bedroom. Sad, shameful picture! 298 .

An important question arises: How did the royal family feel about these rumors, which undoubtedly reached it? Outwardly, nothing. Nicholas II was very jealous of attempts to interfere in his private life. He immediately stopped all inclinations to "open his eyes", even to Rasputin's "pranks" or his wife's "relationship" with Vyrubova. The fact remains that all attempts to discredit both Vyrubova and Rasputin in the eyes of the royal family were unsuccessful. At the same time, the unwillingness to follow the established standards and traditions in the relations of the royal family with its environment, of course, undermined the prestige of autocratic power in Russia.

Thus, several conclusions can be drawn.

First, 1905–1906 a real friend appears next to the empress. However, the peculiarities of the psycho-emotional warehouse of Alexandra Fedorovna take this friendship beyond the established stereotypes, which creates the basis for the appearance of rumors discrediting her.

Secondly, at the same time, the Empress has serious health problems. And these are problems not so much of a sick heart as problems that lie in the field of psychiatry. Therefore, since 1908, Alexandra Fedorovna actually refuses the services of qualified doctors and is limited to the services of only a family doctor who accepted the diagnosis that the Empress herself made.

Thirdly, we can only talk about lesbian rumors as a version. Moreover, this version, of course, was politicized. In her time of crisis

Alexandra Fedorovna clung convulsively to the emotional support of her only friend, Vyrubova. It is meaningless to talk about the specific nature of this emotional support.

By 1912, the "lesbian rumor" gradually faded away, and the new "hit" of the 1912 season was the rumor about Alexandra Fedorovna's "closeness" to Rasputin. In fact, these rumors lay in the same plane. Their main goal was to discredit the reputation not only of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, but of the entire Imperial family, to discredit the idea of ​​autocracy in the eyes of the people. This was already a political line, which was consistently pursued by the leaders of the bourgeois parties, fighting for power. There was no question of the authenticity of the rumors themselves. The main task is to throw dirt on the royal family into the people.

After the February Revolution of 1917, people close to the imperial couple tried to restore the good name of the empress. Lily Dehn subsequently categorically stated "that this statement is simply monstrous" 299 . Speaking about the relationship of A.A. Vyrubova with Rasputin, she wrote: “I am sure that Anna did not love him as a man” 300 and that “there was no question of any carnal attraction” 301 . This was also stated by a close friend of the imperial family, an officer of the Shtandart yacht N.P. Sablin in the testimony of the Extraordinary Investigative Commission of the Provisional Government: "I completely deny the possibility of Rasputin's physical proximity to the Empress and Vyrubova" 302 . We cited E. Radzinsky's opinion that Vyrubova was a closeted lesbian. On the other hand, one can cite the opinion of the modern biographer of Nicholas II, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor A. Bokhanov, who claims that “talks about “unnatural love” did not have the slightest foundation” 303 .

I would especially like to draw attention to the words of Fr. Feofan, who, during interrogation in the same Investigative Commission of the Provisional Government, testified: “I never had and do not have any doubts about the moral purity and impeccability of these relations. I officially declare this, as a former confessor of the Empress ... And if other rumors are spread in the revolutionary crowd, then this is a lie, speaking only about the crowd and those who spread it, but by no means about Alexandra Feodorovna.

IN AND. Gedroits and imp. Alexandra Fedorovna

It can be added to the above that if Vyrubova hid her "hobbies", then in the immediate circle of Alexandra Feodorovna there was another frankly "pink" lady. In August 1909, at the categorical insistence of the Empress, a female doctor, Princess Vera Ignatievna Gedroits,305 was appointed to the position of senior physician at the Tsarskoye Selo Court Hospital. It was V.I. Gedroits taught medicine to the Empress and her daughters in August 1914. It was she who assisted Alexandra Fedorovna in surgical operations in 1914–1916. Precisely Gedroits and Vyrubova

challenged the friendship of the empress. According to the memoirs, Gedroits “spoke of herself in the masculine gender: “I went, I operated, I said.” She smoked a lot and had a deep voice. She was called "George Sand of Tsarskoye Selo". Gedroits openly lived with the maid of honor M.D. Nirod 306, who worked as a surgical nurse in the same Tsarskoye Selo hospital 307.

Nun Maria (Taneeva)

At first glance, acquaintance with the presented material gives rise to the feeling that "there was a sin." Too solid sources of information from the Alexander Palace - valets Radzig and Shalberov, the palace commandant Dedulin, daily reports of the Palace police ...

On the other hand, life is sometimes more complicated and sometimes simpler than template schemes. Vyrubova herself wrote: “During the first two years of my friendly relations with the Empress, she tried, as secretly as smuggling, to escort me to her office through the servants’ room so that I would not meet her ladies-in-waiting. The Empress was afraid to arouse in them a feeling of jealousy. We spent time doing needlework or reading, and the secrecy of meetings only created ground for unnecessary rumors(emphasis mine. - AND. 3.)>> 308 .

Later, periods of cooling arose in the relationship between Alexandra Fedorovna and Vyrubova, almost family quarrels, but they retained their friendship to the very end. When, during the February Revolution of 1917, sick Anna Vyrubova was lying in one of the rooms of the Retinue half of the Alexander Palace, well-wishers advised the empress to remove her from the residence, since Vyrubova was too odious a figure.

Certificate of tonsure as a nun

Tombstone AL. Taneeva in Helsinki

To this proposal, Alexandra Fedorovna replied: "I do not betray my friends" 309 . Then in March 1917 Vyrubova was arrested and taken to Petrograd. In fact, Vyrubova carried her friendship with the Empress throughout her life.

A.A. Vyrubova managed to maintain the friendship of the empress, being near the throne for 12 years, despite the fact that her name became odious. She actually became the main assistant to the Empress, who from 1915 began to be closely involved in the political life of Russia. She managed to preserve the image of a stupid, little-informed and little-understanding woman in the summer of 1917 during interrogations in the Peter and Paul Fortress (March - July 1917). In August 1917, revolutionary sailors arrested her again and imprisoned her in the Sveaborg fortress. In September 1917, thanks to the intervention of the Petrosoviet, headed by L.D. Trotsky, she was released and taken to Petrograd, to Smolny. On October 8, 1918, on a denunciation, Vyrubova was again arrested by the Cheka, but she soon escaped from custody when moving from one prison to another, from 2 Gorokhovaya Street to Shpalernaya.

Of course, Anna Vyrubova was not such a stupid simpleton as her contemporaries sometimes portray her. The last Minister of the Interior of Tsarist Russia A.D. Protopopov asserted that Vyrubova was "a phonograph of words and suggestions... She had no state thought of her own, she mechanically conveyed what she heard" 310 . But the “smart” Protopopov was shot by the Bolsheviks, and the “stupid” Vyrubova, after several arrests, managed to survive and survive in the meat grinder of the Civil War. She managed to escape from Petrograd to Finland in 1920, where she lived for the rest of her life.

In 1923 in Paris, A.A. Vyrubova published her memoirs "Pages of my life" in Russian. In the same year, an English edition of this book was published in New York. In 1937, Vyrubova finished working on the second book of memoirs, repeating in it partly what was written in 1923. The manuscript of this book lay without movement until 1984, when it was published under the title “Unpublished memoirs of A.A. Vyrubova.

After the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish War in November 1939, Anna Vyrubova fled from Vyborg, where she lived, deep into Finland and also survived. In Finland, she took secret tonsure as a nun under the name of Maria and led an extremely secluded life. Anna Aleksandrovna Vyrubova died in 1964, having lived for 80 years.

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Many girls dreamed of living at court and serving the empress. But the maid of honor is not only a life of luxury and endless privileges, but also hard work.

What did the maids of honor do

The women who made up the empress's entourage had their own ranks. The youngest is the maid of honor. They were young unmarried noblewomen. Under Nicholas I, a rule was introduced, according to which the Empress had 36 maids of honor. They not only carried out the orders of the ruler's wife, but also his daughters. Of the 36 girls, those who were called "retinues" were chosen. They lived at the court all the time. The rest were obliged to appear only during celebrations, receptions, balls, etc.

The retinue maid of honor is a well-educated girl who was supposed to spend around the clock with the empress or her daughters and fulfill any requests. They went for walks with their mistress and paid visits with her. In addition, they did needlework or read together. The maid of honor had to not only know but also be aware of the latest news of the court. For example, to notify the empress in time about who and when should be congratulated on their birthday or name day. Often the ladies-in-waiting wrote invitations, congratulations or answers to letters under the dictation of their mistress. When there were guests at court, the ladies-in-waiting of the queen or empress had to make sure that no one got bored and entertain them with conversation. Young ladies who were educated in various fields became an adornment of society and its reflection.

Since it was not easy to be ready to carry out orders at any time during the day and at the same time maintain a good mood, the ladies-in-waiting had their own schedule. They were on duty for a week, and then rested and helped the duty officers cope with those things that they did not have time to do.

Each maid of honor received a good salary, most of which had to be spent on outfits. Since she was with the ruler or her daughters day and night, she had to look appropriate. Dresses and jewelry were purchased for every important occasion. However, there was no need to spend money on accommodation and food. Each maid of honor received housing and ate from the royal kitchen.

The Empress was attentive to her subordinates, although she did not have the opportunity to make close friends among them. In case of illness, the maid of honor received proper care and could rest just as much as she needed to recover. In addition, the treatment was paid for by the Empress.

Maid of honor was not forbidden to marry. Since they were at court, they could hope for better parties and a wonderful dowry. Often empresses were guests at the wedding of their pupils. However, the maid of honor is an unmarried girl. Therefore, in most cases, those who decided to get married were forced to leave their position.

Duties of chambers-maids of honor and ladies of state

Some ladies-in-waiting never married, remaining close to their mistresses. Long service and excellent performance of their duties ensured promotion. They became chambermaids. Their staff was small: only 5-6 people.

Ladies of state were the wives of influential officials and people close to the emperor. Chamber-maids of honor and ladies of state did not perform any duties at court and were only decorations for holidays and important events. However, both of them very often neglected their duties with impunity.

How did they become ladies-in-waiting

In order to get such a position at court, one had to have a good education. The applicants knew court etiquette and knew how to behave in the presence of the emperor and his family. Of course, each of them knew how to dance and gracefully move. But not only girls were trained in this. The ladies-in-waiting had to keep up conversations on a variety of topics, so it was necessary to gain knowledge in the field of history, literature, art, theology and many others.

But the maid of honor of the court could not only be the daughter of a famous aristocratic family. A girl from a simpler family could have been lucky. But only on the condition that her parents had enough money to give an education. The young contender had to finish As a rule, Smolny. If the final exams were passed with dignity, the institute girl got the opportunity to become a maid of honor. Few of the applicants were chosen. And they got codes. This meant that they could now begin their duties.

Retirement

Service at court was not a duty for life. The maid of honor is someone who was always present with the empress or her daughters. Therefore, she could get the opportunity to successfully marry and leave the service. But sometimes the ladies-in-waiting were forced to marry against their will. This happened when the crown prince or even the emperor himself fell in love with a young beauty.

Of course, the future ruler could not marry a maid of honor from the retinue of his mother or sisters. And therefore, in order to break this connection, the empress hastily chose a worthy party for her subordinate and sent the beauty from the court.

But the service could be left at will. However, few people dared to take such a step. As a rule, this happened only for health reasons.

The maid of honor is the person closest to the ruler, her servant and the keeper of many secrets. However, such a life was not easy and sometimes brought only misfortune.

According to the strict charter of the Solovetsky Monastery, women were not allowed on the island. They could bow to the shrines only from afar, from the tiny “Hare Island”. From the pier to it - a mile and a half, and the whole Kremlin with domes rising above it is visible from there, as if in the palm of your hand.

The tradition has been preserved. The new owner of the island took the "Zaichiki" to the women's isolation ward, where they ended up mainly for a sin against the seventh commandment and where only one man was admitted as a representative of the authorities - a seventy-year-old Jew, God knows what ways he got into the service of the economic part of the Cheka, who was fined with something then he got into exile. Age and obvious decrepitude put him, as the wife of Caesar, beyond suspicion.

The convicts, who were not guilty of anything on Solovki, lived on the island itself, but outside the Kremlin, in a building surrounded by three rows of barbed wire, from where they were taken under heavy escort to work in a laundry, a rope workshop, a peat digger and a brick factory. Laundry and "strings" were considered easy jobs, and "bricks" - shaping and carrying raw materials - were frightening. To get rid of the “bricks”, all means were used, and few could withstand 2-3 months of this really hard, not female work.

Life in the Zhenbarak was harder than in the Kremlin. Its inhabitants, deeply different in their spiritual way, cultural level, habits, needs, were mixed and lumped into one heap, without the possibility of separating into separate homogeneous groups, as was the case in the Kremlin. The number of criminals here many times exceeded the number of kaerks, and they reigned supreme. Prison keepers, prostitutes, cocaine dealers, smugglers ... and among them - aristocrats, cavalry ladies, maids of honor.

The exit from the barracks was strictly controlled; women even went to the theater under escort and sat there apart, also under observation.

Women are much less adapted to a normal hostel than men. The inner life of the zhenbarak was hell, and the maid of honor of the three empresses, a sixty-five-year-old baroness, who bore a surname known throughout Russia, was thrown into this hell.

Dostoevsky said a great truth: “A commoner who goes to hard labor comes to his own society, even, perhaps, a more developed one. An educated person, subjected to the same punishment according to the laws, often loses incomparably more than he does. He must suppress in himself all his needs, all his habits; he must move into an environment that is insufficient for him, he must learn to breathe the wrong air ... And often the same punishment for everyone turns into ten times the most painful for him. This is the truth”… (“Dead House”, p. 68).

It was precisely this, much more severe punishment, that this old woman bore, guilty only of being born in an aristocratic, and not in a proletarian family.

If for the hostess of the Kronstadt port brothel Korablikha the life of the zhenbarak and its environment were familiar, native elements, then what were they for the Smolyanka, whose native element was the circles closest to the throne? How many times harder was every year, every day, every hour of imprisonment for her?

Continuous, unceasing day or night torture. The GPU knew this and, with obvious sadism, shuffled the kaerok into cells one by one. With men in the Kremlin, it could not do this, in the Zhenbarak it was possible.

The Petersburg life of the baroness could develop in her very few qualities that would ease her lot on Solovki. So it seemed. But it just seemed. In fact, the lady-in-waiting-baroness brought out of her a true sense of her own dignity and the respect for the human person that is inextricably linked with it, the utmost, sometimes incredible self-control and a deep consciousness of her duty.

Once in the barracks, the baroness was met there not “with hostility”, but more cruelly and hostilely. The incentive to persecute her was envy of her past. Women do not know how to suppress in themselves, to bridle this feeling and completely succumb to it. The weak, frail old woman was hated not in her present, but as the bearer of that illusion that enchanted and attracted the dreams of her haters.

The past, elegant, refined, bright, stood out in every movement of the old lady-in-waiting, in every sound of her voice. She couldn't hide it if she wanted to, but she didn't want to. She remained an aristocrat in the best, truest sense of the word; and in the Solovetsky Zhenbarak, in the stench of obscene abuse, in the chaos of brawls, she was the same as she was seen in the palace. She did not shy away, did not delimit herself from those around her, did not show even a shadow of that arrogance that false aristocracy invariably sins. Having become a convict, she recognized herself as such and accepted her fate, inevitability, like a cross that must be carried without grumbling, without complaints and self-pity, without lamentation and tears, without looking back.

Immediately upon arrival, the baroness was, of course, appointed to the "bricks". One can imagine how difficult it was for her in her seventies to carry a two-pound load. Her workmates cheered:

- Baroness! Maid of honor! It's not for you to drag your tail for the queen! Work our way! - although few of them really worked before Solovki.

They did not take their eyes off her and greedily waited for a cry of complaint, tears of impotence, but they did not have to see this. Self-control, inner discipline, endured throughout her life, saved the baroness from humiliation. Without showing her undoubted fatigue, she worked to the end, and in the evening, as always, she prayed for a long time on her knees in front of a small icon.

My great friend of the Solovetsky days, the Kronstadt brothel Korablikha, a Russian woman, lively, toothy, but who retained “pity” in her woman’s soul, told me later:

- As she knelt down, Sonya Eye started a fuss: “Look, you set your God, what a saint showed up between us,” and Aneta at her: “Are you sorry, or what? Does yours take? You see, a man keeps his soul!” Sonya bit her tongue ...

The same was repeated in the following days. The Baroness calmly and measuredly wore damp bricks, returning to the barracks, thoroughly cleaning her dress, silently eating a bowl of codfish soup, praying and going to bed on her neatly tidied trestle bed. She did not approach the isolated circle of the female barrack intelligentsia, but she did not shy away and, just as she did not shy away from any of her cohabitants at all, she spoke in exactly the same tone and with Princess Shakhovskaya, who constantly interjected French words, and with Sonya Glazko, who used unprintable words to the same extent. She spoke only Russian, although the "isolated" preferred French.

The gloomy Solovetsky days passed, and attacks against the baroness were repeated less and less. The "wit" of the tongued women clearly did not succeed.
“This morning, Manka Long ran into the Baroness at the washstand,” Korablikha informed me in the evening at a theater rehearsal, “she left her brushes, soap: krant, they say, is taking a long time!” I'll move her with a filthy rag! Why do you offend the divine old woman? Why don't you have enough water? Where does it hurt you that she keeps cleanliness?

The final turning point in the attitude towards the former maid of honor came when the cleaner of the cell where she lived “showed up”.
“To show up” in the Solovetsky jargon meant to announce one's pregnancy. In the usual manner, all those who sinned against the prohibition of love were supposed to have Bunnies, even those who were pregnant until the seventh or eighth month. But those who were already on demolition were sent to the island of Anzer, where they gave birth and breast-fed newborns in relatively tolerable conditions, in light work. Therefore, the pregnancy was carefully hidden and announced only when it was possible, bypassing the Bunnies, to get directly to the “mothers”.

The “appeared” cleaning lady had to be replaced, and according to the old prison tradition, this replacement was carried out in a democratic manner – the cleaning lady was chosen. Her work was relatively easy: to wash the floors, bring firewood, heat the stove. The cleaners fought for the place.
- Whom shall we put? asked the ship. She was the head of the cell.

- Baroness! Sonya Peephole shouted loudly, unrestrained in both love and hate. Who but her? She is the cleanest of all! There will be no trouble...

The argument was strong. The whole chamber was punished for dirt. The maid of honor of the three All-Russian empresses became the cleaner of the chamber of thieves and prostitutes. This was a great "mercy" to her. The "bricks" obviously led her to the grave.

I myself never spoke to the baroness, but I followed her life closely through my friends who worked in the theater: Korablikha and the same Sonya Eye, who sang in the choir.

Having taken a certain social position in the hard labor collective, the baroness not only ceased to be a stranger, but automatically acquired authority corresponding to her “rank”, even some power. Her rapprochement with the camera began, it seems, with a consultation on complex issues of cosmetic sacraments, performed with equal care both in the palace and in hard labor. Then the conversations became deeper, more serious… And now…

The theater was preparing A. Tolstoy's "The Conspiracy of the Empress" - a hacky, but playful play, which then went on in all theaters of the USSR. Armanov played Rasputin and eagerly collected all the information about him from those who had seen the mysterious old man.

“All this is a lie, as if the queen was walking with him,” Sonya declared categorically, “she allowed him to see her because he prayed very hard for the Heir ... And there was nothing else between them. Our baroness was with them, but she will not lie.

The shipowner, who adopted her political credo among the Kronstadt sailors, shed light on the question differently:

- One peasant reached the tsar and told him the truth, for which the bourgeois killed him. The tsar swore to him for Naslednikov's recovery to give the land to the peasants after the war. Here's the thing!

The growing spiritual influence of the Baroness was felt stronger and stronger in her cell. This great mystery of the awakening of Man was performed without violence and loud words. Probably, the baroness herself did not understand the role that she was assigned to perform in the cell of the hard labor hostel. She did and said “what is necessary”, as she had done it all her life. The simplicity and complete lack of didactics of her words and actions were the main force of her influence on those around her.

Among men, Sonya continued to swear, but with women she began to noticeably restrain herself and, most importantly, her “epithets” lost their former tone of defiant bravado, turning into simple words, without which she could not express the stormy emotions that always bubbled in her. On Holy Week, she, Korablikha, and two other women from the choir would go to church at the priest, Consolation Priest, who was secretly taken to the theater. The sacrament of the acceptance of the Body and Blood of Christ was performed in a dark closet, where the props were kept, with Gifts carried in a flat soldier's mug in the side pocket of a pea jacket. “On the lookout” at the door stood a prop-Turkish Reshad-Sedad, in the recent past a communist, People's Commissar of Education of Adjaristan. If they knew, everyone would be on Sekirka and Zaichiki, if not worse ...

When a terrible epidemic of typhus broke out, sisters of mercy or those who could replace them were urgently needed. Beginning medical unit USLON M. V. Feldman did not want appointments for this mortal work. She came to the zhenbarak and, having gathered its inhabitants, persuaded them to go voluntarily, promising a salary and a good ration. There were no applicants. They were not found even when the expansive Feldman appealed for help to the dying.

At this time, an old cleaning woman entered the cell with a bundle of firewood. Her head was wrapped in a scarf - the yard was bitterly cold. As she stacked firewood for the stove, she heard only Feldman's last words:

“So no one wants to help the sick and dying?”

“I want,” came the sound from the stove.

- You? Are you literate?

- Competent.

“Do you know how to use a thermometer?”

- I can. I worked for three years as a surgical nurse in the Tsarskoye Selo infirmary ...

- What's your last name?

A well-known name sounded, without a title.

- Baroness! - Sonya shouted, unable to stand it, but this cry sounded completely different from the one on the first day of the work of the former maid of honor on the “bricks”.

Sonka signed up second, and several other women followed her. Among them there was not a single one from the "separate" circle, although in it they talked a lot about Christianity and about their own religiosity.

The doors of the typhus hut closed behind the three Russian empresses who entered after the maid of honor. From there, few people came out. Most of them didn't work either.

M. V. Feldman later said that the baroness was appointed the elder sister, but she carried the work on an equal basis with others. Hands were missing. The work was very hard, because the patients lay side by side on the floor and the bedding under them was replaced by the sisters, who raked out the shavings soaked with sewage with their hands. This barrack was a terrible place.

The baroness worked day and night, she worked as quietly, measuredly and calmly as she carried bricks and washed the floor of the zhenbarak. With the same methodicalness and accuracy, as, probably, she carried out her duties under the empresses. This last service of hers was not a selfless impulse, but the result of a deep inner culture, received not only with mother's milk, but inherited from a number of previous generations. The time will come when geneticists will reveal the great secret of heredity.

The sense of duty that possessed her and deep personal discipline gave her the strength to bring the work to the limiting hour, minute, second ...

This hour struck when an ominous rash broke out on the arms and neck of the Baroness. M. V. Feldman noticed her.

- Baroness, go and lie down in a special room ... Don't you see for yourself?

- To what? You know that at my age, typhus is not cured. The Lord calls me to Himself, but for two or three days I will still be able to serve Him…

They stood opposite each other. Aristocrat and communist. A virgin and a passionate, unrepentant Magdalene. A believer in Him and an atheist. Women of two worlds.

The expansive, impulsive M. V. Feldman hugged and kissed the old woman.

When she told me about it, her eyes were full of tears.

- You know, I wanted to baptize her then, as my nanny baptized me in childhood. But I was afraid to offend her sense of faith. After all, I'm Jewish.

The last second came a day later. During the morning rounds, the baroness sat on the floor, then lay down. The delirium began.

Sonya Eye also did not leave the barracks of death, their souls appeared together before the Throne of the Lord

Published according to the publication: Boris Shiryaev. Unquenchable lamp. M., 2002.