Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia
Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich | |
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Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia (
He followed a military career. After graduating from the Nicholas Cavalry College in 1896, he served as cornet in the Life Guards Hussar regiment. He took part in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and became a major general in the Russian Army in 1914. During World War I, he commanded the regiment of the Ataman Cossacks in 1915. He was known in Imperial Russia for his restless behavior and as a notorious playboy.
After the fall of the Russian monarchy, he was put under house arrest in Petrograd by the provisional government in March 1917, but he managed to escape the former Imperial capital in September that year and joined his mother and younger brother in the Caucasus. He departed revolutionary Russia in March 1919 with his longtime mistress, whom he married in exile. Eventually, he settled in France where he spent the rest of his life. He died in Occupied Paris in 1943.
Early life
Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich was born on 24 November [
Grand Duke Boris was educated at home. He initially was raised by a British nanny, the first language he spoke was English.[3] As was customary in the Russian Imperial family, Boris and his siblings also have a sailor "nanny", a male attendant from the Imperial navy, who served as the children's companion looking after them.[1] Boris Vladimirovich's education emphasized languages and military training. The parents chose the tutors, governors and friends for their children with care.[4] The four siblings spent most of their time at their parents villa in Tsarkoe Selo where they had a lot of freedom and were able to visit a park with a pond.[4]
It was traditional for the male members of the
A Russian Grand Duke
At age eighteen, upon coming of age, Grand Duke Boris received from his father a plot of land at Tsarskoye Selo on the eastern bank of the Kolonistky pond near the Moskovskaya Gate.[4] There, in 1895, the Grand Duke built his own residence in the style of an English country house.[5] All the materials were imported from England and construction was finished in less than a year.[5] The estate, named Wolf Garden, compromised a cottage, coach house, stables, and a small tea house, where the grand duke could entertain his friends.[5] The interiors were designed by Maples importing everything from England.[4] To complement the British atmosphere, the servants were hired from England including a British butler.[6] Boris Vladimirovich lived in Wolf Garden all year round while still serving in the army.[7] The property was run as a modern farm and in 1899 a small house was added for the servants.[5]
From his early youth Boris was notorious for his restless life style. He was an extrovert, very social, he liked to drink, gamble and womanizing. He became a famous playboy.
Although loaded with wealth and privilege, Grand Duke Boris found his income insufficient and ran up a huge debt of nearly half a million rubles with his mother. In one year, he spent more than 25,000 rubles for meals, 16,000 for servants and 8,000 for automobiles, giving 46 rubles to the church.[12] His mother protected him from the wrath of the family.
In 1901, Grand Duke Boris, age twenty five, had a liaison with a Frenchwoman, Jeanne Aumont-Lacroix, and had a son by her, born in Paris.[13] The child, Jean Boris Lacroix (1902–1984), was not recognized.[13] To break the relationship and strengthen his character Boris's parents sent him, with the Tsar's approval, on a world tour.
World tour
Grand Duke Boris' tour around the world lasted from 6 January [
On 1 August 1902, Grand Duke Boris arrived in
Jovial and increasingly stout, Boris was famous for his wild and unpredictable behavior, but eventually these excesses began to lose their appeal. He remarked to his brother
In October 1903, he enlisted in the Tsar's retinue. On 26 February, he left Russia for the Far East to take part in the Russo-Japanese War.[21] He served under the command of the Russian governor in the Far East at the headquarters of the commander in chief of the Army, General A.N. Kuropatkin, taking part in combat[22]
On the morning of 31 March 1904, while galloping from the heights of Dacha Hill on the rim of
In 1905, in
1911 was a busy year for the grand duke. He was made colonel and in April he represented Russia at the
War
When World War I broke out, Boris Vladimirovich was put in command of the Guards regiment of the Ataman Cossacks. It was a nominal position, and he managed to stay away from the fighting.[26] He commanded this regiment during the War between 1914 and 1915. Thereafter, he was attached to the general headquarters and was made Field Ataman for the commander in chief on 17 September 1915. He served in the army without real distinction. His military responsibilities were only vaguely defined and he did not change his ways during the war, continuing his life of pleasure and idleness.[12][27] Military service was a burden to Boris, who sought every opportunity that would make him return to St. Petersburg. Even during the war Grand Duke Boris gave many parties at his luxurious mansion, furnished in the English style, which at night was a gathering place for the "golden youth" of St. Petersburg. The grand duke was famous for his hospitality, cheerful disposition, passion for entertainment, gourmet cuisine and excellent wines.
In spite of Boris' reputation, his ambitious mother wanted to arrange a splendid marriage for him. In February 1916, she tried to marry him to
Boris'
By the summer of 1916, Grand Duke Boris fell in love with Zinaida Sergeievna Rachevskaya (1896–1963), the daughter of Colonel Sergei Alexandrovich Rachevsky, who had died in 1904 commanding the fortifications at
Zinaida, a vivacious brunette twenty years younger than Boris, belonged the minor Russian nobility. In late 1916, Zinaida was pregnant.[31] Grand Duke Boris would have liked to marry her, but as he was close in line to the Russian throne aWhen Nicholas II abdicated, Boris was at Gatchina with Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, who declined the throne.[29] This marked the fall of the Russian monarchy and Boris was one of the few members of the Romanov family who went to Mogilev to pay final respects to Tsar Nicholas II.[32]
Revolution
During the period of the provisional government Boris Vladimirovich was living in Tsarskoye Selo. In March 1917, he was put under house arrest because of compromising correspondence with his mother.[33] In July his arrest was lifted.[34] In late August he was still in his dacha in Tsarskoe Selo.[34] He was able to gain entrance to the Vladimir Palace. Disguised, with the help of Englishman Albert Stopford and a caretaker, Boris retrieved the money and jewels from the secret safe in his mother's bedroom. Stopford took the jewels to safety abroad, depositing them in a London bank.[35][36]
Before the
On 26 August 1918, armed with false papers stating they were on a mission for the soviets,
Exile
Once safe in exile in
Boris and his siblings were reunited in exile in September 1920, at
In the winter of 1925 he and his wife, who claimed an interest in dress-making, sailed to New York City.[47] He said that he just wanted to visit some friends and have a good time. When asked by a reporter whether Henry Ford was a financial supporter of the effort to restore the monarchy in Russia, Boris did not know who Henry Ford was.[48] His brother, Grand Duke Kyril, wanted to restore the Russian monarchy and in 1924 proclaimed himself czar-in-exile, but Boris was largely uninterested in politics.[48]
Last years
During the long years of exile the former playboy-Grand Duke remained in love with his wife, who was twenty years his junior.
In exile, Boris frequented his illegitimate son, Boris Lacroix, who had been raised in France by his mother's family. Lacroix's mother, Jeanne, already deceased, was buried in
During World War II, Boris and Zinaida were at their villa in Biarritz when German troops occupied Paris in June 1940.[42] Fleeing the French capital Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich and his wife Mathilde came to live with Boris. On 26 June the Germans reached Biarritz, and after three months the two couples decided to return to Paris. At the end of 1942, during the German occupation, they sold their estate in Meudon, and moved to a house in the Rue de la Faisanderie in Paris.[42]
In 1943, Grand Duke Boris became critically ill, and died in his bed on 9 November 1943, in Paris, at age 65. His obituary was only briefly noted by the newspapers and Vichy radio.[49]
Nonetheless, there was a large turnout for the funeral, held at St Alexander Nevsky Russian-Orthodox Cathedral in Paris, where his body was placed in the crypt. He was later reburied next to his mother in the Russian Orthodox chapel at Contrexéville, Vosges.[42]
In popular culture
Grand Duke Boris was well known before the war as an international playboy, and appears in many memoirs and novels of the period. A representative mention is found in
"My dear Mrs. Trevelyan," said he reprovingly, "I didn't mean to suggest that this criminal might be your friend, — I only said you might know him. That's an entirely different matter, isn't it? You might know Jack Johnson, the prize-fighter, or Nan Patterson, or Oscar Wilde — "
"What a delightful circle of acquaintances!" laughed Lily, amused in spite of herself. "If you'd only throw in
Ancestry
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Notes
- ^ a b Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 109.
- ^ a b Beéche, The Other Grand Dukes, p. 20.
- ^ Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 53.
- ^ a b c d e f g Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 63
- ^ a b c d Hall, The English Dacha at Tsarkoe Selo, p. 26.
- ^ a b c Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 64.
- ^ Hall, The English Dacha at Tsarkoe Selo, p. 64.
- ^ Massie, Nicholas and Alexandra, p. 389.
- ^ a b c King, Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich in the United States, p. 15.
- ^ Chavchavadze, The Grand Dukes, p. 235.
- ^ a b c Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 70.
- ^ a b Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 126.
- ^ a b Ferrand, Descendances naturelles des souverains et grands-ducs de Russie, de 1762 à 1910 , p. 408.
- ^ a b c Beéche, The Other Grand Dukes, p. 21.
- ^ a b Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 66.
- ^ a b King, Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich in the United States, p. 16.
- ^ King, Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich in the United States, pp. 16-18.
- ^ King, Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich in the United States, p. 19.
- ^ a b King, Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich in the United States, p. 20.
- ^ Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 71.
- ^ Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 94.
- ^ a b c d Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 67.
- ^ Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 84.
- ^ Beéche, The Other Grand Dukes, p. 22.
- ^ a b c Chavchavadze, The Grand Dukes, p. 236.
- ^ Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 123.
- ^ Zeepvat, The Camera and the Tsars, p. 204.
- ^ a b Zeepvat, Romanov Autumn, p. 168.
- ^ a b c d e Chavchavadze, The Grand Dukes, p. 237.
- ^ Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 125.
- ^ a b c d Platonov, Igor. " The Cinderella from Dvinsk: Zinaida Rashevskaya". nasha.lv. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
- ^ Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 159.
- ^ Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 186.
- ^ a b Hall, The English Dacha at Tsarkoe Selo, p. 27.
- ^ a b c Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 201.
- ^ a b Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 174.
- ^ a b c d Zeepvat, Romanov Autumn, p. 171.
- ^ Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 206.
- ^ Beéche, The Other Grand Dukes, p. 23.
- ^ a b c Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 207.
- ^ Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 230.
- ^ a b c d e Beéche, The Other Grand Dukes, p. 24.
- ^ Zeepvat, Romanov Autumn, p. 172.
- ^ Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 264.
- ISBN 978-1905267255.
- ^ Miller, The Romanov Connection, p. 9.
- ^ a b c Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 265.
- ^ a b Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 266.
- ^ Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 315.
References
- Beéche, Arturo. The Other Grand Dukes, Eurohistory, 2012. ISBN 978-0-9854603-9-6
- Chavchavadze, David. The Grand Dukes, Atlantic, 1989, ISBN 0-938311-11-5
- Ferrand, Jacques. Descendances naturelles des souverains et grands-ducs de Russie, de 1762 à 1910 : répertoire généalogique, 1995.
- Hall, Coryne. Imperial Dancer, Sutton publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-7509-3558-8
- Hall, Coryne. The English Dacha at Tsarkoe Selo. Royalty Digest Quarterly. 2007 N 1.
- Korneva, Galina and Cheboksarova, Tatiana. Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna. Eurohistory.com, 2014. ISBN 978-0-9854603-6-5
- Massie, Robert K. Nicholas and Alexandra, 1967, Dell Publishing Co., ISBN 0440163587
- Miller, Ilana. The Romanov Connection: A gathering of Cousins from Russia, Baden and Greece. The European Royal History Journal. V 15.6, December 2012.
- Platonov, Igor. The Cinderella from Dvinsk: Zinaida Rashevskaya. Nasha.nvl. 14 November 2012.
- Perry, John and Pleshakov, Constantine. The Flight of the Romanovs, Basic Books, 1999, ISBN 0-465-02462-9.
- Zeepvat, Charlotte. The Camera and the Tsars, Sutton Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7509-3049-7.
- Zeepvat, Charlott. Romanov Autumn: stories from the last century of Imperial Russia. Sutton Publishing, 2000. ISBN 9780750923378