The most famous place in St. Petersburg associated with the name of Matilda Kshesinskaya is the mansion that belonged to her on Kronverksky Avenue. It began to be built specifically for the ballerina in 1904, but not at her own expense, but with the money of the Grand Duke of the Romanov family, Sergei Mikhailovich, the artist’s second lover. However, in 1917 she had to leave the mansion forever. After the February Revolution, the Bolsheviks ruled it, and the mansion was completely looted. Therefore, almost no original items of the ballerina have survived. Now the mansion houses the Museum of Political History of Russia, but its owner is never forgotten here. The building houses a permanent exhibition “Matilda Kshesinskaya: Fouette of Fate”, so there are many specialists for whom there are blank spots in their biography great ballerina almost none left.
Of course, we constantly have to debunk myths and legends associated both with the mansion itself and with the name of Matilda,” exhibition curator Margarita Samoilova began the story. - We also heard that an underground passage was allegedly built from the mansion to Winter Palace right under the Neva, and about what treasures are supposedly still buried here. But, of course, all these rumors are not true.
She was extraordinarily talented
There is also information about Matilda herself, as well as about her relationship with the heir to the Russian throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich. huge amount legends. Lately Orthodox activists insist that the tsar had no love relationship with a ballet dancer, and their connection was exclusively spiritual. Historians do not agree with this opinion.
It was a normal intimate relationship between two young people,” says Margarita Samoilova. - Matilda met the heir in 1890 at a graduation ceremony at the ballet school. And there is an opinion that the seating arrangement of the guests at the gala dinner that followed the ballerinas’ performance was not accidental. Matilda could have been seated next to Nikolai himself. Alexander III, who dreamed that the heir would turn from a shy young man into a real man.
The plan worked: Nikolai and Matilda fell in love with each other. Their meetings took place in a house at 18 Anglisky Avenue, which was rented for dates.
The relationship ended
The relationship between Nicholas and Matilda did not last long - from 1890 to 1894, and even during this period the future tsar managed to commit trip around the world. Then Nicholas II would call his feeling the “brightest” pages of his youth.
We know for sure that after Nikolai’s engagement to Alice of Hesse took place, his relationship with Matilda ended,” says Margarita Samoilova. - Therefore, it is incorrect to call the ballerina the Tsar’s mistress.
After the separation, the future emperor handed Matilda over to the care of his cousin Sergei Mikhailovich. He devotedly loved Matilda for 25 years and even gave his patronymic to the ballerina’s son, Volodya, who was born in 1902. Later, Matilda will give him the patronymic of his real father - Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich ( cousin Nicholas II), who would become her husband in France.
The Romanovs in the life of Matilda Kshesinskaya
Three men from the Romanov family played the biggest role in the life of Matilda Kshesinskaya. Here they are:
The ballerina almost lived to be a hundred years old
Having left Petrograd in 1917, more three years Matilda Kshesinskaya lived in the south of Russia. Only in February 1920, on the ship Semiramida, did she leave the country forever. She would live a long and eventful life in France and die in Paris in 1971, three months short of her centenary.
Matilda took a small suitcase with jewelry with her from her luxurious mansion, says Margarita Samoilova. - She kept other jewelry and money in banks, but they were all nationalized. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich remained in the city for a long time and hoped that he would be able to take something out. But he couldn’t: in July 1918 he was shot near Alapaevsk.
Andrei Vladimirovich was luckier: he emigrated, and in 1921 in Cannes, already 49-year-old Matilda Kshesinskaya became his legal wife.
In 1929, in Paris, Kshesinskaya opened her ballet school. This happened not so much out of love for art: she needed to earn her bread. The last time Matilda appeared on stage was on July 14, 1936, at a ballet evening at London's Covent Garden Theater - she was 64 years old. The theater was crowded.
The ballerina's son Volodya never started a family, devoting his entire life to his mother.
1960 - Matilda Kshesinskaya’s memoirs were published in Paris, where she talked about her acquaintance and meetings with the heir to the throne
Next news
Documentary filmmaker Sergei Aliyev told reporters that he plans to make a documentary film “Matilda’s Lie”, designed to “debunk the myths” around the personality of Nicholas II. that its participants will be historians, fighter Fedor Emelianenko and State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov, but the latter two had not heard of the film until today. "360" reveals what is known about the film.
What is Matilda's Lie?
Not yet shown on the big screen, Alexei Uchitel's film "Matilda" has already created a sensation. State Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya started a campaign against him, and now, in defiance of the film, they want to remove a refutation tape. Documentary filmmaker Sergei Aliev, after watching the trailer for “Matilda,” he decided to make his own film, “Matilda’s Lie.” Filming will begin very soon, but the director has already revealed some details regarding the script and crew.
The script is being completed. We will complete this work by the end of this week. Filming will begin next week and will take place in Yekaterinburg, Moscow and St. Petersburg
- Sergey Aliev.
He clarified that the film with a “small budget” will last about an hour. The team of director Yuri Ryazanov will assist in the filming. “Matilda’s Lie” may be released in the first half of September - the creators expect that they will be able to negotiate a broadcast with federal channels.
Alexey Uchitel, in turn, will be glad to watch the documentary “Matilda’s Lie”, but it seems that one cannot count on positive criticism.
The insanity continues, there are idiots, let them film.<…>Moreover, I don’t understand why they want to expose if they haven’t seen the film. They couldn't get the script. And if they have read it, then let them do what they want. I'll be glad to see it
— Alexey Uchitel.
Also in “Matilda’s Lie” it is planned to include video monologues about Nicholas II by actors Andrei Merzlikin, Alexei Nilov and Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan. But they don’t want to cast Poklonskaya in this film - everything is clear with her.
Deputy Vitaly Milonov was supposedly supposed to star in the film. However, Aliyev’s ambitions seem to be a little at odds with the case - in a conversation with 360, the parliamentarian said that he had not received an offer to participate in the filming of the film, but in fact would like to play the emperor in a film about Nicholas II - but only a feature film.
It was also reported that the famous fighter Fedor Emelianenko will take part in the filming of the film. However, his PR manager Yulia Kuklina told 360 that no one offered Fedor to star in the film.
Nobody communicated with Fedor about filming the film. And he has no plans to take part in them. This is false information
— Yulia Kuklina.
Where it all started
"Matilda" - feature film Russian director Alexei Uchitel. The film is dedicated to the love story of Emperor Nicholas II and the young ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya.
The scandal surrounding the film, which had not yet been released, broke out in November last year. State Duma deputy Natalya Poklonskaya led the ranks of opponents of the film: according to her, the image of the sovereign in the film Teacher is distorted. Moreover, Poklonskaya began to put a spoke in the wheels of “Matilda” when the film was not even edited.
The deputy appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office several times with a request to check the film for insulting the feelings of believers, but the department did not find any violations. Her behavior received mixed reactions - how can you criticize a film even if you haven't seen it? However, this did not stop Poklonskaya from continuing the fight - she turned to a group of experts who said that the film should not be shown to the general public. Later, another examination found only one bed scene, which they say is even suitable for teenagers to watch.
Poklonskaya did not give up and collected complaints from like-minded people, and most recently, she never deigned to watch the finished film, a video from what she considers to be the “pornographic roles” of the actor who plays Tsar Nicholas in “Matilda.”
Film critics consider Poklonskaya’s behavior ambiguous, but one thing is clear - the deputy has not yet succeeded in achieving his goal and banning the screening of the film. Director Alexey Uchitel valiantly and not without irony demolishes all her attacks. Once he even suggested that the deputy was very likely in love with Nicholas II, for which "".
Even Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about the film: on June 15, during “Direct Line,” actor Sergei Bezrukov asked the head of state to resolve the dispute between Poklonskaya and Teacher. Putin noted that royal family Tougher films were also made, but he wouldn’t want to get involved in a personal dispute with Poklonskaya.
Next news
Rarely has a film attracted so much attention modern society like the movie Matilda. However, it is a mistake today to focus on the theme of the film only on the “film product” of Alexei Uchitel. The next active phase of discrediting the image of the Russian Emperor began much earlier: in 2015. Then the "masters" historical genre", due to them known reasons, suddenly turned again to the personality of the ballerina. And the stream of lies, the target of which was the Royal Martyr, filled the pages of newspapers, television screens, and the Internet with its stench. It ended in 2017 with a grandiose perversion in the form of a “historical blockbuster.” It is logical to conclude that there was an organized campaign on the eve of a tragic date for the history of Russia: the centenary of revolutionary events.
The love relationship between the brightest star of ballet art and the last of the reigning Romanov dynasties is a myth that is more than a century old. Various pseudo-researchers, writing fables about the physical intimacy of the ballerina and the Tsarevich, baselessly refer to Kshesinskaya’s “Memoirs,” which contain nothing of the kind.
Matilda Kshesinskaya wrote “Memoirs” in the 60s of the last century in France and is unlikely to have hidden anything about her relationship with the Sovereign. On the contrary: if it had been written in the style of a cheap love vaudeville, the profit from the sale of “Memoirs” would have increased significantly. But fabrications former ballerina I didn’t get carried away, which is an honor to a worthy woman, no less slandered than the Master of the Russian Land. “Memoirs” are presented by year. However, there is not a word in them about closeness with Nikolai Alexandrovich. However, the lie about the ballerina’s love affair with the Heir has firmly settled both in news publications and in the heads of gullible citizens.
And, really: why shouldn’t the average reader believe “Arguments and Facts,” which published on its pages in 2016 an article by Andrei Sidorchik “Sinful Matilda. How did the ballerina Kshesinskaya drive the men of the Romanov house crazy? Let us illustrate one of the fragments of the publication: “In January 1892, a certain “hussar Volkov” arrived at Matilda’s house. The surprised girl approached the door, and Nikolai walked towards her. That night was the first time they spent together.”
Let’s refute “comrade” Sidorchik: in January 1892, the hussar Volkov could not “arrive” at Matilda’s house due to Kshesinskaya’s lack of one. The ballerina lived with her parents - people of extremely strict morals. And she acquired her own mansion (English Avenue, No. 18) only in the second half of 1892. The surname of hussar Volkov is mentioned only once in “Memoirs”: “A comrade in the Heir’s regiment was hussar Evgeny Volkov, whom I knew well. He was supposed to accompany the Heir on a trip around the world.”
Let us turn to the “nights” of the ballerina with the Heir. In "Memories" there is only one mention of a night together. Let us quote it in full, because it gives an understanding of the actual relationship between the Tsesarevich and Kshesinskaya:
One evening, when the Heir stayed (!) with me almost until the morning, he told me that he was going abroad to meet with Princess Alice of Hesse, with whom they wanted to marry him. Often the Heir brought with him his diaries, which he kept from day to day, and read to me those places where he wrote about his experiences, about his feelings that he had for Princess Alice. He considered her (Alice) the most suitable and that he was attracted to her more and more, that she would be his chosen one, if parental permission followed.
The foregoing confirms the existence between Matilda and Nikolai Alexandrovich of an exclusively spiritual closeness. Being a man of honor, the Tsarevich could not cross the line of this intimacy with the understanding of the impossibility of marriage with a ballerina, being the heir to the throne. This circumstance is confirmed by Kshesinskaya: “The sense of duty and dignity was extremely highly developed in him (in the Tsarevich”). From here romance novel ballerinas and the Heir with dressing up are an absolute fiction.
By the way, the article in “Arguments and Facts” was preceded a year earlier by the documentary “Matilda Kshesinskaya. Mysteries of life." In it, the wild imagination of Elizaveta Gorobets - the author of the film's script - played out much more coolly, especially in the description of Matilda's first date with Nikolai Alexandrovich. According to the film, it happened after Kshesinskaya’s final exam at the Imperial Theater School in March 1890. Then, as you know, Alexander III liked the ballerina’s examination performance, and he seated Matilda at the table next to himself and the heir to the throne.
By the way: the episode with the Peacemaker Tsar in documentary film the only one where its creators hardly lie. Almost: for Alexander Alexandrovich’s playful, smiling address to the young Kshesinskaya: “Look, just don’t flirt too much,” they disgustingly turned into a threat from the Emperor to a seventeen-year-old girl.
Next, the audience is openly told to mislead. It turns out that after a short conversation at the table, the lover Nikolai Alexandrovich began to shower Kshesinskaya with precious gifts. “Matilda told her friends at school how beautifully the heir to the throne was courting her. Some of the girls were jealous, others laughed at her boasting. “I bet,” exclaimed Matilda, “Nicholas will be at my feet.”
In the film, the presenter talks about the first personal meeting of Matilda Kshesinskaya with the Tsarevich as if he were nearby. Kshesinskaya returns from the stage to the dressing room and “suddenly someone’s hand grabbed her ankle. The ballerina was speechless and could not even call for help. Matilda did not know what to expect from the impudent admirer and watched in horror as he clumsily climbed out from under the table. The stranger took off his wig and glasses, and Kshesinskaya realized that there was no reason to panic. Before her was the heir to the throne.” After which a whirlwind romance ensues and Nikolai Alexandrovich loses his head from love for Matilda. Alexander III, angry with his son, reproaches him: “It’s a shame to forget about the power because of a woman,” and sends the Heir on a cruiser to Japan.
What is described is a spreading “cranberry”. The Tsarevich did not shower Matilda with diamonds and pearls, there were no love affairs, a wig with an ankle being grabbed under the table and vows in front of the young ballerina’s friends. The Emperor did not send the Heir to Japan because he “forgot about the power.”
To confirm this, let us refer to Kshesinskaya’s “Memoirs”. In them she talks about her meetings with the future emperor after the final exam - before he left Russia. In fact, Matilda saw Nikolai Alexandrovich only a few times in public places. Let us quote the ballerina about her contacts with the Tsarevich, placing them in chronological order, as in "Memories":
Two days later (after the exam), I was walking with my sister along Bolshaya Morskaya, when suddenly the Heir drove by. He recognized me, turned around and looked after me for a long time.
Another time, I walked along Nevsky Prospect past the Anichkov Palace, where Emperor Alexander the Third lived at that time, and saw the Heir standing with his sister. Again an unexpected joyful meeting. Random encounters We were on the streets with the Heir several more times.
My dreams have come true. Not only on the first day, but at all performances, the Heir came to the stage and talked to me. Since the school performance, I dreamed of seeing him again, even from afar, and now that I could even talk to him, I was infinitely happy.
This summer I was once in Peterhof with Marusya Poiret and spent the whole day hoping to meet the Heir on a walk, but this did not happen. The sad day of the Heir's departure on a trip around the world has arrived.
That's all it was! Let's add to the above: meetings (ordinary, not love) between Nikolai Alexandrovich and Matilda Kshesinskaya practically ceased after the Tsesarevich's accession to the Throne and his marriage to Alexandra Feodorovna in 1894. Of course, Kshesinskaya loved the Emperor. However, we repeat, it was love that did not develop into something more than a spiritual connection between young people.
But if in the documentary there were at least some minor genuine details from the life of the ballerina, then in “Matilda” by Alexei Uchitel there is not even the slightest hint of historical reality, replaced by primitive vulgarity.
Let's start with the fact that the Tsarevich appears on the screen in the form of an overweight man of about fifty with a beard and the puffy face of a man who clearly abuses alcohol. For some reason he is dressed in a general's uniform with epaulettes blue color, which was worn by the chief of the gendarme corps, Alexander Benckendorff. Meanwhile, Nikolai Alexandrovich in 1890 (we are talking about this date) was only twenty-two years old. The young Heir did not yet wear a beard and was in the rank of guards captain.
There is a parody scene in the film when the heir to the throne is shown on top of ordinary scaffolding in a blaze of lights. Yes, ordinary primitive scaffolding, the kind you probably rented from a construction company. Banners of national white-blue-red flags are hung on the scaffolding Russian Federation instead of imperial ones: black, yellow and white. Below, to Matilda Kshesinskaya standing under the scaffolding, Alexander III is being brought in a wheelchair (!). From it, the Emperor addresses the ballerina: “Take care of him (the Tsarevich).”
1. Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna were not the initiators of the “romance” between Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich and M. Kshesinskaya.
2. Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna were not opposed to their son’s wedding to Princess Alice of Hesse. On the contrary, when they learned about the engagement, they were happy for their son.
3. Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich’s youthful infatuation with the ballerina M. Kshesinskaya was not of the nature of “ love passion”and did not turn into sexual intercourse.
4. From his early youth, the Tsarevich dreamed of marrying Princess Alice, and never intended to give any serious character to his relationship with Kshesinskaya. The assertions of the script authors that Nikolai Alexandrovich “loved” Kshesinskaya so much that he did not want to marry Princess Alice, and was even ready to exchange his crown for a marriage with a ballerina, are pure fiction, a lie.
5. The crash of the Imperial train occurred in the fall of 1888, two years before Alexander III and Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich met M. Kshesinskaya. Therefore, there was no way they could talk about her. Kshesinskaya herself was 16 years old in 1888.
6. M. Kshesinskaya has never been to the Highest receptions.
7. Princess Alice of Hesse arrived in Crimea on October 10, 1894, that is, ten days before the death of Emperor Alexander III. Therefore, it is completely unclear why, according to the script, she is dressed in a mourning dress and expresses condolences to the Heir. In addition, the Heir met Alix in Alushta, where she was delivered by horse-drawn carriage, and not by train, as stated in the script.
8. M. Kshesinskaya was not present at the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II, and he could not have seen her there.
9. The procedure for the coronation and wedding of Russian emperors was written out in detail and had a centuries-old tradition. The provisions of the script where Alexandra Feodorovna argues with Maria Feodorovna whether she should wear the Monomakh cap or the large imperial crown are outright fabrications and lies. And also the fact that Maria Fedorovna herself tried on the crown for her daughter-in-law.
10. According to the established procedure, not the Emperor and Empress personally took part in the coronation rehearsal, but courtiers.
11. The eldest son of Emperor Alexander II, Heir Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, died in 1865 in Nice, not from tuberculosis, as “Maria Feodorovna” claims, but from meningitis.
12. The first filming in Russia, carried out by the French company Pathé, was dedicated not to the arrival of Princess Alice in Simferopol “by train,” as stated in the script, but to the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II.
13. Emperor Nicholas II did not faint at the coronation, his crown did not roll on the floor.
14. Emperor Nicholas II never, especially alone, went behind the scenes of theaters.
15. There has never been a person named “Ivan Karlovich” on the list of directors of the Imperial Theater.
16. Among the doctors who treated the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna there was never “Doctor Fishel”.
17. The ballerina costume is not worn on a naked body, so the episode with the torn bodice strap could not have taken place in reality.
18. No one, except the close family circle, could say “you” to the Tsar or the Heir, especially since K.P. Pobedonostsev could not do this.
19. Never a single Russian officer in his right mind could rush at the Heir to the Throne with the aim of beating or killing him, because of the “ballerina’s kiss.”
20. Emperor Nicholas II never tried to abdicate the throne, much less made any attempts to “escape” from Russia with Kshesinskaya.
21. Coronation gifts were distributed to the people not by throwing them from some towers, but in buffets specially designated for this. The crush began several hours before the distribution of gifts, at night.
22. Emperor Nicholas II never came to the Khodynskoye field and did not examine the “mountain of corpses,” which never existed. Since the total number of deaths during the stampede (1,300 people) also includes those who died in hospitals. By the time the Emperor and Empress arrived at Khodynka Field, the corpses of the dead had already been taken away. So there was nothing to “observe”.
23. Slander: Alexander III organizes fornication dates for his son, forcing his brother Grand Duke Vladimir to photograph ballerinas for this.
24. Slander: Alexander III calls on his son Tsarevich Nicholas to live a prodigal life “while I’m alive.”
25. Slander: Before his death, Alexander III blesses M. Kshesinskaya for prodigal cohabitation with his son Tsarevich Nicholas.
26. Slander: Alexander III claims that all Russian emperors over the last hundred years lived with ballerinas.
27. Slander: Alexander III calls ballerinas “thoroughbred Russian mares.”
28. Slander: Nicholas II draws mustaches and beards on ballerinas’ photographs.
29. Slander: Nicholas II does not hide his relationship with Kshesinskaya and enters into sexual contact with her in the Great Peterhof Palace, thereby falling into fornication.
30. Slander: Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna participate in spiritualistic occult sessions of “Doctor Fishel”, which is according to the teachings Orthodox Church a grave sin.
To the cinema
Nicholas II's father, Emperor Alexander III, was against his son's marriage to Princess Alice of Hesse.
In life
Indeed, at first the Russian emperor and his wife were not delighted with this marriage. Alice may have been the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, but at that time she was a poor princess from a provincial German duchy. Her mother suffered from a nervous disorder, but, worst of all, she was a carrier of hemophilia, which is transmitted through the female line to sons, but the carriers themselves do not get sick. (As a result, Nikolai’s son, Tsarevich Alexei, suffered from hemophilia). Alexander counted on the marriage of the heir to Helen Louise Henrietta, daughter of Louis Philippe, Count of Paris. But then politics, as well as the serious illness of the emperor (and he wanted to marry his son before his death) accelerated the marriage of Nicholas and Alice, who became Alexandra Fedorovna in baptism.
To the cinema
Alexander III himself introduced his son to Matilda Kshesinskaya.
In life
This happened in 1890 immediately after the graduation performance at the Imperial Theater School, which, according to tradition, was attended by the monarch and his family. Alexander III unexpectedly singled out Matilda Kshesinskaya among all the dancers and declared to the 17-year-old graduate: “Be the decoration and glory of our ballet!” After the performance, without taking off their theatrical costumes, all the students gathered in the large rehearsal hall to present themselves to the royalty.
The action was carefully rehearsed, the candidates for the best graduates were pre-selected from among the first students, among whom Kshesinskaya could not be included simply because she was listed as attending. And then the first surprise happened - in violation of all the rules, the sovereign asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya?” I had to call her. After the presentation of the graduates, a gala dinner followed, and Malechka also did not have a permanent place at the common table. And the sovereign again ordered in his own way - he seated Kshesinskaya between himself and the heir, playfully threatening both: “Just be careful, don’t flirt too much!” At the same time, Nikolai and Kshesinskaya began to communicate closely only two years later. But Alexander could not show his son on the train, who some time later had an accident, a photograph of the young ballerina. After all, the crash of the train, in which the emperor was injured, because of which he later fell ill and died early, happened two years before Nicholas met Kshesinskaya.
To the cinema
Nicholas II cannot forget his beloved, planning to give up the throne for Kshesinskaya and run away with her.
In life
Many critics of the film argue that the relationship between Nikolai and Matilda was only platonic. It's unlikely. But after his parents’ decision to marry him to Alice Gessenskaya, he decides to end his affair with Kshesinskaya - for sure. And Nicky had no intention of running anywhere. This is how the ballerina herself recalls this in her memoirs: “On April 7, 1894, the engagement of the heir to the throne to Alice, Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt was announced. I knew for a long time that sooner or later this would happen, but still my grief was boundless...
After returning from Coburg and the engagement, the heir to the throne asked me for a farewell meeting. We agreed to meet on Volkonsky Highway, at a barn with hay standing on the side of the road.
Regina Zbarskaya: real life Red Queen
- More details
I came from the city in my carriage, and he came on horseback, straight from the training ground. And, as always happens in such cases, when you need to say a lot to each other, a lump came to our throats, and we said something completely different from what we wanted. There is a lot left unsaid. And what can you talk about at parting, if you know that nothing can be changed...
When Niki left for the training ground, I stood by the barn for a long time and looked after him until he disappeared from sight. And he kept looking around and looking back... I didn’t cry, but my heart was breaking with grief, and as he moved away, my soul became heavier.
I returned to the city, to my empty and orphaned house. It seemed to me that life was over and there would be nothing ahead but pain and bitterness.”
According to rumors, Kshesinskaya received 100 thousand rubles and a house as final payment for her relationship with her august lover. In the future, they most likely never met again. But Nikolai periodically helped his ex-girlfriend in absentia in her theatrical affairs. Nothing is known about at least one personal meeting between Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Kshesinskaya.
To the cinema
Nikolai had a competitor - Lieutenant Vorontsov (played by Danila Kozlovsky). He is in love with Matilda Kshesinskaya so much that he is trying to stop his main rival. For example, he wants to beat him with a crown. The future Emperor Nicholas II shows mercy to the unlucky criminal - he replaces the death penalty with compulsory treatment.
In life
There is no known fan of Kshesinskaya named Vorontsov. The ballerina preferred members of the imperial family: after breaking up with Niki, she was the mistress of the Grand Dukes Sergei Mikhailovich and Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov. And it’s unlikely that a Russian officer would be able to raise his hand against the Tsarevich because of a ballerina - this does not fit into the code of noble honor. So in in this case This is purely artistic fiction.
