ROMANCE OF ROMANOFFS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20235, 20 April 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

ROMANCE OF ROMANOFFS.

GREAT LOVE TRAGEDY.

STORY OF RUSSIAN COURT.

THE„LAST OF THE TSARS

LIFE HISTORY OF PARENTS. It has recently been disclosed that tho cleath of .the late ex-Tsar Nicholas of Russia was the finale of ono of tho greatest love tragedies that have ever stirred humanity. Princess Kadziwill, who was brought up in the Russian Court and enjoyed Iho friendship of tho late Empress Marie—fcwpicrly Princess Dagmar—tells the story in -Tit-Bits. - ... 7; ~ - .. Oh a beautiful spring *...clay u man lay dying. Through tho open windows of his room the sun was pouring in, and all the glory of a Southern landscape, with the blue Mediterranean Sea glimmering in the distance, appeared in a magnficent display. Beside him two women were keeping watch—his mother and the girl whom ho had wooed with such ardent love, the girl who was to havo been his wife.

The love affair of the eldest son of the Tsar Alexander 11., the Tsarevitch Nicholas, with the Princess Dagmar of Denmark—sister of tho lato Queen Alexandra —hail interested all Europe. They seemed to have been created for one another. Both wero handsome, both accomplished, both enthusiastic, both full of plans for the happiness and welfare of the nation over which they wero to rule. It is so rare that sons and daughters of kings aro allowed to choose their partners ill life. And hero ono hail itu exception— a boy and a girl, ardently, sincerely, devotedly in love. Tragedy Behind a Throne. Tho reign of Alexander 11., which had begun so brilliantly, was developing itself in sadness and anxiety. It was on his first-born he had concentrated all his affection. And now this sou of promise was to die!

The Emperor was broken-hearted as. called/hastily by his wife, he entered the bick-room. The dying youth, who knew that his hour had come, raised himself up on| his couch. " Father," he said, " don't despair. 1 am leaving someone to take my place! " He pointed to Dagmar, prostrated beside his bed, and sobbing bittci'ly. " Call Alexander," he murmured, as ho fell back on the pillows. Alexander was his younger brother, the one who would take his place on the steps of the Russian throne. The young man appeared in response to this supreme appeal. " Brother," said Nicholas, and it was noticed that his voice had suddenly become stronger and clearer, " I want to give you and Russia a treasure," and as he spoke he took the cold hand of Dagmar in his' own and put it in that of his brother. " Take her and marry her; this is my/dying wish. She is -worthy of you, and she will make you happy, and stand by you and work with you for the welfare of our beloved country. And you, Minii," / reverting to the pet name which the girl had been called by her family, " you, Mimi, promise to me also that you will marry him. . Love him and l>e happy together, and don't forget me when lam dead! Father, promise me that you will allow them. to marry. Promise it, or I will not die in peace! " In Love with Another Woman.

" I promise, my son, 1 promise it to you,"/ replied the Emperor; and bonding over the Princess, still on her knees beside the bed. lie solemnly and gravely blessed her. That same night Nicholas Alexandroyitch, heir to the glory of the Romanoffs. quietly and peacefully passed away. The new Tsarevitch had never expected to; become a sovereign, and he had not been trained for the part. He was in love wit hi another woman, the darkeyed Princess Marie Mestchersky, one of his mother's maids of honour, and he had promised to many her. In the Greek Orthodox Church such promises are as binding as a marriage. When, after Nicholas' funeral, his parents; spoke to Alexander of Dagmar and the necessity for him to comply with his brother's dying wishes and make her his wife, he replied that lie did not want to do so, (hat his heart was given to another woman, and that lie was ready (o renounce his rights to the Russian throne in favour of his brother Vladimir in order to wed her. Threatened with Siberia. One may imagine the scandal created by this cool assertion. The Emperor stormed and threatened bis son with the fortress and with Siberia, and still lie resisted. It was then decided that (he Princess Dagmar should be invited (o stay with the broken-hearted Empress in the Winter Palace, in the hope that her loveliness would win the affection of the man to whom her dead lover had bequeathed

Dagmar went to Russia, drawn to the Fad Empress by sympathy in their common sorrow. In the meanwhile influences were brought to bear on the woman with whom the new Tsarevitch was in love. 1 ter she had been told by her family that her ever becoming the wife of the heir to the Romanoff throne was out of the question, she was induced to marry ono of the richest men in Russia. Paiii Demidoff, Prince of Ran Donato, in Italy. When the young Alexander heard of ii he wanted to shoot himself. It was only an accident, the unexpected entrance in his room of an aide-de-camp, which prevented him from doing so. Just about that time Dagrnar arrived in St. Petersburg. Everybody expected that .the declaration of her marriage would follow, but npthirig happened. On the contrary, she told the Empress that her heart was buried in Nicholas' grave, and that nothing in the world would ever induce her to marrv anvhodv else.

An Unwilling Bridegroom. Then Alexander 11. decided tli;it (he time had come when lie ought to iriterfere. /'Very gravely and kindly he spoke to the Princess. He was getting old, lie said. Uo knew that Dagmar and Nicholas had made plans to follow in his footsteps. *4o thought that the Princess had aft cepted Ihe responsibilities which her engagement had brought along with it. Tho Sovereign talked for ;i lont; time in t hat strain. Hut rdl the weeping Dagmar could reply was. "I don't, love Alexander/and he does not love me; how can v.e marry under such conditions? " Ho will love you in time; how can lie help loving you ? " litis struggle went on for mnnv dnvs iinii) at hist the invalid Kmovess interfered./ Xo O no knows what she told Hip Princess, ;md id.-.o her son, hut ,-it l;ist, Alexander sought, tier who was to have Weil Ins sister in law. and asked her to become his wife. "\ on must understand mo,"ho told her. "My heart belongs to anothei woman, tint 1 admire and respect you. I believe my brother was r'ght when he said that yon were the only/ woman in Europe worthy of becoming an Empress of Russia." If von ■will marry me, and remain nothing but my friend, T will try to make you a good husband and give you as much happiness Jis possible." A Strange Wedding Day. The marriage v\as fixed for November 26. 1366, eighteen months after tho promature death of Nicholas. As Alexander was/ dressing for the cereinonv a telegram ■was put into his hands. It told him that the Princess Mestchersky, now Madame Demidoff, had died in Paris. 'llie chapel was ready for the wedding. The priests were waiting bv tho altar, llie. guests were assembled, and the bride was being arrayed for the marriage. Alexander crushed into his pocket the fatal message and followed his escort. -Some hours after the ceremony Dagmar lounti lier husband sitting beside a table, ■t.-l .

his face buried in his hands, sobbing as she had never heard a man sob before. She went to him, and her womanly instinct taking the upper hand, she gathered him in her arms. The strong man had entirely broken down, and in his complete despair ho poured forth all the agony of his soul to the girl who had become his wife" a few hours earlier. " She is dead," he cried, " she is dead, tho only woman 1 have ever loved- " And then Dagmar sat down besido him, and in her turn began to weep silently. " He is also dead, the man I have loved more than life itself," she said, " and I can understand and respect your tears.' TUit we are married, we must make the best of it. Remember ono thing, if uo lmve lost those to whom our hearts were given, tliero still remains one thing to lis, there ren>*ias Russia, let us live for Russia! " And it was in this strange way that this unusual married lifo began. Time went on, and outwardly the union seemed to bo a happy ono. but there was no heir. There waa a picture exhibition held in St. Petersburg, and they went to see it. One may imagine Dagmar's consternation when lite first thing which struck her eyes as she entered tho room was a largo portrait of tho now dead Princess, Marie Mestehcrsky. Frightened almost to the point of screaming, she looked at her husband. Ho was gazing at this image of his first love, but without the emotion she would have expected him to display. Evidently the sight was not so painful to him as might have been supposed. Silently they drove back to their palace. When they reached tho palace Alexander took'his wife's hand and drawing it under his arm, led her toward a picture of his dead brother Nicholas, which hung

in her boudoir, and gravely asked her to sit down. " Minii," lie said, " he left you to mo, and I feel that I have not proved myself worthy of the gift he made me. 1 have been a miserable fool, and perhaps I have lo:;t for ever the chance I had to win your love. And yet it is your love that I want, and I realised it to-day when I saw attain the face of the woman who once was dear to me. My heart told me that if she could come to life, again and stand befoio me, and I were free,' not her, but you, I would choose for my wife! Will you forgive me ? " "With all my heart/' replied his you nt; wife, and she threw hu'self into his arms. Less than a year later the guns of the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul announced that a son and heir had been born to Alexander and his consort, a boy who was to become the unfortunate Nicholas 11., the last Romanoff to be crowned in Moscow.

In 1881 Alexander 111. ascended the throne, from which an assassin's bomb had struck down his father. Thirteen years saw the end of it. Alexander, like his brother, saw the grave opening to receive him, and, like Nicholas, he met his death with courage and dignity. And all through the weary weeks which preceded the end, every morning and evening, the

Empress Marie, as Dagmar was now known, kept asking her husband, whom she, bad grown to adore, llie same agonising question : " Do you roallv love me now—do you love me as dearly as you loved Mario Mestchersky ? " Looking down with infinite, tenderness on this wife of his youth, who was sobbing with all tho agony of her soul, lie slowly said: Yes, I love you better than anything elso in the world, and as a proof of it, I am going to confide Russia to you. You alone know what it requires. You must promise me to continue my work; you must promiso rue never to forsake Russia! " For several years the Empress was allowed to exercise her influence over her son in the sense lier dead consort had meant. Then dark days arrived, during which the clouds became more and more opaque. Then came the Great War, the revolution, Bolshevism, the fall of the Romanoffs, the end of every hope, of the dream she had dreamed during the idyllic days when she was sitting on the throno of the Ruriks.