Mikhail Georgievich Romanov Jr. Where did the Grand Duke Mikhail, brother of the Emperor of the Russian Empire Nicholas II, disappear to and who did he become? Last Grand Duchess
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov ended his life on the night of June 12-13, 1918, not far from Perm.
The Perm Chekists contemptuously called him "Mishka" or "Caliph for an hour", remembering that
But what did the failed tsar care about those who had once been “nothing”: he spent his last days in Perm waiting, tried not to worry, walked and remembered the departed, dreamed of meeting with the one who became his biggest love in life...
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich 1905
“The horror of how separation affects the nerves, every trifle excites and upsets. Today I can’t write something at all, but I so want to express to you all those feelings that are torn from my chest, I so want to express to you all my boundless love and devotion - if you only knew, my dear, how exhausted I am from such life without you, without affection, without love!”
From a letter from Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich to Natalya Brasova on August 27, 1916.
Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov was the youngest and most beloved son of Emperor Alexander III: he was born on November 22, 1878 on the day of the Archangel Michael, in whose honor he received his name. Under no circumstances could he count on a scepter and a crown, so he led a rather happy life: according to society, Mikhail was a darling of fate, carefree, passionate about cars, sports, horse racing ...
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich in childhood
But suddenly in 1899 his brother, George, died of tuberculosis, from whom he inherited the right to be the heir to the Russian throne and a significant part of his property, including the vast estate of Brasovo. After the birth of the long-awaited son Alexei by Nicholas II, Mikhail received the title of “ruler of the state”. But all this did not affect his measured social life in any way, and they started talking about him only after his scandalous marriage.
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich 1896
Like all the Grand Dukes, Mikhail, by tradition, was a professional military man and in 1908 commanded a squadron of the Life Guards Cuirassier Regiment of Her Imperial Majesty Maria Feodorovna, the “blue cuirassiers,” as they were called in high society. The regiment was located in Gatchina, near St. Petersburg. Balls and social events were regularly given, at one of which the Grand Duke met Natalya Sergeevna Wulfert, the wife of Rostmaster V. Wulfert.
Natalia Sergeevna was the daughter of the famous lawyer S. Sheremetevsky in those years. At the age of 16, she married musician Sergei Ivanovich Mamontov, the nephew of Savva Mamontov himself, but the marriage was short-lived and was broken off at the initiative of Natalya Sergeevna herself. Her next husband was an officer of the cuirassier regiment V. Wulfert, to whom she gave birth to two children (according to another version, there was only one child, a girl, and her father was Sergey Mamontov). But it is worth noting one feature - Natalya Sergeevna chose for herself surprisingly similar outwardly men - in the photo all three of her chosen ones are almost like twins! An affair with the Grand Duke turned the whole life of this beauty upside down and, perhaps, did not even give Russia the opportunity to go a different path than the one we know. But history does not tolerate the subjunctive mood, and therefore one should not guess what would have happened if there had not been this novel and this love ...
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich
Natalya Sergeevna Brasova
They fell in love with each other at first sight. At court, gossip and rumors immediately spread. Emperor Nicholas II was outraged by his brother's behavior and strongly objected to a possible marriage. Nevertheless, the Grand Duke chose a far from simple woman for himself, this is how the French ambassador Maurice Paleolog describes the meeting with Natalia Wulfert: “I drove around Liteiny for about four hours, I looked into Solovyov’s antique trade. I began to examine, in the depths of a deserted store, excellent French Edition XVIII century. At this time, a slender lady of about thirty enters and sits at a table, on which a folder with engravings is placed for her. She is lovely. Her dressing testifies to a simple, individual and refined taste. She can see a dress of silver-gray silk, trimmed with lace, from under the unbuttoned chensil coat. A cap of light fur goes very well with her ashy hair. The facial expression is proud and pure; the features are charming; velvety eyes. On the neck, in the light of a lit chandelier, a necklace of wonderful pearls sparkles. She examines each engraving with great attention; sometimes she blinks from tension and brings her face closer to the engraving. From time to time she leans to the right, where a stool with another folder of engravings is placed near her. Her slightest movement gives off a slow, wavy, tender grace ... "
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and Natalya Sergeevna Brasova - moments of peace
Oh, this flatterer Paleolog, his further judgments about the beautiful Brasova are somewhat different and draw her far from an attractive side and briefly describe what happened later in the life of this love couple: “Mrs. Wulfert, an intelligent, dexterous and energetic person, led work of extraordinary skill. First of all, she divorced Wulfert. Then she gave birth. Then the Grand Duke announced his decision to marry her, despite the extreme displeasure of the sovereign. In May 1913, the lovers settled in Berchtesgaden, on the border of Upper Bavaria and Tyrol. One fine morning they left for Vienna, where their confidant had gone earlier. There was an Orthodox church in Vienna, set up by the Serbian government for its subjects. The rector of this church hastily married a high couple for a thousand crowns.
Informed about this marriage, Nikolai was terribly angry. He issued a solemn manifesto depriving his brother of the right of conditional regency, which he had granted him on the occasion of the birth of an heir. In addition, he established guardianship over him, by decree of the Senate, as is done for minors or feebleminded. He was banned from entering Russia.
But it was necessary, nevertheless, to reckon with some consequences of the accomplished fact. It was necessary, for example, to come up with a surname for the one who from now on became the legal wife of Grand Duke Mikhail. Her marriage was morganatic, and she could not become a special imperial family, bear the name of the Romanovs; therefore she took the title of Countess Brasova, after the estate that belonged to the Grand Duke; even received the highest consent to the title of Count Brasov for her son. The exiled couple led the most pleasant way of life - now in Paris, now in London, now in Engadipe and in Cannes. What Natalia Sergeevna wished for came true ... "
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and Natalya Sergeevna Brasova
Zhukovsky S.Yu. Small living room in the Brasovo estate 1916
(Orenburg Regional Museum of Fine Arts)
Georgy Mikhailovich Brasov in his youth
Just a few lines, but how many experiences and attempts to legitimize their relationship stood behind them. It would seem that everything ended well in the end, but ... the war and revolution destroyed this family idyll. With the outbreak of war, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich left for the front and led the "Wild Division", a cavalry unit consisting of natives of the Caucasus. Then he becomes the inspector general of the cavalry and receives the St. George Cross for distinction in battles ... but 1917 destroys this too.
On March 2, 1917, Emperor Nicholas II abdicated in favor of Mikhail: “To His Imperial Majesty Mikhail. Petrograd. The events of recent days forced me to decide irrevocably on this extreme step. Forgive me if I upset you and that I did not have time to warn you. I will forever remain a faithful and devoted brother. I am returning to Headquarters and from there in a few days I hope to arrive at Tsarskoye Selo. I fervently pray to God to help you and your Motherland. Nicky" - the words of the telegram of Nicholas II, sent after the abdication of his brother. On March 3, 1917, Grand Duke Mikhail announced his decision to abdicate or ascend to the throne only after the decision of the Constituent Assembly, which did not follow and Russia was plunged into the abyss of the Civil War.
Refusal to "accept the Supreme Power" v.k. Mikhail Alexandrovich. March 3, 1917. ... I made a firm decision in the event that I accept the supreme power, if such is the will of our great people, who should by popular vote, through their representatives in the Constituent Assembly, establish a form of government and new basic laws of the Russian State. Therefore, invoking the blessing of God, I ask all citizens of the Russian state to submit to the Provisional Government, which, at the initiative of the State Duma, has arisen and is invested with all the fullness of power, until it is possible to convene the shortest time on the basis of universal, direct, equal and secret suffrage, the Constituent Assembly, by its decision on the form of government, will express the will of the people.
On March 3 (16) in response to the Manifesto of the abdication of Nicholas II, the “Michael Manifesto” was drawn up (published on March 4 (17)). In it, Mikhail Alexandrovich called on all citizens of Russia to submit to the Provisional Government and announced that he would accept supreme power only if the people expressed their will to do so through a popular vote in the elections of representatives to the Constituent Assembly, which was supposed to decide the issue of the "form of government" by the state . Thus, the return of the monarchy (in its constitutional form) was not excluded legally, but became impossible in fact.
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and Countess Natalya Sergeevna Brasova - moments of happiness
A happy life is over: beloved Gatchina has become the last peaceful haven for Mikhail Alexandrovich and Natalya Sergeevna. They led a quiet and measured life, but already on March 9, 1918, the Council People's Commissars decided: “The former Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov, his secretary Nikolai Nikolaevich Johnson, the clerk of the Gatchina Palace Alexander Mikhailovich Vlasov and the former head of the Gatchina railway gendarme department Pyotr Ludwigovich Znamerovsky should be sent to the Perm province until further notice.” Natalya Sergeevna Brasova went with them.
Permian. One of the last photographs of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich with his secretary Nikolai Nikolayevich Jones, 1918.
In Perm, the Grand Duke settled in the former Korolev Hotel and went to the police every day to check in. The regime was gradually tightened, and thanks to the persuasion of her husband, Natalya Sergeevna left Perm. She rushed around the bureaucratic offices, trying to alleviate the fate of her husband, but ... On the night of June 13, 1918, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov was vilely killed. Here is how A.V. Markov, a participant in the revolutionary movement and the establishment of Soviet power in Perm, writes about the last minutes of this murder: “Everyone left the phaetons. Markov immediately shot Johnson in the head and killed him outright. Kolpashchikov also fired, but unsuccessfully. Zhuzhgov wounded the Grand Duke, he wanted to shoot again, but there was a misfire, the cartridges were homemade. Mikhail ran to Markov, asking him to say goodbye to Johnson, but was killed by a point-blank shot. It was getting light, so the corpses were only thrown from above with branches, and a little later they were buried under the trees.”
Despite the fact that the leaders of the Perm Emergency Committee for Combating Counter-Revolution, Profiteering and Sabotage knew in detail the circumstances of the abduction and murder of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov, the investigation materials of the Perm Cheka were also falsified for "participation in organizing the escape" of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich ( Romanov) and his secretary Johnson N.N. v different times without trial, as "organizers and accomplices of the escape" of Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov, they were taken as hostages, and then, by order of the Perm Gubchek of October 9, 1918, they were illegally shot:
1. Znamerovsky Petr Lyudvigovich - a former gendarmerie colonel, born in 1972, who lived at the time of his arrest at the address: Perm, st. Kungurskaya, house 8 (place of birth not established).
2. Znamerovskaya Vera Mikhailovna, born in 1886, residing at the time of arrest at the address: Perm, st. Kungurskaya, house 8 (place of birth not established).
3. Serafima Semyonovna Lebedeva, born in 1882, an employee of the Petrograd Central Power Plant, who lived at the time of arrest at the address: Perm, st. Monastyrskaya, house number 4, apt. 1 (place of birth unknown).
4. Borunov Petr Yakovlevich - former driver of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Romanov (year and place of birth not established).
5. Chelyshev Vasily Fedorovich - valet of the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov (year and place of birth not established).
6. Smirnov Sergei Nikolaevich - secretary and manager of the affairs of Princess Elena Petrovna, daughter of King Peter I of Serbia (date and place of birth not established).
7. Maltsev (name, patronymic, date and place of birth not established.
Museum of Mikhail Romanov in Perm
By the next anniversary of the "profanity" of all the Orthodox inhabitants of the planet, the Cainites are already spinning a new scenario - because of the failures with the emperor's family in promoting their "murder". Cainites are now busy searching for the "martyrdom" of the emperor's brother Russian Empire Nicholas II - Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich.
The brother of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, died in 1949. Lived in the USSR. Like the rest of the imperial family.
You can understand the meaning of saving the emperor’s family only by knowing the real prophecies, and not the falsehood with which the current Cainite leadership of the MP (Moscow Patriarchate) bombarded all printing houses - stamping fake waste paper, hammering lies into the minds of Orthodox people from the pages of millions of copies. She helps these very Cainites feel great at the helm of the church, while earning a lot of money from gullible citizens, sucking the last pennies out of the hands of illiterate old people.
And "breeding" the rich and stupid patrons - with the help of which they all became millionaires and billionaires. And the country is increasingly plunging into the abyss of chaos, because the entire leadership of the MP is working to the advantage and in agreement with the enemies of Russia, who have already achieved the degradation of the ROC and, thanks to this, have moved Russia close to the abyss.
But the secret of the imperial family's salvation will not allow these monsters in priestly vestments to topple the country into the abyss, and the triumphant truth will put an end to the careers of the Cainites. And they, like "wolves in sheepskins, plundered the flock of Christ's sheep, trying to swallow it completely.
But they will choke on "imperial bones". Which they themselves threw into this herd.
Many Orthodox fell for a cunning trick when the false dogma about the “emperor-redeemer”, invented by the Jew Archbishop Khrapovitsky (Blum), was thrown from the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad through the MP into the minds of the Slavs in the 90s of the 20th century. After all, only Jesus Christ is the Redeemer!
Most Orthodox have forgotten the simple truth that the anointed of God, who was Tsar Nicholas II, cannot simply disappear. Under no circumstances will the Lord allow a pious sovereign to die without gratitude. Many psalms proclaim this.
And Nicholas II was very pious. Yes, under no circumstances will not a single bone of the anointed of God be broken, and not a single hair will fall from the head of the anointed of God. And he will surely have a calm death, and miracles and healings will occur on his grave.
The Orthodox also forgot that only the Cathedral, the Local Council, has the right to canonize the emperor!
But not Bishops, on which they simply “thrown” a bone to the Orthodox so that they “shut up” and do not require further steps in restoring the truth to the events of 1917. And also, so that the People would be less interested in what actually happened to the emperor's family.
After all, it was the Cainite elite of the Russian Orthodox Church who betrayed the Tsar, who, moreover, already in 1912, ordered not to take out a piece of the proskomedia for the health of the emperor, the anointed of God. The Cainites of the Synod are guilty of misleading not only the Russian Empire, but the entire World. The fact that they recognized a false manifesto, typed on a typewriter by two Jews - Bazili with Lukomsky and signed by a Jew Frederiks - for "a true act of renunciation."
This created the conditions for a civil war and external intervention, which led to the collapse of the entire Empire, to the loss of large territories and tens of millions of human lives.
Therefore, all the blame for the removal of its legitimate sovereign, Emperor Nicholas II, from governing the country lies solely with the Cainites, who illegally and not canonically seized control of the Russian Orthodox Church and led to the First World War, revolutionary events, civil war and subsequent foreign intervention.
The Orthodox people must demand from the leadership of the MP that a Local Council be convened in order to force the entire Synod, headed by Gundyaev, to repent before the emperor for his betrayal by their Cainite predecessors. They ruled the Russian Orthodox Church at the beginning of the 20th century, and the Cainites slipped their cunning plan, where people repent in the village of Taininsky at gatherings organized by the Cainites, and they "like forgive their sins."
But the Russian people are not guilty of betraying the emperor! This is the work of the Cainites alone, who put the blame on the people.
In 2000 there were also two financial reasons- short-term and long-term - according to which the same Rediger and Gundyaev forced the events of the "false canonization" of the family of the last emperor of the Russian Empire.
Long-term reason: it was necessary for Sobchak's arrival in Russia from Madrid, as a personal lawyer for the daughter of SS Obergruppenführer Maria Hohenzollern (see), to make a “canonization”.
This was necessary so that Sobchak was already engaged in registering for them the emperor's share in the Fed.
But he died from overwork with prostitutes. Washed down Viagra with cognac. Never got into a financial scam.
Short-term reason: ROCOR did not go for unification with the MP until the emperor's family was glorified in the MP. Although in ROCOR itself the imperial family was also not glorified by the Local Council.
All this was done illegally in 1981 by the Bishops' Council. And the basis for that cathedral was the "absentee funeral of the emperor's family", carried out on July 17, 1969 in Brussels. It was conducted by Archbishop Nikon of Washington, who during the war years fought against the USSR.
He was the chief military priest of all units subordinate to the SS Obrgruppenführer Vladimir Kirillovich (father of the false queen Maria Vladimirovna), who was sitting at Hitler's headquarters. His Rothschilds assumed in the event of the capture of the USSR for the post of puppet "emperor".
Moreover, in the same year, 1981, the Cainite elite of the ROCOR "glorified everyone en masse" 11 people. But Demidova was a Catholic. Trupp is a Lutheran.
When Tsar Nicholas II was “canonized” in 2000, the Cainites themselves, no matter how they hyped the scam of the “martyrdom of the emperor’s family” before the whole world, did not dare to carry out this wording at the council.
They called the family of the Sovereign - passion-bearers. And this decision must be confirmed by the Local Council.
It would seem that everything is simple. Who is against this? An - no! Under no circumstances will the Cainites collect such, for it is like death for them if the sovereign is glorified in the face of saints by the Local Council.
Therefore, the Cainites did not dare to apply the wording of martyrdom in relation to the emperor's family. Because of this, they do not collect the Local Council. The Cainites who run the MP know that Emperor Nicholas II was not killed. He died a natural death.
* * *
Emperor Nicholas II was buried at the Krasnaya Etna cemetery in Nizhny Novgorod on December 26, 1958. He was buried and buried by the famous Nizhny Novgorod elder Grigory Dolbunov.
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna "rested in Bose" on April 20, 1948 on the territory of the Trinity Starobelsky Monastery in the Lugansk region.
The eldest daughter Grand Duchess Olga was buried on January 19, 1976 in Vyritsa near St. Petersburg under the name of Natalia Mikhailovna.
The second daughter, Grand Duchess Tatyana, was buried on September 21, 1992 in the village of Solyony, Mostovsky District, Krasnodar Territory.
The third daughter, Grand Duchess Maria, was buried on May 27, 1954 in the village of Arefino, Vachsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Region, under the name of Maria Petrovna.
The fourth daughter, Grand Duchess Anastasia, was buried on June 27, 1980 at the Panfilovo station of the Novoanninsky district of the Volgograd region under the name of Alexandra.
The heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei, died on December 18, 1980 in Moscow, and, as the prime minister of the USSR, was buried in the Kremlin wall. By tradition in the USSR - as a member of the Politburo.
The brother of Emperor Nicholas II, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, died on April 3, 1949 in Vyritsa near St. Petersburg and was buried on the territory of the Kazan Church.
During the First World War, the emperor's brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov, with the rank of major general, commanded the "wild division", which consisted of people from North Caucasus. Later - the 2nd Cavalry Corps. For this he received the George Cross.
The February coup found Mikhail Romanov in Gatchina. On March 3, 1917, at 10 a.m., in the St. Petersburg apartment of Prince Putyatin, the organizers of the coup Kerensky, Lvov, Nekrasov and others presented Mikhail Romanov with a fake “abdication manifesto”. It was printed by two Jews N. I. Bazili and A. S. Lukomsky. The Jew Frederiks also signed. After that, they demanded that Mikhail resign from power under the threat of the use of weapons.
Mikhail Alexandrovich, who at that moment did not know where his brother Nicholas II was, and what happened to him, took a sheet and wrote an act of his renunciation of power. But in favor of convening a Constituent Assembly.
After the October Revolution, on November 13, 1917, the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee considered the transfer of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich from Petrograd to Gatchina or Finland. However, at the beginning of 1918, Mikhail Romanov was exiled to Perm, where he, under the protection of 10 soldiers, lived in a hotel, the so-called. "Royal Court", located half a kilometer from the embankment of the Kama River.
On June 13/26, Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov was able to escape from Perm to the Belogorsky Monastery, located 90 kilometers from Perm. And a few days after the appearance of Mikhail Romanov in the monastery, the monk Mikhail Pozdeev, an Udmurt who was born near the monastery in the village of Debesy, died. And Grand Duke Michael was given documents and a biography of this deceased monk. This allowed him to stay quietly at the monastery for several months.
From there, with Abbot Seraphim and the brethren of the Serafimo-Alekseevsky Skete of the Belogorsky St. Nicholas Monastery in the Perm province, Mikhail Romanov moved to Siberia. Leaving Pozdeev's documents in the monastery to another person. And then half a world later he arrived in Vyritsa and lived under the name of Seraphim Vyritsky.
And the real Seraphim (Muravyov) Vyritsky, from the post of Confessor of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, was sent to rest in the village in 1930 ... with the blessing of Metropolitan Seraphim (Chichagov). Then he moved from there to the Iversky Monastery built by him during his worldly life in Vyksa on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, where he rested in Bose. And his wife, the schema-maiden Seraphim, at that time “confirmed the legend” to Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov in Vyritsa.
When German and Romanian troops entered Vyritsa during the war from eastern Romania - exclusively Orthodox - some of their commanders often visited Seraphim Vyritsky, under whose name Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov then lived there.
They stayed with him for a long time for conversations, which were conducted in French, German and English. They were brilliantly owned by Mikhail Romanov. And because these officers did not bring any harm to the town of Vyritsa itself.
But the real Seraphim Vyritsky, Vasily Muravyov, was not fluent in European languages. Yes, and all the old-timers of Vyritsa knew very well that not Muravyov came to live in Vyritsa from St. Petersburg, but Ivan Churikov, the pseudonym of Mikhail Romanov, who lived under the name of Seraphim Vyritsky.
* * *
To understand how all this happened, it is necessary to look at events from the standpoint of fundamental Orthodoxy, the spiritual threads of which permeate all those living in the Holy Spirit.
At the end of the 19th century, in the Gethsemane skete of the Trinity Sergius Lavra, the elder Barnabas (Merkulov), famous throughout the Russian Empire, labored, who died on February 17, 1906. Hieromonk Barnabas was the same spiritual leader and mentor for Russia as the Monk Seraphim of Sarov, the Optina elders and the righteous John of Kronstadt.
Elder Barnabas introduced many people who were his spiritual children to Emperor Nicholas II and his brother, Grand Duke Michael. It was he who fed the family of Olga Ivanovna and Vasily Nikolaevich Muravyovs, who allocated money for the construction of the Iversko-Vyksa convent in the Nizhny Novgorod province and who accepted schemas with the names of Seraphim and Seraphim, who raised a huge galaxy of hierarchs in the USSR.
At the beginning of the 20th century, in St. Petersburg, where Elder Varnava often came and lived with Muravyov, there were Associations that united natives of the same locality who came to the capital to work or live permanently. And one of the largest was the Yaroslavl Zemlyachestvo.
Vasily Muravyov in 1905 became a full member of the Yaroslavl charitable society, whose permanent members at that time were many very famous hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church. Such as John of Kronstadt, Bishop Veniamin of Gdov (Kazan), the rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy and confessor of the imperial family, Archbishop Feofan (Bystrov) of Poltava, who became a friend of Muravyov.
In 1908 Archbishop Tikhon joined the Society and later became Patriarch.
The Yaroslavl Charitable Society included government officials - members of the State Council, including the future Prime Minister B.V. Stürmer; Prince Dmitry Shakhovskoy; the outstanding sculptor Alexander Mikhailovich Opekushin; hereditary honorary citizens Eliseevs and many other pious Orthodox people.
On August 1, 1903, representatives of the Yaroslavl Society were present at the glorification celebrations in the guise of Saint Seraphim of Sarov, and together with the imperial couple were the Muravyovs and Metropolitan of Peterhof Seraphim Chichagov.
* * *
The first commandant of Yekaterinburg, Colonel Sherekhovsky, appointed Dmitry Apollonovich Malinovsky as the head of a team of officers who were instructed to deal with the finds in the Ganina Yama area.
On July 29, 1918, Captain Malinovsky received an order to explore the Ganina Yama area.
On July 28, Alexei Pavlovich Nametkin was invited to the headquarters, and from the side of the military authorities, since civil power had not yet been formed, it was proposed to investigate the case of the imperial family. After that, they began to inspect the Ipatiev House.
Doctor Derevenko and old man Chemodurov were invited to participate in the identification; Professor of the Academy of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Medvedev, took part as an expert.
On July 30, taking with him lieutenant A. Sheremetevsky, investigator for the most important cases of the Yekaterinburg District Court A.P. Nametkin, several officers, the doctor of the heir, V.N. Derevenko and the servant of the sovereign Terenty Ivanovich Chemodurov, he went there.
Thus began the investigation into the disappearance of Tsar Nicholas II, the Empress, the Tsarevich and the Grand Duchesses. The Malinovsky Commission lasted about a week.
Nametkin, inspecting the Ipatva house from August 2 to 8, had publications of resolutions of the Ural Council and the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, reporting on the execution of Nicholas II.
Inspection of the building, traces of shots and signs of spilled blood confirmed the well-known fact - the possible death of people in this house. As for the other results of the inspection of the Ipatiev house, they left the impression of an unexpected disappearance of its inhabitants.
On August 5, 6, 7, 8, Nametkin continued to inspect the Ipatiev house, described the state of the rooms where Nikolai Alexandrovich, Alexandra Feodorovna, the tsarevich and the grand duchesses were kept. During the examination, I found many small things that belonged, according to the valet Terenty Ivanovich Chemodurov and the doctor Vladimir Nikolaevich Derevenko, to members of the imperial family.
Being an experienced investigator, Nametkin stated that an imitation of execution took place in the Ipatiev House, and that not a single member of the imperial family was shot there.
He officially repeated his data in Omsk, where he gave an interview on this subject to foreign, mainly American correspondents, stating that he had evidence that the imperial family was not killed on the night of July 16-17. He was going to publish these documents soon. For this, he was forced to hand over the investigation. And after the transfer of the case, the house where he rented the premises was burned, which led to the death of Nametkin's archive.
On August 7, 1918, a meeting of the branches of the Yekaterinburg District Court was held, where, unexpectedly for the prosecutor Kutuzov, contrary to agreements with the chairman of the court, Glasson, the Yekaterinburg District Court, by a majority of votes, decided to transfer the "case of the murder of the former sovereign Emperor Nicholas II" to a member of the court Ivan Aleksandrovich Sergeev.
August 13 A.P. Nametkin, fulfilling the decision of the Chairman of the Yekaterinburg District Court V. Kazem-Bek No. 45 of August 8 and the requirements of the Prosecutor of the Kutuzov Court No. 195 of August 10; of the repeated demand of the Chairman of the Yekaterinburg Court V. Kazem-Bek No. 56 dated August 12 on the transfer of the “Case of Sovereign Nicholas II” - handed over the “Case of Sovereign Nicholas II” on 26 numbered sheets to a member of the Yekaterinburg District Court I.A. Sergeev. for further litigation.
The main difference in the work of a detective at the scene lies in what is not in the laws and textbooks, in order to plan further activities for each of the significant circumstances discovered. That is why their replacement is harmful, because with the departure of the former investigator, his plan to unravel the tangle of emerging mysteries sometimes disappears.
Sergeev was aware of the complexity of the investigation, realizing that the main thing was to find the bodies of the dead. Indeed, in forensic science there is a rigid setting: "no corpse - no murder."
Great expectations were placed on the expedition to Ganina Yama, where they searched the area, pumped out water from the mines. But ... they found only the "corpse" of the dog Grand Duchess Anastasia. Sergeev interviewed witnesses, appointed examinations, found new evidence - a draft telegram sent by the Ural Regional Council of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, which, it seems, refers to the murder of Nicholas II.
But then another group of testimonies crept up, clearly contradicting the rumors about the murder of the emperor. Several witnesses saw how Nicholas II was seated in a carriage, and another witness repeated the words of the guard of the House of Special Purpose - Varakushev, they say, "Bitch Goloshchekin is lying," but in fact the imperial family was sent by train to Perm.
In addition, there were witnesses who saw the former empress and her children in Perm. And the doctor Derevenko, who treated the heir, like Botkin, testifies over and over again that the unidentified corpses delivered to him are not the emperor and not the heir, since the emperor on his head (skull) should have a trace from a blow from a Japanese saber in 1891.
And then the arrested member of the Uraloblsovet Sakovich began to assert that the Council discussed plans for the extermination of the imperial family only at the beginning of April 1918, when they were just preparing to move from Tobolsk, and later he did not discuss this issue.
The discovery of objects of the imperial family served in those years as a sufficient reason for execution on the spot. Sergeev took into account the real situation and in his assignments, through military commanders, he claimed at least an interrogation of the people he was interested in.
In connection with the capture of Perm by the White Army, he, through General Pepelyaev, asked to detain: the ex-chairman of the Upper Iset Executive Committee S.P. Malyshkin, ex-military commissar Pyotr Zakharovich Ermakov (1884+1952), Bolsheviks N.S. Partina, V.I. Levatnykh, A. Kostousov, P.S. Medvedev and Ya.Kh. Yurovsky, having information that some of them were imprisoned in Perm. And to save the lives of those who were listed in the forwarded list at the present time.
When, on the instructions of Sergeev, the new head of the criminal investigation department of Yekaterinburg, Pleshkov, sent a request to the head of the prison dated September 24, 1918, No. 2077 for the delivery of the former guard of the Ipatiev House, A.N. Komendantov, then received a delicate answer about sending him " to the military authorities”, which means execution in such certificates.
The decision of November 11, 1918 on the release of M.D. Medvedeva. Sergeev substantiated the absence of signs of concealment of crimes in her behavior, and after 3.5 months of prison she left it.
Court adviser Alexander Fedorovich Kirsta joined the case of the former sovereign almost simultaneously with Nametkin. The circumstances were such that A.F. Kirsta was appointed head of the criminal investigation department after the White troops occupied Yekaterinburg.
Among other things, Kirsta was supposed to provide search activities to find evidence of the murder in the Ipatiev House. A thorough examination of Ganina Yama showed that, most likely, only the clothes of the Don prisoners were burned here. No traces of the destruction or burial of the bodies were found.
Kirsta compared the finds with a deliberately ostentatiously created atmosphere of something super important happening here - a two-day cordon, grenades exploding in the mines, demonstrative trips to that area by the first persons Soviet power cities. And he had the idea that a demonstration-simulation was arranged, which covered up something really happening, but not here.
It is hard to imagine that the Bolsheviks, having decided to destroy the bodies of the murdered members of the imperial family, would not be able to do it covertly, without attracting attention, especially if we compare the situation in Yekaterinburg with the execution in Alapaevsk. There, the living were thrown into the mines, so that for two days one could hear the prayers and groans of the wounded martyrs.
But with these arguments, Kirsta only angered Sheremetevsky, and he, a vengeful and overly vigilant man, at the end of August 1918 presented dirt on Kirsta to the head of the garrison, Major General Golitsin, who immediately ordered the arrest of Kirsta. And they released him only after Golitsin left for the front, on the orders of General Gaida.
In December 1918, General Pepelyaev occupied Perm, and officials from Yekaterinburg were seconded there to create a counterintelligence apparatus. Among them was Kirsta, appointed to the post of assistant chief of military control of the 1st Central Siberian Corps and a personal instruction from the Czech general Gaida to check the rumors that the emperor's family was in Perm.
Kirsta, according to the order of Gaida, should not have coordinated his actions with Sergeyev, who was conducting an investigation in Yekaterinburg. In order, on the one hand, to test himself, and on the other hand, to protect himself from possible accusations of being carried away by new versions, Kirsta invited D. Tikhomirov, fellow prosecutor of the Perm District Court, to interrogations.
* * *
The achievement of counterintelligence was the arrest of the sister of the chairman of the Ural Cheka Fyodor Lukoyanov, Vera Nikolaevna Lukoyanova-Karnaukhova, who gave very important information.
Sergey Zhelenkov
Years of life : November 22 1878 - June 13, 1918.
Candidate for the title of the 15th Emperor of All Russia by the will of Emperor Nicholas II: 2nd of March 1917 - March 3, 1917.
Petrograd.
His Imperial Majesty Michael II. The events of recent days forced me to decide irrevocably on this extreme step. Forgive me if I upset you and that I did not have time to warn you. I remain forever faithful and devoted brother. I fervently pray to God to help you and your Motherland.
Nicky.
With such a telegram, the newly-made citizen Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov tried to notify his brother about the heavy burden placed on him. This message never reached the addressee. Eternity swayed with the echo of coincidences: Mikhail-Mikhail, Ipatievsky-Ipatievsky, Perm-Perm...
Mikhail Romanov was born on November 22 (December 4), 1878. He was a favorite child in the family of Emperor Alexander III.
The king allowed him such pranks that other children rarely got away with.
Mikhail became the heir to the throne for the first time in another reign - in 1898 due to the death of his brother Georgy Alexandrovich from tuberculosis. He inherited a significant share of his property, including the vast estate of Brasovo. After the birth of Nicholas II's son Alexei, Mikhail received the title of "ruler of the state."
The young Grand Duke led an ordinary life for St. Petersburg high society, and until 1917 he attracted everyone's attention to himself only once, secretly entering into a scandalous morganatic marriage.
In 1908, he commanded a squadron of Her Majesty's cuirassier regiment, whose chief was the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. The regiment was stationed in Gatchina, near St. Petersburg. There, at one of the regimental holidays, Natalia Sergeevna Wulfert was introduced to the Grand Duke, among other wives of officers. A hot romance broke out. Natalia Sergeevna was the daughter of the famous lawyer S. Sheremetevsky in those years. For the first time she married the musician S. Mamontov, the second - for the cuirassier officer V. Wulfert. Neither his brother, Emperor Nicholas II, nor his mother, the Empress Dowager, categorically wanted the marriage of the Grand Duke and N.S. Wulfert.
The king, having learned that the Grand Duke still intends to marry, flared up and gave a brief order: “To the Chernigov hussars!” Mikhail was appointed commander of the Chernigov Hussar Regiment stationed in Orel. The Grand Duke left for the unit entrusted to him, but the romance continued. At the insistence of Mikhail, captain V. Wulfert agreed to a divorce. The news reached the royal family. In June 1909, Natalia was forced to leave for Europe. During the separation, she sent 377 telegrams to her Misha. He also wrote to her very often.
In the summer of 1910, Natalia Sergeevna gave birth to the Grand Duke's son George. As a result, on November 13 (26), 1910, Emperor Nicholas II signed a Decree to the Governing Senate, which was not subject to promulgation, it said: dignity, with the provision of his surname Brasov and patronymic Mikhailovich.
But this did not calm Michael, and he decided to act against the will of the king. The Grand Duke could enter into a church marriage with Natalia Sergeevna only abroad, in Russia the church was under the control of the tsar and would never have dared to approve such a marriage. In 1912, Mikhail Alexandrovich and Natalia Sergeevna left for Vienna, where the Grand Duke was going to perform a deeply secret wedding ceremony. But Nicholas II knew about his brother's intention and established the strictest supervision over him. Major General of the gendarme corps A.V. Gerasimov was specially sent abroad. All Russian embassies, missions and consulates were instructed to provide him with all kinds of assistance, up to the “arrest of persons” at his direction. However, the Grand Duke acted with extreme caution. In Vienna, he found a Serbian Orthodox priest so that the marriage would not be subject to annulment by the Holy Synod, and in the greatest secrecy the rite was performed. By entering into this marriage, Mikhail violated the laws of the Russian Empire. The wrath of His Majesty Nicholas II resulted in a ban on the "willful brother" from entering Russia. In this regard, an encrypted gendarme telegram testified: “Count Brasov (one of the titles of Mikhail - my note) is very depressed and does not go anywhere.”
On December 15 (28), 1912, the tsar signed a decree to the Governing Senate on the transfer of Mikhail Romanov's property to custody, on December 30 (January 12), the title of "ruler of the state" was removed from him. Mikhail was forced to live abroad as a private individual.
Sensing the imminence of the war, in 1913 from Austria-Hungary, he moved with his family to England and settled in Knebworth Castle, near London. Only the beginning of the war and the intervention of the mother who forgave her son softened Nicholas II. In 1914, Mikhail, his wife and son arrived in St. Petersburg, custody of the property was removed, and Natalia Sergeevna was granted the title of Countess Brasova.
Soon, Mikhail Romanov, with the rank of major general, left for the front, where he commanded first the so-called "wild division", and later the 2nd cavalry corps. For distinction in battles, he was awarded the St. George Cross.
Some are inclined to accuse Michael of behind-the-scenes intrigues against the reigning brother, is this the case for competent researchers to judge. But the documents show that if anyone was capable of intrigue, then it was the wife of the Grand Duke, Countess Brasova. Michael himself was too soft and delicate for that.
Here is how Colonel A.A. Mordvinov characterized his commander: “To many, Mikhail Alexandrovich seemed weak-willed, easily falling under the influence of others. By nature, he was indeed very soft, although he was quick-tempered, but he knew how to restrain himself and quickly cool down. Like most, he was also not indifferent to affection and outpourings, which always seemed to him sincere. He really did not like (mainly out of delicacy) to insist on his opinion, which he always had, and out of the same sense of tact he was embarrassed to contradict. But in those actions that he considered - rightly or not - the fulfillment of his moral duty, he usually showed perseverance that amazed me. Being the richest of the Grand Dukes, Michael was extremely modest and unassuming. A.A. Mordvinov wrote: “For himself, he did not attach any importance to money, he had a very poor understanding of the relative cost of various things and remained completely indifferent to all reports that spoke of an increase in his material resources.”
The chaos and bustle of February 1917 forced Mikhail, among other grand dukes, to take a number of steps prompting Nicholas II to urgently take measures to soften the regime, but it was too late. happened dark history with a renunciation, and Michael suddenly found himself on the staggering imperial throne. After a pause of one day, he issued a manifesto with the following content:
“March 3, 1917 Petrograd. A heavy burden has been placed on me by the will of my brother, who handed over the Imperial All-Russian Throne to me in a time of unprecedented war and popular unrest. Encouraged by the thought, united with all the people, that the good of our motherland is above all, I made a firm decision in that case only to accept the supreme power, if such is the will of our great people, who should by popular vote, through their representatives in the Constituent Assembly, establish the form of government and new basic laws of the Russian State. Therefore, invoking the blessing of God, I ask all citizens of the Russian State to submit to the Provisional Government, which, at the initiative of the State Duma, has arisen and is provided with full power, until it is convened as soon as possible, on the basis of universal direct, equal and secret voting, the Constituent Assembly by its decision about the form of government will express the will of the people. Michael".
The country rolled downhill, the army, the front fell apart, parties and political leaders squabbled among themselves, the people, not accustomed to freedom, dissolved. The provisional government of the Romanovs did not complain and was afraid. They were all under supervision. During the Kornilov rebellion, Mikhail and his wife, among other grand dukes, were arrested and transferred to Petrograd, but were soon released. In late autumn, power in Petrograd changed again, the Bolsheviks and Left Social Revolutionaries did not need any of the Romanovs near the capitals. Therefore, on November 13 (26), 1917, the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee decided to transfer Mikhail Romanov to Gatchina under house arrest. The Grand Duke tried to adapt to new conditions, called his wife a comrade, appealed to the authorities to allow him to live an ordinary life, as an ordinary citizen of Russia, and take the name Brasov. But there were no clear answers.
“The former Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov, his secretary Nikolai Nikolaevich Johnson, the clerk of the Gatchina Palace Alexander Mikhailovich Vlasov and the former head of the Gatchina railway gendarme department Pyotr Ludwigovich Znamerovsky should be sent to the Perm province until further notice” ...
The new authorities approached the matter deliberately seriously, everywhere required receipts, mandates and other documents. Here is one of them.
RECEIPT
The Perm Executive Committee of S. R. and S. D. gave this receipt that the prisoners who had been escorted: citizen Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov (former Grand Duke), citizen Nikolai Nikolaevich Johnson, clerk of the Gatchina Palace Alexander Mikhailovich Vlasov and former head of the gendarmerie department of the Baltic Railway dor citizen Pyotr Lyudvigovich Znamerovsky was indeed delivered to Perm and accepted by the Perm Executive Committee.
Genuine signed:
Chairman of the Perm Executive Committee (signature). For Secretary Karpov.
Escort from Petrograd to Perm of the persons mentioned in this correspondence was entrusted to comrades Kvyatkonsky, Mengel, Eglit, Leingart, Elix, Ginberg and Schwartz.
I certify that they have fulfilled the said order.
S. Gusev, manager of the Council of Commissars of the Petrograd Labor Commune.
From March 17 to March 25, Mikhail and his companions were under arrest in the hospital of the Perm provincial prison and sent telegrams to Bonch-Bruevich and Lunacharsky with complaints about the local authorities. On March 25, a telegram arrived from Bonch-Bruevich indicating that Mikhail Romanov and Johnson had the right to live in freedom under the supervision of the local Soviet authorities.
After that, Michael and his companions in former home The noble assembly was allocated premises for living, later it moved to the Royal Rooms (Sibirskaya Street, 3). A few days before his death, he asked the authorities for another move, to Ekaterininskaya (Bolshevik) street to the Tupitsin house (No. 212), but he was refused.
The very fact of the arrival of such an important person in Perm was not widely advertised, but it was not hidden either. The Grand Duke and his companions could freely move around Perm and its environs. Mikhail was very fond of walking along the Zakamsky forests with his wife and Johnson, he examined all three chickens (except for the Upper and Lower, there was also the Middle Kurya). Often he went shopping, to the City Theater, less often to the cinema, to the now closed Triumph. Sometimes I just sat in the theater park or went to Motovilikha.
He wore a gray suit, a floppy hat and a stick. He was always accompanied by Johnson, looked sickly (suffered from a stomach ulcer) and gave the impression of a doomed man. His presence in Perm did not arouse too much interest among the local residents, the wealthy inhabitants, frightened by the KGB terror, were afraid to communicate with him, while the workers resented his, as they considered, luxurious and idle lifestyle.
Mr. Krumnis, who lived at the same time in the Royal Rooms, said that “the Grand Duke often went to Dobrin’s store (now Sibirskaya St., 23, secondary school No. 21 - approx. mine) that on Sibirskaya street, where I talked with his confidant about various matters. Once Dobrin's confidant asked him why, taking advantage of his freedom, he did not take measures to escape. To this, the Grand Duke replied: “Where will I go with my huge growth. I will be found immediately." And he was always smiling." Of course, they followed him, and at first they even seriously guarded Medvedev with the involvement of a machine-gun team.
Mikhail and Johnson occupied two small rooms on the third floor of the Royal Suites, besides him, there lived another commissar, who felt like a complete master there, and several other guests. Being under supervision, the Grand Duke was connected with friends and some relatives by correspondence, there was also a direct live connection between Perm and Petrograd. In early May, his wife came to Perm, who lived with him until May 18.
Mikhail did not spread widely about his plans, but being a gullible person, he once blabbed. Chekist M.F. Potapov, who guarded him when the Grand Duke was still living in the Noble Assembly, recalled such a conversation. “I asked him a question ...: “How long do you think to be arrested like that?” He replied: “I think that it won’t be long, there will be elections soon and they will elect the president ... It’s as if I didn’t give my consent earlier to replace Nikolai.”
Probably, Mikhail's life could continue to go on as usual, if not for two factors: objective and subjective.
The first is the aggravated military situation. In mid-May, the Czechoslovak Corps rebelled against Soviet power. In June, the White Czechs already controlled Chelyabinsk and Samara. In Perm, it was also very restless, back in February, the first serious conflict arose between the authorities and the population on the basis of the seizure of church property, and in May, due to a sharp deterioration in the food supply, unrest began, and the Perm District was declared under martial law. In Perm, as in Yekaterinburg and many other cities, there was also a counter-revolutionary officer organization. By early summer, she was still very immature. There is no clear evidence that this organization was preparing the escape of Mikhail Romanov.
The subjective factor was one of the local Bolshevik leaders Gavriil Myasnikov, nicknamed Ganka or Petrushka.
G.I. Myasnikov was a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and a delegate of the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets, was repeatedly elected chairman of the Motovilikha Council. As a member of the RSDLP since 1905, he participated in the first expropriation of Alexander Lbov and the Motovilikha armed uprising. In 1906 he was sentenced to 2 years and 8 months hard labor, but escaped from hard labor. Until 1917, he was arrested several more times and fled. After the February events of 1917 he returned to Motovilikha.
Knowing his character, the local authorities for some time hid from him the fact that Mikhail Romanov lived in Perm, but they could not keep it a secret for a long time. As soon as he learned about Mikhail, the ambitious and conceited Myasnikov began to think about killing him.
To begin with, he decided to change jobs, leaving the post of chairman of the Motovilikha Council to serve in the Perm Provincial Emergency Committee. The position of the Cheka, under the influence of external events, began to become tougher, since May 20, citizen Romanov was asked to “appear every day at 11 o’clock in the morning at the Emergency Committee, at the address: Petropavlovskaya (Communist - my note) - Okhanskaya (Zvezda newspapers - my note ) [street], d. No. 33 - Permyakova (now a children's dental clinic). Until that moment, Mikhail was looked after mainly by the city police, which since April was headed by Vasily Alekseevich Ivanchenko, an acquaintance of Myasnikov from the events of 1905-06. In those years, Ivanchenko was a liaison between the local committee of the RSDLP, a member of which he had been either since 1902 or since 1904, and Alexander Lbov's detachment. Ivanchenko and Myasnikov went to visit the "forest brothers" together.
Only one person, the most authoritative Perm Bolshevik chairman of the city council Alexander Lukich Borchaninov, could seriously interfere with the execution of the plan of the future Chekist. Myasnikov was looking for an excuse to get rid of him. One May day, he went to the city council and found Borchaninov drunk, according to rumors, the latter sometimes liked to drink hard. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he immediately called a police squad and put the chairman of the Permsovet in a sobering-up station. This case was examined by their party organization, both of them were registered with the party in Motovilikha. On May 27, the general district meeting of the Motovilikha party organization decided: “To delegate Comrade Myasnikov to the Provincial Committee for Combating Counter-Revolution and Speculation, Comrade Borchaninov to be sent to fight Dutov.”
Having accepted one of the departments of the Cheka, Myasnikov immediately took up Mikhail. On June 7, they met for the first and last time in person. Here is how the newly-made chief of the Cheka department recalled this:
“After I took over the department, I sent for Mikhail. After a while, two people enter my office: Mikhail and his secretary Johnson.
Mikhail is tall, dry, disproportionately thin, long and clean face, straight and long nose, gray eyes, uncertain movements, confusion on his face. He obviously doesn't know how to behave. Looking at him, everything can be assumed, but not the presence of a great mind. This defect is not noticeable either on the face, or in the eyes, or in the movements. And seeing such a stupid figure, I ask:
- Tell me, citizen Romanov, do you seem to be playing the role of the savior of mankind?
The answer that followed was quite consistent with my impression.
“Yes, let me [go to freedom], but he invites me to the Cheka,” he said, moving his hand somehow ridiculously at the same time.
Secretary Johnson, a man of average height, but next to Mikhail seems short. In contrast to Mikhail, he moves confidently, restrainedly, prudently, his face is oblong, intelligent, energetic, luminous gray-dark eyes attract attention and seem to interfere with looking at the details of the face.
Noticing a smile on my face, he realized that I was laughing heartily at stupid Mikhail, and hastened to intervene in the conversation, trying to smooth over the impression made by Mikhail's brilliant answer.
- Mikhail Alexandrovich wants to say that the central government gave the order to leave him without the supervision of the Cheka, completely free and not to consider him as a counter-revolutionary.
- I think that I do not need this Senate clarification. I am aware of all the orders of the center. And, nevertheless, I order you to come here every day for a mark, and now sign the turnout and you will be free, - I answered.
They signed and, having bowed, with the words "goodbye" left.
Myasnikov, in his memoirs, sought to exaggerate his role in everything and make his figure more significant. Mikhail also mentioned this meeting in his diary, but very briefly:
“Perm, May 25 / June 7. Friday.
In the Extraordinary Committee I got into a little fight with one "comrade" who was very rude to me. During the day I was reading, later S. Tupitsin came in and the three of us went to Kama along Sibirskaya Street, we were going to ride in a motor boat, but the drivers could not fix the motor in any way, incl. failed to ride. J and I got home and had tea at 4 ¼. At the hostess of our rooms, Korolev, where the hosts hospitably treated us to wonderful coffee and a cake. They have two adult young ladies, an eleven-year-old boy and an 8-year-old daughter. At 8 o'clock. J and I went to the garden to listen to the string orchestra that plays there every day. There we walked in the garden, and after an hour we returned home for dinner. In the evening, J went to Kobyak's and stayed there until 11 o'clock. I read. The weather was wonderful, 20 ° in the afternoon, one cloud broke a little. My belly no-no and reminded me of myself.
As you can see, the Grand Duke did not at all attach to Myasnikov the importance that he attributed to himself, and the morning event was for him only an insignificant unpleasant episode. It is hard to imagine that a combat officer and corps commander would give in to a man who had been a worker for a very short time in his entire life, but mostly sat, was on the run and did not work anywhere.
Markov, Kolpashchikov, Myasnikov, Ivanchenko, Zhuzhgov
But the clouds over the head of the Grand Duke thickened. On the evening of June 12, a meeting of a group of conspirators took place. Myasnikov himself, despite all his greatness, was not going to kill Mikhail, but only acted as the organizer of this crime. The meeting took place in the premises of the Motovilikha militia. It was attended by Myasnikov, Ivanchenko and another old Bolshevik Andrei Vasilyevich Markov. Myasnikov initiated both accomplices into his plans. On the recommendation of Ivanchenko, they decided to involve in the case a proven person, Nikolai Zhuzhgov, an equally long-standing member of the RSDLP, like Ivanchenko, who during the years of the first revolution was an SD militant who took part in several actions of the Lbovites. Markov suggested using another comrade - the Red Guard Ivan Kolpashchikov. Further, the meeting was decided to be moved to the projectionist's booth of the Motovilikha cinema "Luch", where all the roles were painted. It was decided to stage Mikhail's escape, so that if all the circumstances of the case were disclosed, the murder could be presented as a shooting while trying to escape.
In the factory stable, by order of Myasnikov, they took two horses harnessed to phaetons and set off for Perm. We arrived at GubChrezKom. Markov sat down to print the "warrant" for his arrest. Who signed it Myasnikov or still the new chairman of the Cheka P.I. Malkov, who soon came, is not exactly known. According to Myasnikov, together with Malkov, the chairman of the provincial executive committee, V.A. Ivanchenko, Zhuzhgov, Markov and Kolpashchikov went to the Royal rooms on chaises, how Myasnikov got there is not exactly known, but the Cheka was a 5-minute walk from the hotel.
At about 00.10 o'clock on the night of the Ascension of the Lord on June 13, Zhuzhgov entered Mikhail Romanov's room, presented a "warrant" and demanded that the Grand Duke follow him. Orally, he added that he was instructed to evacuate citizen Mikhail Romanov away from the front. Panic began in the rooms, there was an attempt to call the police department or the Cheka. Kolpashchikov ran out into the street for help. Mikhail Romanov did not want to go, demanding to call "Malkov" by phone. Myasnikov sent Markov to help Zhuzhgov. Meanwhile, Zhuzhgov had already managed to force the prince to dress by means of threats, but he continued to persist, did not go, citing illness, and demanded either a doctor or “Malkov”. Mikhail asked if it was necessary to take things. He was told that things would be delivered later. After that, the Grand Duke asked to take Johnson with him, he wanted to himself. He was allowed.
Mikhail went out into the street, he fainted (due to an ulcer, he lay in the room for three days almost without getting up), they picked him up and put him in the first phaeton. Ivanchenko sat down next to him, and Zhuzhgov jumped on the goats. Markov and Johnson rode the second horse. Ruled by Kolpashchikov's horses. The weather was cloudy, it was raining. The horses set off up the Siberian. The further route is not known in detail. Myasnikov's meeting with the others was scheduled at the Motovilikha police station.
Left alone, Myasnikov went to the Perm police, who were nearby. There he found the assistant chief of the Motovilikha resident Vasily Drokin, to whom he briefly told everything and took the horse from him, it is possible that there was also a second meeting with Malkov and Sorokin, who responded to the call from the Royal Rooms. Drokin also received calls from the rooms (these were the remaining members of Mikhail's retinue) and reassured them that measures were being taken.
Inside the phaetons, the following happened: Johnson immediately guessed why they were being taken, but behaved calmly, Mikhail was very nervous at first, but, having recognized the head of the Perm police Ivanchenko, he calmed down. All the way he was told that Perm was in danger in connection with the offensive of the White Guards, that uprisings and unorganized demonstrations were possible, and that the prince was being taken to the junction beyond Motovilikha, where they would put him on a train.
At the Motovilikha police, the phaetons waited for Myasnikov. He said that after the murder, things should be thrown into the grave, and four killers with two victims drove further into the wet darkness to junction No. 100 (now the Kislotny station).
Having passed along the Solikamsk tract about a verst after the warehouse of the partnership of the Nobel brothers (approximately the area of \u200b\u200bthe current Balmoshnaya station), the conspirators turned right and, having driven about 100-120 sazhens, stopped. This place was well known to them, mass meetings were often held here before the revolution, the Archiereyka River flowed nearby.
Everyone got out of the phaetons. Markov immediately shot Johnson in the head and killed him outright. Kolpashchikov also fired, but unsuccessfully. Zhuzhgov wounded the Grand Duke, he wanted to shoot again, but there was a misfire, the cartridges were homemade. Mikhail ran to Markov, asking him to say goodbye to Johnson, but was killed by a point-blank shot. It was getting light, so the corpses were only thrown from above with branches. On a nearby pine tree, one of the killers or local residents, at the same time or later, carved the letters V.K.M.R. The night after the murder, the corpses were buried.
After the execution, the killers, contrary to Myasnikov's instructions, left the personal belongings of the dead for themselves. In the department of the Motovilikha militia they separated them. Ivanchenko took a gold hexagonal gold watch with the inscription "Mikhail Romanov" on one of the covers. The gold personalized ring, the prince's coat and boots were given to the chief of police A.I. Pleshkov, who was later shot by the whites. Johnson's belongings divided Markov and Kolpashchikov.
The next day, local authorities began to portray incredible activity in search of Mikhail, who had "escaped".
Telegram
June 13, 1918
Moscow. Council of People's Commissars. Perezkom. Petrograd commune. Zinoviev. Copy: Yekaterinburg. Regional Council of Dep. Perezkom.
Mikhail Romanov and Johnson were abducted tonight by unknown persons [in] soldier's uniform. Searches have not yet yielded results, and the most energetic measures have been taken.
Perm region. Perezkom.
There is a note on the telegram: Dzerzhinsky, Trotsky.
GubCherezKom immediately issued a decree on the arrest of the entire retinue of Grand Duke Mikhail.
RESOLUTION
June 13, 1918, the Extraordinary Committee for Combating Counter-Revolution, Profiteering and Sabotage, having considered the present case of the abduction of Mikhail Romanov from the Royal Rooms and bearing in mind that in this case there are signs of a criminal act, provided for by the decision of the All-Russian Chez Kom, and that Chelyshev, Borunov, Sapozhnikov and Znamerovsky are suspected of committing this,
decided: as a measure of restraint to evade the investigation, choose their detention in the Perm provincial prison.
Send a copy of this resolution to the head of the provincial prison and the commission
House arrest.
Head of Department on the fight against counter-revolution A. Trofimov.
Department Investigator P. Menshchikov. Secretary Naumov.
Regional Council. Beloborodov.
A few days later, in order to calm the public, which was agitated by the rumors about the murder of Mikhail Romanov, a small article was published in a Soviet newspaper.
"The message of the newspaper" Izvestia of Perm
Okrug Executive Committee of the Council of Workers, Peasants and Army Deputies"
THE KIDNAPPING OF MIKHAIL ROMANOV
On the night of June 12-13, at the beginning of the first hour of the new time, three unknown persons in military uniform, armed, appeared in the Korolyovskiye rooms, where Mikhail Romanov lived. They went to the premises occupied by Romanov and presented him with some kind of arrest warrant, which was only read by Romanov's secretary, Johnson. After that, Romanov was invited to go with those who came. He and Johnson were forcibly taken away, put into a closed phaeton and taken away along Torgovaya Street towards Obvinskaya.
The members of the Emergency Committee, called by telephone, arrived at the rooms a few minutes after the abduction. An order was immediately issued to detain Romanov, cavalry police units were sent out along all roads, but no traces could be found. A search of the premises of Romanov, Johnson, and two servants yielded no results. The kidnapping was immediately reported to the Council of People's Commissars, the Petrograd Commune and the Ural Regional Soviet.
Vigorous searches are being carried out.
Rumors spread throughout Russia, then Mikhail was seen in Omsk, then in Kiev, then he was detained at the Chusovoy plant. Meanwhile, all the companions of Mikhail who remained and were arrested by the Cheka were shot in the first ten days of September, along with other hostages ...
The murder of Mikhail opened the way for the extermination of the entire dynasty, a month later in two cities of the Perm province: Yekaterinburg and Alapaevsk were killed royal family and other great princes.
The killers themselves seemed to be cursed. Myasnikov, after a conflict with the party leadership, was exiled abroad, where he lived until 1945, then voluntarily returned, but was convicted and shot on November 16, 1945. Zhuzhgov was expelled from the party in 1921 for drunkenness and he eked out a miserable existence. Nothing intelligible is known about Kolpashchikov. Markov feared the revenge of the monarchists all his life and died in 1965. Ivanchenko lost the respect of his party colleagues when, many years later, it turned out that he had taken some of Mikhail's things for himself.
The last true words of Mikhail Romanov known to us are a small entry in his diary dated May 29 (June 11), 1918.
“Perm, May 29/June 11. Tuesday.
Today the pains were weaker and less prolonged. I read in the morning. During the day I lay down for an hour. Znamerovsky and my godson Nagorsky (lawyer) came to tea, he ate with great appetite, after the Petrograd famine. Then I wrote to Natasha in Gatchina. Dr. Shipitsin came in about 8 1/2. In the evening I read. The weather was sunny at times, during the day it rained for a short time, 13 °, in the evening too. About 10 my godson, the lawyer Nagorsky, came in to say goodbye, he is leaving for Petrograd today.
The building where Mikhail Aleksandrovich Romanov was kept for the last days and from where he was taken to execution, as well as the place of his alleged death, are marked with a memorial plaque. Orthodox clergy often hold memorial services there.
Alikina N.A. Don Quixote of the proletarian revolution: A documentary story about how Motovilikha worker Gavriil Myasnikov fought against the Central Committee of the RCP (b) for freedom of speech and the press (1920-1922). Perm: Pushka Publishing House, 2006.
Museum of Mikhail Romanov in Perm
Myasnikov G.I. Philosophy of Murder, or Why and How I Killed Mikhail Romanov / publ. B. I. Belenkin and V. K. Vinogradov // Past: Ist. alm. - [Issue] 18. - M.: Atheneum; SPb. : Phoenix, 1995.
The younger brother of Nicholas II, the son of Alexander III, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich was the last Russian emperor - though only one night, March 3, 1917, when Nicholas abdicated in his favor. He had every chance to take the Russian throne for a longer period, but he deliberately refused this opportunity back in 1912, when he secretly married the twice-divorced Natalia Wulfert.
Having entered into this morganatic marriage, Mikhail Alexandrovich actually renounced the throne.
Mikhail Alexandrovich was proclaimed heir to the throne in 1899, when the second son of Alexander III, Grand Duke George, died, and held this title until 1904, when Nicholas II's son Alexei was born. According to contemporaries, Mikhail Alexandrovich was a well-mannered, modest and gentle person, he was burdened by his high position and never claimed the throne.
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, 1896
Mikhail Romanov met Lieutenant Wulfert's wife, Natalia Sergeevna, in 1908 at a regimental celebration in Gatchina near St. Petersburg. That evening, Mikhail Alexandrovich invited her to dance several times, to the displeasure of his family - it was indecent for a representative of the royal family to dance with a married lady.
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich at a costume ball in the Winter Palace, 1903
Countess Natalia Brasova, 1918
Natalya Vulfert (née Sheremetyevskaya) was the daughter of a Moscow lawyer. Her first husband was the conductor of the Bolshoi Theater S. Mamontov, but the marriage soon broke up. The second time she married officer A. Wulfert. She was called attractive, intelligent, educated and sharp-tongued. However, these qualities were not enough to become a suitable match for Grand Duke Romanov after two divorces.
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and Natalya Sergeevna Brasova
When Nicholas II found out about his brother's intention to marry this "cunning, evil beast", he sent him to Orel. The emperor wrote to his mother: “Poor Misha, obviously, became temporarily insane. He thinks and thinks as she commands. It's disgusting to talk about her." But Natalya Vulfert divorced her husband and followed her beloved.
Prince Mikhail (center) hunting at the Brasov estate, 1910
Prince Mikhail Alexandrovich (left) and Natalya Sergeevna Brasova (center). Gatchina, 1916
In 1910, the couple had a son, George, to whom the emperor granted title of nobility and surname Brasov. But Mikhail Alexandrovich, despite the gentleness of his character, remained adamant in his desire to be legally married to Natalya. In Russia, the wedding was impossible, and the couple secretly went abroad. The emperor knew about his brother's intentions, so he put him under supervision.
Mikhail Alexandrovich managed to send his pursuers on the wrong path. In Vienna, he found an Orthodox priest in a Serbian church, and in October 1912 the lovers got married. The next day, the Grand Duke wrote to his mother: “All the last time I have been terribly tormented that I could not, due to circumstances, talk with you about what has been the main meaning of my life all these years, but you yourself, apparently, never wanted. It has been five years since I met Natalia Sergeevna, and I love and respect her more and more every year, but my moral state has always been very difficult, and Last year Petersburg in particular led me to the realization that only marriage would help me get out of this difficult and false situation. But, not wanting to upset you, I, perhaps, would never have decided on this if it were not for the illness of little Alexei and the thought that they could separate me from Natalia Sergeevna as an heir, which now cannot be.
Countess Natalya Brasova with her daughter
Upon learning of this morganatic marriage, the emperor, in a rage, dismissed his brother from all positions and posts and forbade him to return to Russia. As a private person, Mikhail Alexandrovich settled with his family in the English castle of Knebworth near London. Two years later, under the influence of his mother, Nikolai changed his anger to mercy, allowed his brother to return, returned all his titles to him, and granted his wife the title of Countess Brasova.
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and Natalya Sergeevna Brasova with their son George
On March 2, 1917, the emperor abdicated in favor of his brother. Members of the Provisional Government immediately summoned the Grand Duke to the capital, and on the morning of March 3, the heir to the throne abdicated. In fact, he turned out to be the last Russian emperor, although the time of his reign lasted only one night.
In 1918, Mikhail Romanov was exiled to Perm, where he was soon shot by the Bolsheviks. Natalya Brasova, after nine months in prison, managed to go abroad. She learned about the fate of her husband only in 1934. In France, among the emigrant environment, she was not respected, she was called a smart lady, but evil. Romanov's son Georgy died in a car accident, children from previous marriages lived separately, and soon Natalya Brasova was left all alone. Last days she spent in poverty and disease. In 1952, she died of cancer in a hospital for the poor and homeless.
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich was Russian Emperor from only 10 am to 6 pm on March 3, 1917. They didn’t even have time to give him a number, and so, by all the rules, he should have been considered Michael II. Paradoxically, the reign of the House of Romanov began with Mikhail Fedorovich, Mikhail Alexandrovich and ended. Mikhail was born in 1878 and, as is usually the case with younger children, enjoyed great love in the family. His father called him Mishkin and paid him a lot of attention. From childhood, his closest friend was his sister Olga, who called him in English Darling floppy (lop-eared cutie).
Although Mikhail was the son of the tsar, no allowances were made for this in education - from the age of 7, daily lessons in various subjects, and later service in the guard. He simply idolized his father, but his relationship with his mother was more complicated. Maria Fedorovna did not forget that she was a queen even in the children's room. She was mainly engaged in the secular education of children. A best school she considered such an upbringing to be English - no lisping, no musi-pusi, but only impeccable obedience, simplicity in everyday life, unpretentiousness in food ("oatmeal, sir!"), gymnastics and invariable water procedures.
The father took his son with him for fishing, to the menagerie, they burned fires, baked potatoes in ashes, removed snow, sawed trees. He taught Mikhail to read animal tracks, to control a boat, and other important sciences that a boy should know. The death of his father in 1894 shocked Mikhail.
Mikhail grew up as a physically strong person - he received incredible physical strength from his father and sometimes amused himself by tearing a deck of cards jokingly. Once, during exercises in Gatchina, he swung his saber so much that the blade flew off. He was a kind hearted and cheerful guy. He was distinguished by excellent courage, which he showed during the First World War. He was easy to deal with people. From his mother, he received an incredible charm, he was very fond of music and played on several musical instruments, was interested in history, famously drove a car and enjoyed great success with women. He did not make enemies, did no harm to anyone and did not start intrigues. In the army, he was adored for his prowess and courage, for his sense of humor and ability to support any company.
Michael was very truthful. For the people of his circle, this was rather a disadvantage, and he was frankly burdened by court life with obligatory receptions, receptions, soirees, solemn “exits” and official “presences”. Mikhail felt out of place and, in order to get rid of this burden, he preferred to disappear in the army. One contemporary commented about Grand Duke Mikhail: “I have never met a person like him, so unspoiled and noble by nature ... He resembled an adult child who was taught to act only well and decently.” No one really took this nice guy seriously.
Mikhail was already 21 years old when fate presented him with a turn. As we have already said, he had two older brothers - Nikolai and George, the latter was considered the heir to the throne (until Nikolai had his own son). In 1899, brother George died of consumption, and now Michael became the heir to the throne. This event fundamentally changed the position of the Grand Duke. Although Nicholas II already had three children by this time, they were girls. The crown could only pass to a male heir. The closest to the monarch in terms of kinship was Michael. For five whole years he had to play the role of the Tsarevich, which he got quite by accident. And this means that it was necessary to get into state affairs and engage in politics. He did not think that it would be for long, and he was going to help his brother only temporarily. True, this assistance was limited mainly to representative functions.
Nicholas II himself had no illusions about the state abilities of his younger brother. When in 1900 in the Crimea he fell ill with a severe form of typhoid fever and his health inspired great concern, the courtiers suggested that he invite Mikhail "to replace His Majesty during the illness." To which the king replied: “No, no. Misha will only mess things up. He's so gullible." However, there were people who did not share this point of view. The all-powerful Minister of Finance S. Yu. Witte, by the way, who taught Mikhail Aleksandrovich a course in economics, on the contrary, spoke extremely highly of his abilities. The German Kaiser Wilhelm II had about the same opinion about him. After Mikhail visited him in Berlin in 1902, the emperor wrote an enthusiastic letter to Maria Feodorovna, in which he admired her son. The mother herself shared the point of view of Nicholas II, considering Michael gullible and frivolous. This impression intensified in her after Mikhail's trip to England for the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901, which he managed to miss, carried away by a walk around London.
Finally, in 1904, Nicholas II had a son, Alexei, who instead of Mikhail became the heir to the Russian throne. Now, as they said in high society, "Mikhail Alexandrovich was resigned."
He himself not only was not sad about this, but, on the contrary, rejoiced. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich on this occasion made the following entry in his diary on August 2, 1904: “At five o’clock, my wife and I went to visit the Dowager Empress and drank tea with her ... There was also a retired heir Misha; he shines with happiness that he is no longer the heir.
He had something to shine on. Mikhail turned into an ordinary grand duke, although he remained a possible contender for the throne (but only after Alexei). And so he received the title of "conditional regent" with his nephew. But these thoughts he pushed out of his head, and they no longer occupied him. His interests were now located in a different plane - after he resigned from the powers of the crown prince, he decided to marry. The laws said that the heir should marry only the princess, and he was ready to follow this rule; and now he has decided to marry for love.
On the life path Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich met the lawyer's daughter Natalya Sheremetevskaya on the way. She was born in 1880 in the village of Perovo, in 1902 she married a representative of a well-known merchant family, Sergei Mamontov, and gave birth to a daughter, Natalia. This marriage was not successful, and in 1905 the couple divorced. In the same year, Natalya Mamontova married Lieutenant Vladimir Wulfert, who served in St. Petersburg in the Life Guards Cuirassier Regiment.
Michael also served in the cavalry. At one of the Gatchina receptions, he fell in love with Madame Wulfert at first sight. Their romance developed rapidly. Communication with a married woman, moreover, already divorced in the past, naturally, did not please the royal family. But it was mutual, ardent and sincere love.
In July 1910, Natalya gave birth to a son named George. Nicholas II entered the position of a brother - he allowed the boy to wear the patronymic Mikhailovich; he was raised to the nobility. Also, he and his mother were given the surname Brasov - by the name of the estate in the Oryol province, which belonged to Mikhail.
In 1911, information appeared that Mikhail expressed a desire to marry Natalya. Knowing the impulsive nature of his brother, Nicholas II ordered to establish police surveillance on him. Gendarme General A. Gerasimov was instructed to warn all Russian Orthodox spiritual missions abroad so that their priests would not marry Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich with Natalya. However, the lovers left for Vienna and there in the Serbian Orthodox Church Saint Sava got married.
There was no way to hide the fact of Mikhail's marriage from the public. I had to impose on him the usual penalty that is due in such cases - Mikhail was deprived of all dynastic rights, banned from entering Russia, dismissed from service, deprived of his rank (at that time he was a squadron commander) and established guardianship over his property. But Michael was only too happy about it. Initially, he settled with his family in the south of France, then moved to England, where he rented a large estate.
The air already smelled of war, and it broke out in August 1914. All the disgraced Romanovs received the forgiveness of their sins and were going home. Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich did not stand aside either. The cordial relations between the brothers were restored. His marriage was officially recognized. Natasha and her son also returned to Petrograd, and in March 1915 the emperor granted George the title of Count Brasov, but she herself was never accepted at court. In Russia, Mikhail's family lived mainly in Gatchina.
Michael went to the front. He received the rank of lieutenant general and took command of the Caucasian native cavalry division, which received the name "Wild Division" in the army. It was formed exclusively from Muslim highlanders, in it only officers were Russian, it consisted of six regiments (Circassian, Ingush, Kabardian, Dagestan, Chechen, Tatar), the Ossetian foot brigade and the 8th Don Cossack artillery battalion. General A. I. Denikin later recalled that the purpose of forming such a unique formation was "the desire to remove the most restless elements from the territory of the Caucasus." In other words, the Savage Division was fought mainly by abreks. In battles, the division was distinguished by unprecedented courage and toughness, "bordering on primitive morals and Batu's savagery."
The highlanders did not take anyone prisoner, but treated the enemy in the same way as recently in Chechnya: they cut off their heads alive, ripped open their stomachs, and the like. The Germans and Austrians immediately fled from the battlefield as soon as they learned that the Wild Division was on the offensive. Agree that only a person of very strong will could manage these abreks, which was the Grand Duke Mikhail. Thanks to the commander's care, the salary in the Wild Division was the highest in the Russian army - an ordinary received 25 rubles a month (a second lieutenant in other parts received 35 rubles). The highlanders respected their commander very much, were boundlessly devoted to him and even turned to "you". They were very impressed by the fact that the brother of the king himself leads them into battle. Michael, on the battlefields, showed himself to be a brave and courageous commander. In February 1916, he received a promotion - he became the commander of the 2nd cavalry corps, and then the inspector general of the cavalry.
The military career of the Grand Duke developed successfully, but severe trials lay ahead of him. The February events of 1917 found him in Gatchina. On February 27, 1917, Chairman of the State Duma M. Rodzianko summoned Mikhail to Petrograd. He asked him to contact Nicholas II, who was at Headquarters, and persuade his brother to form a "government of people's trust." However, his conversation with the tsar did not give any result, and Mikhail Alexandrovich went to the Winter Palace, but since it was dangerous to spend the night there, he moved to the apartment of Prince P. Putyatin.
Events developed rapidly. On March 1, a messenger from his uncle, Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, came to him and brought for signature the Manifesto, in which the Grand Dukes Pavel Alexandrovich and Kirill Vladimirovich, on behalf of the emperor, instructed the Duma to form such a government. Mikhail hesitated for a long time, but nevertheless put his signature. The next day, March 2, 1917, he learned that Nicholas II had abdicated for himself and his son in his favor.
Formally, because of his scandalous marriage, Mikhail did not have the right to the throne, but these subtleties no longer bothered anyone. The brother's denial made a depressing impression on Mikhail. Attorney at Law N. Ivanov recalled: “Unwillingness to take supreme power, I can testify, was his main desire. He said that he never wanted the throne and was not ready for it. He will accept the power of the king if everyone tells him that by refusing he takes on a heavy responsibility, that otherwise the country is going to ruin ... He experienced strong hesitation and excitement. Went from one room to another ... He haggard for these hours. His thoughts raced…”
Finally, he came to the conclusion that he alone could not do anything, since he needed to consult with the deputies of the Duma. On the morning of March 3, 1917, members of the Duma rushed to the apartment of Prince Putyatin and began to persuade Mikhail to renounce the throne as well. Under their strong pressure, at 6 pm he drew up a Manifesto, in which he asked the citizens of Russia to trust the Provisional Government until the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, which was to decide on the method of governing Russia: a republic or a monarchy? As is known, in January 1918, the Bolsheviks dispersed the Constituent Assembly, which did not have time to adopt any resolution on this matter.
Having signed the renunciation, Mikhail left for Gatchina to live with his family. He quietly lived there with his wife and two children (Mikhail also considered his daughter from Natalya's first marriage to be his child). His lifestyle was diversified only by rides in a Rolls-Royce and occasional outdoor picnics with friends. On July 31, 1917, he was allowed a meeting with his brother Nicholas II, who was being held under arrest in Tsarskoye Selo. The meeting for 10 minutes was arranged by Kerensky, who was present during the conversation. Mikhail was not even allowed to see his nephews. This was the last meeting of the brothers - Mikhail left after it with tears in his eyes, and the next morning he found out that his brother and his family had been taken to Siberia. They never saw each other again.
Even more difficult trials awaited Mikhail Alexandrovich ahead. At the end of August 1917, he and his wife were placed under house arrest. He was very surprised at this turn of events, but complied. All the same, he gave power to the Provisional Government, and they treated him so shamelessly. During the October events, the Grand Duke was not kept for long in Smolny, but then they were released to Gatchina. In November 1917, he himself appeared there to the manager of the Bolshevik government, V. Bonch Bruevich, and asked to "legitimize" his position. Here he was given a certificate on official letterhead stating that he could "reside freely" as a citizen of the Republic.
Despite this, on March 7, 1918, the Gatchina Soviet arrested Mikhail Romanov. At the suggestion of M. Uritsky (Chairman of the Petrograd Cheka), the Council of People's Commissars decided to send him to Perm.
In Perm, Mikhail Alexandrovich was settled in the so-called Royal Rooms - a hotel built by the merchant Korolev. In the yard of the hotel there was a garage in which Mikhail's Rolls-Royce stood. There was no guard near the rooms. Mikhail Aleksandrovich could freely drive around the city in his limousine, walk along the embankments, ride a boat along the Kama, meet with local residents, go to visit them, visit the theater (where the audience gave him a standing ovation) and church. Mikhail Alexandrovich led the life of a free man, with only one exception - from the first months of his stay in Perm, he had to report daily - first to the police, and from May 1918 to Gubchek. By this time, he fell ill, and Natalia Brasova went to Moscow at the end of May to apply for him (it was about going abroad for treatment). Prior to that, she repeatedly visited the children who remained in Petrograd. On one of these visits, she managed to get false documents and send her son to Denmark.
In Moscow, she met with Lenin, but her efforts turned out to be fruitless, and she already wanted to return to her husband when she received the news that Mikhail had been "abducted by unknown people." Natalya Sergeevna did not believe this, since the exiles lived under constant control. In a state of extreme irritation, she broke through to Moses Uritsky and demanded an explanation from him. She accused him of killing "native Misha." In response, he accused Brasova herself that it was, they say, she organized her husband's "escape"! She was immediately arrested and sent to prison, where she spent almost ten months.
In fact, on the night of July 12-13, local Bolsheviks took Mikhail Alexandrovich, together with his British secretary Johnson, out of town and shot him, staging it as a kidnapping. The Perm Cheka even sent a telegram to Moscow: “Tonight Mikhail Romanov and Johnson were abducted by unidentified men in soldier's uniform. Searches have not yet yielded results, the most energetic measures have been taken. This was disinformation - the action to destroy the Romanovs was conceived in Moscow; a few days later, on the night of July 16-17, 1918, Nicholas II was shot with his entire family, and on the afternoon of July 17, the execution of the Romanovs in Alapaevsk followed. Mikhail Alexandrovich was only 39 years old. His grave has not been found to this day.
So, Natalia is in prison. After 10 months, she, feigning a severe cold, achieved a transfer to the prison hospital. One day her daughter visited her, and on the same night she managed to disappear unnoticed from the hospital. With the help of false documents, under the guise of a sister of mercy, she and her daughter were able to get to Kiev. From Kiev they moved to Odessa, and then on a British ship they left Russia forever.
In exile, Natalya Brasova first lived in England, then moved to France. She had a hard time abroad. She hoped for the help of powerful relatives, because the English king George V was a cousin of Mikhail Alexandrovich. But very soon she realized that there was nothing and no one to count on. None of her husband's European relatives were going to help her; They didn't even want to meet her. Natalia also avoided her husband's Russian relatives - those who managed to escape from Russia. Even Empress Maria Fedorovna, Mikhail's mother, could not overcome her antipathy towards her and never met her daughter-in-law and grandson.
The first years Natalia did not experience any special financial difficulties. She kept some bank accounts, some of the jewelry she was able to take out into exile. Their sale became the widow's main source of income. However, everything comes to an end. Diamonds with pearls are over. There came a time of poverty, and then complete poverty. But even more crippled her son's death - he died in a car accident in the summer of 1931.
This branch of the Romanovs, the heirs of tsarist power in Russia, was cut short forever...
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