Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia (; – 30 October 1956) was the youngest son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, and thus a grandson of Emperor Alexander II and the first cousin of Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor.
In 1900, he began an affair with the famous ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska, becoming the third grand duke to fall for her.
Grand Duke Andrei followed a military career and graduated from the Alexandrovskaya Military Law academy in Saint Petersburg in 1905. He occupied different military positions during the reign (1894-1917) of Emperor Nicholas II, but with no particular distinction. He became a senator in 1911 and was appointed to the rank of Major General in the Imperial Russian Army in 1915. He took part in World War I, but was away from real combat, spending most of the conflict at Russia's General Staff headquarters or in idle time in ceremonial positions in Saint Petersburg.
In February 1917, shortly before the fall of the Russian monarchy, Grand Duke Andrei left Saint Petersburg to join his mother in Kislovodsk in the northern Caucasus. He remained in the Caucasus for the next three years. After the October Revolution of November 1917, he was briefly arrested along with his brother, Grand Duke Boris, but they escaped. He departed revolutionary Russia in March 1920, being the last grand duke to leave for exile. In 1921, he married his longtime mistress, Mathilde Kschessinska (1872-1971), and recognized her son Vladimir (or "Vova") as his own. The couple lived in the South of France until 1929, when they moved permanently to Paris, where Kschessinska opened a ballet school. After World War II, Grand Duke Andrei lived in reduced circumstances. At his death at age 77, he was the last surviving Russian grand duke born in Imperial Russia.
Early life
Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia was born on in Tsarskoye Selo, at his parents country residence, the Vladimir Villa.Beéche, The Other Grand Dukes, p. 25.Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 71 He was the youngest of the four Vladimirovich sons; a sister followed him a few years later, and the eldest of his brothers died in early childhood.Chavchavadze, The Grand Dukes, p. 241 His father, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, a brother of Tsar Alexander III of Russia, was a renowned patron of the arts.Zeepvat, Romanov Autumn, p. 96 Andrei's mother, Grand Duchess, Maria Pavlovna, née a Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, was one of the greatest hostesses of Russian society.Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 72 Both parents doted on their four surviving children: Andrei, his two eldest brothers, Kirill and Boris, and their younger sister, Grand Duchess Elena. The children were educated at home.
Raised by British nannies, English was Andrei's first language.Zeepvat, Romanov Autumn, p.88 He also learned Russian, French and German. His father, who loved art, assigned Léon Bakst as a drawing master for the children.Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 71 Grand Duke Andrei grew up in opulence. The family's main residence was the Vladimir Palace in Saint Petersburg, but as his father preferred country life, they spent the greater part of the year at the Vladimir Villa, a mansion in Tsarskoye Selo, returning to Saint Petersburg during the winter.Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 41 The children also accompanied their parents in many of their travels abroad to France, Germany and Italy, staying in Coburg, Paris, Berlin and Schwerin.Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 153
Following Romanov tradition, Andrei was destined to follow a military career. While his eldest brother, Kirill, chose the Imperial navy, Andrei and his brother Boris joined the infantry. Andrei began his military service in August 1898 as lieutenant in the Guards Horse-Artillery Brigade. In 1899 he was appointed adjutant, graduating in 1902 from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. He then studied law at the Alexandrovskaya Military Law Academy at Potseluev bridge, graduating with honors in 1905.Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 77 He was subsequently listed by the military-judicial department. The military law Academy tasked him with translating foreign military criminal statutes. He was appointed lieutenant in 1902, captain in 1906 and colonel on 18 April 1910.Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 78 In March 1911, he was appointed senator. From 1911 to 26 February 1914, he commanded the Life Guards 2nd Don Cossack artillery. In spite of his appointments, Grand Duke Andrei did not have much interest in his military career. Instead, he pursued a life of leisure enjoying the privileges provided by his royal status and wealth.
Relationship with Kschessinska
Grand Duke Andrei was tall, shy and good looking.Zeepvat, The Camera and the Tsars, p. 108 Efforts to make him settle down with a bride of royal blood were unsuccessful. He was very close to his mother, particularly after the death of his father in 1909, and manipulated her to his advantage, which his siblings resented. His pliable personality made him more popular within the Romanov family than his siblings.Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 69 He was a good friend of his cousin Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, who was a year older.
In February 1900, Grand Duke Andrei was invited by his brothers, Grand Dukes Kirill and Boris, to a dinner party at the house of Mathilde Kschessinska.Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 70 Kschessinska, the Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Mariinsky Theatre, was the eldest among the three most prominent dancers of her generation at the Imperial Russian Ballet, along with Anna Pavlova and Tamara Karsavina. Grand Duke Andrei sat next to his hostess during the dinner, but accidentally spilt a glass of red wine on her. Mathilde, attracted to the young grand duke, seven years her junior, took the incident as good omen. Age 28, Mathilde had been the mistress of Tsar Nicholas II when he was heir to the throne. Their two-year relationship ended with Nicholas' engagement to his future wife, Alexandra.Chavchavadze, The Grand Dukes, p. 242 Mathilde was ambitious and eager to maintain her close relationship with the Romanovs. She subsequently began a long time affair with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia, Nicholas and Andrei's first cousin once removed. As she was not in love with Sergei, but enjoyed his company and protection, Mathilde pursued a relationship with Grand Duke Andrei, the third Romanov to become involved with her. By July 1900, they became lovers, traveling together that summer to Biarritz and Paris.Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 73 In the autumn 1901, they visited several Italian cities, including Venice, Padua, Florence and Rome. Grand Duke Sergei tolerated their affair, remaining a close and loyal friend to the famous ballerina, but the relationship between the two grand dukes grew tense. They tried to avoid each other and maintain civility while sharing the same woman for almost two decades.
The relationship between the three complicated further as Mathilde became pregnant. The baby was conceived around mid-September 1901, before her trip to Italy. On 18 June 1902, Mathilde gave birth to a son. Both grand dukes were at first convinced they were the child's father.Perry & Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, p. 70Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 85Without DNA it is impossible to determine today who was the child's father. In her memoirs published under the title "Dancing in Petersburg" Kschessinska writes on page 89: ".... Serge knew for certain that he was not the father of the child". This, however, was written in the 1950s when Grand Duke Andrei was still alive (see Imperial Dancer pg 85-86). During Grand Duke Sergei's life, up till the Russian revolution and his death, he was for all purposes the child's father while Andrei kept a lower profile(see Imperial Dancer pg 85). It was in exile. and with Sergei's death, that Andrei assumed unquestionably the paternity of Kschessinska's son After the Revolution, Kschessinska and Grand Duke Andrei maintained that Andrei was the father. The child, who became known within the family by his nickname, Vova, received the name and patronymic Vladimir Sergeievich.Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 86 No surname was made public until 1911. The birth certificate showed Sergei as the father. Grand Duke Sergei was devoted to the child, looking after mother and son until his exile and subsequent execution following the fall of the Russian monarchy. The question of Vladimir's paternity remains unresolved. However, most sources attribute the paternity to Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, whom the child resembled.
A Russian Grand Duke
In 1903, Grand Duke Andrei purchased his own palace. The building, located at 28 English embankment, previously belonged to Baron Pavel von Derviz, a Russian railway magnate of noble German descent.Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 94Beéche, The Other Grand Dukes, p. 26. After the Baron's death, his son inherited the mansion, and in 1889, enlisted the architect Alexander Krasovsky (1848–1918), who would work for Nicholas II in the Winter Palace, to remodel it in the Florentine style. As upkeep of the mansion was expensive, it was sold to Grand Duke Andrei for 400 thousand rubles. Grand Duke Andrei seldom lived there. He made few significant changes, even leaving the Von Derviz coats of arms and monograms in place. However, he had some of the rooms redecorated.Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 73 He used the building to entertain, offering concerts, plays and dinners, and as a gathering place for artists, particularly from the ballet world .Korneva & Cheboksarova, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, p. 74 The palace has survived to the present. Since 1959, it houses a registry office for weddings.
Grand Duke Andrei could neither openly live together with Mathilda nor did there exist the possibility of contracting a morganatic marriage with her. Only in their trips to Western Europe did they enjoy enough freedom to live as a couple, but even abroad they were forced to maintain appearances. The couple always had to travel with his Aide-de-camp, Feodor Von Kube, and when Grand Duke Andrei was invited to events, Mathilda could not join him.
As a member of the Russian Imperial family, Grand Duke Andrei took some duties of representation. He was an honorary member of the Russian Imperial Fire prevention society and chairman of the committee for the construction of a memorial to Emperor Alexander II in St. Petersburg. In 1907, he went to Bulgaria on an official visit with his father. In 1911, he visited Ferdinand I of Bulgaria for a second time as a representative of Russia, and he was appointed senator in that year.
In the summer of 1912, Grand Duke Andrei fell ill with bronchitis. Fearing the onset of tuberculosis, he was sent to recuperate in the Crimea, staying in a palace owned by his cousin Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich. His convalesce was long and he went to Saint-Maurice, Switzerland and to the South of France to recuperate. He liked the French Riviera in particular and in the spring of 1913, he bought a property for Mathilde in Cap-d'Ail. The villa, located on the edge of a mountain looking the sea, was named Alam, Mathilde's nickname, Mala, spelled backwards.Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 161 Upon his return to Russia, Andrei Vladimirovich took part in the 300th anniversary celebrations of the Romanov dynasty.Hall, Imperial Dancer, p. 160 Villa Alam was completely remodeled and Andrei and Mathilde returned there in the spring of 1914, hoping to stay there every spring. However, they were able to return only six years later, after the war, having survived the Russian revolution.
War and revolution