Michael Alexandrovich of Russia was born in 1878 as the
younger brother of tsar Nicolas II.
As long as
Nicolas did not have a male heir, Michael was the first in line for the throne.
In 1904 Alexei was born, but soon it became clear the boy had the deadly
disease hemophilia and would probably not get older than twenty. Michael was
still important as a potential emperor for Russia.
Members of
the Imperial family had to obey certain rules. You had to ask the tsar for
permission to get married and marrying a divorced woman was absolutely not
done. People who did not follow the rules were banned from court and sometimes
even from Russia.
Since Michael
played such an important part in the future of Russia, it was crucial he did
follow the rules. There was however one problem, he fell in love with Natascha,
a married woman who was divorced before.
They began
a passionate affair and they wanted to get married, especially when Natasha
became pregnant. They would never get permission to do so and finally married
in secret abroad. Nicolas was not happy with the way his brother disrespected
his authority and was not planning on forgiving him any time soon. Michael and
Natasha were not welcome in Russia for the moment.
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| Michael |
Only when
WWI broke out, did they come back to Russia and Michael became an officer in
the Russian Army.
The war did
not go well for Russia and there were many people unhappy with the way
Alexandra managed the government and Nicolas managed the army.
In March
1917 (OS) Nicolas was forced to abdicate. People expected Alexei to become the
new emperor, with Michael as his regent. But Nicolas also abdicated for Alexei,
due to his bad health.
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| Michael and his dog |
The crown
of Russia was now offered to Michael. Many regiments swore loyalty to the new
emperor and a Te Deum was sung in the churches in his honour. Natasha was just
never mentioned.
Michael
realized he could not accept the crown without the permission of the
parliament, but this never came.
It was the Provisional
Government and later the Bolsheviks who took over the government and the
Romanovs did not have a role to play anymore. Lenin wanted to get rid of them
and the threat they still were.
In July
1918, some days before the Imperial Family was shot in Jekatarinaburg,
Bolshevik agents took Michael into the woods and shot him.
His death
was never made official and for a long time there were rumours that Michael was
in Siberia to lead an army against the Bolsheviks.
Natasha
tried to escape from Russia and ended up in England, where she lived in poverty.
She died in 1952 in a hospital for the poor in Paris.
A lot of
attention in Russian history goes to Nicolas and Alexandra and this is
understandable, but it is also very interesting to read about the other family
members and how they lived.
This
biography by Rosemary en Donald Crawford
about Michael and Natasha is a good one. There are a little too many snide
remarks directed towards Nicolas and Alexandra, but that is all. The rest is
well written and well documented and they managed to bring Michael and Natasha
closer to us.
According
to all records Michael was an amiable and capable man, who could have been a
good tsar were the circumstances different.
Natasha was
seen by many at court as a golddigger and her two divorces to marry a richer
man seem evidence to that. But when you read their story, it seems it was true
love between Natasha and Michael. They had to put up with a lot together and
the marriage did not bring her much profit. Until her death she never married
another man, because she still mourned for Michael.
Such a very
sad ending for both of them.
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| Natasha and Michael |
Published
in 1997
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