Hall of Fame
Men and women who brought shame to the Imperial family
ALEXEI Petrovich
Tsarevich 1690-1718 Alexei despised his father, Peter the Great, and attempted to remove himself from the succession. The emperor agreed so long as he became a monk. In response to this ultimatum, Alexei fled to Vienna, causing enormous humiliation for his father by seeking the protection of the Austrian emperor.
Returning to Russia on the condition he not be punished and be allowed to marry his mistress, Peter the Great had his fingers crossed behind his back. Alexei’s estranged wife was tried for adultery, his friends were impaled, and the Tsarevich was tortured, tried and executed for treason.
ANASTASIA MIKHAILOVNA
Grand duchess 1860-1897 Widowed at 36 Stassie inherited the private residence on the French Riviera and began an affair with her private secretary, Vladimir Alexandrovitch Paltov, passing off the ensuing pregnancy as a tumour and then trying to hide the birth by claiming she was quarantined for chicken pox. Gambler, lover, pleasure seeker and permanent magnet for scandal – diplomat Maurice Paléologue wrote on 14 October 1913, “Although she is 53, she lives openly with an Argentinian blackguard, dances at Magic City with all comers till two in the morning and associates with the scum of the aerodromes.”
PAUL ALEXANDROVICH
1860-1919 Grand duke Paul struck up a relationship with a married mother of three and the secret was blown open when
Olga attended a court ball wearing a necklace belonging to bae’s late mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Olga was pregnant with Paul’s child and her husband demanded a divorce, which was only granted on the condition that Paul pinky-swear not to marry his mistress. He promptly did and was stripped of his titles and properties, and thrown out of Russia.
NICHOLAS NIKOLAEVICH
Grand duke 1831-1891 Shielded from the fallout of his womanising and fraud by loyal military service to his brother, Alexander II, who advised him simply to be discreet about his mistress and baby mama, ballerina Catherine Chislova. Following Alexander II’S death, the new emperor had little time for his boorish uncle and Alexander III stripped Nicholas of his commission and criticised his dalliances. Forced to mortgage his palace to pay his debts, Nicholas became increasingly unstable. With oral cancer spreading to his brain, the Grand Duke became convinced all women were in love with him and assaulted a male dancer at the theatre thinking he was a proper tasty sort.
Nicholas Nikolaevich had five children with his longterm mistress Catherine Chislova and her death contributed to his declining health