Militza of Montenegro

Princess Militza of Montenegro

Princess Milica of Montenegro (* July 14 ^{. Jul} / 26. July  1866 ^greg. In Cetinje , Montenegro ; † 5. September 1951 in Alexandria , Egypt ) was a princess of the house Petrović-Njegoš and later Russian Grand Duchess. She belonged to the group of women who introduced the traveling preacher Rasputin to the Russian Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna .

Life

Origin and education

Militza was the second daughter of King Nikola I of Montenegro (1841-1921) and his wife Milena Vukotić (1847-1923). Milica, as she was called in the family, grew up with her siblings in Cetinje.

Grand Duchess Militza with her children, 1898

Like her sister Anastasia , she received training in Saint Petersburg at the Smolny Institute from 1875 . She fell ill with typhus. Tsarina Maria took care of her herself for a time and, after her recovery, arranged for her to return to Montenegro. She returned and graduated with honors in Smolnyi in 1882. She was a brilliant pianist.

marriage and family

On July 26, 1889 married Princess Princess Milica of Montenegro in Saint Petersburg Grand Duke Peter Nikolayevich Romanov (1864-1931), son of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov and his wife Princess Alexandra Friederike Wilhelmine von Oldenburg , since the marriage Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna . The marriage had four children:

• Marina Petrovna (February 28, 1892 - May 15, 1981)

⚭ 1927 Alexander Prince Gallitzin

• Roman Petrovich (born October 17, 1896 - † October 23, 1978)

⚭ 1921 Prascowia Dmitrievna Countess Cheremeteva

• Nadja Petrovna (March 3, 1898 - April 21, 1988)

⚭ 1917–1940 Nicholas Prince Orlov

• Sophie (* / † March 3, 1898)

Her sister Anastasia divorced her first husband in 1906 and married the older brother of Militza's husband, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Romanow , in 1907 .

Occultism, Rasputin

Militza did not believe in official life and had few friendships, especially with Sinaida Nikolaevna Yusupowa, the mother of Felix Felixowitsch Yusupow . Sometimes she invited a gentleman from the academy, including Sergei Fyodorovich Oldenburg , Fyodor Ivanovich Uspensky and Pyotr Petrovich Semyonov-Tjan-Schansky . In St. Petersburg she received the representatives of several poor associations and charitable organizations, which she always actively supported. Milica and her sister Anastasia were called the "Black Princesses" and both were very fond of the occult . They first introduced the imperial family to the French Nizier Anthelme Philippe , and then, after his involuntary return to France, to the Siberian miracle worker Rasputin .

Rasputin was introduced to Militza and Anastasia by Archimandrite Theophan , inspector of the Spiritual Academy in Saint Petersburg, in the autumn of 1905. With his reports on Siberia and the old monasteries, the two sisters immediately liked him. He often came to visit, and Militza reported about it frequently to Tsarina Alexandra , until she was ready to get to know him better. On November 1, 1905, Rasputin was introduced to the Tsar by Militza. After that he appeared less and less in the house of Militza's family. Militza also believed to recognize heretical views in him and mentioned this to the Archimandrite.

After a long break, the final break came at the end of 1909 when Militza and her family returned to St. Petersburg from a stay in Crimea. Here Rasputin was waiting for her and asked her and her husband to go with him to the Tsarina in Tsarskoye Selo . Since Militza was reserved, Rasputin began to talk about his mission as a preacher. Militza doubted this claim, whereupon Rasputin finally spoke demonstratively derogatory of the Seraphim of Sarov , who was canonized in 1903 . Militza's husband referred him to these words, whereupon Rasputin threatened that God would punish this behavior.

Militza then tried to warn the Tsarina about Rasputin. She accused him of heresy and gave the tsarina books and hints to support this view. When Militza and her family met the Tsar couple again a few months later, the Tsarina treated them with coolness. Militza's son Roman wrote in his memoirs about the Tsarina: "From then on, the previously so close relationship between her and my parents was broken forever."

The exile

In 1919 the couple was able to flee on the British battleship HMS Marlborough shortly before the Red Army invaded. After a short stay with her brother-in-law, the Italian King Victor Emanuel III. they settled in Antibes . Her husband died there on June 17, 1931.

gallery

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  Grand Duke Peter Nikolayevich Romanov

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  Marina Petrovna Romanowa, around 1914

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  Nadja Petrovna with her brother Roman Petrovich Romanov, around 1917

Remarks

1. ^ Prince Roman Romanow: At the court of the last tsar , April 2005, p. 201

literature

• Carolly Erickson: Alexandra Romanowa: die last Tsarina , Munich 2005, ISBN 978-3-492-04466-0 .
• Hadassa Ben-Itto: "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" - Anatomy of a forgery , Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-7466-8070-0 , pp. 59-61
• Prince Roman Romanow: At the court of the last tsar. The glamorous world of old Russia, edited by Prince Nikolai and Prince Dimitri Romanow. From the Danish by Lothar Schneider, 1991, April 2005 Piper Munich Zurich ISBN 3-492-24389-4 .

Web links

• Petrović-Njegoš , Genealogy of European Princely Houses