From what the Cossack saved the fugitive empress in Copenhagen, and why she resisted

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In the early 1920s, on Danish streets, one could meet an elderly graceful aristocrat accompanied by a huge bearded Cossack in an exotic outfit for Europeans. The woman was the mother of Nicholas II, who was forced to leave Russia in 1919. And a step away from her, Timofey Yashchik followed everywhere, leaving his wife and children in his homeland, but did not betray the soldier's honor until Maria Fedorovna's last breath.

Hereditary Cossack and a place in a prestigious convoy

Timofey Yashchik was born in 1878 into a family of hereditary Cossacks. His only dream was military service, where he went safely at 18. After four preparatory years, he was enrolled in the Convoy of Prince Golitsyn. As Timofey later recalled in his memoirs, the idea of the importance of loyal service to the king was instilled in the Cossacks from the first days of life. They went to the soldiers with their own horse and equipment, which was far from cheap. But the family willingly paid the price, because everyone knew that loyally serving the king was the most important thing in the world. And only a select few are allowed to defend the sovereign.

At first, the Box served in Kagyzman near Tiflis. The next four years passed in Tiflis itself. The service was hectic. Once Timofey and his colleagues had a chance to save the commander Golitsyn, whose life was attempted by the Armenians. After this incident, the prince resigned his post. Leaving Tiflis, in the form of gratitude for his diligent service, he recommended Timothy to the imperial life guard. This career turn allowed an ordinary soldier to become the empress's first guard over time.

Service under Nicholas II and Maria Feodorovna's personal guard

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His Imperial Majesty's own convoy was an elite Special Forces. This unit was formed from the Kuban and Terek Cossack hundreds. According to the historian Simukov, after the Decembrist unrest in 1825, the Romanovs no longer trusted the nobility. Now people from the people - the Cossacks - were responsible for the safety of the royal family. Timofei Ksenofontovich The box was naturally endowed with an outstanding appearance. In the spring of 1914, on the eve of the First World War, the sovereign selected personal guards from among the Cossacks of his own Life Guards. The tall, broad-shouldered, blue-eyed Box with a bushy beard stood out from the ranks of the best contenders. The emperor did not hesitate, pointing at the black-browed Cossack. In April 1914, being a man well over 30 and an experienced serviceman, Timofey grew up to become a camera-Cossack Nicholas II. In essence, this was equated with the position of a personal bodyguard. The Cossack lived right in the Alexander Palace, was obliged to be at hand around the clock and carry out all the royal orders. The position of the imperial chamber-Cossack assumed rotation, and after a while Timofey was released from it. Satisfied with the Box, the Emperor presented him with a gold watch and offered to take the place of the personal guard of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. It was in this place that Timofey showed his extreme devotion, puzzling even foreigners.

Revolution and faithful following of the empress

Immediately after the October events of 1917, Empress Maria Feodorovna went to Yalta. The faithful Cossack Yashik followed her. When information appeared about the detention of a part of the imperial family by the Bolsheviks, the confused woman told all her servants and guards that from now on she had no power over them. Timofey, brought up in the spirit of soldier's honor and loyalty, firmly declared his intention to remain close to the end.

For a long time, the shocked mother did not want to believe either in rumors or in official publications about the death of her own son along with the whole family. Only in April 1919, Maria Fedorovna succumbed to persuasion to leave Russia, accepting the offer of the British queen. The Empress did not mind that those who wanted from her personal retinue went abroad with her. Among these volunteers, of course, was Timofey Yashchik. The exiles went to London, and then Copenhagen awaited them.

The last guard at the grave of the empress and one hope

The devoted Cossack Yashchik did not leave Maria Fyodorovna, despite the fact that in the Kuban all these years a family was waiting for him - a spouse and nine children. The first time after moving to Europe, Timofey believed that the Bolsheviks would not last long, and very soon Maria Fyodorovna would be able to calmly return to Russia. The empress herself did not doubt this. At the same time, the Cossack was looking for an opportunity to transport his family to Denmark. But the attempts were in vain. The box managed to obtain permission to leave the son with tuberculosis, but the child died on the eve of the intended departure.

In 1922, Timothy was informed that his wife had been shot. A few years after this news, the Cossack met the Danish woman Agnes Aabrink, with whom Maria Feodorovna kindly blessed him to marry. The new wife, baptized in Orthodoxy under the name Nina, dictated Timothy's stories and memories. These memoirs became the basis of the book “Near the Empress. Memoirs of a Life Cossack”. Discussing his forced life in emigration, Yashchik invariably repeated that nothing pleases him if Russia is not there. In 1928, the Empress died. Her devoted protector and assistant stood at her deathbed for three days, serving his last guard. Then he dictated to his wife the thoughts that visited him in those days. Having been at the body of the Empress for many hours in a row, he wanted to show his deepest respect and gratitude for the kindness addressed to him for the last time.

Maria Feodorovna did not disregard Timofey Yashchik's devotion. In her will, she blessed the Cossack with an amount that was enough to open her own grocery store. Unobtrusive trade fed Timofei Ksenofontovich until his last days (the Cossack lived 68 years). Until his death, the first Life Cossack Timofey Yashchik, who faithfully and righteously served the Tsar and his homeland, hoped to return to his Russia. It was for this reason that he refused to accept Danish citizenship and was not particularly diligent in learning Danish. After his death, he was buried next to his previously deceased wife in the Russian cemetery that did not become a native of Copenhagen.

The fall of any member of the imperial house evokes sympathy. Because they are often mocked during their lifetime. So it was with the last of the Bonaparte dynasty, who was called a jackal and a pygmy.