Table of contents:
- Where did the grandson of Nicholas I study and what was his interest in - Nikolai Konstantinovich
- For which Nikolai Konstantinovich, the grandson of Nicholas I, was exiled to Tashkent "forever"
- How a "madman" prince developed and built Tashkent
- Was the prince really crazy
Video: Which of the Romanov monarchs was declared insane and why: Tashkent Iskander
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich is the most extraordinary person in the royal family. On the one hand, he is undoubtedly a female rake, a reveler and a criminal, on the other, a brave officer, a generous benefactor and a successful entrepreneur who has earned millions with his mind. His august relatives accused him of insanity, while in Tashkent, where the prince lived for more than 40 years, they spoke of him as a "smart, quick-witted and rather simple" man.
Where did the grandson of Nicholas I study and what was his interest in - Nikolai Konstantinovich
Nikolai Konstantinovich Romanov was born on February 2 (14), 1850 in St. Petersburg. His father, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, was the younger brother of the Russian monarch Alexander II. Mother - Alexandra Iosifovna, was a second cousin to her husband and before marriage, being a German princess, bore the name of Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg.
The grandson of Nicholas I and the cousin of the future Emperor Alexander III was the firstborn in the family of the Grand Duke, and from his youth, in addition to outstanding abilities, he showed a very independent and obstinate character. For example, at the age of 18, having finally got rid of a strict German educator, the young man demonstratively burned textbooks and notebooks in a fire he set up right on the marble floor of the family castle.
However, youthful rebellion passed when Nikola - as the first-born in the family was called - voluntarily entered the Academy of the General Staff. He studied diligently and with interest, so by the end of the educational institution he was listed among the best students, for which he received a silver medal after the final exams.
Having received a higher education, which, by the way, none of the Romanovs could boast of before him, Nikolai left to travel around Europe. Upon returning from abroad, where the young man became interested in collecting paintings, he entered the service in the Life Guards of the Horse Regiment, becoming a squadron commander at the age of 21.
For which Nikolai Konstantinovich, the grandson of Nicholas I, was exiled to Tashkent "forever"
The young, wealthy officer had an attractive appearance and a high title - he could easily win the heart of any beautiful aristocratic woman in order to choose a suitable party for marriage. However, in 1871, while attending a regular ball, Nikolai met and fell in love with an American dancer. Harriet Blackford, or as she called herself Fanny Lear, by her 23 years had already managed to divorce and give birth to a child, who was raised alone.
The novel of the extravagant prince, accompanied by lavish gifts and rich feasts in honor of his beloved, over time worried his father Konstantin Nikolaevich. Two years later, in order to cut off the relationship of his son with a rootless dancer, he enrolled the offspring in the expeditionary corps in Central Asia. Having been together with the army on the campaign to Khiva and having shown real heroism there, Nikolai returned back and … continued to meet with the foreign woman.
Overseas trips with a friend and expensive gifts for her required funds, and the young man, limited in the finances of his relatives, was sorely lacking them. And then on April 14, 1874, Nikolai decided to steal: he took out three diamonds from the frame of the family icon and handed them over to the pawnshop. After identifying the culprit, the family council decided to deprive the blasphemer of the inheritance, as well as the awards and titles received, and expel him from the capital, obliging him to live under arrest in any locality prescribed to him.
At the same time, in order to hush up the public scandal, the public announced the mental illness of Nikolai Konstantinovich, which allegedly pushed him to this reckless act. Fanny Lear was also punished - she was expelled from the country, forbidden to ever visit Russia. The American never saw the grandson of Nicholas I again.
How a "madman" prince developed and built Tashkent
The forced departure from St. Petersburg took place in 1874. Having changed at least ten cities of residence, the disgraced "madman" ended up in Tashkent in 1881. By this time, Nikolai was not alone in his personal life - in 1878 he secretly married the daughter of the Orenburg police chief Nadezhda Dreyer. And although the Orthodox Church later recognized the marriage as invalid, the couple continued to live as husband and wife.
Nikolai Konstantinovich had long gravitated towards the East, and therefore, having come to Tashkent, he gladly began to engage in the cultivation and improvement of the city. With his help, a water supply system appeared here for the first time, a drama theater and five cinemas were built (one of them "Khiva" still exists), a scholarship was established for local students wishing to study at Russian universities.
Iskander, as the prince began to call himself in the East, organized the work of soap and cotton factories with a full production cycle, established the sale of kvass, opened photo workshops, rice processing workshops and a railway bazaar, where sellers were obliged to use proven scales in order to prevent buyers from deceiving. Also in the asset of Nikolai Konstantinovich - a hospital for the poor, an almshouse, a network of billiard rooms, a circus, paved roads and even a house of tolerance with the "home" name "Granny's".
In addition, the exiled prince himself paid for the construction of a hundred kilometers of "Iskander-aryk" (as he called the irrigation canal) and bequeathed after his death to transfer to the city treasury (to finance public needs) half of the entire fortune.
Was the prince really crazy
An intermediate diagnosis, made to the Grand Duke by a medical council in 1874, spoke of "a nervous breakdown, a morbid state of mind and anemia." However, the conclusion did not contain a specific wording according to which the son of Konstantin Nikolayevich could be placed for treatment in a clinic for the mentally ill.
Already in modern times, a psychiatrist with 45 years of experience, N. P. Vanchakova, having studied the biography of Nikolai at the request of the doctor of historical sciences I. V. Zimin, suggested that Tashkent Iskander had bipolar disorder. True, the scientific director of the Center for Psychosomatic Medicine did not say that Nikolai's impulsive actions were really caused by a disease.
Later, in the turbulent pre-revolutionary time, this land was shaken by uprisings. The most famous of these began at the height of the First World War, when the authorities had to suppress Russian pogroms and restore order by force.
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