pushed into exile after the Soviet revolution, the Romanovs misplaced their gigantic fortune | EUROtoday
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VSis the story of a sunken treasure, undoubtedly one of the crucial improbable on the earth: that of the Romanovs, the dynasty which nonetheless managed Russia originally of the twentieth century.e century. At the daybreak of the Soviet revolution, Tsar Nicholas II, an irresolute and dim-witted prince, is likely one of the richest males on the globe, inheritor to an empire that extends over virtually 1/6 of the planet's land space. .
“His fortune was estimated at 45 billion dollars thirty years ago by the New York Timesor nearly 100 billion today,” explains Boris Prassoloff, grandson of a colonel within the Tsar’s guard and writer of a exceptional investigation into the exile of the Romanovs (Tsars with out empire*). “He enjoys several palaces, on the Black Sea, in the Gulf of Finland, but also the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg with its 1,500 rooms, and his estate in Tsarskoye Selo, south of Moscow… add three yachts, including the Standard, 135 meters, two special trains, immense estates, hunting residences, gold and diamond mines and invested funds which provide him with interest. » Without forgetting a fantastic collection of jewels and precious ornaments next to which that of the Windsors today pales in comparison…
The family also benefited greatly from the imperial fortune, notably the grand dukes, who were the other members of the ruling dynasty – sons and grandsons of emperors –, as well as the princes. They hold military positions and receive an annuity of 280,000 rubles per year, explains Boris Prassoloff, knowing that a worker earns around 560 rubles per year. Added to this are palaces, properties abroad, such as in Paris and on the Côte d'Azur, and income from their own estates – they thus own half of Crimea in their own name.
“In the middle of the 19th centurye century, these areas represent 240 million hectares, or four times the surface area of France, recalls the author. Half of these estates are made up of arable land, worked by an army of serfs and various employees. » Serfdom was officially abolished in 1861, but it was not until 1906 that the State finally gave peasants the means to acquire land in ownership…
The war then the revolution of 1917 took everything away: the most sumptuous court in Europe collapsed like a house of cards. The tsar abdicates, he is arrested, soon assassinated, the lands and prerogatives of the crown are nationalized, the jewels and movable property will be resold in the West against foreign currency to buy capital goods or finance communist parties abroad. The nobles reassured themselves by thinking that the fortune of the royal family and that of the Church would be enough to calm the moujiks. How wrong they are…
Initially, the grand dukes and princes were left free, and some returned to their domain in Crimea, still spared, or to Finland, under Russian administration, from where one could reach Sweden. This is the case of Grand Duke Cyril, cousin of the Tsar, who took care, before leaving, to deposit 100,000 rubles in the branch of an American bank.
Pockets full of jewels
It is estimated that between one and two million Russians fled the revolution to find refuge in the West, and particularly in France. These are essentially the dignitaries of the regime – bourgeois, intellectuals, liberal professions, soldiers – and of course hundreds of aristocrats, who soon form a community in exile, attached to hierarchies and traditions, dreaming of a future return…
“The exiles will take their jewelry with them, sewn into the women’s underwear,” explains Boris Prassoloff. They will provide them at Parisian jewelers, like Cartier, however the advertising is such that it causes a big drop in costs on the time, in accordance with the legislation of provide and demand… Prince Youssoupov, who left with two Rembrandts, which he ended up pawning, was famend for strolling round with diamonds and valuable stones in his pockets, which he tried to promote secretly at receptions…” The Windsors will recover, among other things, the sumptuous tiara of Grand Duchess Vladimir in pearls and diamonds and some pieces of the famous Fabergé eggs.
As for the Romanovs, there remain eight grand dukes who escaped the Bolsheviks. They kept their prestige and some means, like Boris Vladimirovich, who married his mistress, settled in Meudon and attended receptions; or even Alexandre Mikhaïlovitch, who lives between Paris, Biarritz and the Côte d'Azur, monitored as required by the police… A juicy report tells how he appears on the arm of a demi-mondaine, a certain Zézette , in Parisian restaurants. One day, he came across, confused, the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and was lingering at her table, when Zézette exclaimed: “Say, Alexandre, what are you doing there with that chicken ? » “The scandal was enormous”, underlines the police officer in his notes…
Donations to the Nazis
Some turned to politics, like the Grand Duke Cyrille, who rallied some of the vengeful monarchists to his side, settled in Saint-Briac, near Dinard, and proclaimed himself Emperor of Russia. Every winter, he assiduously frequents the Riviera, where a large Russian colony has been formed, and counts on his wife Victoria to activate his networks. in Germany, where she owns property.
According to the Soviet services, which also closely monitor these influential exiles, the couple managed to receive between 5 and 6 million gold marks by pawning their jewelry with conservative German industrialists and Victoria immediately gave half a million to the whole new NSDAP, the Nazi party of Adolf Hitler – the Romanovs have in common with it the same hatred of the Bolsheviks. The Grand Duchess will also collect funds for her lifestyle and her husband's cause from wealthy Americans on the east coast, notably the industrialist Henry Ford, a fierce anti-communist and notorious anti-Semite…
But the thousands and thousands raised by donations and gross sales of jewellery won’t ever permit the Romanovs to regain the throne… After the dying of Cyril, his son Vladimir takes up the torch, calls on the White Russians to assist Hitler in his combat in opposition to the Soviet Union and ended up taking refuge with Franco after World War II. In 1991, the Grand Duke set foot on Russian soil for the primary time and approached Boris Yeltsin, who was not against the restoration of a symbolic monarchy, one of many choices for reconciling a torn nation. But Vladimir died a 12 months later, just some steps from the throne…
*Tsars with out empire. The Romanovs in exile, 1919-1992by Boris Prassoloff, editions Perrin, 24 euros.
https://www.lepoint.fr/livres/tsars-sans-empire-pousses-sur-le-chemin-de-l-exil-apres-la-revolution-sovietique-les-romanov-ont-perdu-leur-gigantesque-fortune-20-04-2024-2558152_37.php