Count Paul Benckendorff at the Costume Ball in the Winter Palace, 1903 

Count Paul Benckendorff was born at Berlin on 29 March, 1853. He was the son of Adjutant-General Count Constantine Constantinovich Benckendorff, minister to the Court of Würtemberg at the time of his death, and of Prince Louise of Croy. He was educated in Paris, where Countess Benckendorff, his mother, had settled after the death of her husband.

He served as a cadet in the Corps des Pages at St. Petersburg, and subsequently joined the cavalry regiment of the Gardes-à-Cheval. He took part, at his own request, in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877, and was sent to the Asiatic Front. After the fall of Kars he was entrusted with the duty of bearing the official news of this victory to the Emperor Alexander II. The Emperor made him an A.D.C., and attached him to the personal staff of his brother, the Grand Duke Mikhail Nicholayevich, who had a command in the Caucasus, for the duration of the war.

At the end of the war, he was attached to the Emperor's household, and he served the three sovereigns who succeeded one another on the throne during the last forty years of the Romanov dynasty. In return for his services he was promoted to be General A.D.C. and Grand Marshal of the Court.

He was devoted to the Emperor Nicholas II, and considered one of his closest associates. He served as a Senator on the State Council from 1912 and was a member of the Yacht Club. 

It was in this capacity that he took part in the terrible events of March 1917, and had at least the consolation of mitigating the lot of his masters by his devotion. He and his wife (born Princess Maria Sergeyevna Dolgorukova, 1847-1923) shared the captivity at Tsarskoye Selo with Emperor Nicholas II and his family. When the Emperor left for Siberia, he was ordered to remain behind so as to look after the affairs of his sovereign.

In 1921, after three years of suffering, and heightened by the despair which the lot of their masters and the ruin of their country brought them, that Count Paul Benckendorff and his wife obtained permission to leave Russia.

But in undertaking this journey Count Benckendorff relied too greatly on his exhausted constitution. He died in a dilapidated hospital in Narva, Estonia on the 28th of January 1921.

His reminsciences of the last days of the monarchy were published in 1927 under the title, Last Days at Tsarskoe Selo.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 23 February, 2012

In September 2006, the remains of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna were buried alongside those of her beloved husband, Emperor Alexander III at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg.

The St. Petersburg Mint issued a special commemorative medal in honour of this historic event. Descendants of the Romanov dynasty were each issued one of these medals.

According to the tradition of the Imperial House of Romanov, gifts were distributed to members of the Imperial family marking important events, including coronations, births, marriages, deaths, etc.

The Mint produced commemorative medals and tokens to be distributed to family members, but also to the highest dignitaries, diplomats among others. The types of material and the size of the gift corresponded to the rank the individual held. Gold, silver and copper were the most common medals used to produce these items.

The 2006 commemorative medal was struck in silver and red brass. On the front artists produced a lovely portrait of the Dowager Empress. On the reverse artists depict an angel on the spire of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul and the inscription, In Memory of the Burial. Saint Peter and Paul Cathedral. St. Petersburg. September 28, 2006.

© Paul Gilbert. 22 February, 2012 

Surrounded by plants and flowers, the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna is photographed on the porch of Knudsminde, her home in Ballerup, Denmark. Aside from painting, the Grand Duchess also enjoyed gardening. She lived in exile in Denmark until 1948, when she went into exile yet again, this time to Canada.

© Royal Russia. 21 February, 2012

The Mariyinsky Palace is situated on a hilly bank overlooking the Dneiper River in Kiev.

Construction on the palace began in 1744 at the request of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great. It was built by the Italian architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli in the Baroque style. The palace was completed in 1752, but Elizabeth did not live long enough to enjoy the fruits of the great architects labors.

Catherine the Great was the first August resident, who stayed here in 1787. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the palace became the official residence of the Governor-Generals. it was generally used for ceremonial and festive events.

In the early 19th century a fire destroyed nearly half of the palace. It was not until 1870 that the Emperor Alexander II ordered a reconstruction of the palace by architect Konstantin Mayevsky, based on original drawings and watercolours. The palace was then named in honour of the reigning empress and wife of Alexander II, Maria Alexandrovna.

The palace has two stories and large wings which form a large yard. The palace ensemble included gardens, greenhouses and a confectionary. Many extravagent balls were held in the palace when nobles came to visit.

During the reign of the last emperor, Nicholas II, the palace was used by his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. It was here that many members of her family, including grand dukes and grand duchesses came to visit her.

After the Russian Revolution, the palace was used as a school and museum. During World War II, the Maryinsky Palace was badly damaged. The palace was restored in the 1940s as well as the 1980s. Today the Maryinsky Palace is an official residence of the President of Ukraine.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 21 February, 2012

Emperor Nicholas II lays the foundation stone for the new School of Folk Art located on the Catherine Canal (the Griboedova Canal today), on 27 May, 1914.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 20 February, 2012

Renovation works have started at St. Nicholas Russian Patriarchal Cathedral in New York, they are to take four months.

The roof and cupolas will be capitally repaired, crosses on cupolas will be renovated, the Russian Church in the USA reports on its website.

Liturgical and parochial work of the cathedral will be changed or limited in the renovation period.

The cathedral was constructed in 1902. Nicholas II made the first contribution to the construction, it was five thousand of gold rubles. St. John of Kronstadt blessed the works and made his contribution of 200 rubles.

The church was erected for year and a half by an American building company of that time John Downy and Son.

© Interfax. 20 February, 2012

(1) Jim Hercules (2) Court blackamoor livery 

A few years shy of a century ago, Nicholas II, last of the Russian tsars, enjoyed the protection of what historian Robert K. Massie called “a gaudily fantastic quartet of bodyguards. Four gigantic Negroes dressed in scarlet trousers, gold-embroidered jackets, curved shoes and white turbans stood outside the study where the Tsar was at work, or the boudoir where the Empress was resting."

Anna Vyrubova notes in her memoirs Memories of the Russian Court that "they were not soldiers and had no function except to open doors and to signal by a sudden noiseless entrance into a room that one of Their Majesties was about to appear." 

"Although all of these men were referred to at court as Ethiopians, one was an American Negro named Jim Hercules.” That passage, from Massie’s book Nicholas and Alexandra, goes on to report Hercules would return from visits stateside bearing jars of guava jelly for the tsar’s children, and that “he was an employee, bound to the family only by loyalty.”

In his book, The Court of the Last Tsar, author and Romanov historian Greg King sheds more light on the famous blackamoor at the Court of the Russian tsars. King notes that Hercules was "born to former slaves in the American South in 1867," and that he "took advantage of the freedom after the Civil War and moved to New York City, where be became a boxer. In the 1880s, Hercules toured Europe, finally settling in London and taking British citizenship." King goes on to say that "Empress Maria Feodorovna invited him to Russia, where Alexander III offered him a position as an Abyssinian Guard."

While visiting the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, Prince Christopher of Greece noted his impressions: "Tall, splendidly built, in their wide trousers and scarlet turbans they stood immobile as though they had been cast in bronze."

A play based on the life of Jim Hercules has opened the Montgomery College's Cultural Arts Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. Hercules in Russia runs until March 4th. For tickets and information, click here.

© Royal Russia. 16 February, 2012

Billionaire and presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov stands beside a life-size statue of Tsar Peter the Great during a visit to Pushkinskaya 10 art center in St. Petersburg. History recalls that Emperor Peter I stood nearly 7 feet in height.

© St. Petersburg Times. 15 February, 2012

Emperor Nicholas II and Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (right) attend the inauguration ceremony of the Trinity Bridge on 16 May, 1903. The mayor of St. Petersburg, P. I. Lelyanov, presents the tsar with a button mounted on a red velvet cushion. When pressed, the button which is attached to an electrical wire, raises the bridge, allowing ships to pass up and down the Neva River. The opening of the Trinity Bridge coincided with the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Russian capital by Peter the Great in 1703.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 15 February, 2012

The Mint of Finland has unveiled their latest collector coin which features the artistry of Henrik Wigström (1862 – 1923) who went on to become one of the most noted craftsman in the Fabergé jewelry company in St. Petersburg.

Wigström, who was primarily known for his “Egg” creations, these unique bejeweled items became a firm favorite of the Russian Imperial family. They were exchanged by senior members of the court of St. Petersburg as gifts for special occasions and  many of these exquisite golden and intricately enameled eggs are signed on the inside shell by Wigström himself. He went on to become the Head Goldsmith of Fabergé and held that position for 15 years until the Russian Revolution forced the closure of this famous workshop.

The obverse side of the coin bears an image of one of the most famous creations of Wigström, that of the Coronation Easter Egg, still unfinished, which was eventually given to the Czarina Alexandra by Nicholas II in 1897. The reverse side depicts a swan, in homage to another example of Wigström's exquisite workmanship, the "Swan" Easter egg. The surprise within the egg is a swan made of platinum, gold and precious stones, swimming on a lake of aquamarine. The denomination and year of issue "2012" is  also included on the reverse.

Designed by sculptor Pertti Mäkinen, the coin has a denomination of 10 €URO and is struck in proof quality in sterling silver with a weight of 17 grams and a diameter of 33 mm.

© Mint of Finland. 14 February, 2012