I know it’s pretty long but I do hope it’s not too boring. Sorry for that.
The Tzar and Kate first met quite accidentally, in August, when the Tzar was Poltava. There he was staying at Kate’s house (Kate’s father was from ancient house of Dolgorukovs but he died, leaving his family in debts).
She met the Tzar in the garden, where she seemed to be searching for something, he asked what she is doing there and Kate said she was searching for the Emperor. That amused the Tzar a lot and he talked with her for nearly an hour.
Kate studied at Smolensk University, which the Tzar often visited due to duty. When he met her again, she was no longer a little girl but a charming young lady. The Tzar started visiting the University even more often. They had long conversations and it was obvious that the Tzar enjoyed her company immensely. Kate finished the university when she was 17. And for a while the Tzar and Kate did not meet.
Their next meeting was also accidental. She was having a little walk and so did Kate (separately) and they saw each other. Not paying attention on anyone, the Tzar had along walk with her, by the end of which he almost confessed being in love with her.
She was 18 then and the Tzar was 40 but their love was genuine. The Tzar promised “I am not free and I can’t marry you right now but whenever I will be able to, I will. From now on I consider you my wife in front of the God.”
Though the court knew about Kate, at first no one really paid attention, because no one considered it serious. Before meeting Kate, the Tzar had a number of affairs, most serious and notable of which was the affair with Princess Mary of Hessen. But, as he wrote in his long letters to Kate, his feelings for Kate were different, “more pure then anything he had every experienced. He cared only for them and their future and nothing, not family, country, power or Church, meant more then their love”.
Soon Kate gave birth to their first child, a son. The Tzar was 54 then. The court was astonished (they did not know about Kate’s pregnancy). And the court, as well as the children and relatives of the Tzar, were worried that Kate could transfer from mistress into Empress (Empress Alexandra was then gravely ill then). That concern multiplied, when Kate gave birth to their second child, a daughter.
The Russian-Turkish war separated the lovers for a while. But when the Tzar was back, he ordered to give rooms to Kate in the Winter Palace (where the Emperor and Empress officially resided). The Empress behaved very bravely and very honorably, not saying a word of complain. Only once she dropped “I can forgive that he insults me as an Empress, but I am not able to forgive the pain he causes me as a wife”.
Alexander and Kate had 3 children by the time, son Georgy and daughters, Olga and Catherine (4th child died soon after birth).
In 1880 Empress Alexandra died. In the same year the Tzar married Kate, though it was a morganatic marriage. He married her as soon as the official mourning period ended. She was 32, he was 62.
Very few people knew about the upcoming marriage – his closes friends, Count Adlerberg, General Rileev and just a few other people, including the court priest, who was to marry them.
The Count urged Alexander not to hurry and wait at least till the Tzesarevich (Crown Prince) will be back (he was away from the palace, on official trip through the country) or at least to inform Alexander and the rest of his children about his decision, but Alexander was adamant.
The very same day Kate was made Her Excellency Duchess Yurevskaya (in her own right). Under that name were also to be known all their children, they also had the same rights as the legitimate children of the Tzar but could not succeed to the throne.
The Tzar also took care about their financial conditions. Under his will, he left 3 million rubles to Kate and their children, as well as a number of palaces and housed (all this belonged to Kate personally and could not be inherited by any of the relatives, except for children). He also wrote a letter to his son with Alexandra (Tzesarevich Alexander, future Alexander II), in which he ex pressed a wish that Alexander would be a loving friend and adviser to ‘his Kate’ and would take care of her and their children (I’d like to note that Alexander did fulfill the last wish of his father and always treated Kate with great respect, after his father’s death).
The Tzar hastened to make all the preparations for his death not because he felt old or was thinking of death, but because of terrorist attacks, that were happening very often now. For a few times already they had tried to kill the Tzar.
In spite of the terrible atmosphere outside the palace, inside the palace the Tzar’s life was very peaceful. He and Kate and their children and even his older children with Empress Alexandra lived peacefully and happily with each other. It was the happiest time for the Tzar.
At that very time the secret service gained information, according to which a plan, to kill the Tzar, was plotted. They advised the Tzar to be exceptionally careful of March 1, when the Tzar was supposed to be present at the parade. His advisers, his friends (especially Loris-Melikov, an Armenian, who was minister of internal affairs and was behind the Tzar’s most progressive decisions) and his family all advised him against going to the parade but the Tzar refused to listen to them. Those, who were present at the parting of the Tzar and Kate, said that Kate didn’t want to let him go because of the dream she had that night. She begged him to stay for her sake but again, he said it was his duty to be present.
Alexander was in a closed carriage with 10 bodyguards. A young man with basket through it to the carriage. There was a terrible blast but the Tzar was unharmed. He approached to the terrorist and asked whether it was he, who threw the bomb. Receiving affirmative answer, he went back to see who, among his people, was wounded. When one of his bodyguards asked whether he is unharmed, he answered “yes, thanks to Lord, I am but he…” and he pointed at a small boy, who lay wounded, on the snow. As the Tzar approached to the boy, trying to help him, the terrorist shouted “Aren’t you thanking the Lord too early?!” At the very moment another terrorist appeared from the crowd and throw another bomb into Alexander. The Tzar was still alive. There was the 3rd terrorist but he was disarmed by a group of cadets who were accidentally there and by the crowd. Alexander ordered to carry him to the palace, so that he could die there. He was in a terrible condition. One of his feet was completely detached, the other was broken in all possible ways and was also nearly detached, his face and head had too many wounds to count; one of his eyes was also missing. He was transferred into the palace. He was unconscious.
When the Duchess was told what had happened, she didn’t loose herself but ran into the room and even helped the Doctors to wash his wounds. All the best doctors were fighting for the Tzar’s life but in vain, The Tzar died right after the confession, surrounded by the whole family.
During the funeral, the Tzar’s body was covered. But when the Duchess approached the catafalque, she took off the blankets and kissed Alexander’s face, which was terribly disordered and then left the room, supported by Alexander III, the new Emperor. The next day she made a garland of her own hair and put it onto Alexander’s catafalque.
During the rest of her life she lived in Nice (that was Alexander II’s wish). Everyday she prayed for Alexander (both of them, actually: her husband and the current Emperor). The new Emperor treated her with respect and when a member of the secret service tried to defame Kate in newspapers, he personally got involved and severely punished him.
