Konstantin Sevenard: “I swear that I’m telling the truth”
The other day, all the media wrote about 19-year-old ballerina Eleanor Sevenard, who was accepted into the Bolshoi Theater troupe. This news was made sensational by the fact that the young dancer from St. Petersburg is the great-great-granddaughter of “that same Kshesinskaya.”
Officially - according to the only surviving side branch of the Kshesinskys, from Matilda’s brother Joseph. Since the ballerina has no direct descendants.
But representatives of the Kshesinsky-Sevenard family are convinced that not everything is so simple in this world and that their grandmother, nee Tselina Iosifovna Kshesinskaya, is in fact not a niece, but own daughter Matilda and... Nicholas II.
Everyone said that Tselina surpassed her famous relative in beauty.
Much already conceived later marriage Tsar - in 1910. And not just like that, but for the sake of saving the country.
A girl with pure blood, who does not carry the broken genes of the deadly hemophilia that ultimately destroyed the empire.
This story is so incredible and looks more like a thick adventure novel than a boring historical chronicle, that if someone else had told it to me, and not the father of that very young ballerina Eleanor Sevenard, I would never have believed it.
But Konstantin Sevenard is quite real person who is responsible for his words.
Ex-deputy State Duma of the Russian Federation and the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, fought in Afghanistan, his father, the communist Yuri Sevenard, ran for the post of mayor of Leningrad in 1991 and lost to Sobchak, and his grandfather Konstantin Sevenard was the patriarch of the Soviet hydropower construction industry, as he was called, who delivered turnkey more than one powerful GES, and grandson Konstantin Yurievich Sevenard is convinced that the scandal with Matilda is not at all accidental.
Konstantin Sevenard.
The series "Matilda" has reached a new level. Having driven three great princes mad, Kshesinskaya had already almost driven mad modern Russia. Why do we need this? And what was there in this woman, who, to today’s picky eyes, is not so brilliant a beauty? Just a lover? Or something more?
We are sitting with Konstantin Sevenard in his office on the Chernaya Rechka, the view from the window is beautiful, the last warm days, the sun's glare falls like stitches on the Malaya Nevka. St. Petersburg is, after all, history, take any house built about a century ago, and it will probably turn out that it is also connected with the name of Matilda Feliksovna: she visited here, drank tea there... The past is so close, almost nearby.
100 years of revolution - fleeting sunny bunny on the cold September water.
Konstantin Yuryevich, are you outraged that the name of your great-grandmother, dear or cousin, is being tarnished today, to be honest, by everyone? Do you also want to sue the authors of Matilda, as Olga Kulikovskaya-Romanova, the widow of Nicholas II’s nephew, recently did?
How can I file a defamation claim if I haven’t seen the film yet? Let him come out, and then it will become clear. But I think that all the really ambiguous and controversial episodes have probably already been cut out from there. And if there are still spreading cranberries left, then they are unlikely to offend anyone.
- Is it surprising that the name of Kshesinskaya suddenly emerged from obscurity on the very eve of the centenary of the revolution?
Of course, in Soviet times Kshesinskaya was remembered only in the context of her mansion, which was donated by the emperor and where the Bolshevik headquarters was located in 1917, and then the Museum of the Revolution. The fact that the great-grandmother was not timid is evidenced by the fact that she was not afraid to sue the uninvited guests who evicted her. Imagine, she won the lawsuit against Lenin. Matilda returned to her mansion and even set up a large hiding place there, took all her jewelry and documents there, but, alas, she did not stay there for long, and soon fled abroad... Times were turbulent. In 1990, my family, too, did everything to open an exhibition in this building dedicated to the life of Matilda Kshesinskaya, but we could not even imagine that crowds of people would rush there, that many would find it interesting - archival photographs, documents , our surviving family photographs... Instead of several months, the exhibition ran for about two years. A lot of publications at this time were published in the media dedicated to the life of Matilda and her love.
Brother Joseph and sister Matilda. Is she hiding her pregnancy under a wide skirt?
And yet, what you are telling today about the real fate of your great-grandmother is best case scenario apocrypha. But the family legend that she had a daughter from Nicholas II is yours dear grandmother that she was born much later than the emperor’s marriage to Alexandra Feodorovna and even the birth of their children together is worse than “Matilda,” to be honest.
I swear I'm telling the truth. On October 6, 1910, at the invitation of Nicholas, Matilda met him in the park of the Constantine Palace in a gazebo on the island. She was brought there by boat. On her part, the purpose of the visit was quite prosaic, she had a conflict with the director of the Mariinsky Theater, which she wanted to resolve in her favor, to win Nikolai over to her side, he had other intentions... An episode of intimacy occurred. I don't think it was accidental. Nikolai really wanted a child from Matilda, a healthy child.
- First love forever?
The fact is that they never broke off their relationship. Matilda’s sister, Julia, also a ballerina, 1st Kshesinskaya, as everyone called her, married Colonel Alexander Zeddeler, the Tsar’s adjutant, so Matilda had direct access to Nicholas in any case. Yes, Nikolai was weak and driven, and Matilda was one of the most interesting and charming women of her era; it was not for nothing that she drove two other grand dukes, Sergei Mikhailovich and Andrei Vladimirovich, crazy, whose wife she eventually became.
According to my information, Matilda was pregnant from the end of 1910 to the spring of 1911, officially at that time she was supposedly shining on tour in England, but in fact, since March she had been living continuously in the house of her brother Joseph and his wife Seraphima in Astashkovo. To kill time, she practiced her handwriting, wrote with her left hand, and copied “Woe from Wit.” Many years later, the pioneers seem to have found this notebook and donated it to the Bakhrushin Museum.
Felix Kshesinsky is the head of the dynasty.
Her daughter Celina, my grandmother, was born in midsummer. Brother Joseph offered to enroll the girl in his name. He was already growing up one year old son Slavochka, who was born by his first wife, dancer Sima Astafieva, so the newborn did not require any additional investments; clothes, a stroller, and even a nurse were already ready. Matilda returned to St. Petersburg, where she magnificently celebrated her next birthday in front of everyone, compensating for her long absence. Meanwhile, the nurse did not have enough milk for two children - and Joseph ordered her to feed Tselina first... Seraphim's wife was offended and left, taking the one-year-old boy with her. Later they left for London - and there, unfortunately, traces of Slavik were lost. And Joseph married the beautiful Tselina Spryshinskaya, he urgently needed to straighten his niece’s passport, and official biography It was Tselina Sr. who was considered the mother of little Tselina, named after her.
- But for such loud conclusions there are not enough words, evidence is needed.
Our family has photographs from that era. Here, for example, is a photograph from Astashkov, you see how awkwardly Matilda is sitting sideways, covering her big belly, here she is just pregnant with her grandmother. And here she has already given birth, standing next to the stroller, looking at the baby with tenderness... To hide the family secret, Tselina Jr. was registered only in the fall and under her brother Joseph.
Do you think another illegitimate child could have hampered Matilda’s reputation? Why did she recognize Volodya, her only son according to documents, and abandon her own daughter?
Because Volodya was not the son of the Tsar, but Tselina was. By the way, here is the intertwining of fate - in the photograph where Matilda is standing with a stroller, in the right corner is a five-year-old boy, the son of the Kshesinskys’ neighbors on the estate, Konstantin Sevenard. Many years later he would become my grandfather and Celina's husband.
Matilda Kshesinskaya conquered men not with her beauty, but with her natural charm.
- What an original surname - Sevenard. Where is she from?
The Sevenards' ancestors came from France, an old aristocratic family, and were related to Napoleon, so the second half of my surname did not disappoint.
But how could it happen that in the USSR the nobleman Konstantin Sevenard, married to a relative of Matilda Kshesinskaya herself, niece or daughter, was not only not repressed, but was even allowed to work on objects of national importance?
Grandfather Sevenard was an honored hydraulic engineer and order bearer; the second, more secret part of his biography: wherever he built hydroelectric power stations, military factories also appeared at the same time. For example, they built the Volzhskaya hydroelectric power station - and right next to it the Volzhskie Motors plant was founded, which provided the needs of the army with transport, the same thing happened in the Urals during the construction of the Uralvagonzavod. His solutions were the most advanced at that time. No, the authorities had no doubts about Konstantin Sevenard, although he never received the Hero of Socialist Labor, just like me, who fought in Afghanistan, took part in the rescue of the 9th company and was twice nominated for the title of Hero Soviet Union, - I think all this is not accidental. By the way, the grandfather himself did not talk much about the family’s past; we knew only the bare minimum about our ancestors. The relationship was not maintained in any way. In those days it could not have been otherwise. When in the early 60s Matilda tried to come to the USSR, on a boat to Odessa, giving the opportunity a letter for my father Yuri, her grandson, grandfather Sevenard did not let his son go anywhere. He forced the letter to be burned and forgotten. However, this meeting would not have taken place anyway - since Kshesinskaya was not even allowed to go to her native land.
Summer of 1911. Matilda (center) looks at the stroller in which, according to family legend, lies her newborn daughter.
- What about your grandmother Tselina?
By that time my grandmother was no longer alive. She died at 48. Which is not at all typical for the Kshesinsky family, who lived for nearly a hundred years: Matilda left at 99 (in 1971! - E.S.), her sister Yulia - at 104, but Tselina instantly burned out from cancer , it was due to the fact that she and her husband worked not far from Semipalatinsk when the first nuclear tests took place there. In general, my grandmother began as a ballerina at the Kirov Theater, the former Mariinsky Theater, where her father Joseph continued to work as a dance master in the 30s. I don’t know, to be honest, how it happened that the sisters Matilda and Yulia were able to emigrate, and he stayed in Russia with his adopted niece, then married for the third time. But my great-grandfather did not live his life in vain. He trained a whole galaxy of wonderful Soviet dancers, the famous ballerina Natalya Dudinskaya considered him her teacher, but Tselina’s grandmother herself did not have a career, although we keep her old posters at home... Tselina married her grandfather, a hydraulic engineer, very early and wandered around like a faithful wife with him all over the country, gave birth to two children, survived the war, had to forget about the theater... Great-grandfather Joseph Kshesinsky disappeared during the blockade in 1942. That's all we know about him. His apartment was then searched, the furniture was opened, it seemed that some strange glass plates were found, which were taken with them by those who carried out this search. Much time has passed since then, and there are too many events to count... The USSR collapsed, many archival documents... And so “Matilda” was resurrected again, now in the form of a scandalous film. This means that her fate still worries our compatriots, and this is not without reason.
Probably, if you are related to royal family will be proven, then you can become the center of opposing forces?
Yes, on the one hand, there are those who benefit from the appearance of official heirs of the Russian emperor, on the other hand, I understand that the majority will not want to recognize us as the descendants of Nicholas II. My father - he is old but vigorous - last year voluntarily donated blood for a DNA test, but there are still no results of the study. And I frankly don’t understand where they went, what’s happening, who doesn’t want or who doesn’t benefit from bringing this old story to light. Although it is not a fact that the remains officially recognized as royal, with which our DNA could be compared, are actually such... The history of their canonization is dark and mysterious. I know that the same Yeltsin in the 90s was categorically against any restoration of tsarism.
Sobchak, whose opponent in the elections was my father. after the events of August 1991, there was an idea to re-establish a liberal monarchy in Russia. He tried to involve Vladimir Kirillovich Romanov, the then official head of the dynasty, in this issue; as far as I know, they even agreed on something. But personally, I didn’t want to and didn’t see myself in this project: for me, great-grandmother Matilda is not a way to achieve some political goals, but a kind of symbol of freedom, spiritual and physical, of that turn in history that would never have happened if she stayed with Nikolai.
Little Celina with Joseph and brother Romuald.
Matilda lived an incredibly long and such different lives. If you look at it, the affair with the heir was just the beginning of her journey, the first episode of an endless series 99 years long. It is quite possible that even now, judging by the latest events around Matilda, we are not seeing the end of this story.
The only pity is that there are practically no unknown authentic archives left. The great-grandmother's memoirs and diaries have already been published. After unexpected death Matilda's son Vladimir Krasinsky, who outlived his mother by only two years, the remaining papers were taken by Vladimir Kirillovich Romanov. In a conversation with me, he did not hide the fact that he was interested in ensuring that these recordings did not surface anywhere. Well, communicating with aristocrats is very easy, at least they never lie. And to a direct question they give the same direct answer.
Your press conference was recently held at Interfax in St. Petersburg. Reviews about it were also mixed. Aren't you afraid that you will be accused of either insanity, or of lying or pursuing some of your own interests? It's such an incredible story...
You know, I once heard a very interesting phrase, I don’t remember who said it: if you remove lies from history, this does not mean at all that the truth will remain in it... But personally, I am ready to give my life to prove that I am right.
...A long life awaited her, in which the affair with the heir was only one of the episodes. Matilda Feliksovna at 95.
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Matilda Kshesinskaya had an older brother, Joseph, and a sister, Yulia, who was called the 1st Kshesinskaya; she was married to Zeddeler; she had no children.
Joseph Kshesinsky (1868–1942) - character dancer and choreographer of the Mariinsky and later the Kirov Theater. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1927).
Was married three times.
In 1896, with a graduate of the Mariinsky Theater ballet school, Serafina Aleksandrovna Astafieva (1876-1934), their son Vyacheslav was born.
The second time - on the ballerina Tselina Vladislavovna Spryshinskaya (1882–1930).
Children: Romuald and Tselina (1911–1959), who graduated from ballet school and danced on Mariinsky stage, married engineer Konstantin Sevenard. Some believe that she was in fact the illegitimate daughter of Matilda Kshesinskaya from Nicholas II.
Tselina's son, Yuri Sevenard, is a hydraulic engineer and former MP State Duma.
In 1990, he was elected as a deputy of the Leningrad City Council of People's Deputies, which he remained until the latter's dissolution in December 1993.
In June 1991 he ran for the post of mayor of Leningrad. He gained 10% (37,000 votes) in these elections and lost to A.A. Sobchak.
In December 1993, he was elected to the State Duma of the 1st convocation on the federal list of the Communist Party Russian Federation. From January 1994 to December 1995, he was First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Industry, Construction, Transport and Energy.
Grandson Konstantin Yurievich (1967), also ex-deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and the State Duma of the third convocation. In 2017, his daughter, a graduate of the Vaganov Academy Eleonora Sevenard (*1998), was officially accepted into ballet troupe Bolshoi Theater. Her younger sister, Ksenia, studies at the Vaganova Academy.
Eleanor Sevenard - future star Bolshoi Theater. Photo: social networks
From the editor: Let us note that it is worth making allowance for the fact that Mr. Sevenard has already surprised the public more than once with his stories. Thus, he claimed that Kshesinskaya’s diaries, lost during the revolution, were allegedly bought by Gennady Timchenko - this information was categorically denied by the Timchenko Foundation.
Konstantin Sevenard also told the media that in a crypt in a cemetery in Warsaw he found a document recognizing Nicholas II’s daughter from Kshesinskaya and his agreement... with Rothschild and the President of the United States. Naturally, Sevenard “did not survive” the documents.
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The controversy surrounding the film “Matilda” has not subsided for several months, which, of course, has increased interest in the main character of the film, Matilda Kshesinskaya. The great-grand-niece was not left without attention famous ballerina- 19-year-old Eleanor Sevenard. The girl also became a ballerina and made her debut at the Bolshoi Theater. Eleanor refuses all requests for an interview and tries not to advertise her relationship with Matilda Kshesinskaya. The girl's father, Konstantin Sevenard, said: Komsomolskaya Pravda"about his daughter.
hellomazine.comElya does not advertise her relationship with Matilda. My daughter and I discussed everything and agreed that she would not participate in discussions around the Kshesinskaya family, because all this had already become scandalous. In addition, she does not have enough information to explain everything to journalists.
Konstantin assures that artistic roots are not uncommon in their family.
www.spletnik.ruMatilda's father was the most famous dramatic actor of his time. He also danced so well that he was called the king of the mazurka. Joseph, Matilda’s brother, was also a dancer, choreographer of the Mariinsky and then the Kirov Theater. We have Matilda’s stage costumes and her photographs at home. This aura was always felt. We donated some of these costumes to the museum of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg. Eli's mother Julia also studied ballet in her youth. And, although she later became a historian, she played a significant role in choosing a profession for her daughter.
Mentor of a young ballerina at the Academy of Russian Ballet. Vaganova was Nikolai Tsiskaridze himself.
spletnik.ruEleanor is my pupil. She is the best graduate of last year. I immediately received an invitation to both the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters. Elya chose the Bolshoi and moved to Moscow. She is currently studying for a bachelor's degree. For the last two years Elya has danced huge amount performances on all the leading stages of the world - at the Paris Opera, Milan's La Scala, London, Tokyo national theater. And the main parties are everywhere!
According to the official pedigree, Eleanor is Matilda's great-grandniece. Kshesinskaya’s current descendants are the children of the ballerina’s brother Joseph. His daughter Tselina is the grandmother of Konstantin Sevenard.
Konstantin himself is convinced that he and his children are the direct heirs of Nicholas II. He claims that he saw letters and documents confirming that Matilda gave birth to a daughter from the king, whom he recognized. According to his version, the girl was adopted by the ballerina’s brother Joseph and named Tselina.
Historian Nikolai Svanidze refutes the version of Konstantin Sevenard. He claims that there is no evidence of this version.
russia-ic.com
Neither in any documents, nor in the diaries of Matilda Kshesinskaya, nor in the diaries of Nicholas, in a word, anywhere is there any evidence that they could have had a child. Matilda wouldn't hide it. Her diaries and memoirs are quite honest. It is known (although she is not very open about it) that after the heir to the throne she had two close people, one of whom became her husband - Grand Duke Andrey Vladimirovich. And before him she had another Grand Duke - Sergei Mikhailovich. And in her diaries she makes it clear that she gave birth to a son from Sergei Mikhailovich. But the child was later adopted by Prince Andrei Vladimirovich.
The historian claims that Nikolai Alexandrovich could not possibly be Tselina’s father, since he did not meet Matilda after his marriage to Alexandra Fedorovna. The king was a family man and remained faithful to his wife.
Eleanor Sevenard. Born on September 22, 1998 in St. Petersburg. Russian ballerina. Great-niece of Matilda Kshesinskaya.
Father is a businessman.
Mother is a historian.
The surname Sevenard, according to Eleanor, is of French origin.
Eleanor's relative is famous prima ballerina Mariinsky Theater, Honored Artist of His Majesty the Imperial Theatres. Eleanor Sevenard is her great-niece.
She started studying ballet at the age of 4. As the ballerina said, the family often talked about Matilda Kshesinskaya; her costumes were kept in their house, which were transferred to the museum of the Academy of Russian Ballet. Her relationship with the great ballerina played a role in her choice. Although Eleanor made a reservation that in her profession everything depends only on the person himself: on talent, efficiency and physical data. “Being related to Matilda Feliksovna could not help me in any way in this regard. I think that morally her role in ballet art pulls me along, in the sense that I want to succeed in my ballet career,” she pointed out.
Among ballet dancers She is impressed by Maksimova and Vasilyeva.
To the Academy of Russian Ballet named after. A.Ya. Vaganova was brought to St. Petersburg by her mother. She successfully passed the entrance exams and began studying. Teacher - teacher Tatyana Udalenkova.
During her studies, she was actively involved in performances of the Mariinsky Theater and took part in the academy’s tours in Lithuania and Japan.
She danced in the ballet “Elementarium” to the music of S. Prokofiev, staged by M. Sevagin (in 2015, as part of the Creative Workshop of Young Choreographers, XV International festival ballet "Mariinsky")
In 2015, Eleanor was cast in the role of Masha in the ballet “The Nutcracker” by P. Tchaikovsky (choreography by V. Vainonen) - this role is traditionally performed by future stars. And the St. Petersburg audience remembered her - for two seasons in a row, for exactly 10 performances, she appeared on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater in the image of a girl from a Christmas fairy tale.
Also in the ballerina’s repertoire was the title role in the ballet The Puppet Fairy by I. Bayer (choreography by N. and S. Legats, revised by N. Tsiskaridze).
She had the opportunity to work with. According to Eleanor, he is a very demanding teacher, and after rehearsing with him, she had an additional desire to work and improve.
Rector of the Academy of Russian Ballet named after A.Ya. Vaganova Nikolai Tsiskaridze said about Eleanor that he immediately noticed her talent and only later found out that she was a relative of Kshesinskaya: “I just singled out this child, I liked him. And then they told me: well, of course, this is... It, of course, will interfere. It will interfere because there will be a biased attitude. Someone will be friendly - “Oh, how interesting.” And someone will say: “Well, well, now we’ll see.”
In 2016 she received the 2nd Prize of the 7th International ballet competition"Vaganova-PRIX" ( senior group), Prize from the Natalia Dudinskaya and Konstantin Sergeev Foundation (St. Petersburg). She also became one of the laureates of the All-Russian competition of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation “Young Talents of Russia”.
In 2017 she became a laureate 1st Prize III All-Russian competition young performers of the Russian Ballet (Moscow).
In the spring of 2017, she took part in the gala concert “Icons of Russian Ballet” in London (Coliseum Theater) and Gala ballet schools XXI century, held at the Opera Garnier in Paris.
In the same 2017, she graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Russian Ballet. A.Ya. Vaganova, where she studied for 8 years. In the graduation performance, Eleanor performed Paquita. The story of a girl who lost contact with her famous relatives as a child was chosen for her by Nikolai Tsiskaridze.
After graduating from the Academy of Russian Ballet, she decided to join the Bolshoi Theater troupe.
Eleanor explained: “I had two invitations - to the Mariinsky and to the Bolshoi Theater. But I chose that I would go to work at the Bolshoi Theater... Because we studied all this time for the sake of this moment. For the sake of our future life and careers."
She rehearses at the Bolshoi Theater ballet troupe under the direction of Svetlana Adyrkhaeva.
The beginning of his professional career coincided with the resonance that was caused by the film directed by Alexei Uchitel, dedicated to the relationship between Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II.
Journalists asked Eleanor to comment on this story: “She was a great artist, a great ballerina, and such youthful love - everyone could have had this in life. It just happened that way for her. I hope that everything will not be shown from the bad side,” - Sevenard noted.
Eleanor Sevenard's height: 167 centimeters.
Personal life of Eleanor Sevenard:
In the spring of 2018, it became known about the ballerina’s affair with the premier of the Bolshoi Theater. Photos of them together began to appear regularly on social networks. The lovers take part in several productions together, where their romance began - feelings on stage grew into relationships in real life.
Next week, 19-year-old Eleanor Sevenard will waltz in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions. We are sure that the one who made her debut at the Bolshoi will not worry too much before the ball, but will simply enjoy what is happening. Despite her young age, the ballerina has already achieved a lot thanks to her abilities and hard work. It is this character trait that makes Eleanor similar to her famous relative Matilda Kshesinskaya, whose name is on everyone’s lips today. We have already told you how the ballerina, known for her talent and romances with royalty, lived and loved. This time the site invites you to get to know her great-great-great-granddaughter better.
Eleanor is pretty, talented and... at the same time very modest. Even when appearing at social events, she prefers not to pose for photographers. It seems that Sevenard is not yet accustomed to the fact that after her name appears on the list of debutantes at the Tatler Ball, she finds herself in the spotlight not only when she goes on stage. General interest, of course, was fueled by the girl’s relationship with Matilda Kshesinskaya, who this year became perhaps the most discussed historical person thanks to the film by Alexei Uchitel about the romance of the ballerina and Nicholas II. Is there a chance that one day Eleanor will outshine the one everyone is talking about today?
Famous relative
Despite the fact that Matilda Kshesinskaya was an outstanding ballerina and prima ballerina of the Mariinsky Theater, she was remembered mainly for her romances with Tsarevich Nicholas and his relatives. To this day there are fierce debates about what actually happened between the dancer and the future Russian Emperor. Now many historians are sure that Matilda, despite all her talents, would hardly have been able to become famous without the patronage of the great Russian princes. From one of the relatives of Nicholas II, Kshesinskaya gave birth to a son, Vladimir, with whom she emigrated from Russia to France in 1917.
There Matilda died, just a few months short of her centenary. Her only son never left any offspring and died a few years after his mother.
However, the line of famous dancers did not end there, because Kshesinskaya had a brother Joseph, who remained in his homeland during the February Revolution. His daughter Tselina married Konstantin Sevenard, a descendant of an old French aristocratic family that settled in Russia in the 19th century. Now in the press with light hand Eleanor's father, there are rumors that Celina was not the daughter of Joseph at all, but of Matilda and... Nikolai. However, there is no evidence for this theory yet, and it is unlikely that it will appear. In her marriage to Sevenard, Kshesinskaya gave birth to three children: Yuri, Lydia and Fyodor. Yuri in at the moment continues to work actively in his main specialty. He is a hydraulic engineer and the president of CJSC Integrated Hydraulic Construction Company Sevenard.
Yuri has two sons - Andrei and Konstantin. The latter is the father of Eleanor Sevenard; the businessman’s daughter was born to his first wife, Julia, who, by the way, is a historian by training. Now the girl's parents are divorced.
Thus, Eleanor is the great-niece of Matilda Kshesinskaya, and if her dad’s hypothesis about the origin of Tselina is one day confirmed, then Sevenard will be considered not only the direct heir of the famous prima, but also of special royal blood.
Mom, I will be a ballerina!
Eleanor is the eldest of four common children of Yulia and Konstantin Sevenard. The girl grew up in a family where the famous great-great-great-grandmother and the art of dance were equally idolized. The girl’s father is extremely proud of his roots, which go back to the former favorite of Nicholas II, and her mother regularly practiced ballet in her youth and could have achieved some success in this field if she had not decided to become a historian. It is not surprising that from childhood Eleanor wanted to follow in the footsteps of Kshesinskaya.
“We have Matilda’s stage costumes and her photographs at home. This aura was always felt. We donated some of these costumes to the museum of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg,” the father of the young ballerina said in an interview. According to him, he and his mother both fully and completely supported their daughter’s decision.
Eleanor herself also does not hide the fact that the famous dancer played a role in her destiny. “The family often talked about Matilda Feliksovna; we kept the Kshesinsky costumes,” the girl admitted in an interview with Voci dell’Opera. She, like Kshesinskaya, was often taken to the theater as a child. The baby studied ballet from the age of four, and when the girl turned ten, her mother herself sent her to the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, where Eleanor was accepted with great pleasure, having seen the potential long before they heard the name of her famous relative.
Tell me who your teacher is and I will tell you who you are
At the Academy of Russian Ballet, the girl’s abilities were immediately appreciated - her talent was accompanied not only by perseverance and hard work, but also by excellent physical data. In narrow circles of professionals it was often said that if suddenly the heiress did not surpass Kshesinskaya, then she would definitely equal her in skill, and printed publications They unanimously repeated that Eleanor was the brightest of the future graduates of the Academy.
Why be surprised if Sevenard’s main mentor was the famous ballet dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze. In almost every interview, the girl spoke with reverent aspiration about her teacher.
“He is a very demanding teacher, there is no other way. I'm glad that I have this opportunity, because after rehearsals with him you come out with the acquired knowledge, goals and objectives, which you must correct at the next rehearsal. And, most importantly, at rehearsals with Nikolai Maksimovich you gain strength, a desire to work and improve,” Eleanor once admitted.
Tsiskaridze is rightfully proud of his student. “Eleanor is my pupil. She is the best graduate of last year. I immediately received an invitation to both the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters. Elya chose the Bolshoi and moved to Moscow. She is currently studying for a bachelor's degree. Over the past two years, Elya has danced a huge number of performances on all the leading stages of the world - at the Paris Opera, Milan's La Scala, London, and the Tokyo National Theater. And the main parties are everywhere!” - Nikolai said.
According to him, kinship with the famous Kshesinskaya does not play any role in how Sevenard manifests himself on stage.
“By the way, the Japanese filmed a sentry about her documentary. We followed the lives of our two girls for eight years. Both showed promise in ballet. But nothing came of the second girl, but Eleanor did,” Tsiskaridze said in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda. The teacher and his student have many photographs together. At almost all performances, Nikolai personally accompanied the girl, whom he already boldly predicts worldwide fame.
Maybe to the Bolshoi?
Eleanor graduated from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet and immediately found herself at a crossroads. Mariinsky or Bolshoi? On the one hand, in St. Petersburg everything is already familiar to her; in the same theater, Matilda Kshesinskaya was the prima ballerina for 12 years. However, in the Bolshoi for many years her teacher shone...
As a result, the girl nevertheless chose the capital and was accepted into the ballet troupe of the Bolshoi Theater. After this, not only the specialized media that followed her started talking about her. creative growth, but also glossy publications. Of course, Kshesinskaya’s great-niece will perform on the Bolshoi stage!
And a few days later another news appeared, which was even more actively discussed on the Internet: the debut of Eleanor Sevenard. The girl got her first role in the production of Don Quixote, and judging by the numerous reviews and congratulations on her microblog, the ballerina did a brilliant job.
And this is not surprising, because, as a student, Eleanor constantly performed. Hence the impressive list of awards. In 2016, Sevenard received the prize of the VIIth International Ballet Competition Vaganova-Prix, the prize of the Natalia Dudinskaya and Konstantin Sergeev Foundation, and was among the laureates of the All-Russian competition of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation “Young Talents”.
2017 started off no less brightly. The ballerina took part in the gala concert “Icons of Russian Ballet” at the London Coliseum and the Gala of Ballet Schools of the 21st Century, which took place at the Opera Garnier in Paris. Sevenard became a laureate of the All-Russian competition for young performers “Russian Ballet”.
And in the graduation performance “Paquita,” which tells the story of a girl who lost contact with her famous and influential relatives, she brilliantly performed main party. By the way, Tsiskaridze himself chose this role for Sevenard.
Second high-profile debut
Also this fall, it became known that Eleanor will become one of the debutantes at the Tatler Ball, which will be held on October 23. Sevenard practically does not worry before the solemn event that will soon take place in the Hall of Columns; she is sure that perseverance, hard work and talent are the keys to all doors in this world.
“Both at the ball and in life, everything will depend only on me - I was convinced of this on stage. I would like to believe that my perseverance and hard work come from Matilda Feliksovna,” Eleanor admitted in an interview.
Sevenard met almost all the debutantes and, apparently, managed to find common language with Sonya Tarkhanova. Not long ago, the girls all went together for a fitting at the Jimmy Choo salon. True, the ballerina had to skip the traditional breakfast in the Baccarat Cristal Room; apparently, she had important rehearsals at that time.
We are looking forward to Eleanor's appearance at the ball, but in the meantime we are closely following the girl at social events. Sevenard recently attended the show of the famous designer Alexander Terekhov along with Sonya Tarkhanova. Both debutantes behaved very confidently and talked casually with celebrities. In addition, we really liked how the heiress of Matilda looked that evening.
In the rhythm in which Sevenard now lives, it is very difficult to start novels. The girl spends almost all her time on rehearsals, performances and filming. Yes, yes, you heard right, she often poses for her photographer friends. Eleanor's father claims that at the moment his daughter's heart is occupied only with ballet. And we willingly believe him.
Not Kshesinskaya alone
Sevenard does not hide the fact that when she studied at the Academy and visited the Mariinsky Theater, she clearly felt her kinship with Matilda Kshesinskaya, which seemed to push her to conquer ever new heights. “I think that morally her role in the art of ballet pulls me along, in the sense that I want to succeed in my ballet career,” Eleanor once admitted.
However, oddly enough, Kshesinskaya is not at all the main inspirer of Sevenard. Young ballerina admires the talents of Ekaterina Maximova, a dancer who, for her long life managed to participate in several dozen productions and receive worldwide recognition.
Eleanor also gives a special place in Russian ballet to Irina Kolpakova. Her classic style many critics noted at the time. Sevenard actively studies the work of Maya Plisetskaya, one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century.
We have no doubt that very soon Eleanor will no longer be compared to her famous relative. In the meantime, correspondents from various publications regularly ask the girl a question about the sensational film by Alexei Uchitel.
“She was a great artist, a great ballerina, and such youthful love - anyone could have that in their life. It just happened that way for her. I hope that everything will not be shown from the bad side,” Sevenard answered journalists’ questions. The girl did not hide the fact that she really hopes to see this film soon.
Less than a month remains until the traditional graduation ball at the Vaganova Ballet Academy. Next year they will begin work on best scenes country and world. One of the graduates, Eleanor Sevenard, is from a family with amazing story. The young ballerina is a relative of Matilda Kshesinskaya herself. Darina Zhezheleva will continue.
The fact that the niece of Matilda Kshesinskaya justified her origins became completely clear three years ago. When Eleanor was cast in the role of Masha in the ballet “The Nutcracker,” this role is traditionally performed by future stars. This is how the St. Petersburg audience has already remembered her - for two seasons in a row, for exactly 10 performances, she appeared on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater in the image of a girl from a Christmas fairy tale.
The hard work to which Eleanor devoted herself from the age of 4 led to a dream - the girl was invited to two leading theaters in Russia at once.
ELEANOR SEVENARD,student of the Academy of Russian Ballet named after. A. Ya. Vaganova:“I had two invitations - to the Mariinsky and to the Bolshoi Theater. But I chose that I would go to work at the Bolshoi Theater next year. I'm already looking forward to finally going to work. Because we have been studying all this time for this moment. For the sake of our future lives and careers."
It will not be easy for her to leave St. Petersburg. Here, at the Vaganova Academy, she practically grew up and lived for 8 years. Here, in the museum, the costumes of her famous relative are exhibited. Kshesinskaya became the first Russian ballerina to perform 32 fouettés. And now, 100 years later, on the stage of the same Mariinsky Theater, Matilda’s 18-year-old niece repeats her signature number.
Nikolai Tsiskaridze also saw the girl’s talent - he personally conducts rehearsals for Eleanor’s graduation performance. The rector of the academy noticed the ballerina, not yet knowing about her origin.
NIKOLAI TSISKARIDZE,Rector of the Academy of Russian Ballet named after A.Ya. VAGANOVA:“I just singled out this child, I liked him. And then they told me: well, of course, this is... It, of course, will interfere. It will interfere because there will be a biased attitude. Someone will be friendly - “Oh, how interesting.” And someone will say: “Well, well, now we’ll see.”
Eleanor herself does not seem to feel the burden of the famous kinship. For her, Kshesinskaya is exclusively Matilda Feliksovna. The girl admires her and is waiting for the film by Alexei Uchitel, which should be released in the fall.
ELEANOR SEVENARD,graduate of the Academy of Russian Ballet named after A.Ya.VAGANOVA:“She was a great artist, a great ballerina, and such youthful love - anyone could have that in their life. It just happened that way for her. I hope that everything will not be shown from the bad side.”
In the graduation performance, Eleanor will perform Paquita. The story of a girl who lost contact with her famous relatives as a child was chosen for her by Nikolai Tsiskaridze.