Marie arrived to visit with Dmitri and General Laiming let Dmitri know of her arrival. As she was hearing his steps nearing, her heart stopped for a moment. As he walked in, her eyes met his and she through the mask he was trying to portray. “For his face was drawn and he had black circles under the eyes; in spite of his extreme youth, he was old. My heart swelled with sorrow and pity and love for him.” (Page 262)
Dmitri tried to connect and communicate with his sister, but all he could do was to ask more trivial questions. It was late and he was sitting at the table where the tea had not been cleared from earlier. Once Dmitri looked at the clock, he said he could take her to her rooms. This home was where they had spent much time growing up.
They said good night to the Laimings and Dmitri proceeded to take her through what seemed endless corridors and drawing rooms which led to her rooms, a.k.a. her apartment. “Our steps echoed dully through the empty, high rooms. I did not seem to recognize this house, known since childhood; there was something alien, ominous in it now. An uncontrollable shiver ran down my back; my pulse beat faster; I was afraid.” (Page 262)
As they reached the rooms, Marie saw Tania who had been her maid and was waiting her arrival. From there, Marie bathed in a tub of warm water. She then dressed into a dressing-gown. Once dressed, she came out in other room and Dmitri was standing by the mantelpiece while smoking. She sat in a chair seeing her feet warm underneath her. She awaited for Dmitri to initiate the conversation. Marie “sensed also in his attitude a heart-struck disappointment; he sat contending with horrifying disillusionment on the border of despair.” (Page 263) Marie saw how once seemed like a great idea to save the Russians and the Imperial family seemed to result in a way not supporting the ideals Dmitri had wanted to defend, support, and protect. Marie did not want to know the details of Rasputin’s death as she did not want to carry the burden that her brother seemed to be carrying. Note that even after 14 years after this event, she and Dmitri never communicated about the events.
During that conversation, in her apartment, she and Dmitri had agreed that “tender clouds darkened every horizon.” (Page 263) Dmitri had noticed the changes when he had previously visited the Emperor’s headquarters in Mogilev and saw the “hopelessness” of it all. (Page 263) “The Emperor, he said, did not in the least realize the terrible abyss gaping wider and wider under his feet. No words could, it seemed, arouse him to the danger that threatened his country and his dynasty. The blindness and obstinacy of the Empress had removed from his court the last trustworthy people; deceit surrounded her and her husband. They had, it appeared, no knowledge of the condemnation which now had become loud, general, open. The Dumar was openly all but rebellious; deputies made speeches in which they freely attacked the order of things at the court. Even in high society the possibilities of a coup d’état at the court were discussed with talk of banishing the Empress, or of demanding that the Emperor send her to the Crimea, where she could not exercise her influence upon the course of events.” (Page 264)
Dmiri noted that really it was all “chatter.” (Page 264) Really people had “become small” in their thinking. (Page 264) Dmitri noted that “no one ever thought of the obligations of Russia to the Allies, or of maintaining Russian dignity in the eyes of all the world.” (Page 264) What Dmitri had said gave Marie the impression of the concept of what moved Dmitri to take action. His conversation with his sister helped him to be a little more calm. They spoke for hours - expressing about themselves, their life, and their future. “We both were still so young; the war had changed everything; and there was no telling what the future would bring.” (Page 264) At six in the morning, Dmitri had his last cigarette and left so they could both sleep some before Dmitri’s departure.
Once in bed, Marie had a pain express itself, a reminder that her pleurisy was back. She still continued the pace during this important time. Marie had entered Dmitri’s rooms in preparation for lunch and where Felix Yusupov and Uncle Grand Duke Nicholas were awaiting. At the time of coffee being served, some cousins came to visit with Dmitri . At that time, Marie had gone into another room to speak privately with Felix. He did not reveal the details as that was to be kept among those involved. Felix had looked upon Dmitri’s involvement as a “great political future” for Dmitri, which contrasted with how Dmitri seemed to be responding.
While there were no changes overall, the Empress was directing wrath upon Dmitri. “She believed … Dmitri’s ingratitude in relation to her and to the Emperor, and accused him nothing less than treason.” (Page 265) Yusupov had said, “A great deal depended upon the Emperor; it was he who was expected to act.” (Page 266) Yurupov felt they would be protected by public opinion. Dmitri felt “frightened” by both his name notoriety and the growing consequences for Rasputin’s murder. (Page 266)
Around 3pm, General Maximovich had communicated to General Laiming that he wanted to speak with Dmitri. There was an urgent order needed to be transmitted. Dmitri’s lips had lost color as he and General Laiming left by a waiting car. Yusupov and Marie were left alone. Yusupov seemed to have lost confidence. Marie began to play on the piano a gypsy song, while Yusupov began to sing in “a low tone.” (Page 266) Marie wrote: “My fingers shook.” (Page 266)
Thirty minutes later, Dmitri opening and grasping the door. “His features had changed almost beyond recognition. Felix looked at him in silence, not daring to say a word. Dmitri, leaving the door, advanced into the room.” (Page 267) “You, Felix, are exiled to your estate in Kursk Province. The chief of police will let us know later as to the time of departure of our trains.” (Page 267)
Marie noted that the Russian public was watching to see how the court would respond to Rasputin’s death and the treatment of his assassins. “The persecution of the assassins, although quite legal in its essence, would nevertheless signify to the public the excessive devotion of the Empress to the memory of Rasputin, confirming the worst rumors of his influence, and demonstrate anew the helpless passivity of the Emperor.” (Page 267) Dmitri was being sent to the remote Persian front which appeared more risky than in Petrograd. Rasputin’s partisans had more of chance to access Dmitri, as Marie was deducing in her mind. Marie felt this was a catastrophe. “Here together with my fear for a loved one, there was a fixed foreboding of something final and inevitable, the immensity of which I would vaguely sense but not conceive.” (Page 268)
Marie spoke with Dmitri saying they must speak to their father. Dmitri agreed though he asked her to make the call which was in the telephone room.The call was connected to Tsarskoie-Selo. Dmitri tried to speak to his father but handed the phone back over to Marie. It took time to speak for her as she had much emotion. Then she wrote: “‘General Maximovich has just told him by order of the Emperor that he is to be exiled to the Persian front. He must leave tonight accompanied by an aide-de-camp of the Emperor. During the trip, he is not permitted to see or to write to anyone.’ Tears prevented me from continuing. There was no answer from the other side.'“
Their father said he could come by car right away. Dmitri was saying he did not want to disturb him, due to his health and creating anxiety for him. Dmitri and his father never spoke again.
While many called for Dmitri, General Laiming would speak for Dmitri to others. Many officers were willing to hide Dmitri and even “start an uprising in his name.” (Page 269) Dmitri wanted to obey the orders of the Emperor “with resignation and absolute submission.” (Page 270) “All that he had sought in joining the plot against Rasputin was to uphold the throne, and he did not now intend to reverse that attitude.” (Page 270)
The Emperor’s aide-de-camp, was Count Kutaysov and he was to essentially be a jailer for Dmitri and was really upset over that. Dmitri was helping him feel calmer about that task. The Count felt “extremely agitated,” “indignant,” "distressed by the commission.” “To complete the picture of the attitude that day taken by the officers of the Guards, let me add this one detail: Kutaysov’s assignment made upon his brother-officers so revolting an impression that upon his return from the Persian front, they were ready to evict him from the regiment, and they were only with great difficulty dissuaded from taking this action. Calmly considered, such an attitude bordered upon plain insurrection; but everyone was at that time so off balance that such talk was not in the least surprising.” (Page 270)
Around 6pm, the chief of police announced that all was ready for Dmitri’s departure. “A special train would leave the Nicholas station about midnight. Dmitri would be accompanied by Kutaysov and Laiming, who had asked special permission. No one was to be allowed to see them off at the station. Yusupov was to leave earlier, under escort of one of the officers of the Corps des Pages.” (Page 270)
“Forgetting himself, he had stepped between the people and the imperial couple; he had sought to save his sovereigns in spite of themselves. Should they ever be able to realize that?” (Page 271)
Marie also reflected on the Empress who most likely was told repeatedly by Rasputin that as long as he is alive her son would be alive. “And in spite of my hostility towards her at that moment, my heart perceived her torture.” (Page 271)
Following Dmitri’s packing for departure, Marie thought that the last possible family member to reach-out to the Empress would be the Emperor’s mother, Marie Feodorovna, who was supervising work at the Red Cross. Marie decided she would stop to see her Aunt Ella in Moscow before seeing her grandmother. Marie had wanted to work on her brother’s behalf.
They had dinner before the departures. Felix wore a grey soldier’s coat and was taken by a young Corps des Pages to the station. “The captain, in full fighting outfit, waited, somewhat embarrassed, on the top landing.” (Page 272) Dmitri had looked through papers in his desk drawers. He looked at pictures which were too large to take with him. They were of a beautiful woman and of his mother. Dmitri realizing he would most likely not see these things again, connected with them before leaving.
A knock on the door interrupted Dmitri’s last moments, and Dmitri’s valet had a box through was concerned it may have explosives and was scared to give it to him. Dmitri took the box a part in private and discovered a blue enamel of a Serbian order carefully in cotton-wool and tissue paper.
Before leaving, Dmitri briefly patted his fluffy red hair dog. The household servants cried as Dmitri left the vestibule. A reminder of the emotional farewells in the past.
The square had been blocked off by the police and the route to the station was quiet. To send off Dmitri, Uncle Grand Duke Nicholas, Uncle Grand Duke Alexander came via another car. The wind was bitter cold. The station was lowly lit and no activity. They all went through the imperial rooms onto the platform. As Dmitri entered the carriage, he waved with his hands in white gloves with his cap in hand. Marie was nudged by her elbow to escort her away to her car and to Mme. Laiming. In the morning, the sentinels were still there and Marie called the commander to have them removed. Mme. Laiming and Marie talked for hours over many of the same subjects.
Marie would speak with the President of the Duma, Rodzianko. Later that day, Marie sent to Tsarskoie-Selo. She met her father in the study. While he seemed tired and worn from all that had taken place with his son, he wanted Marie to share about Dmitri’s departure. Her father said after he had spoken to Dmitri by phone, he wrote a note to the Emperor, “asking for an immediate interview.” (Page 275) For some pretext of other, the Emperor would not receive her father.
Marie reflecting back, her father heard about Rasputin’s death at Headquarters, yet it was through his wife that he learned Dmitri was a part of Rasputin’s demise. Her father wanted to immediately go to Petrograd to speak with Dmitri., but Princess Paley, her father’s wife, kept him from going. Her father was really affected from the news. The Emperor was abrupt in not wanting to discuss. That following day her father went to Dmitri and asked directly, “Can you swear to me that there is no blood on your hands?” (Page 276) “Dmitri raised his hand, crossed himself in front of the ikon handing in the corner, and replied: ‘I swear by the name of my mother.’” (Page 276) Marie learned nothing more of their conversation.
Two days following, a rumor had been shared that the Empress wanted a court martial for both men, Dmitri and Yusupov. Dmitri had written a letter to the Emperor and asked his father to get the note delivered to the Emperor. It is unknown if that letter ever was read by the Emperor. In essence, the letter was to let the Emperor know what Dmitri would do once the proceedings began. Dmitri’s father had a more mature view. “Dmitri and Yusupov had been impelled by a patriotic motive, but contended that their action had been dangerous and thoughtless from many points of view. The deed, as he saw it, only deepened the abyss separating the imperial family from Russia, and the assassination which Yusupov had planned and in which Dmitri participated, even if only in name was, in my father’s opinion, both futile and hideous.” (Page 276) “He felt that Yurupov possessed sufficient means to permit him to choose another and more adequate way of getting rid of Rasputin, and blamed Yusupov for involving Dmitri in a deed that would bring such ugly notoriety.” (Page 276) “My father felt, moreover, that the Empress, under the influence of her recent sorrow, would become more conservative and reactionary in her viewpoint, and would still more decidedly oppose the slightest concession to public opinion.” (Pages 276-277) Her father believed the Emperor was isolated from others in the family and only Rasputin’s partisans were around him and advising him accordingly.
Christmas Eve in Marie’s early years centered around the tree, gifts, joy and happiness. Marie had half-sisters were still young and they should have the benefit of the holiday. Marie’s stepmom was pouring tea for her children in the dining room area upstairs. Marie described the political affiliations within the family setting. L.V. Golovina, the eldest daughter of Princess Paley, was an avid supporter of Rasputin. Another strong advocate of Rasputin, was Marie’s stepmother’s eldest son, A.E. Pistolkors who was married to Mme. Zarnikau who was an advocate and friend of Dmitri. Days after Rasputin’s assassination, advocates and non-advocates of Rasputin sat at the same table with he father and sister of one of those involved the assassination plot. Thus the interaction was a bit difficult as the subjects brought up to discuss were short-lived. It was a painful experience and her father light the Christmas tree to move to a lighter spirit for all.
Marie arriving back at Tsarskoie-Selo, received a couriered package from the Empress. It was “a thick envelope addressed in the hand of the Empress.” (Page 279) “Opening it I found a letter and a small wooden ikon of the miraculous apparition of the Virgin Mary. I do not remember the exact wording of the letter but I remember its meaning. The Empress wished to show me that in her thoughts she entirely separated me from Dmitri and assured me of her unchanged feelings.” (Page 279)
Marie wrote a few drafts to respond to the Empress, and took her last one for her father and step-mother to review. Her father saw the solidarity of the family aspect, otherwise not enthused over it. Her stepmother helped Marie to refine and polish the letter. Then, Marie sent the final copy to Grand Duchess Marie who had it printed. Then, signatures were brought together from Marie’s grandmother, the Queen of Greece, and others. The petition was then taken to Alexander Palace and was returned with a note written on the top of the page from the Emperor. The Emperor wrote: “No one is permitted to engage in murders. I am surprised that you addressed yourself to me. Nicholas” The note was shared among those involved in this communication.
Soon after Christmas, Marie went to Moscow and visited with her Aunt Ella. Marie discovered that she had warned her sister, the Empress, of Rasputin many times, “against taking him too much into her confidence and becoming too dependent on him At first, the Empress paid no attention to her words, but as Rasputin’s importance grew in her eyes, she began to feel more and more prejudiced against those who brought such warnings.” (Pages 279-280) Once Aunt Ella saw that Rasputin’s influence had expanded outside of the household, Aunt Ella had communicated to the Emperor a warning and her concern. From that time forward, the sisters’ relationship was no longer warm and close. Aunt Ella would never consider abandoning her sister at such a “crucial and unpromising time.” (Page 280)
Marie also learned that before Dmitri was deciding to be a part of this assassination on Rasputin, he had talked with Aunt Ella in Moscow. It had become clear to Dmitri that the Empress was no longer thinking clearly or having a balanced perspective.
“My aunt clearly realized all the complications that were arising in connexion with the death of Rasputin, but she was so happy at his disappearance that she could not condemn the murderers. To her, Rasputin had been a living and active personification of evil; and she felt that Providence had chosen Dmitri and Felix to perform judgment upon him.” (Page 280)
Aunt Ella had tried to make one last attempt to speak with her sister, the Empress. The Emperor was not at Tsarskoi-Selo at that time. Aunt Ella received a cold welcome. The next morning, Aunt Ella received a note asking her to leave, as her and her sister’s opinion differed greatly. In addition, the Emperor is too busy to talk with her. Upon days to Aunt Ella’s return to Moscow, she learned of Rasputin’s death. Aunt Ella had sent an enthusiastic wire to Dmitri and the Empress learned of it. Then rumors spread on Dmitri’s deed.
Marie tried to reach out to the Dowager Empress located in Kiev. The Dowager was not going to get involved. The Dowager and her son the Emperor did not ever touch on the topic of the Empress. Marie was now out of ideas and found herself exhausted and became ill. She did meet with Grand Duke Alexander who was responsible for aviation in Kiev. They discussed political topics and he showed her the details of a project he was working on. It was for a “responsible Cabinet., in accordance with the demands of the moment and the needs of the country. He was planning to propose it to the Emperor as extremely liberal, yet in full accord with the dignity of power.” (Page 282)
Marie stayed in her father’s home at Tsarskoie-Selo, until the was well enough to leave. She decided to go back to the hospital to keep herself busy and not think as much as to what all had transpired.
Dmitri had brought into a small unit at a frontier post. Rasputin’s partisans tried to access him but were not able to. General Laiming let Marie know her brother’s new comrades have “watched over him vigilantly.” (Page 282)
The Empress had kept the Rasputin advocates close and her mind was concerned on treason and treasonous acts of others. She did not see or aware of the oncoming revolution. Two months after Dmitri had gone to his position on the Caucasus front, his life had been saved just by having left.
“During these fourteen years there has been much said and written about Rasputin. No contemporary historical figure aroused such an interest as this peculiar, sly, adroit peasant. The details of his death have been known now for a long time, the causes and consequences of his position at the Russian court have been examined and studied from all sides. But my brother is still true to his given word, true to himself; no one has ever heard from him the description of what happened that night between the 16th and 17th of December, in the Yusupov palace; and it is doubtful that anyone ever will.”
***Note, that this book was copyrighted in 1930 and signed by Grand Duchess Marie on 5/6/31. It is an English translation taken from the French and Russian language, under the editorial supervision of Russell Lord.