Natalya Androssov Iskander Romanov
Encyclopedia
Her Serene Highness Princess Natalia Alexandrovna Romanovskaya-Iskander , or simply Princess Iskander, was the last Romanov and the only Russian among Romanovs to remain in Russia
following the Revolution. Besides, she was a professional vertical motorcyclist and secret agent
of Lubyanka.
; thus, Natalya was a patrilineal great-great-granddaughter of Nicholas I
. She was also reported to have been born on 10 February 1916, 3 February 1917, or 17 February 1910.
Grand Duke Constantine Nicholaevich's son, Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich, was exiled
to Central Asia
in disgrace for stealing his mother
's diamonds. Grand Duke Nicholas established a palace in Tashkent
and lived in grand style where he sired a son, whom Tsar Alexander III
(his great-uncle) granted the title Prince Iskander (Iskander was the Arabic form of Alexander).
This prince, Alexander Nikolaievich (15 November 1889 - 8 October 1935) who granted the name of Iskander and the rank of a Noble of the Russian Empire by Imperial Ukase 1889 and that of Hereditary Noble by Imperial Ukase 1899, also granted the title of Prince Romanovsky-Iskander with the qualification of Serene Highness by the Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia
, who became the grandfather of Princess Natalia in absentia, in 1925, in turn, fathered the Princess Iskander. Alexander Nikolaievich only had issue by his first wife.
She was born in Tashkent
, a member of the Constantinovichi branch of the Russian Imperial Family. She had an older brother, Prince Kirill Romanovsky-Iskander
(1914–1922). Her parents, who had been married since 5 May 1912, separated and in 1924 Natalia and her brother moved with their mother to Moscow
(first moved to Plyushchikha Street, later to Old Arbat), where Olga remarried to Nicholas Androsov. Natalia's stepfather adopted her and her brother so Princess Iskander was renamed Natalia Nikolaievna Androsova . Her father remarried also, to Natalia Hanykova (b Saint Petersburg; 30/20 December 1893; d Nice 20 April 1982), dau of Maj.-Gen. Constantin Nikolaievich Hanykov and his wife Natalia Efimovna Markova, on 11 October 1930 in Paris.
After the Russian Revolution, Natalia and her brother Kirill were the only two Romanov descendants in the male line in the USSR; the rest either left or were killed. They lived their entire lives in the USSR. She was married to Nicholas Vladimirovich Dostal (1909 - 22 April 1959) and had a daughter Eleonora Nikolaievna Dostal-Oruç
(27 January 1937 - 2009). Her daughter is a socialite, philanthropist, noblewoman and an example of the modern phenomenon of the celebutante who rose to fame not because of her talent but because of her inherited wealth and controversial lifestyle in Turkey. The biographical novel The White Night of St. Petersburg
(2004) was written by her second cousin Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark
about her grandfather, Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich of Russia, and was based on Natalia's memories of him. She was a friend of Alexander Galich
, Yuri Nikulin
, Yuri Nagibin
, and Alexander Vertinsky
. Princess Natalia is also known for her brave personality. She was a motor-cyclist in motor-cyclist-circus. Besides, in the war time she was a driver in army.
When the succession to the British Throne, often referred to as the "Order of Succession" to the British Throne, is regulated by the Bill of Rights & the Act of Settlement and the list, as of 1 January 1901, arranged in sequence by people's eligibility to become the heir, and Queen Victoria was the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland and the Empress of India, Princess Natalia's father was 425th position in the line of succession to the British Throne (thus; 16 Realms of the Commonwealth) and Natalia was 427th following his only brother Kirill. In other words, Natalia's grandfather Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich of Russia is the brother of Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, Queen Consort of the Hellenes whose grandson is Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
, husband of the Queen Elizabeth II. That's why the closest relative Prince Philip, who is close to the Romanovs and also visited the Romanov tombs at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral, has among Romanovs were Natalia and her daughter.
When the revolution got going, the Iskander family decided that it was safer to be in Central Asia
and they joined the old grand duke there in Tashkent
, where Natalia's early childhood was spent. Natalia was barely one year old when her grandfather was killed by local revoulutionaries, the first grand duke to die in the Red Terror
. The family never discussed the circumstances of his death, and now no one knows exactly what happened. Her father and uncle Artemi left home to join the Whites
, and for a time the two Iskander princes were lost in the swirling havoc of civil war. Prince Alexander was reported missing in action. Meanwhile the revolutionaries forced Natalia, her brother Kirill and her mother Olga to leave the grand ducal palace, but they did not persecute them.
The family were helped by the fact that their name was Iskander, not Romanov, but even more by the preoccupation of the revolutionaries with their own survival in a bitter seesaw civil war. After the war, the palace became a museum and little Natalia would visit it, aware of the fact that it haf once been her home and that all its treasures-armor, sculpture, paintings-had once belonged to her family. The lavish rose garden, shielded by its high walls from Asian dust and harsh deserd winds, continued to bloom. An in the cellar, a few hunting dogs still lived. Their master was gone, but they waited for his return. Peace meant that the Bolsheviks would have the opportunity to become interested in the Iskander family, conspicuous because of the memory of the grand duke. Nicholas Constantinovich had spent his own personal funds to build canals for irrigating the crops essential for sustaining the life of the people. But Natalia's mother knew she could expect no gratitude from the Bolsheviks and decided that she would take her family to Moscow.
Giving up her husband for lost, she married and changed the name of her children immediately to that of her new husband. Thus Natalia dropped Iskander for Androsova. Moscow offered new jobs and also safety in anonymity of big city life. Former tsarist officers, bureaucrat
s, professor
s and merchant
s hoped to find privacy and security in the bustling new capital of the Soviet regime. The new-Androsovs found a spacious apartment, but a neighbor, apparently wainting the place himself and learning who they really were, threatened to report them to the secret police.
The family fled to the Arbat District downtown near the Kremlin
and to the squalor of a cramped basement apartment. Because they were neither peasants nor workers, the sate gave them the status of lishentzy, people regarded as socially alien, having no right to vote and therefore unable to secure good jobs. Yet they survived. Natalia had grown up to be dazzling in appearance and dashing in manner. Tall and svelte, with finely chiseled (and also very Romanov) features, she had radiant blue eyes
, long blond hair and a captivating smile. Her mother, despite changing her name, never tried to conceal the past from Natalia. All the family photographys sat on a shelf in the shabby Androsov apartment: Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich, his brother K.R. and Natalia's father, Prince Alexander Iskander.
Natalia would proudly tell close friends of her real origins. Everyone was astonished; one of the friends said disgustedly, "Put those pictures away; it is indecent to keep them!" But the Androsovs were bold. Friends returning from Siberian exile, political pariahs, always knew that they could spend a few nights with the Androsovs. Natalia perhaps inherited some of her grandfather's propensity for adventure. She did not conceal that she was a Romanov. She choose a wild career, professional motorcyclist. She joined the famous sports club Dynamo
and became a prominent motorcycle racer. Then the troubles came. It was 1939; Russia was experiencing Stalin's Great Terror
, when millions were taken away to die, often inexplicably. Natalia was twenty-two. A young mechanic from Dynamo
came courting her. When she boasted of her imperial lineage, he tried to blackmail her into sleeping with him. When she refused, he threatened to report her to the Lubyanka. Married and the mother of one, Natalia slapped him hard across the face. He was very tall and muscular, but "I was a very strong woman," she said proudly. Still, she panicked and burned all of her family papers. She changed her sports club and went to another famous one, Spartak
. But in several weeks the Lubyanka summoned her. The secret police people were explicit. She had only two optins, they said. Either she became a secret agent or she would be shot. Under the codename Lola, Natalia began to work for Stalin's secret police
. Her Lubyanka supervisor
came regularly to the Arbat where they met, not in her apartment but in the shadows of an archway outside. Years later Natalia learned that her file at the Lubyanka described her in the most flattering terms. She was young, intelligent and attractive. She had, in short, all the qualities of an excellent ageant except one: She did not want the job. Her friends know nothing of her Lubyanka affiliation. But she knew which of them would be arrested and when.
Many people found Natalia's manner pleasingly raffish; she dressed in men's jackets and leggins. She smoked. She was proud of her ancestry, especially her grand ducal grandfather. She liked to whisper the guests that she was a Roamnov, a descendant of tsars. Soon she became known as the Queen of the Arbat, a district that was taking on some of the character of New York
's Greenwich Village
. Visitors found hers a warm hearth in a cold and gray metropolis. And she was embarked on an extraordinary career as a vertical motorcyclist at Gorky Park
. She drove the machine up a wall. The screet to success, she says, was to feel the vehicle and to look only forward, never at the wheels. Then the war broke out. The Germans invaded Russia. In the fall of 1941, when the enemy came very close to capturing Moscow
and the Soviet Government fled, Natalia stayed in the city. She was in charge of her neighborhood fire brigade, on the alert for incendiary bombs dropped by German aircraft
. When these bombs hit the ground, they exploded and shot out a sea of flame. One had to catch the moment of impact and throw sand over the bomb to smother it before the explosion. Impatient Natalia would often seize the hissing bomb itself and throw it into the sand. Sometimes the white-hot bodies of bombs buried themselves deeply into the asphalt, setting even that aflame, ant at night explosions and fries burst out everywhere, with people shouting and horses neighing in terror.
Natalia also joined a paramilitary militia
as a motorcyclist courier. When she came to her Arbat neighborhood dressed exotically in a brown velvet jacket, army boots and breeches, some passerby, unused to such extravagant dress, detained her as "German saboteur." Natalia took another job, driving a truck, delivering bread to the troops at the front and clearing snow from downtown streets afterward. She discovered that she had talent for mechanical matters and she could keep her truck in good repair. As early as the summer 1942, Stalin, feeling more secure about the course of the war, decided that it was time to cheer up his people. He ordered more performances in Moscow
; theater, concert
s, opera
and the circus
.
Natalia returned to her earlier career as a vertical motorcyclist. In the summer of 1953, just after Stalin's death, they gave her a new assignment, promising it would be her last. Her career as a motercyclist soared. She was at the top of her profession and toured of the USSR. She used the world's best motorcycles such as Harley Davidsons and Indian Scout
s. But her performance, called "Fearless Flight" by people around her, was always dangerous. Sometimes she would spend a month in the hospital nursing broken bones.
Natalia became friendly with the leading Moscow
bohemians
of the day, and they dedicated their poems and stories to her. In July 1964, eligible for a pension, she retired. But when she stopped performing, the world began to forget her and her life took on a smaller dimension. In the late 1998, in her tiny studio apartment, the last Romanov in Russia and the only Russian among Romanovs, lived with her puppy dog which she found dying in the street. The dog was suffering from pneumonia
and had been severely beaten. She picked him up, remembering the mournful bowls her grandfather's dogs when the grand duke was gone. She named the dog "Malysh" (Baby) and Malysh has grown up a healthy ginger-colored mongrel, friendly to visitors, passionately attached to Natalia. On her crutches she took the dog for walks herself, even in wintertime when the sidewalks are frozen. Throughhout this term, her daughter and stepsons took care of herself. She owned little of the great Romanov treasure, only her grandfather's crested silver spoons, a silver cup made for the coronation
of Empress Elizabeth in 1742, a small decorative box, a cross and a tiny hinged icon. Whatever else of value she inherited, she had to sell in hard times. But material objects seemed not of great importance to her.
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
following the Revolution. Besides, she was a professional vertical motorcyclist and secret agent
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...
of Lubyanka.
Early life
She was the daughter of His Serene Highness Prince Romanovsky-Iskander (né Alexander Nikolaevich Romanov) and his first wife, Olga Iosifovna Rogowska (b 1893; disappeared in the USSR; d circa 1962), dau of Iosif (Joseph) Rogowski. She was a granddaughter of Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich, the disgraced grandson of Tsar Nicholas INicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
; thus, Natalya was a patrilineal great-great-granddaughter of Nicholas I
Nicholas I
Nicholas I may refer to:* Pope Nicholas I , or Nicholas the Great* Nicholas Mysticus, patriarch Nicholas I of Constantinople * Nicholas I, Bishop of Schleswig between 1209 and 1233...
. She was also reported to have been born on 10 February 1916, 3 February 1917, or 17 February 1910.
Grand Duke Constantine Nicholaevich's son, Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich, was exiled
Exiled
Exiled is a 2006 Hong Kong action crime drama film produced and directed by Johnnie To, and starring Anthony Wong, Roy Cheung, Francis Ng, and Simon Yam. The action takes place in contemporary Macau.-Plot:...
to Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
in disgrace for stealing his mother
Alexandra Iosifovna of Altenburg
Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Russia , born Princess Alexandra Friederike Henriette of Saxe-Altenburg was the fifth daughter of Joseph Georg Friedrich Ernst Karl, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg and Amelie Theresa Luise, Duchess of Württemberg.-Early life:Alexandra's parents were married on 24 April...
's diamonds. Grand Duke Nicholas established a palace in Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
and lived in grand style where he sired a son, whom Tsar Alexander III
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov , historically remembered as Alexander III or Alexander the Peacemaker reigned as Emperor of Russia from until his death on .-Disposition:...
(his great-uncle) granted the title Prince Iskander (Iskander was the Arabic form of Alexander).
This prince, Alexander Nikolaievich (15 November 1889 - 8 October 1935) who granted the name of Iskander and the rank of a Noble of the Russian Empire by Imperial Ukase 1889 and that of Hereditary Noble by Imperial Ukase 1899, also granted the title of Prince Romanovsky-Iskander with the qualification of Serene Highness by the Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia
Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia
Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia was a member of the Russian Imperial Family. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the deaths of Tsar Nicholas II and his brother Michael, Cyril assumed the Headship of the Imperial Family of Russia and later the title Emperor and Autocrat of all the...
, who became the grandfather of Princess Natalia in absentia, in 1925, in turn, fathered the Princess Iskander. Alexander Nikolaievich only had issue by his first wife.
She was born in Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
, a member of the Constantinovichi branch of the Russian Imperial Family. She had an older brother, Prince Kirill Romanovsky-Iskander
Prince Kirill Romanovsky-Iskander
His Serene Highness Prince Kirill Alexandrovich Romanovsky-Iskander, or Cyril Iskander Romanov , or simply Prince Iskander, was the last Romanov to remain in Russia following the Revolution....
(1914–1922). Her parents, who had been married since 5 May 1912, separated and in 1924 Natalia and her brother moved with their mother to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
(first moved to Plyushchikha Street, later to Old Arbat), where Olga remarried to Nicholas Androsov. Natalia's stepfather adopted her and her brother so Princess Iskander was renamed Natalia Nikolaievna Androsova . Her father remarried also, to Natalia Hanykova (b Saint Petersburg; 30/20 December 1893; d Nice 20 April 1982), dau of Maj.-Gen. Constantin Nikolaievich Hanykov and his wife Natalia Efimovna Markova, on 11 October 1930 in Paris.
After the Russian Revolution, Natalia and her brother Kirill were the only two Romanov descendants in the male line in the USSR; the rest either left or were killed. They lived their entire lives in the USSR. She was married to Nicholas Vladimirovich Dostal (1909 - 22 April 1959) and had a daughter Eleonora Nikolaievna Dostal-Oruç
Eleonora Nikolaievna Dostal-Oruç
Irf Eleonora Nikolaievna Dostal Oruç , a member of the Constantinovichi branch of the disputed Russian Imperial Family in the female line, is a socialite, philanthropist and noblewoman, hold no royal title, from Russian descent...
(27 January 1937 - 2009). Her daughter is a socialite, philanthropist, noblewoman and an example of the modern phenomenon of the celebutante who rose to fame not because of her talent but because of her inherited wealth and controversial lifestyle in Turkey. The biographical novel The White Night of St. Petersburg
The White Night of St. Petersburg
The White Night of St. Petersburg is a novelised biography of Grand Duke Nicholas Kostantinovich Romanov set in Russia at the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th century....
(2004) was written by her second cousin Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark
Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark
Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark, is the author of several historical novels and biographies, as well as a contributing writer to Architectural Digest.-Birth and family:...
about her grandfather, Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich of Russia, and was based on Natalia's memories of him. She was a friend of Alexander Galich
Alexander Galich
Alexander Galich , was a Russian poet, screenwriter, playwright, and singer-songwriter. Galich is a pen name, a sort of acronym of his last name, first name, and patronymic: Ginzburg Alexander Arkadievich. He adopted this name to conceal his Jewish ancestry in the face of antisemitism in the Soviet...
, Yuri Nikulin
Yuri Nikulin
Yuri Vladimirovich Nikulin was a well-known Soviet and Russian actor and clown who starred in many popular films.He was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1973 and Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990...
, Yuri Nagibin
Yuri Nagibin
Yuri Markovich Nagibin was a Soviet writer, screenwriter and novelist.He is best known for his screenplays, but he also has written several novels and novellas, and many short stories. He is known for his novel The Red Tent that he later adapted for the screenplay for the film of the same name...
, and Alexander Vertinsky
Alexander Vertinsky
Alexander Nikolayevich Vertinsky was a Russian and Soviet artist, poet, singer, composer, cabaret artist and actor who exerted seminal influence on the Russian tradition of artistic singing.-Early years:...
. Princess Natalia is also known for her brave personality. She was a motor-cyclist in motor-cyclist-circus. Besides, in the war time she was a driver in army.
When the succession to the British Throne, often referred to as the "Order of Succession" to the British Throne, is regulated by the Bill of Rights & the Act of Settlement and the list, as of 1 January 1901, arranged in sequence by people's eligibility to become the heir, and Queen Victoria was the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland and the Empress of India, Princess Natalia's father was 425th position in the line of succession to the British Throne (thus; 16 Realms of the Commonwealth) and Natalia was 427th following his only brother Kirill. In other words, Natalia's grandfather Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich of Russia is the brother of Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, Queen Consort of the Hellenes whose grandson is Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
, husband of the Queen Elizabeth II. That's why the closest relative Prince Philip, who is close to the Romanovs and also visited the Romanov tombs at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral, has among Romanovs were Natalia and her daughter.
When the revolution got going, the Iskander family decided that it was safer to be in Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
and they joined the old grand duke there in Tashkent
Tashkent
Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and of the Tashkent Province. The officially registered population of the city in 2008 was about 2.2 million. Unofficial sources estimate the actual population may be as much as 4.45 million.-Early Islamic History:...
, where Natalia's early childhood was spent. Natalia was barely one year old when her grandfather was killed by local revoulutionaries, the first grand duke to die in the Red Terror
Red Terror
The Red Terror in Soviet Russia was the campaign of mass arrests and executions conducted by the Bolshevik government. In Soviet historiography, the Red Terror is described as having been officially announced on September 2, 1918 by Yakov Sverdlov and ended about October 1918...
. The family never discussed the circumstances of his death, and now no one knows exactly what happened. Her father and uncle Artemi left home to join the Whites
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
, and for a time the two Iskander princes were lost in the swirling havoc of civil war. Prince Alexander was reported missing in action. Meanwhile the revolutionaries forced Natalia, her brother Kirill and her mother Olga to leave the grand ducal palace, but they did not persecute them.
The family were helped by the fact that their name was Iskander, not Romanov, but even more by the preoccupation of the revolutionaries with their own survival in a bitter seesaw civil war. After the war, the palace became a museum and little Natalia would visit it, aware of the fact that it haf once been her home and that all its treasures-armor, sculpture, paintings-had once belonged to her family. The lavish rose garden, shielded by its high walls from Asian dust and harsh deserd winds, continued to bloom. An in the cellar, a few hunting dogs still lived. Their master was gone, but they waited for his return. Peace meant that the Bolsheviks would have the opportunity to become interested in the Iskander family, conspicuous because of the memory of the grand duke. Nicholas Constantinovich had spent his own personal funds to build canals for irrigating the crops essential for sustaining the life of the people. But Natalia's mother knew she could expect no gratitude from the Bolsheviks and decided that she would take her family to Moscow.
Giving up her husband for lost, she married and changed the name of her children immediately to that of her new husband. Thus Natalia dropped Iskander for Androsova. Moscow offered new jobs and also safety in anonymity of big city life. Former tsarist officers, bureaucrat
Bureaucrat
A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can comprise the administration of any organization of any size, though the term usually connotes someone within an institution of a government or corporation...
s, professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
s and merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
s hoped to find privacy and security in the bustling new capital of the Soviet regime. The new-Androsovs found a spacious apartment, but a neighbor, apparently wainting the place himself and learning who they really were, threatened to report them to the secret police.
The family fled to the Arbat District downtown near the Kremlin
Kremlin
A kremlin , same root as in kremen is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. This word is often used to refer to the best-known one, the Moscow Kremlin, or metonymically to the government that is based there...
and to the squalor of a cramped basement apartment. Because they were neither peasants nor workers, the sate gave them the status of lishentzy, people regarded as socially alien, having no right to vote and therefore unable to secure good jobs. Yet they survived. Natalia had grown up to be dazzling in appearance and dashing in manner. Tall and svelte, with finely chiseled (and also very Romanov) features, she had radiant blue eyes
Blue eyes
Blue eyes may refer to:*Blue eye color*Blue-eyes or Pseudomugilidae, a family of fish*Blue Eyes , a hentai manga by Tohru Nishimaki*Blue Eyes White Dragon, a fictional monster from the Yu-Gi-Oh! universe...
, long blond hair and a captivating smile. Her mother, despite changing her name, never tried to conceal the past from Natalia. All the family photographys sat on a shelf in the shabby Androsov apartment: Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich, his brother K.R. and Natalia's father, Prince Alexander Iskander.
Natalia would proudly tell close friends of her real origins. Everyone was astonished; one of the friends said disgustedly, "Put those pictures away; it is indecent to keep them!" But the Androsovs were bold. Friends returning from Siberian exile, political pariahs, always knew that they could spend a few nights with the Androsovs. Natalia perhaps inherited some of her grandfather's propensity for adventure. She did not conceal that she was a Romanov. She choose a wild career, professional motorcyclist. She joined the famous sports club Dynamo
Dynamo
- Engineering :* Dynamo, a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator* Dynamo theory, a theory relating to magnetic fields of celestial bodies* Solar dynamo, the physical process that generates the Sun's magnetic field- Software :...
and became a prominent motorcycle racer. Then the troubles came. It was 1939; Russia was experiencing Stalin's Great Terror
Great Purge
The Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin from 1936 to 1938...
, when millions were taken away to die, often inexplicably. Natalia was twenty-two. A young mechanic from Dynamo
Dynamo
- Engineering :* Dynamo, a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator* Dynamo theory, a theory relating to magnetic fields of celestial bodies* Solar dynamo, the physical process that generates the Sun's magnetic field- Software :...
came courting her. When she boasted of her imperial lineage, he tried to blackmail her into sleeping with him. When she refused, he threatened to report her to the Lubyanka. Married and the mother of one, Natalia slapped him hard across the face. He was very tall and muscular, but "I was a very strong woman," she said proudly. Still, she panicked and burned all of her family papers. She changed her sports club and went to another famous one, Spartak
Spartak
Spartak is the name of a sports society which existed in the former Soviet Union and other socialist countries. For some history of the Moscow club see FC Spartak Moscow...
. But in several weeks the Lubyanka summoned her. The secret police people were explicit. She had only two optins, they said. Either she became a secret agent or she would be shot. Under the codename Lola, Natalia began to work for Stalin's secret police
Secret police
Secret police are a police agency which operates in secrecy and beyond the law to protect the political power of an individual dictator or an authoritarian political regime....
. Her Lubyanka supervisor
Supervisor
A supervisor, foreperson, team leader, overseer, cell coach, facilitator, or area coordinator is a manager in a position of trust in business...
came regularly to the Arbat where they met, not in her apartment but in the shadows of an archway outside. Years later Natalia learned that her file at the Lubyanka described her in the most flattering terms. She was young, intelligent and attractive. She had, in short, all the qualities of an excellent ageant except one: She did not want the job. Her friends know nothing of her Lubyanka affiliation. But she knew which of them would be arrested and when.
Many people found Natalia's manner pleasingly raffish; she dressed in men's jackets and leggins. She smoked. She was proud of her ancestry, especially her grand ducal grandfather. She liked to whisper the guests that she was a Roamnov, a descendant of tsars. Soon she became known as the Queen of the Arbat, a district that was taking on some of the character of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
's Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. Visitors found hers a warm hearth in a cold and gray metropolis. And she was embarked on an extraordinary career as a vertical motorcyclist at Gorky Park
Gorky Park (Moscow)
Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure is an amusement park in Moscow, named after Maxim Gorky.-History:...
. She drove the machine up a wall. The screet to success, she says, was to feel the vehicle and to look only forward, never at the wheels. Then the war broke out. The Germans invaded Russia. In the fall of 1941, when the enemy came very close to capturing Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and the Soviet Government fled, Natalia stayed in the city. She was in charge of her neighborhood fire brigade, on the alert for incendiary bombs dropped by German aircraft
German Aircraft GmbH
German Aircraft GmbH is a former aircraft manufacturer. Its main product the "Sky-Maxx", formerly the G97 Spotter, was developed by Stephan Kohl. Herr Kohl has renamed his aircraft Mythos ....
. When these bombs hit the ground, they exploded and shot out a sea of flame. One had to catch the moment of impact and throw sand over the bomb to smother it before the explosion. Impatient Natalia would often seize the hissing bomb itself and throw it into the sand. Sometimes the white-hot bodies of bombs buried themselves deeply into the asphalt, setting even that aflame, ant at night explosions and fries burst out everywhere, with people shouting and horses neighing in terror.
Natalia also joined a paramilitary militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
as a motorcyclist courier. When she came to her Arbat neighborhood dressed exotically in a brown velvet jacket, army boots and breeches, some passerby, unused to such extravagant dress, detained her as "German saboteur." Natalia took another job, driving a truck, delivering bread to the troops at the front and clearing snow from downtown streets afterward. She discovered that she had talent for mechanical matters and she could keep her truck in good repair. As early as the summer 1942, Stalin, feeling more secure about the course of the war, decided that it was time to cheer up his people. He ordered more performances in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
; theater, concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
s, opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
and the circus
Circus
A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
.
Natalia returned to her earlier career as a vertical motorcyclist. In the summer of 1953, just after Stalin's death, they gave her a new assignment, promising it would be her last. Her career as a motercyclist soared. She was at the top of her profession and toured of the USSR. She used the world's best motorcycles such as Harley Davidsons and Indian Scout
Indian Scout (motorcycle)
The Indian Scout was a motorcycle built by the Indian Company from 1920 to 1949. It rivaled the Chief as Indian's most important model.-The first Scouts :The Scout was introduced in October 1919 as a 1920 model, with a engine...
s. But her performance, called "Fearless Flight" by people around her, was always dangerous. Sometimes she would spend a month in the hospital nursing broken bones.
Natalia became friendly with the leading Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
bohemians
Bohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
of the day, and they dedicated their poems and stories to her. In July 1964, eligible for a pension, she retired. But when she stopped performing, the world began to forget her and her life took on a smaller dimension. In the late 1998, in her tiny studio apartment, the last Romanov in Russia and the only Russian among Romanovs, lived with her puppy dog which she found dying in the street. The dog was suffering from pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
and had been severely beaten. She picked him up, remembering the mournful bowls her grandfather's dogs when the grand duke was gone. She named the dog "Malysh" (Baby) and Malysh has grown up a healthy ginger-colored mongrel, friendly to visitors, passionately attached to Natalia. On her crutches she took the dog for walks herself, even in wintertime when the sidewalks are frozen. Throughhout this term, her daughter and stepsons took care of herself. She owned little of the great Romanov treasure, only her grandfather's crested silver spoons, a silver cup made for the coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
of Empress Elizabeth in 1742, a small decorative box, a cross and a tiny hinged icon. Whatever else of value she inherited, she had to sell in hard times. But material objects seemed not of great importance to her.