The broken Chain of St Andrew and other incidents at the coronation of Nicholas II

When in Matilda Nicholas II faints during the coronation, the lady sitting next to me exclaimed: "I don't remember such a historical fact"

Nor do I, for that matter. If anyone fainted at that coronation, it was the Senior Master of Ceremonies, Saltykov. But that is a trifle beside the fact that State Councillor and member of the State Council Nabokov was seized by a fit of diarrhoea while carrying the great Imperial Crown.

The chain of the Order of Saint Andrew the First-Called, on which the film laid such particular emphasis, really did break on Nicholas. The blame fell on Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, who had inadvertently unfastened it while adjusting the imperial purple. But, thank God, Count Vorontsov (played in Matilda by Kozlovsky) kept his head and slipped the chain into his pocket, so that almost no one noticed a thing.

Report a translation error

September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

The broken Chain of St Andrew and other incidents at the coronation of Nicholas II

Read more

September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s