Princess Mary Bariatinsky Bachmakoff

Great-great-granddaughter of Suvorov, wife of Prince Anatoly Baryatinsky, aide-de-camp under Emperor Nicholas II, Maria has swirled in court circles since childhood. Witness to the last years and the last days of the Russian monarchy.

Author of the book "my Russian life, memories of a great lady, 1870-1918" which recounts the death of Alexander III and the ascension to the throne of Nicolas II, Rasputin and the assassination of Stolypin, the brilliant balls of the Prince of Monaco on the French Riviera, the Petrograd Red Uprising of 1917 and his flight from Bolshevik Russia. The princess, close to the imperial family, took part in the coronation of Tsar Nicolas II. She talks about it fascinatingly and in detail in one of the chapters of her memoirs, not only reproducing the solemnity of the ceremony, but also, for example, describing the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin. She devoted an entire chapter to the history of the hospital she opened in kyiv during World War I, where she moved from Petrograd. The princess personally prepared food for the injured, and spent sleepless nights in the operating room. The book contains many curious details — from details of the ladies' ball gown to the location of Russian troops on the fronts of World War I. The contrast is not accidental — it was life itself. "My Russian life" - as Maria Baryatinskaya will tenderly say, separated from her homeland, already abroad.