This year marks the 100th anniversary of the tragic death of the first woman aeronaut and military pilot - Princess Shakhovskaya-Glebova-Streshneva Evgenia Mikhailovna. Who is she? Brave heroine? Desperate adventurer? Her life could be the perfect plot for a thrilling romance. By the way, in some sources she appears as Princess Shakhovskaya Evgenia Fedorovna, that is, her exact middle name remains in question.
Social balls and receptions
Evgenia Mikhailovna was born in 1889 in St. Petersburg into a merchant family. She received her title and surname by marrying Prince Andrei Shakhovsky. Judging by the photo of Princess Shakhovskaya, she was an extraordinary beauty. Evgenia received a good education. Exact sciences, languages, music - everything was easy for her. Nature rewarded her with a strong, beautiful voice with an extraordinary chest timbre. For two years she studied vocals in Italy. Life seemed to be predetermined: social balls and receptions, a little charity, reading ladies' novels and cross-stitching.
But the young lady moreattracted not at all female occupations. Princess Shakhovskaya-Streshneva took part in motor racing in Europe, repaired cars herself, shot perfectly, was a dashing rider and even boxed. With such hobbies, of course, the nascent aeronautics captured her completely.
New dream
When she was 21 years old, she first saw pilot Popov perform at the Aviation Week and, despite the terrible accident that happened to him, she firmly decided to learn how to fly an airplane.
Shakhovskaya divorces her husband, divides property. Thanks to the children born in marriage, she manages to retain the title of princess. And a year later she becomes an airwoman. One of the first three female pilots of the last century! Shakhovskaya goes to Germany, where at that time the best fleet was created. There she meets a handsome Odessan Seva Abramovich. He was a well-known pilot and mechanical engineer throughout Europe. The meeting marked the beginning of a new sharp turn in the fate of Evgenia Mikhailovna.
The sad role of Felix Yusupov
Looking ahead a little, I would like to tell you about the mystical interweaving of destinies in this whole story. The rapidly developing romance between Princess Shakhovskaya-Glebova and Abramovich was closely watched by Prince Felix Yusupov. A handsome aristocrat, a representative of one of the most noble and richest families in Russia, he desperately falls in love with a spectacular pilot. At the same time, Yusupov hated Princess Shakhovskaya. It was she who stood between him and his love for Abramovich. How I hated Grigory Rasputin(who later played a key role in the fate of Evgenia Mikhailovna) for his special closeness to the royal family.
A descendant of an ancient family, an Oxford graduate, Yusupov despised these plebeians - Shakhovskaya and Rasputin. In his opinion, these two rootless had no right to be so ex alted. It was Yusupov who organized the assassination of Rasputin in his own palace. This terrible event happened with his direct participation.
Death of a Beloved
The stormy romance of the princess did not last long. On April 24, 2013, tragedy struck. Performed a training flight. Evgenia Mikhailovna piloted the airplane, Vsevolod Mikhailovich insured. The device lost control and began to fall from a height of 60 meters. A more experienced pilot, Abramovich, being in the place of the co-pilot, could not change anything. He died immediately, Evgenia escaped with bruises. In this catastrophe, her heart was shattered into pieces, which became impossible to restore. Shakhovskaya blamed herself for the death of her loved one and vowed never to take the helm again in her life.
On the same day, at the same airfield, another Russian aviator, Ilya Dunets, exploded in the air and died. Even today it has been proven that both of these deaths were not accidental. Germany was preparing for a war with Russia, the German special services carried out sabotage actions to destroy Russian pilots.
Meet the great healer
Friends, seeing the difficult mental and physical state of Princess Shakhovskaya, recommended hergo to Petersburg for help to Grigory Rasputin. He was known for his healing abilities. This is how this fateful meeting for Evgenia Mikhailovna took place.
Shakhovskaya becomes a devoted supporter of Grigory Efimovich. She enjoys spending time in the company of an old man and disappears for days in his house on Gorokhovaya. He treats her with opium. The princess was never able to get rid of this addiction until the end of her life. Drugs and drunken sex orgies gave her the opportunity to forget a little, dull the pain of loss.
Start of war
She kept her vow not to fly again for exactly 12 months. In 1914 Germany declared war on Russia. The First World War began. Shakhovskaya petitions Nicholas II, offering her services as a military aviator. She is denied. Then Evgenia Mikhailovna acts as a nurse on an ambulance train, while continuing to send letters, convincing the tsar that her skills as an airwoman are needed at the front. Finally, Nicholas II satisfies her request (not without the participation of Grigory Rasputin). She is given the officer rank of warrant officer and sent to the air squadron on the North-Western Front.
Military career
The pilot performed aerial reconnaissance and artillery fire adjustment. But the princess did not serve long. Her military career lasted only a month. Flying in a windswept cockpit in winter was unbearably difficult. For a month of military service, Shakhovskaya became more famous for her love affairs. Her career ended withconfusing circumstances.
At the end of December, Shakhovskaya was expelled from the detachment, soon arrested and accused of spying for Germany. Everyone remembered her - both the death of Abramovich and work at a German airfield. It is difficult now to say to what extent these accusations were justified, but Princess Shakhovskaya was sentenced to death for high treason. Grigory Rasputin intervened again, begging the Tsar to commute the sentence to life imprisonment in a monastery prison. While in prison, Evgenia Mikhailovna gave birth to a son. Who was his father and what is the fate of this child is unknown.
Sharp turn
Shakhovskaya was liberated by the Provisional Government in 1918 as a victim of the tsarist regime. She became an assistant to Count Zubov, who had just been appointed the first director of the Gatchina Palace Museum. But after the October Revolution, Zubov emigrates, and in the life of Evgenia Mikhailovna there is a sharp turn again.
She makes friends with Comrade Lunacharsky, the Bolshevik People's Commissariat for Education. With his direct participation and assistance, she becomes a security officer. Evgenia Mikhailovna is appointed an investigator in the GUBChK. Shakhovskaya hated her offenders and mercilessly de alt with those who stood in her way, prevented her from moving up the career ladder. The embittered princess was distinguished by extreme cruelty during interrogations with those under investigation, which she conducted personally and with great pleasure. She also took part in executions. Her aggressiveness and cruelty were aggravated by alcohol and drugs.
Hereshe got into an ugly story with the sale abroad of property from the royal palace, the very one that she was entrusted with protecting. It was now not easy for her friend Lunacharsky to save her from execution. Instead of arrest, he sends Evgenia Mikhailovna from Petrograd to the Kiev Cheka. She set to work in her new place with great enthusiasm. Shootings, expropriations, alcohol and men are allies in the fight.
Drunken narcotic frenzy twisted, increasing speed, into a deadly funnel, from which it was already impossible to get out. The tragic denouement came in the autumn of 1920. Princess Shakhovskaya was shot during the conflict by her own colleague. According to one version, it was self-defense. The bullet hit her right in the heart. Such a difficult life of Princess Shakhovskaya just ended. She was only 31 years old, and she still had the opportunity to change her fate, which, unfortunately, she did not take advantage of.
