The Paleys (1921-1927) - An Alternate Romanov Story

The Ballet Russes

Paris, January 1923

Natalia

The whirlwind of social events following the announcement of Irina and Feodor's engagement was enough to make even the most experienced socialites dizzy. It was fortunate that the proposal had been made in Paris, where a good love story was always welcomed and celebrated. In Russia, few people knew about Feodor's impending commitment to Isabelle, so the news was welcomed with very little scandal attached. The only exception had been, of course, Feodor's grandmother, the Dowager Empress, who had planned the match with care only to see her dear grandson choose the daughter of the woman she had once expelled from a ball for wearing crown jewels that had once belonged to Empress Maria Alexandrovna.

However, her disapproval did nothing to damper the mood. Feodor and Irina were back to their normal, puppy-eyed selves, as if nothing had happened and, this time, they were both eager to set a date as quickly as possible, so it took them less than a week to decide that they would be getting married in May. They would have chosen an even earlier date if they could, but their parents had somehow managed to convince them that six months was the minimum amount of time required to prepare a proper ceremony.

There was also a point of contention in the early discussions regarding the place where the wedding would take place. Feodor was eager to marry in the chapel at Ai-Todor, which would mean a very small ceremony with a limited number of guests. The idea of a reduced guest list was also very tempting to Irina, but their parents were still not on board with the idea. Natalia and Irina's mother had always dreamed of a grand ceremony at the Royal Chapel in the Winter Place and it was going to be extremely difficult to convince her to let go of the idea.

As for Irina, Natalia had no doubt she was deeply in love with Feodor and the time they had spent apart had only intensified their feelings for each other. Still, there was a new urgency about marrying that was very uncharacteristic of her. In fact, while their mother talked endlessly about dresses and flowers, dragging them for hours on end through the best shops in Paris, Irina seemed to have little interest in the details. She would have picked the first fabric she saw on the very first day they went shopping and she was more than glad to let their mother handle all the planning.

It was true that Irina had never cared about fashion in the same way Natalia and Tata did, but still, it was difficult not to wonder if she was using the wedding as an escape route, rather than something she actually wanted.

Still, Natalia tried not to dwell on it too much. Irina looked happy and Paris seemed more exciting than ever, which, for a girl who had just turned seventeen, was all that mattered.

That evening they were all celebrating the fact that Natalia's school would start the following week with a visit to the ballet. The Ballet Russes, the company Natalia's father had supported since their start, was premiering a new ballet and, for the first time in her life, Natalia was going to watch them at the Théâtre de l'Opéra.

The Ballet Russes had been a central part of her childhood in Paris. Monsieur Diaghilev, the mastermind behind the company, was a close friend of her parents and a frequent guest at their house in Boulogne-sur-Seine, where he often took his dancers. Natalia remembered fabulous evenings where, hidden under a table so their parents wouldn't find them and send them to bed, Irina and she watched the dancers perform in their ballroom in the brilliant costumes the world's most renowned designers created for them.

She had always been fascinated by them. As a child, she had kept a scrapbook with pictures of their beautiful costumes, samples of fabric which Monsieur Diaghilev had always been kind to offer her when he came to visit, and autographs from the dancers. The most prized she kept were from Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky, who had visited her parents shortly before the war and their move to Russia.