Dimitri Malama, the soldier Tatiana Nikolaevna fell in love with.
Dimitri Yakovlevich Malama was born on July 19th (August 1st) 1891 in Lozovatka, Ekaterinoslavskaya province, imperial Russia (modern-day Ukraine), to parents Yakov Dimitrievich Malama (1842-1912) and Elizabeth Ivanovna, nĂŠe Kuzmitskaya. He had two older sisters, Vera Yakovleva born in 1887 (who went on to marry Russo-Georgian Prince Alexander Eristavi-Ksani) , and Valerina Yakovleva, born in 1888.
Dimitriâs father was a cavalry general in the Russia army. He was of an old, noble family from the Ukranian province of Ekaterinoslavskaya, and was a member of the military council as an advisor to the Tsar. In 1904-1906, he was the great general (viceroy) of Georgia. He was greatly adored by the people of Caucasus. He was buried at the family estate of Nezabudkina in the Ekaterinoslavskaya province.
Yakov Dimitrievich Malama, a general, member of the state military coucil, and a personal advisor to the tsar. He was also the viceroy of Georgia.
Dimitri Malama was accepted into the Imperial Corps de Pages, the most renowned military academy in imperial Russia. It was hard to get in; Youâd have to be a son of a nobleman, or a high-ranked military officer. Except by personal appointment of the Emperor or as a son of a Major-General killed in action, admission was only by a difficult competitive examination. Only the sons or grandsons of those in the top three levels of the Table of Rank were eligible to apply.
The Imperial Corps de Pages, a prestigious military academy in St Petersburg.
Students of the Corps de Pages carried out duties at court, as Chamberlainâs pages. These pages, who were only the best of the best of the academy, would be assigned to tasks such as attending and serving the Empress and the grand duchesses at all balls, gala dinners, official ceremonies, and other events where their presence was required by protocol. Empresses (widowed or acting) would be assigned two pages, and each grand duchess would be assigned only one. Furthermore, in the event of illness, another page was assigned. Thus, in 1896, when there were two empresses and nine grand duchesses, fourteen pages would serve.
Dimitri Malama wearing the galla uniform of the senior students of the Corps de Pages in 1912. This was the uniform, Dimitri Malama would wear at state occasions, when he would serve one of the Empresses, or one of the Grand Duchesses.
Malama graduated on August 6th 1912, and was made a cornet in the Uhlan Lancer Guard Regiment of her Imperial Highness Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. Graduates of the Imperial Corps de Pages had the privilege of being free to choose whatever regiment the graduate would like to serve in.
Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna at the Uhlan Regiment jubilee in 1903. Behind them are Baron Freedericks, minister of the Imperial court, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and Prince Felix Yusupov Count Sumarokov-Elston, commander of cavalry and the Imperial guard.
In the first week of the WWI, Malama showed great heroism, when his regiment was attack by superior enemy forces. He was seriously wounded in the leg, but did not leave the battlefield. For this behaviour, he was awarded the âGolden Armsâ, a golden sword with the inscription âfor braveryâ, personally by the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. He was afterwards brought to the Tsarskoye Selo hospital, and remained there until December 1914. Here, he properly met Tatiana Nikolaevna, the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, who served as a nurse with her mother and her older sister, Olga, during the war. There is a chance that he might have met her before, seeing as he, in the last year of his education, served as a page to either one of the empresses, or one of the grand duchesses at court. Furthermore, his father held a high position in the administration of the empire, and Nicholas II mustâve known who Malamaâs father was, as he was in the military council.
According to the memoirs of another soldier, Stepanov, who was also at the Tsarskoye Selo hospital, Malama was âyoung, ruddy and fair-hairedâ. He had won the first prize at the Stoverstnom, a horse race, on a cognac mare. In the battlefield, heâd distinguished himself, and shortly after, was seriously wounded. It struck remarkably conscientiously in the regimentâs attitude to service. He was also very dutiful, and was tormented by the thought of him being in the hospital, while others were out there fighting. In his memoirs, Stepanov also recalls that the Grand Duchess Tatiana often lingered at the bedside of Malama. âUsually, the grand duchess left the dressing room a long time before her mother, and passed through all the chambers. In the last chamber â Manamaâs and mine â sheâd wait for her mother. She always sat by Malama.â
Dimitri Malama at the Tsarskoe Selo hospital. Malama is the one seated, while Grand Duchess Tatiana stands behind him, smiling in her nurseâs uniform.
On October 12th, 1914, Malama gave the grand duchess a French Bulldog called Ortipo (the confusion of names is because the Cyrillic letter for p looks quite a lot like n). Olga Alexandrovna, Tatianaâs aunt and Nicholas IIâs sister, often made fun of the Tatiana because of it. She wrote to Tatiana: âTatiana which Lancer gave you a dog? Youâre sitting on his bed, Olga [Nikolaevna] says. Very entertaining.âÂ
But the Empress was seemingly sympathetic with the young soldier. One and a half year later, she wrote to her husband, the emperor: âMy little Malama, Anya and I spent an hour last night, after dinner. In one and a half years, we have not seen him. He had matured, though still a lovely boy. I have to admit, he would make an excellent son-in-law. Why are foreign princes not like him? Of course, Ortipo needed to see her âfatherâ.â
Tatiana mentions Dimitri Malama many times in her diaries. She calls him sweetheart Malama in her diary entries, and is horrified when he is discharged from the hospital. Tatiana would still serve at the hospital, while Malama would go back to the front.
After the October revolution, Malama went to the south to fight in the White Army. He ended up being a captain, and he fought bravely, with the same sense of duty as Stepanov had described in his memories. However, when the news of the shooting of Grand Duchess Tatiana, his courage changed, and it seemed he sought dead on the battlefields. After a few more courageous battles, he was killed in 1919 in a deadly attack in Tsarisyn, Saratov province, RSFSR.
If both Malama and Tatiana had lived through the revolution, there is a change that they wouldâve married. After all, Olga Alexandrovna had herself married morganatic in 1916, to an officer named Kulikovsky, and other members of the family had also married non-princely men. As Malama himself was of the old nobility and as his father held a high position at court, the match couldâve been possible. After all, both Alexandra Fyodorovna and Nicholas II were content on letting their daughters choose their future husbands, and if Tatiana had insisted, she might have gotten permission to marry Malama. She was the favourite of her mother, after all. Â