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Pavel Rodzianko
Born	December 11 1880 Petrograd, Russian Empire
Died	April 17, 1965 (aged 84) London, England
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	World War I Russian Revolution (White Movement)

Paul Rodzianko (born Pavel Pavlovich Rodzianko, Russian: Павел Павлович Родзянко; 24 September [O.S. 11 September] 1880, Petrograd, Russian Empire – 17 April 1965, London) was a Russian and British military officer, diplomat, aristocrat, and equestrian. Born into a prominent military and aristocratic family in Petrograd, Russian Empire, Rodzianko had a distinguished career in the Imperial Russian Army and later in the British Army. He participated in the White Movement during the Russian Revolution and was known for his expertise in equestrian sports, particularly show jumping. After emigrating to England following the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War, he opened a riding school for aristocrats and continued his equestrian pursuits. Rodzianko's detailed memoirs provide a unique perspective on the life of the Russian aristocracy and significant historical events of the early 20th century.

Early life

Paul Rodzianko was born in 1880 in Petrograd, in the barracks designated for army officers. He came from a noble family; his father, Pavel Vladimirovich Rodzianko, held a high position in the Imperial Russian Army and owned extensive lands across the Russian Empire. His mother, Princess Maria Pavlovna, belonged to the wealthy Golitsyn family. Rodzianko spent his childhood primarily in Petrograd but often traveled to Odesa to visit his maternal relatives. These visits fostered his respect and admiration for Ukrainians and their peasant traditions.^[1] He was raised under the care of British nannies, and thus first learned to speak English, later acquiring fluency in Russian.^[1][2]

As a boy, he was admitted to the Page Corps, one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the country, reserved for boys from affluent families. At school, he developed a reputation as a prankster. Once, he pretended to stutter for weeks to give the impression that he was mentally challenged. Despite his mischief, he was selected by the school's rector to represent the academy at the coronation of the newly crowned Tsar Nicholas II in May 1896. Rodzianko, then fifteen, prepared for the event in the Kremlin.^[1]

One of the most memorable events of this period for Rodzianko was the Khodynka Tragedy. To celebrate the coronation, the Tsar had 150 stalls set up in a square to distribute sausages, gingerbread, beer, and souvenir items bearing the likenesses of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. The lavish offerings attracted a crowd of several thousand people, and the makeshift village could not accommodate such a mass. A stampede ensued, leading to a panic that resulted in the trampling deaths of over a thousand people. Rodzianko, present at the scene, later admitted that the sight of a young woman clutching a dead newborn haunted his nightmares well into adulthood.^[3]

Early Adulthood and Equestrian Career

Rodzianko graduated from the military academy in 1901 and joined the cavalry unit of the Russian army. Later, he received permission from the Tsar to travel to Italy for training at the renowned local equestrian school. In addition to working with horses, he served at the Russian embassy in Rome. His talent for sports flourished on the Apennine Peninsula, and by 1910, he was among the world's top ten equestrians. Under his leadership, the Russian team won the Edward VII Gold Cup three times consecutively (1912, 1913, 1914) at the Olympia equestrian competition in London.

Thanks to his achievements, Rodzianko was set to be a key member of the Russian team at the 1916 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Rodzianko was a versatile athlete, scheduled to compete not only in equestrian events but also in figure skating, fencing, and gymnastics. However, the outbreak of World War I led to the cancellation of the Olympics. Rodzianko received his mobilization telegram while in Riga, where he was training in swimming, another sport he intended to compete in at the Olympics.

World War I and Revolution

During the early months of World War I, Tsar Nicholas II personally promoted Rodzianko to the rank of Colonel. He served with the Russian army in Warsaw, and participated in the battles for Zvolen. In 1916, the Tsar assigned him the role of Liaison officer on the Italian front. Before leaving for Rome on a six-month diplomatic mission, Rodzianko evacuated his wife and children to England, aware of the growing revolutionary sentiment in Russia due to the army's failures.^[2]

The abdication of Nicholas II caught Rodzianko during his mission in Italy, prematurely ending his diplomatic duties. He traveled to London and joined the British army. Meanwhile, in Russia, the Bolsheviks seized power from the Provisional Government. Fearing that Russia would become a puppet state under German influence, Britain offered Rodzianko the opportunity to lead military units to Siberia to support the White Movement. Rodzianko agreed and, along with troops from England, Canada, and Serbia, traveled through the United States and Japan to the remote Vladivostok.

During the civil war, he operated across the entire territory of Asian Russia. Between 1916 and 1918, he reportedly made the journey between Vladivostok and Omsk about thirty times. When the Bolsheviks massacred the Tsar's family in Yekaterinburg, Rodzianko was among the first to enter the Ipatiev House after the city's liberation. He searched for the Tsar's remains for several weeks, uncovering several mass graves, but never found the bodies of the imperial family.

Rodzianko remained loyal to the White Movement and expressed disappointment with the British government, which had initially sent him to fight in Russia. He believed that the overthrow of the Bolsheviks was achievable and that the people supported the White Army more than the Red Army, with the White Army holding the upper hand on the battlefield for a time. His disillusionment grew when British and Canadian units received orders to withdraw during the advance on Moscow. After the death of General Kolchak in 1920, when it became clear that the Bolsheviks would retain power, Rodzianko boarded a ferry in Vladivostok and returned to his family in England. He never visited his homeland again.

Post-War Life

Rodzianko spent his first years in exile in a cottage near Windsor Castle. He opened his own riding school, where his students included the future King Edward VIII. He remained in Windsor until the Great Depression, which forced him to close the school and move. He lived in Dublin for a time, where he was invited to help improve the local cavalry. Later, he returned to England and passed away in London in 1965.

Before losing control of Yekaterinburg, the Bolsheviks executed Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, their five children, all the household staff, and even the family pets. However, one resident survived—the Tsarevich's cocker spaniel, Joy. Pavel Rodzianko found Joy, who had managed to avoid his master's fate by hiding under a chair, and took the dog with him to England. Joy spent his remaining years in the gardens of Windsor Castle, where Rodzianko eventually buried him, carving "Here Lies Joy" on a wooden cross.^[4][5]

In his memoirs, Rodzianko remarked that the grave of the little dog became a symbol for him of the end of the Russian Empire.