Living deck of Russian Style

Publication date: 17 ноября 2025 Update date: 1 сентября 2026

"Had I known the draw, I would have lived in Sochi", "the card is not a horse — it will bring luck by morning" and other card sayings have been known since ancient times. But it also happens that the cards themselves have their own history. The famous deck that was in almost every Soviet family — "Russian Style".

Beautiful pictures. I liked the queen of clubs the most. But few people know that each card in the deck has its own historical prototype. Like, for example, the king of hearts is Nicholas II.

His wife Alexandra Feodorovna, alas, was not very popular. Where has it ever been seen that a tsarina did not like balls? This is the pure truth: Princess Alice from childhood did not like to dance, avoided noisy festivities and preferred books or the theater. But the nobles perceived this as arrogance.

And the common people were harsh to the empress, especially because of her German origin — on the eve of World War I this irritated people. The newspapers shouted: "The German tsarina". She tried, opened the Higher School of Folk Crafts, worked as a nurse in a hospital, but Russia never accepted her.

1903. Alexandra Feodorovna arranges a grand costume ball in the Winter Palace. Everyone must appear in outfits of the pre-Petrine era — a tribute to ancient traditions. The nobility did their best, and a real "living deck" gathered in the luxurious halls.

The brightest figures of that "living deck"

Queen of spades — Princess Zinaida Yusupova. A brilliant beauty, Serov's model, a representative of the richest family. Her son Felix — a participant in the murder of Rasputin, later — a memoirist and owner of a fashion house in Paris.

Jack of diamonds — Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich. Grandson of Alexander II, husband of Matilda Kshesinskaya, the last Grand Duke of the Romanov dynasty.

Queen of clubs — Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. The empress's sister, who became a sister of mercy. She died tragically — was thrown into a mine near Alapayevsk. Later canonized.

King of Hearts — Nicholas II. He chose the costume of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, and the sceptre was genuine, having belonged to the tsar himself. His fate ended tragically — execution together with his family in the Ipatiev House.

The ball that became the last

Each card — its own fate. While the assembly glittered inside, strikes were brewing outside the windows and a storm was approaching. The 1903 ball became a symbol of a passing era — a true living deck where everyone drew their last lot.