It is believed that women are actively attracted to men who are powerful and successful. Well, what about looks? Take, for example, the Russian rulers - which of them possessed not only power, but also beauty?
Ivan the Terrible
“He was stately, handsome in appearance,” historians testify about him. In the portraits, we see a narrow face with delicate features. His height was above average - 180 cm. On the maternal side, the first Russian Tsar Ivan IV was descended from Khan Mamai, who was considered the ancestor of the Glinsky princes. His grandmother, Sophia Palaeologus, came from a family of Byzantine emperors. It seems that everyone will agree that Ivan the Terrible really rather resembles the appearance of an eastern ruler
Boris Godunov
One English traveler who visited Russia describes the appearance of Tsar Boris in the following way: “He was a tall and burly man, whose representativeness involuntarily reminded everyone of the obligatory obedience of his power; with black, although sparse hair, with regular facial features, he had a pointed gaze and a strong physique."
However, the legend says that the Godunovs were descended from the Tatar prince Chet, which gave their appearance an oriental "flavor".
Alexander I
All women of his era recognized this monarch as a handsome man. A tall, slender, blue-eyed blond with a round chin could not help but draw attention to himself. Napoleon Bonaparte himself wrote about this Russian emperor: "Alexander is the most handsome man who lives on earth." They say that Alexander enjoyed success not only with his compatriots, but also with women of various nationalities.
Nicholas I
Nikolai Pavlovich had an athletic physique and pale blue eyes, which fully corresponded to the then canons of male beauty. One of the memoirists described his appearance as follows: "Tall, lean, had a wide chest, somewhat long arms, an elongated face, clean, an open forehead, a Roman nose, a moderate mouth."
In turn, the British ambassador to Russia, Lord Loftus, wrote: “Nicholas I was the most magical and beautiful figure who ever occupied the throne. There was something majestic about him."
Alexander II
Having inherited from his father the correct facial features, proportional figure, high growth (186 cm), this Russian emperor was known as a heartthrob. True, two women became the main ones in his life - his first wife Maria Alexandrovna and Ekaterina Dolgorukova, who first became his favorite, and then - his second wife.
Alexander III
S. Yu. Witte recalls Alexander III: “He was not handsome, he was more or less bearish in manners, nevertheless, if Alexander III appeared in the crowd, where they did not know at all that he was the emperor, everyone would pay attention to this figure. He made an impression with his imposingness, calmness of his manners and, on the one hand, extreme firmness, and on the other hand, complacency in his face"
Nicholas II
N. Obruchev in his work "The True Image of the Tsar-Martyr as a Man, Christian and Monarch" creates the following portrait: "Sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich was of average height. His slender figure was impeccable in proportion to his build, shone with the exceptional elegance of his innate grace. The Tsar's hair was golden-reddish in color; somewhat darker was His always carefully trimmed, well-groomed beard. His blue eyes were the adornment of His beautiful elongated face, which often had a charming smile.”
The fact that the king had extraordinary eyes was noted by everyone who ever came across him."In the appearance of Nicholas II," recalled the wife of the British ambassador Buchanan, "there was true nobility and charm, which, in all likelihood, was hidden in his serious, blue eyes rather than in the liveliness and gaiety of character."
Leonid Brezhnev
A characteristic feature of Leonid Ilyich was his thick, fused black eyebrows. But in his youth he was not only black-browed, but also stately and curly. They say that at the 19th Party Congress, Stalin, drawing attention to Leonid Brezhnev, who was then the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Moldova, said: "What a handsome Moldovan!"
It is not surprising that Brezhnev loved women - after all, it was difficult for the fair sex to resist such a handsome man! The secretary general was credited with novels with the front-line doctor Tamara, the philharmonic artist Anna Shalfeeva, the housekeeper of one of the government dachas, Maria, the personal nurse Nina Korovyakova and even the daughter of the Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov - Lyudmila But today it is difficult to verify this information.
