This cossack remained the Russian empress’ bodyguard even after the revolution

A native of the village of Novominskaya in the Kuban region, he served as the bodyguard to Empress Maria Feodorovna – the mother of the last Russian tsar – and faithfully performed his duty until the very end of her life.

Yashchik served in the Yeysk Regiment; thanks to his towering stature and extraordinary strength, he was assigned to the personal escort of Adjutant General Prince Grigory Golitsyn. He moved with the prince to St. Petersburg, where he was assigned to the so-called ‘Personal Escort of His Imperial Majesty’.

In 1912, Nicholas II appointed him as a ‘kamer-kazak’ (a personal Cossack attendant); for nearly a year, Yashchik remained constantly at the emperor's side, accompanying him on trips to the Caucasus front. Four years later, the monarch entrusted him with the task of escorting his mother, who had decided to relocate to Kiev.

The bodyguard continued his service even after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. He accompanied Maria Feodorovna to Crimea, then traveled with her aboard the cruiser ‘Marlborough’ to Great Britain and, finally, to her native Denmark. The Cossack had left behind a wife and children in Kuban – family members he would never see again.

Yashchik remained with Maria Feodorovna until her death in 1928; only after standing the final guard of honor by the empress' coffin did he consider his service complete. He stayed in Denmark, where, with the small inheritance left to him by the empress, he bought a house and opened a grocery store. He married a Danish woman and passed away in 1946.