Marginal marriage in the royal family. What is a morganatic marriage. Maria Feodorovna and her morganatic union

A wave of morganatic marriages swept over the Romanovs even before the revolution. Even in the family of Nicholas II himself, the chief guardian of Russian laws, to his great despair, the law was twice violated. First, the emperor's brother Mikhail Alexandrovich married the twice-divorced Natalya Sergeevna Sheremetyevskaya, then sister Olga married Nikolai Alexandrovich Kulikovsky. Grand Duke Mikhail was killed near Perm with his secretary Johnson, and his wife, who received the title of Countess Brasova, and her son managed to go abroad. In exile, Kirill Vladimirovich granted Natalya Sergeevna the title of princess. Her son, Count Georgy Mikhailovich Brasov, died in a car accident in France in 1931.

The emperor's uncle, Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, was married to Olga Valerianovna Pistohlkors (1865-1929), née Karnovich, by his second marriage. This marriage, which also gave Nicholas II a lot of worries, was eventually recognized, and Olga Valerianovna and her children, born in marriage to the Grand Duke, were granted the title of Countess Hohenfelsen. During the war, due to the troubles caused by German families, Olga Valerianovna was granted the title of Princess Paley.

As the reader knows, Pavel Alexandrovich was shot in January 1919 in the Peter and Paul Fortress along with his three cousins, Grand Dukes Nikolai and Georgy Mikhailovich and Dmitry Konstantinovich.

Prince Vladimir Paley, like all children of the royal house, born in a morganatic marriage, who bore the title and surname of his mother, could avoid death by renouncing his father. This way of salvation was offered to him by the head of the Petrograd Cheka, Uritsky, and aroused Vladimir Pavlovich's indignation. Returning home from the Cheka, Prince Vladimir said to his mother: "How dare he offer me such a thing!" He died near Alapaevsk, at the bottom of the mine, 21 years old.

Olga Valerianovna managed to escape to Finland with her daughters Irina and Natalya, and then moved to France.

Olga Valerianovna was completely killed by the news of the death of her adored husband and son. She dreamed of someday publishing the poems of Vladimir, a talented poet and playwright, but she did not manage to do this, and the works of Prince Paley were still destined to find their readers in Russia. Olga Valerianovna left memoirs, where she described the whole way of the cross of her family, guilty only of belonging to the Romanovs.

Olga Valerianovna's daughter, Princess Irina Pavlovna, in France married Prince Fyodor Alexandrovich, son of Alexander Mikhailovich and Xenia Alexandrovna. Irina Pavlovna died in the fall of 1990. In the summer of 1990, her son, Prince Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov, visited Russia for the first time.

Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich (1877-1943), who emigrated at the beginning of the revolution, was also in a morganatic marriage. He was fond of art. According to the story of Alexander Mikhailovich, it was Boris' passion for art that at one time saved the life of him and his brother Andrei. "The Grand Dukes Boris and Andrei Vladimirovich owe the salvation of their lives to an amazing coincidence, which, if the novelist described it, the reader would be distrustful. The commander of the Bolshevik detachment, who was ordered to shoot these two Grand Dukes, turned out to be a former artist who spent several years life in Paris in a hard struggle for existence, hoping in vain to find a buyer for his paintings.A year before the war, Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich, walking through the Latin Quarter, came across an exhibition of artistically painted pillows.He liked them for their originality, and he acquired a significant number of them "That's all. The Bolshevik commissar could not kill a man who appreciated his art. He put both Grand Dukes in a car with a Communist Party badge and drove them to the area of ​​the White armies..."*

Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich was married to Zinaida Sergeevna Rashevskaya, daughter of the general, hero of Port Arthur. She emigrated with the Grand Duke from Anapa in March 1919. The couple lived very modestly in the south-west of France, in Biarritz.

Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich in exile married the famous Russian ballerina Matilda Feliksovna Kshesinskaya, who was rumored to have an affair with the heir Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future Nicholas II.

Matilda Feliksovna was the common-law wife of Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich. In 1902, Kshesinskaya gave birth to a son, Vladimir, whom the Grand Duke adopted. In memoirs written already abroad, Kshesinskaya claimed that Vladimir's real father, Vova, as all his relatives called him, was still Andrei Vladimirovich, with whom she had a long affair in parallel with Sergei Mikhailovich **. In the chaotic revolutionary days, Sergei Mikhailovich, while still at the front, wrote to his brother Nikolai Mikhailovich in Petrograd: "... you know how attached I am to Vova and how passionately I love and how attached he is to me. You know that I live with Malechka for 22 years (this is not in the physical sense, but I live in the same house and the same means). Of course, you understand how worried and worried I was for their integrity "***.

* Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. Book of remembrance. S. 323.

**See: Kshesinskaya M. Memoirs. M., 1992. S. 90.

*** GARF, f. 670, op. 1,d. 185.

The excitement was not in vain. Kshesinskaya’s house was looted in March 1917. “What you write about Malechka is simply terrible,” Sergei Mikhailovich writes to his brother, “I don’t know who is embittered against her, and the reasons for this anger lie only either in personal scores on the stage, or in nonsense rumors. I swear before the image that there is not a single crime behind her. If she is accused of taking bribes, then this is a complete lie. All her affairs were conducted by me, and I can provide anyone who needs all the most accurate data about how much money she has are and were and where they came from. I know that her house was robbed and robbed, I imagine how many expensive and artistic things were lost. Do you really not believe your brother, who swears, but do you believe the rumors spread by malicious people. What was mine, everything Vova was supposed to go ... (...) You write that if I come, so as not to dare to see them. What a scoundrel I am - I will leave my wife (civilian) and my boy. No, I have been honest all my life and noble, so I will remain. With great difficulty, Sergei Mikhailovich obtained permission from the Provisional Government to return to Petrograd, where he was arrested in 1918 and sent to Alapaevsk. Of all the Alapaevsk martyrs, he was shot alone at the edge of the mine - all the rest were thrown there alive ...

Matilda Kshesinskaya managed to escape from Russia, and emigration, equalizing all Russians, allowed her to finally become the lawful wife of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich. In 1935, Matilda Feliksovna was granted the title of Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya. The son of Sergei Mikhailovich Vladimir bore the patronymic Andreevich ...

Andrei Vladimirovich died in 1956, and Matilda Kshesinskaya, who was seven years older than her husband, in 1971, at the age of 99. Her son survived her by only three years.

* GARF, f. 670, on. 1,d. 185.

A morganatic marriage is an official union concluded by a person of a royal, or other high title, with a commoner, i.e. a person who does not belong to the nobility. Where exactly this combination came from is unknown to historians to this day. However, its specifics are known to everyone who is familiar with this concept.

What is the essence of the union?

The essence of a morganatic marriage is that, despite the official marriage, a commoner, i.e. a person who in a given couple does not have a noble birth does not inherit it from a spouse either.

Children born in such a couple are also deprived of all the privileges of nobility and any title, inheriting nothing but royal blood.

The concept of morganatic marriage appeared for a reason. Moreover, between the 18th and 19th centuries it was legislative, since it was during this period that the “fashion” for misalliances became more frequent. The heirs to the thrones were increasingly looking for a mate among their subjects. Morganatic marriage first appeared in the laws of German-speaking countries, hence, according to scientists and historians, its name came from (from the German word "Morgengabe" - a morning gift to the bride).

In the Russian Empire, the law on the prohibition of misalliances was even more cruel: monarchs and members of the royal houses could enter into an alliance exclusively with equal persons; otherwise, they were deprived of the right to inherit the throne. Today, the concept of morganatic marriage is a relic of the past. Even now, however, his legacy can be traced back to practices such as the marriage contract.

Morganatic marriages in the Russian Empire

We have defined what a morganatic marriage means. But it is much more interesting to turn to real history in order to understand who exactly could become an example of such a misalliance, being a noble person. Unequal ties were practiced by many monarchs, but some of them were spared any discrimination against this background. The first example is Peter I. Some historians de facto call the marriage of Peter I with Catherine of Savrons a morganatic one.

However, the king is the king, to do what he pleases. Therefore, at the request of His Majesty, the “camping field” wife Marta Skavronskaya “turned” into Empress Catherine I. By the way, children born in this union, even being illegitimate, inherited all the titles and privileges of their father's “breed”. And therefore, this marriage can be called morganatic only formally, but as an example it is ideal.

To the stories princesses and swineherds"The union of the daughter of the aforementioned couple, Elizabeth I, can also be attributed. Her romance with Alexei Razumovsky was quite official in nature, until the documents on legalized relations with Elizabeth I were destroyed by Razumovsky himself. True, this destruction took place not at the will of the second, but at the unspoken request of Catherine II.

Catherine II herself, meanwhile, had Grigory Potemkin, who was also not the heir to the throne, among her favorites. However, their union became official and well-known.

A century later, in 1854, the heiress of Nicholas I was secretly married to Count Grigory Stroganov. Two children born in this marriage received the title of Count Stroganov. The union itself was not officially recognized.

But most of all, Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich, the grandson of Nicholas I and the nephew of the future Emperor Alexander II, “distinguished himself” in amorous adventures. He completely fell in love with the French courtesan, for the sake of which he stole a jewel from Alexandra Iosifovna.

The theft of the diamond, like the “terrible union” itself, was regarded as a mental disorder, as a result of which Nikolai Konstantinovich was isolated, excommunicated from his family, deprived of all ranks, and even exiled to the south of the Empire. In exile, overgrown youthful maximalism, Nikolai Konstantinovich, officially married Nadezhda Dreyer. They had two children. However, the official marriage was not recognized, as was the sanity of Nikolai Konstantinovich.

The most secret among the morganatic marriages of the Romanovs should be recognized:

• Union of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna with Alexei Razumovsky;
• Union of Empress Catherine II with Grigory Potemkin;
• Union of Prince Alexei Alexandrovich with Alexandra Zhukovskaya.

None of these unions have been confirmed and they are technically considered hearsay. Children who were born in these Romanov couples are considered " assigned".

Maria Feodorovna and her morganatic union

The morganatic marriage of Empress Maria Feodorovna happened in Abkhazia. Her chosen one was the Abkhaz prince Chachba George. At first, this relationship was shrouded in a veil of secrecy. Maria was a widow, and therefore this union took place already at a quite mature age.

No one dared to talk and speculate about the couple: some considered the news leaking into society to be gossip, others to be lies and slander, and still others simply considered themselves unworthy of discussing Maria Feodorovna, whose monarchical and married life was previously impeccable. Nevertheless, the topic of the relationship between Mary and George began to be discussed - at first timidly and shyly, and then openly and persistently.

Indeed, in the small town of Abas-Tuman, a palace was built by the royal family. It was not too big and pompous, and was intended more for recreation than for permanent residence. The imperial son Georgy Alexandrovich suffered from a chronic lung disease, in connection with which the doctors advised him to spend time in the healing mountain air.

Georgy Romanov lived here almost constantly, and his main and most frequent visitor was, of course, his mother, Maria Feodorovna. George Chachba, being the governor of the Tiflis region, had to meet and see off the visitors of the royal house, provide them with an idle reception, protection and comfort. The prince also took part in the construction of the imperial house. All work on the arrangement of the small palace was carried out under his leadership.

Possessing natural charisma, artistry and wit, Prince Chachba was a magnificent, interesting and glorious conversationalist. Maria Fedorovna, visiting her son, periodically contacted him and had all sorts of conversations. The Empress and the Prince were the same age.

In addition, their views on government, the structure of the state and third-party interests coincided almost completely. Chachba was very educated, gave Maria advice and support in responsible state affairs, thanks to his rich worldly and administrative experience.

In 1897, Maria Feodorovna's mother and beloved son Georgy died - the same one who was constantly in the Abkhazian palace. In the same year, she invites Chachba to serve at the court. In this difficult time, he becomes her personal support and support, having taken a high position at court and becoming Mary's morganatic husband.

Morganatic Union of Alexander II

The morganatic marriage of Emperor Alexander II was the last in the history of imperial Russia. It was the most scandalous and sensational of all the previous ones. A series of bursts began with the birth of Princess Catherine Dolgoruky's first child from Alexander II. Then the lovers were not yet in a morganatic union. A year later, they had a daughter, which " added fuel to the fire» general indignation.

Finally, the resettlement of the maid of honor Dolgoruky closer to the emperor became the peak point. He ordered that she and the children be given three large rooms directly above their chambers. Moreover, this was done without concealment, and the lovers' apartments were ordered to be connected by an elevator. The family and society did not support this marriage, but it took place.

• - a historically determined, sanctioned and regulated by society form of relations between a man and a woman, which determines their rights and obligations in relation to each other and to children ...

  Demographic Encyclopedic Dictionary

• - marriage of a person of a royal family with a person of a non-royal family, which does not give the right of succession to the throne: ஐ "Mastozimaza strangled her sleeping husband and entered into a morganatic marriage with me"...

  Lem's world - dictionary and guide

• - ...

  Sexological Encyclopedia

• - the name of the marriage of a high-ranking person with a lower-ranking person; the origin of the name is not exactly known: maybe from the Gothic. maurgjan - "restrict" or from "Morgengabe" ...

  Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• - an unequal marriage, in which the wife does not enjoy the class privileges of her husband, and the children - the father. Example M. b. - the marriage of a person belonging to a royal house, with a woman not of the royal family. M. b. Not...

  Great Soviet Encyclopedia

• - MORGANATIC marriage - a marriage entered into by a member of the royal family with a person of non-royal origin ...

  Big encyclopedic dictionary

• - Morganatic, morganatic, morganatic...

  Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov

• - morganatic adj. 1. A prisoner by a member of a royal, royal, etc. families with a non-royal, non-royal face, etc. origin and does not give the right of succession to the throne and other privileges. 2...

  Explanatory Dictionary of Efremova

• - morganat "...

  Russian spelling dictionary

• - Morganatic marriage. Wed Marriage on the left side: the wife of a lower status against her husband and the children from this marriage are not given the name and rights of the father ...

  Michelson Explanatory Phraseological Dictionary (original orph.)

• - ...

  Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language

• - MORGANATIC ouch, ouch. morganatique adj. ♦ M. marriage. Marriage of a member of the royal house with a person not of the royal family, which does not give the right to succession to the throne. BAS-1...

  Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

• - secret marriage Wed. Marriage on the left side: the wife of inferior status against the husband and the children from this marriage are not given the name and rights of the father. Wed You know who that fat woman is, that one over there, sitting in the corner and eating a roll .....

  Explanatory-phraseological dictionary of Michelson

• - morganatic, morganatic. App., by value connected with a marriage between a member of the royal house and a woman not of the royal family, not officially recognized and not giving the rights of a husband to either his wife or children ...
• - Marriage between a sovereign or prince of the blood and a citizen of one of the states, who is not granted the rights of a legal wife, and the children of the rights to inheritance and the throne ...

  Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

• - ...

  Word forms

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Morganatic marriage is a marriage between two people of different social status, which does not change in the course of living together. The first mention of morganatic marriages appeared in the eighteenth century in the Russian Empire. Even earlier they were mentioned in German countries. The very concept of “morganatic marriage” both in Rus' and abroad was negative for one simple reason: the reigning houses and the houses of high-ranking gentlemen should not have family ties with their servants and subjects of low social origin. In the history of the reign, there were often cases when the heir to the throne was deprived of his right to stand at the head of the kingdom, precisely because of his connection with the common people.

In today's world for us, morganatic marriage is no longer the wildness that it used to be. However, such a loyal attitude towards this type of marriage has not developed in all countries. For example, in Japan, Princess Sayako lost her title due to a fake marriage to a person who was no match for her in her lineage. And this story happened not so long ago as it might seem at first glance, but in 2005. Also one of the countries that chose to honor the traditions of their ancestors in this matter is Switzerland.

Decembrist revolt

In tsarist Russia, morganatic marriages were strictly forbidden and severely punished, up to the deprivation of the title to the throne and status in society. Moreover, it was clearly written in the law that the descendants of people who violated this law are deprived of the right to sit on the throne of the ruler. This law was adopted by Paul I, after the accession to the throne of the emperor. Therefore, each contender for the throne could not fail to comply with this law. And it was on this basis that the ruling Konstantin Pavlovich (son of Paul I) refused to inherit the throne to his brother Alexander Pavlovich (Alexander I), which led to the famous Decembrist uprising.

Some alliances of imperial blood with commoners

In 1820, Prince Konstantin married Countess Jeanette Antonovna Grudzinskaya. But in the future, she began to be called the princess.

In 1854, Duchess Maria of Leuchtenberg, who by that time had become a widow, married Count G.A. Their children never became dukes, but bore the title of counts.

In 1878, Prince Nikolai married an ordinary girl, the daughter of a police chief. Their joint children bore the title of princes.

In 1880, Alexander II married Princess Dolgorukova, from which she received a high-ranking title.

Rejection of the law banning morganatic unions

The first to abandon the law prohibiting morganatic marriages was Europe, which, by the way, was the first to introduce them. Today, many of the direct heirs to the throne enter into morganatic marriages. Marriage unions of the heirs of Holland, Denmark, Spain, etc. are known. with girls who are not related to their society and do not have royal blood. Unlike the Middle Ages, children born from such unions have the right to claim the throne. But in France, the marriages of rulers with commoners were treated as ordinary unions. The concept of "morganatic marriage" never existed there. Similarly, in Great Britain, only one case of renunciation of the throne by King Edward VIII is known due to his marriage to a simple American woman.

In Germany, they could even forget about their current law banning morganatic marriages. Despite all German punctuality in observing the laws, Leopold I occupied the throne for several decades in a row. His mother was a baroness who did not belong to the royal family.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Morganatic marriage(the word "morganatic" of unclear origin, according to one version, from him. Morgengabe- morning gift of the husband of the newlywed) - such a marriage between persons of unequal status, in which the spouse (or spouse) of a lower position does not receive the same high social position as a result of this marriage. Morganatic marriage is a special case of misalliance.

In Europe

The concept of morganatic marriage appeared in the legislation of the German-speaking countries and the Russian Empire at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries in order to avoid marriages between members of the royal houses and their own subjects. Monarchs and members of their families had to enter into marriages exclusively with equal persons, otherwise they would lose the right to succession to the throne. The concept of "homogeneity" was largely a fiction: not only members of the current ruling dynasties were recognized as equal, but also representatives of numerous German families of princely and even count dignity, mediatized during the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. The uniformity of the descendants of the rulers of other abolished states - whether they were the dukes of Courland, the kings of Georgia or the Crimean khans - was in question.

The severity of prohibitions on morganatic misalliances varied considerably from country to country, and in France and Great Britain the concept of morganatic marriage was not known at all (although the British King Edward VIII preferred to abdicate the throne after a scandalous marriage to the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson). Even in Germany, if necessary, the ban on morganatic unions could be “forgotten”: for example, the throne of the Grand Duchy of Baden was occupied for several decades by Leopold I, whose mother was an ordinary baroness. If the morganatic union was sanctioned by the reigning monarch, then the unequal spouse, as a rule, was given a proper title (Highest Prince, Count, etc.), which was inherited by children born in marriage.

By the beginning of the 20th century, a circle of morganatic descendants of monarchs and members of their families had formed in Germany, whose representatives sometimes married among themselves, and sometimes with crowned persons (in those countries where morganatic unions were not banned). So, Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg (from the Battenberg family, a morganatic branch of the Hessian house) married the Spanish king Alfonso XIII and became queen. Other well-known morganatic families are the Hohenbergs (descendants of the Austrian heir apparent Franz Ferdinand and Sophia Chotek) and the Merenbergs (descended from the marriage of Nicholas Wilhelm of Nassau with N. A. Pushkina-Dubelt).

In Russia

In Russia, the ban on morganatic marriages was officially enshrined in the Law on Succession to the Throne, adopted after the accession to the throne of Paul I in order to exclude the possibility of transferring the throne bypassing the "legitimate" heir (as he almost happened to himself). Each subsequent monarch received power under the terms of this law, which made it virtually impossible to change it. A member of the imperial family who entered into a morganatic marriage, without losing the right to the throne himself, lost it for his descendants from such a marriage. It is with this circumstance, in particular, that the refusal of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich to inherit Alexander I is connected, which provoked the Decembrist uprising.

In the section “On Civil Rights of Members of the Imperial House”, its first part was devoted to marriage: Article 139 stated that “for the marriage of each person of the Imperial House, the permission of the reigning Emperor is necessary, and a marriage made without this permission is not recognized as legal.” The following article stated: “By the permission of the reigning Emperor, members of the Imperial House may marry both persons of the Orthodox confession and non-Christians. It was especially emphasized that children born from a marriage for which there was no permission of the reigning emperor do not enjoy any benefits that belong to Members of the Imperial House.

The dissolution of marriage was carried out "according to the provisions of the Holy Synod, with the approval of the Emperor." This member was allowed "to enter into a new marriage union when, for reasons of dissolution of the previous marriage, this is not contrary to the rules of the Church."

According to Article 188 of the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, “a person of the Imperial family who has entered into a marriage union with a person who does not have the appropriate dignity, that is, who does not belong to any reigning or sovereign House, cannot communicate to him the rights belonging to the members of the Imperial family.”

By the Supreme Decree of Alexander III of March 23, 1889, marriages with unequal persons were forbidden to members of the Imperial House. The force of the decree was somewhat weakened by the Personal Decree of Nicholas II of August 11, 1911, which prohibited them only for the Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses, allowing for princes and princesses of imperial blood.

Article 188 denies the wife and children of a person of the Imperial House who has entered into an unequal marriage the opportunity to be recognized as a member of the Imperial House - mainly for a person with whom a morganatic marriage has been concluded, but at the same time the marriage was carried out in compliance with all church and state laws, with the permission of the reigning sovereign, which was actually done. According to the laws of the Russian Empire, a wife and children from a morganatic marriage did not have the right to bear the surname of her husband and father, did not use either his title or his coat of arms.

In the 21st century

In modern Europe, the laws that once regulated morganatic marriages have been abolished. The heirs and heirs to the throne of Spain, the Netherlands, Monaco, Denmark and Norway may marry persons of non-royal origin, however, their children will inherit the throne. The most significant country that retained such legislation is Sweden (with the restrictions not applied to the reigning king).

A rare example of a modern morganatic marriage is that of the Japanese princess Sayako, who in 2005 married "commoner" Yoshiki Kuroda. As a result, Sayako lost her title of princess.

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Links

• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.

Notes

An excerpt characterizing Morganatic marriage

- Goodbye, thank you very much. Sovereign Emperor will probably wish to see you,” he repeated and bowed his head.
When Prince Andrei left the palace, he felt that all the interest and happiness brought to him by victory had now been abandoned by him and transferred into the indifferent hands of the Minister of War and the courteous adjutant. His whole frame of mind instantly changed: the battle seemed to him a long-standing, distant memory.

Prince Andrei stayed in Brunn with his acquaintance, the Russian diplomat Bilibin.
“Ah, dear prince, there is no nicer guest,” said Bilibin, going out to meet Prince Andrei. “Franz, the prince’s things in my bedroom!” - he turned to the servant who saw off Bolkonsky. - What, the herald of victory? Wonderful. And I'm sick, as you can see.
Prince Andrei, having washed and dressed, went out into the luxurious office of the diplomat and sat down to the prepared dinner. Bilibin calmly sat down by the fireplace.
Prince Andrei, not only after his journey, but also after the entire campaign, during which he was deprived of all the comforts of purity and elegance of life, experienced a pleasant feeling of relaxation among those luxurious living conditions to which he had become accustomed since childhood. In addition, after the Austrian reception, he was pleased to talk, if not in Russian (they spoke French), but with a Russian person who, he assumed, shared the general Russian disgust (now felt especially vividly) for the Austrians.
Bilibin was a man of about thirty-five, single, of the same society as Prince Andrei. They had known each other in St. Petersburg, but they got to know each other even more closely during Prince Andrei's last visit to Vienna with Kutuzov. As Prince Andrei was a young man, promising to go far in the military field, so, and even more so, Bilibin promised in the diplomatic one. He was still a young man, but no longer a young diplomat, since he began to serve at the age of sixteen, he had been in Paris, in Copenhagen, and now occupied a rather significant place in Vienna. Both the chancellor and our envoy in Vienna knew him and cherished him. He was not one of those many diplomats who are obliged to have only negative virtues, not to do famous things and speak French in order to be very good diplomats; he was one of those diplomats who love and know how to work, and, despite his laziness, he sometimes spent his nights at his desk. He worked equally well, whatever the essence of the work. He was not interested in the question “why?”, but in the question “how?”. What the diplomatic matter was, he did not care; but to draw up skillfully, aptly and gracefully a circular, memorandum or report - in this he found great pleasure. The merits of Bilibin were valued, in addition to written works, also for his art of addressing and speaking in higher spheres.
Bilibin loved conversation just as he loved work, only when the conversation could be elegantly witty. In society, he constantly waited for an opportunity to say something remarkable and entered into a conversation only under these conditions. Bilibin's conversation was constantly sprinkled with originally witty, complete phrases of common interest.
These phrases were prepared in Bilibin's internal laboratory, as if on purpose, of a portable nature, so that insignificant secular people could conveniently memorize them and transfer them from living rooms to living rooms. And indeed, les mots de Bilibine se colportaient dans les salons de Vienne, [Bilibin's reviews diverged in Viennese living rooms] and often had an impact on so-called important matters.
His thin, emaciated, yellowish face was all covered with large wrinkles, which always seemed to be as cleanly and painstakingly washed as the tips of fingers after a bath. The movements of these wrinkles constituted the main play of his physiognomy. Now his forehead was wrinkled in wide folds, his eyebrows went up, then his eyebrows went down, and large wrinkles formed on his cheeks. Deep-set, small eyes always looked directly and cheerfully.
“Well, now tell us your exploits,” he said.
Bolkonsky in the most modest way, never mentioning himself, told the case and the reception of the Minister of War.
- Ils m "ont recu avec ma nouvelle, comme un chien dans un jeu de quilles, [They accepted me with this news, as they accept a dog when it interferes with the game of skittles,] he concluded.
Bilibin grinned and loosened the folds of his skin.
- Cependant, mon cher, - he said, examining his nail from afar and picking up the skin above his left eye, - malgre la haute estime que je professe pour le Orthodox Russian army, j "avoue que votre victoire n" est pas des plus victorieuses. [However, my dear, with all due respect to the Orthodox Russian army, I believe that your victory is not the most brilliant.]
He continued all the same in French, pronouncing in Russian only those words that he contemptuously wanted to emphasize.
- How? You, with all your weight, attacked the unfortunate Mortier with one division, and this Mortier is slipping between your hands? Where is the victory?
“However, speaking seriously,” answered Prince Andrei, “we can still say without boasting that this is a little better than Ulm ...
“Why didn’t you take us one, at least one marshal?”
- Because not everything is done as expected, and not as regularly as in the parade. We thought, as I told you, to go to the rear by seven o'clock in the morning, and did not arrive even at five in the evening.
"Why didn't you come at seven o'clock in the morning?" You should have come at seven o'clock in the morning, - Bilibin said smiling, - you should have come at seven o'clock in the morning.
“Why didn’t you convince Bonaparte by diplomatic means that it was better for him to leave Genoa? - Prince Andrei said in the same tone.
“I know,” Bilibin interrupted, “you think it’s very easy to take marshals while sitting on the sofa in front of the fireplace.” It's true, but still, why didn't you take it? And do not be surprised that not only the Minister of War, but also the august emperor and King Franz will not be very happy with your victory; and I, the unfortunate secretary of the Russian embassy, ​​do not feel any need to give my Franz a taler as a token of joy and let him go with his Liebchen [darling] to the Prater ... True, there is no Prater here.
He looked directly at Prince Andrei and suddenly pulled the collected skin off his forehead.
“Now it’s my turn to ask you why, my dear,” said Bolkonsky. - I confess that I don’t understand, maybe there are diplomatic subtleties beyond my weak mind, but I don’t understand: Mack loses an entire army, Archduke Ferdinand and Archduke Karl do not give any signs of life and make mistakes after mistakes, finally, one Kutuzov wins a real victory, destroys the charme [charm] of the French, and the Minister of War is not even interested in knowing the details.