Chapter 94 Ball at the Winter Palace

Chapter 94 Ball at the Winter Palace

Chapter 94 Ball at the Winter Palace (Part 044)

Given the large number of people to be summoned, it is no wonder that there was no entertainment activity on the way back to St. Petersburg. Apart from watching performances in the theater, these nobles rarely participated in outdoor activities as they were all preparing for the ball hosted by Tsar Paul.

It is not surprising that the largest hall in the Winter Palace is used, as there is not enough space to accommodate all the distinguished guests who are coming to the ball.

After all, in addition to the top nobles, the middle-class nobles in St. Petersburg and many prestigious gentry and businessmen will also come.

To be honest, Paul has always been simple in ceremonies. This time, he had made arrangements in advance before Grand Duke Constantine returned, also to celebrate the victory of the Russian army.

In this regard, Korsakov's defeat in Switzerland turned the unprecedented and glorious victory, the honor shared by the Tsar and the Grand Marshal, into a farce of marrying at the funeral, which must be said to be a characteristic of Russia.

Tsar Paul was well aware of this, and would conduct a committee inquiry at the Military Council meeting in January of the following year. Now he was going to hold celebrations and arrange for the weddings of his two daughters to be grand in the Winter Palace Cathedral.

Korsakov had been able to gain his trust in the past, so it was considered a reprieve. He was not immediately overthrown by Tsar Paul, and was able to demonstrate the Russian emperor's kindness.

There are so many halls in the Winter Palace. The overall layout of the current Winter Palace is no different from that of the 21st century. It just lacks some buildings of the New Winter Palace, and the structure is still that before the fire of the Winter Palace. The names of many halls are still according to the old customs.

So much so that the names of the halls might be "Cossack Hall", "Hussar Hall" and the like. Paul's own bedroom in the Winter Palace was located in the southeast part of the Winter Palace. The bedrooms of Alexander and Louisa, as well as the bedrooms of the unmarried grand duchesses were in the space converted from the old throne hall. The reception venues were generally St. George's Hall and the Front Hall, which were large enough to handle general large-scale receptions.

And the scale of today's event surprised the old ministers of the Empress' era, as it was never so large in the past. Most of the activities held during the reign of the current Tsar were real. At the same time, there was a problem, he never made too much pomp, and this kind of reception in the palace might not be as large as the salon in Prince Saltykov's home.

The old ministers expressed that they were somewhat uncomfortable with the Tsar's sudden change of attitude.

Even the balls and receptions had to be held in several halls, and the guards were still on guard as usual.

The bedroom used by the Queen or Paul was separated by an "Apollo Corridor". This ensures that the area used by the royal family and the area used by the public are isolated from each other after the main porch is closed, and does not affect the visiting and daily life and work of the royal family.

If you really compare them, the British territory is nothing compared to the palaces of Paris, Vienna and St. Petersburg. However, the infighting among the European monarchies finally gave the British an opportunity.

If Louis XIV had not crippled the Netherlands on land, the British might have had difficulty defeating the Netherlands now. Of course, the Russian army, which had called in the golden assist, was defeated by the Franco-Batavia coalition forces the last time, and there seemed to be no substantial changes.

This time, one has to walk around this luxurious palace several times before reaching the actual venue. For Solovyov, this trip to the Winter Palace was just to familiarize himself with the defense zone of the 1st Battalion of the Pavlovsky Regiment. In the past, the Pavlovsky Grenadiers were only in reserve in the military camp or rotated in the Small Winter Palace and several battalions of the Sheikh Regiment, so it was rare for him to walk such a large circle.

Whenever he was summoned by Elena, he always took "shortcuts", not considering that there were more than 300 rooms in the open area of ​​the Winter Palace alone, and the area where Alexander and his wife and his four sisters lived was already complicated enough.

This daily guard duty was not an easy job. He had not officially taken up his post today, and was still following Grand Duke Constantine around the palace, and all of a sudden he came to a place he was familiar with.

Constantine now has to prepare gifts for his sisters individually. When he was in Prague and Vienna, he had already arranged for servants to prepare some for them, especially since Alexandra and Elena are getting married in the next few days.

According to the requirements of the Russian royal family, the Grand Duchess must get married in Russia and then go home with the groom. However, given the current delicate situation in the Holy Roman Empire, Paul and his in-laws wrote a letter, saying that the newlyweds should live in St. Petersburg for a while, also for safety reasons.

As for the monarchs of the two small German principalities, they did not raise any objections, and since the queen was from Württemberg, there was no problem at all.

We also have to consider that if the two brides stay at home for too long after marriage and give birth to children after being intimate with the groom, there is also a solution.

When Prince Saltykov was summoned from the Diplomatic Academy, he proposed that the delivery room in the Winter Palace could be used as the temporary territory of Württemberg and Mecklenburg, so that there would be no need to worry about the heir being born abroad.

When he was explaining this to the newlyweds, Anna suddenly asked a question: "What if the babies of the sisters arrive on the same day?"

"Your Highness Anna, if the babies of both Your Highnesses arrive on the same day, then dividing the room into two will not have any impact. I have already considered this."

It has to be said that this child is ranked sixth among the girls and is a bit "sixth" in doing things, and no one would have thought that she would be the one to raise this question.

No wonder, she was present when the Crown Princess and the Grand Duchess gave birth to their children. The Grand Duchess, who is almost 5 years old, would be able to understand a lot of things if she was smart enough.

Her words made her two sisters blush. If they were noble ladies below the rank of prince, they might not care too much about the issue of chastity. This was the case with Silvia and the "little fairy"'s sister whom Solovyov met in Milan. Unfortunately, they were both related to the Visconti family. But it was also true that the social circles were really chaotic.

Before Paul married off his daughters, he had to arrange for the matrons and nannies to give the girls extra lessons.

As for Anna, she was here while her sisters were getting dressed up. She came in with the nanny, like the Spanish princess who had intruded into Velázquez's oil painting, although she just came to join in the fun and get close to her sisters.

Prince Saltykov's ability to speak the truth in a serious manner and talk nonsense at the same time without blushing or getting nervous no matter what happens would be very useful to others if they could learn from him.

However, Anna would not attend the ball and would eventually be sent back to her own bedroom to sleep.

This part of the old throne hall is clearly separated from the activity area so as not to disturb the children who are sleeping in this area.

Constantine also stopped by to see his daughter who was sleeping soundly. Paul named the child Sophia, which reminded him of the reason why his grandmother, the Queen, named him.

Although Paul still tried his best to go against the Queen's original policies, his actions sometimes sent a signal that some of Russia's basic national policies would not change, especially towards the two unfriendly neighbors to the south.

"Your Highness, the child is asleep now, and you still have to attend the dance later." The Crown Princess already had two girls, each of whom had a nanny, so they could come together to look after the child and take turns.

"When the child wakes up, can I hold him?"

"Your Highness, this is your daughter. When she wakes up, you can hold her however you want. But Madam also said that you should be gentle. Although this child is very healthy, she is a little light and needs to be carefully cared for."

At this point, Constantine's face fell.

Juliana is not as good at handling interpersonal relationships as Louisa and is not able to cater to Alexander, so Constantine's eccentric temper may even be secondary.

But for the sake of the child, Constantine did not have a seizure as he usually did in his own palace, but simply clenched his fists.

Restoring the relationship between the couple is truly the most difficult task in Russia.

The Grand Duchesses in the dressing room couldn't wait to put on the little gifts Constantine gave them.

Alexandra and her three younger sisters received agate, amethyst, emerald and garnet, which were related to their birthdays; Elena got amber, and the reason was simple. The place where she married was on the Baltic Sea coast, which was a famous source of ancient amber, and it didn't want to conflict with the ruby ​​given to Juliana.

Besides, this Grand Duchess is very fond of insects, so a bee was encapsulated inside.

If it were to be taken for identification, it might actually be an ancient bee from tens of millions of years ago, and extremely precious.

The grand reception at the Winter Palace will begin soon.

Paul finally looked dignified when he sat on the throne of the Emperor of All Russia. The things he inherited from Peter III also made him lack these things. However, due to Suvorov's victory and the good domestic environment, the royal family had children born one after another. Although girls could not be heirs, they were also important bargaining chips when it came to marriage.
These noble families who came up the grand staircase of the Winter Palace one after another represented the most active part of the aristocratic circle in St. Petersburg, but they mainly came from a few big families.

Some great nobles who had already held high status during the Empress's era, such as Prince Saltykov and his Counts Saltykov, as well as Prince Dolgorukov, Prince Volkonsky, Prince Gagarin, Prince Kropotkin, Count Shuvalov, and Prince Yusupov from the Dolgoruki family, were always present at social occasions. These local nobles were also present at the social gatherings, as well as the British and French ambassadors in St. Petersburg.

Although the news did not spread that quickly, more than a month later, Tsar Paul also received news from Paris that a coup had taken place on the 18th day of Brumaire in the French Republican calendar.

Count Rostopchin had already reported the changes that had taken place in France to the Tsar himself in the afternoon, and he also suggested that in order to restore relations with France at this time, at least some diplomatic probing should be done.

And the relationship between Lord Whitworth of Britain and Tsar Paul was indeed worse than it had been for some time.

In the gentlemen's clubs and the British Embassy, ​​the British were sending out relevant messages. Dissatisfaction with Russia's withdrawal from the anti-French alliance had spread among the pro-British factions in St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg was a place where there were pro-British people from all over the country. Even the truly local Russian factions were probably some frontier nobles.

Such a large-scale reception and dance party is naturally a very convenient "information exchange center", especially when the young women go out to dance, the men can discuss things with the help of the noisy background music and the whispers of others.

As for what to talk about, there is a lot to talk about when standing next to the dance floor, but when eating, it is better not to say anything.

The Tsar himself ate as usual at the reception, but the dishes he served to his guests now tended towards French cuisine, especially fresh seafood and truffles. The reason why caviar was rare was that Russia had not yet completely conquered the Caspian Sea coastal areas, and the highest quality areas were not under its control.

This time Solovyov was allowed to sit at the table, unlike in the past when he had just arrived in St. Petersburg, when he either sat at the children's table or stood at the back as an adjutant.

The area where several adjutants sat also showed some arrangements.

Komarovsky was with the staff officers of the Guards, and the others were among the noble officers in their own regiments. Solovyov wanted to be with his father and stepmother, but the three prince brothers pulled him over and invited him to meet some friends of Vladimir, the eldest of the three brothers.

To be precise, it was the cellmate who had been in the same cell with me.

Among them was the defender of the Borodino battery, Nikolai Raevsky, now a rural nobleman, who was ordered to retire.

"This is the inventor. It is exactly as General Langgelon said."

That loudmouthed Langgelon was keen on sharp comments, and except for the two old marshals, everyone else was bound to be caught in the crossfire.

But from the tone of Laevsky, it seemed that when Langgeron complained, he gave him a positive review, rather than the often harsh comments.

"Hello, but you are here without a military uniform."

"That's because I was dismissed from my post by order of the Emperor. Some time ago, I was helping my mother manage the estate in my hometown. It was Valodia who invited me to Petersburg, so I could attend the Emperor's reception at the Winter Palace. The invitation would not be sent to my estate in the country."

At the same time, Raevsky's identity is also very interesting. His stepfather has a nephew, the still young cavalry poet Davydov, whom Solovyov has met during the expedition. He is still an accompanying officer and is not well-known. In addition, his uncle is the nephew of Prince Potemkin.

In addition to the fact that his social circle did not jump out of the circle of Prince Potemkin's family, one more thing must be added: he basically did not jump out of the future social circle of Pushkin, who is now one year old.

The circle you are in can be big or small. It is difficult to jump out even from the palm of Buddha’s hand.

(End of this chapter)