Chapter 99 0491 Double Wedding
Chapter 99 A Double Wedding (Part 049)
On Christmas Eve, after Elena's fifteenth birthday, the Russian court began to prepare for the wedding of the two grand duchesses.
There was no precedent for doing it together, but Alexandra and Elena were too close in age, and the Russian princess had encountered too many engagement turmoil, so in the end they were brought together.
On her birthday, Elena's wish was simple: she and her sisters would be happy.
This requirement is actually a bit high.
Their two sisters-in-law are now put here as practical examples. These sisters-in-law are all on good terms with their sisters-in-law, but they also have blood ties with their brothers. If they want to keep things fair, they can just play their own games and not interfere with each other.
The venue for the wedding was finally chosen to be the cathedral inside the Winter Palace. The decoration here is indeed luxurious enough. It has been used many times during the Queen's era and is also the earliest completed building in the Winter Palace. The current Winter Palace is the fifth version after the previous temporary buildings and various ancillary buildings, and the main structure has been maintained to this day.
Before the wedding, they still have to dress up carefully. Alexandra and Elena are each in their own dressing room, putting on makeup and preparing to match jewelry.
"Your Highness, in order to match this wedding dress, I think you should try it."
"I'd rather have this red one. Who made the white one? It's like the petticoat I usually wear."
Speaking of which, white was definitely not the mainstream wedding dress in 1799, and the trend at that time was mainly for more eye-catching and precious colors.
Alexandra chose a purple suit for herself. This color has always been very noble. In the Eastern Roman Empire, the princes and princesses born in the "Purple Palace" had the highest status. The fuel for these purple clothes was very difficult to obtain. The conch shells used at the beginning were very smelly - the earliest raw materials in Phoenicia were like this and very difficult to obtain.
Elena chose a red one made with madder. The two of them stood there, as if
Solovyov thought about the barbarian invasions, the fall of Rome, and other historical events that filled his mind. Also, there was Julius and the Roman Senate, who was a Total War player.
He was still serving as a guard today, but the soldiers were all on guard at the Winter Palace, while he was busy back and forth with a few officers. He was mainly responsible for Prince William of Württemberg.
Put him here, and meet this "Silver Horn King" who is generally tall and strong, making him look petite and delicate.
"Your Highness, you must wear your medals. Although we don't have our Russian medals, the Württemberg medal should be here. And below, here is the commemorative medal. You must wear your military uniform."
"Thank you, Major. You are an expert in military drill."
"It was stipulated by our Emperor, and you look really smart in this outfit. He particularly likes to make rules, and the etiquette of the royal family must also be changed."
This is actually simplified a lot. The ones during the Queen's period were very complicated.
This is what the man has to wear when getting married, but the most complicated thing is for the woman.
"Want to see it?"
"I want to go and see it, too. But will my dear Alexandra agree?"
"You should also know, Your Highness, Her Highness Alexandra's side..."
"She mentioned you. You sang a lot when you served them, Major. Do you want to sing at the wedding?"
"I don't have that ability yet. Although I can read music, I still don't have the ability to compose music."
If asked to copy Wagner, he couldn't do it, not the whole thing, but he could try to copy a small part in the middle.
Moreover, the premiere of "Lohengrin" actually had something to do with Maria. It was the premiere conducted by Liszt in Weimar in 1850. At that time, the musician was receiving protection from the Saxe-Weimar court due to the Hungarian Revolution. It was the premiere sponsored by Maria, who was already an old lady.
Speaking of which, the reason why Liszt went to Weimar in the future was because of Maria's younger brother. The relationship here is very complicated.
There is a passage in this opera that is very suitable for today's occasion, and it has been used so frequently that I don't know how many times it has been rewound and played.
There was actually no problem using the "Wedding Cantata" alone, but Solovyov didn't know what the lyrics were in German, he just knew the song.
If he really wanted to figure it out, he had to squeeze it out of his brain when Maria was pestering him the other day, otherwise he would have been locked up in the garden of the Winter Palace and frozen that day, which would have been pretty terrible.
Maria looks very well behaved. This little girl likes riding horses and walking hunting dogs often, but she is not as open as her sister.
You know, the Queen directly called her "Dragoon".
She is now rehearsing with the court orchestra. When her two sisters get married, there will definitely not be enough space for her and Catherine to trail behind them, so she asks the bridesmaids to do it instead.
William is now anxious to see his future bride. I don't know why he is in such a hurry. From tonight on, they will sleep in the same bed. There will be a long time for them to watch each other in the future. It would be best if they can grow old together.
"Your Highness, I will take you there now."
There is still some time now, and the procedure of dressing up the two princes alone is already very complicated.
Even when looking for a priest to perform an Orthodox ceremony, the workload was double, as he had to hold the weddings of two couples at the same time, which had never happened before.
The Prince of Württemberg, led by Solovyov, who was familiar with the interior structure of the palace, came to Alexandra's dressing room.
"It's a good thing, Alexandra, that you didn't use a veil."
"When was the veil used? Look, isn't it beautiful?"
The veil was almost removed by this time, and the Prince of Württemberg suddenly spoke like a
The customs in Germany, which come from the Middle Ages, may emphasize the veil, while in Russia, not much attention is paid to it and the veil is relatively thin. In cities and villages, there are also people wearing traditional Russian costumes.
Solovyov had seen a portrait of Alexandra as a child wearing traditional Russian clothes, and it would not look out of place if it was placed directly on the chocolate wrapper.
Of course, he also wanted to open a chocolate factory in Petersburg, so Count Bobulinsky had to find a way. Normally, the wedding dress cannot be seen before the ceremony, but the full set of clothes is also quite complicated, and William only saw the lining of the clothes.
Of course, Alexandra's size made William's eyes scan back and forth from her face to her chest. Alexandra was relatively quiet and shy among the sisters. Her face was red at this moment, even redder than the red dress chosen by Elena next door.
"You look so beautiful like this, Alexandra. Elena's name is related to Helen. You look like Cleopatra like this."
"Which Cleopatra is that? Your Highness, there are many Cleopatras besides the one in Egypt! Including the sister of Alexander the Great."
The Prince of Württemberg now realized that no matter whether she was the emperor's sister or Cleopatra, her fate would not be good.
He finally stopped talking nonsense and started using a lot of adjectives to describe Alexandra's beauty. But after a long time, the Countess who came to help, Madame Stroganova of 17 Nevsky Prospekt, felt that the groom was too talkative and wanted to kick him out.
However, she has always paid attention to etiquette and the methods she used were very skillful.
"Major, you still need to help check His Highness's clothing."
Indeed, if one is impolite, it can be considered a serious diplomatic incident.
Hearing this, Solovyov also understood: "Your Highness, we still need to check it. Besides, Her Highness Alexandra's wedding dress is not convenient to be seen before the ceremony when she is fully dressed."
William also understood, but he could use his height to look a few more times outside the screen. The screen was so high.
It can also be seen how much he likes his cousin and how lustful he is.
Elena's side was very quiet. The two sisters from No. 7 Million Street didn't know that the other was communicating with the young Count Palen. One of them was sent by the Queen, and the other was always by Elena's side. They both helped with makeup and put jewelry on Her Highness.
"This wedding dress was custom-made according to the style Her Majesty wore when she got married."
If you count them all, both of them were raised in the Queen's court. Naturally, they are Elena's sisters, and they are also related by blood from Catherine I.
Elena was the most favored by her grandmother at the time. The two sisters who came to help her put on makeup were also favored by the Queen. They all called her Grand-mère (Great Lady). They were the unmarried girls in the court who missed the Queen the most.
This was also the style Elena had requested herself, and she also thought that it was a pity that her grandmother did not live to see any of her sisters get married.
Now let’s turn to that annoying Swedish king. This stupid ass has been causing hatred all the time.
The Winter Palace Cathedral, where the wedding will be held, is also undergoing intensive preparations.
The head lady-in-waiting, Varvara Golovina, was making the final arrangements, including the decorations needed for the wedding, the precious ornaments brought from various warehouses and halls in the palace, the huge peacock clock, and the huge enamelware. Even the seats for the guests from Petersburg had to be carefully checked.
"That's great. The clock will be moved back outside the palace in the future. It will have to be moved. The emperor loves you two princes, so this arrangement is reasonable."
Fortunately, the wedding held in the palace was mainly a witness ceremony held in the church, rather than the lively wedding in Eastern culture, which saved a lot of trouble.
The subsequent wedding banquet and dance party may be the focus, and there are also various preparations in the hall afterwards.
The palace eunuchs were indeed busy preparing for banquets and balls. Before, Tsar Paul always kept ceremonies simple in the palace, but now they are very complicated, which is indeed a different level of work intensity.
In the past, I was extremely idle, but now I am extremely busy. The chefs prepared in the palace are not enough, and I have to call the chefs and cooks from the homes of the nobles to help.
There were quite a lot of guests this time. In addition to members of the royal family and nobles from St. Petersburg, people from Württemberg and Mecklenburg also came.
There was a more troublesome thing in Württemberg. At the end of the year, the French army occupied Stuttgart, forcing Frederick, a German strongman who was 211 cm tall and weighed 200 kg, to run to St. Petersburg with his family.
I wonder if this marriage with Württemberg can make the French restrain themselves a little, at least when occupying Württemberg, they should not do as they did in Italy, where there were locusts everywhere - the French military discipline was really poor, and those who had originally welcomed them ended up being filled with rebels and guerrillas.
It is also because of this that envoys from some European countries did not show up at the wedding, but dance parties and receptions still needed to be arranged there.
This was a huge challenge for Prince Saltykov, who looked like Sir Humphrey and was more like the little angel when it came to work. After all, people who were familiar with the diplomatic relations, etiquette, and administrative affairs of European countries were scarce resources everywhere.
This also includes some bishops and patriarchs. When they appear here and announce the entry of the distinguished guests, their titles must not be wrong.
Even the American ambassador was invited in the invitation. They would also meet the British, with whom they had always had a bad relationship, and the French, with whom they had just fought a quasi-war.
Not long ago, Mr. Talleyrand of France caused a diplomatic scandal between the United States and France because of his failed bribery.
But in St. Petersburg, there were still many gifts sent from all parties, and the atmosphere was quite different from that in other parts of Europe.
The Russian Tsar is still a decisive force in Europe, and all parties still hope to win them over to support their side.
Count Rostopchin was negotiating with the French, and the Diplomatic Academy's policy toward France was also changing.
He himself had to carry out the will of the Tsar himself. Since the foreign policy had to be reversed and make a 180-degree turn, there would always be some risks.
The marriages with various countries were mainly with some small countries among the German principalities, rather than with the big countries. The marriages with the big countries meant a stable alliance. In recent years, there were few direct marriages between the major powers, but they married wives from various small countries, mainly concentrated in these German states.
After all, it is hard to say when the relationship between major powers will suddenly lead to betrayal and falling out.
(End of this chapter)