Kurakin Alexander Borisovich. Prince Alexander Borisovich Kurakin, Russian statesman, diplomat Life in the village

“Proceedings of the Saratov Scientific Archival Commission.
Serdobsk scientific circle of local history and district museum"

Prince ALEXANDER BORISOVICH KURAKIN
January 18, 1752, Moscow - June 6, 1818, Weimar, Germany
prominent statesman and diplomat, active privy councilor 1st class (1807), senator (since 1798), member of the State Council (since 1810).

Son of the chamberlain, Prince Boris Alexandrovich Kurakin from his marriage to Elena Stepanovna Apraksina.

Grandson of Alexander Borisovich Kurakin I, brother of Alexei Borisovich Kurakin, Stepan Borisovich Kurakin and Ivan Borisovich Kurakin.

As a child, he was registered as a sergeant in the Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment, and from 1761 he became a second lieutenant.

Since 1763 he has lived in St. Petersburg under the care of his granduncle N.I. Panin. After the death of his father in 1764, he was under the tutelage of the Panins.

Count Panin is the tutor of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, the future Emperor Paul I. Common games develop into strong friendship for many years.

In 1766 he was sent to study at the Albertine College in Kiel, where he attended a course of lectures, while at the same time being registered at the embassy in Copenhagen.

In 1767-1768 he traveled to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Denmark, and Germany.

In 1770 he attended lectures at Leiden University. Travels around Holland, Great Britain, France.

Since 1771, cadet chamberlain. In the spring of 1773 he returned to Russia, joined the Masonic lodge “Capitulum Petropolitaya”, and in 1779 he was admitted to the main St. Petersburg lodge.

Since 1773, he has been a member of Grand Duke Paul and is one of the people closest to him. In 1776, he accompanied Paul to Berlin to meet his bride Princess Sophia Dorothea, the future Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Since 1778, chamberlain, appointed chief prosecutor of the Senate and in 1781 elected leader of the nobility of the St. Petersburg province.

In 1781-1782 he accompanies Pavel, Count and Countess of the North, on a trip abroad.

Friendship with Kurakin was not to the liking of Catherine II; a few careless words in an intercepted letter to Colonel P. A. Bibikov served as the reason for her removal to the village of Borisoglebskoye, Saratov province.

After the death of Empress Catherine II, Kurakin returned to St. Petersburg in November 1796, was granted privy councilor status, appointed a member of the council under the emperor, then vice-chancellor, promoted to actual privy councilor, and received the Order of St. Vladimir 1st degree and St. Andrew the First-Called.

He was granted a house in St. Petersburg, and on the day of the coronation of Paul I - more than 4,000 souls in the Pskov and St. Petersburg provinces, and then, together with his brother Alexei, 20 thousand acres in the Tambov province, fishing grounds and government plots in the Astrakhan province .

In 1797, together with A. A. Bezborodko, Kurakin participated in the conclusion of a convention on the acceptance by Emperor Paul I of the Order of Malta under his protection, and he was appointed bailiff of the order.

As a result of the struggle of court groups under pressure from I.P. Kutaisov and F.V. Rostopchin, in September 1798 he was relieved of the post of vice-chancellor and left for the village.

After Rostopchin's resignation, he was appointed vice-chancellor for the second time in February 1801. He is engaged in analyzing the papers of Emperor Paul I.

Since 1801, a member of the Permanent Council and manager of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, since September 1802, he was released from management of the Collegium and appointed Chancellor of Russian Orders.

After the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, he submitted a memo to Emperor Alexander I, in which he wrote about the need to prepare a large army for the defense of Russia and at the same time proposed to begin negotiations with France. Since July 1806, ambassador in Vienna. Together with D.I. Lobanov-Rostovsky, he signed the Peace of Tilsit in 1807. Since October 1808, ambassador to Paris.

During a fire at a ball in July 1810, he received severe burns and subsequently was often ill.

Constantly informs Emperor Alexander I about the threat of war with France, recommends enlisting the support of Austria and Prussia or achieving their neutrality, making peace with Turkey and Sweden and entering into an alliance with Great Britain. In 1811, in a letter to Alexander I, he proposed to avoid a general battle in the upcoming war, using the tactics of a “small war”, using the example of the Spaniards’ fight against the French, to complicate the supply of the French army after its invasion of Russia. In February 1812, he invited N.P. Rumyantsev to begin negotiations with the French government in order to resolve mutual claims, while noting that he did not believe in the success of this action. In April 1812, at a meeting with the French Emperor Napoleon I, he made an unsuccessful attempt to regulate Russian-French relations. After Napoleon I left for the army, he resigned as ambassador.

In the last years of his life he did not play an active political role.

He died on June 24, 1818 in Weimar. He was buried in the Pavlovsk Church of Mary Magdalene in Pavlovsk. On the monument to Kurakin, erected by Empress Maria Feodorovna, the inscription “To the friend of my husband” is engraved. According to his will, the peasants of one of Kurakin's estates received freedom, and the entire fortune passed to his brother Alexei Borisovich Kurakin.

A. B. Kurakin was not married, but had a great weakness for women; he had numerous relationships in different strata of society, which resulted in up to 70 illegitimate children. The barons Vrevsky and Serdobin originate from him.

One day two people were walking through Petersburg in the evening. One is in a simple military uniform, the other is in a smart caftan. The fellow travelers were in a cheerful mood, they were telling jokes, when suddenly the one in uniform clearly distinguished a voice: “Paul, poor Pavel, poor prince!” He involuntarily shuddered, stopped and looked around. A mysterious person appeared before my eyes in a Spanish cloak, with a hat pulled down over his eyes. There could be no doubt - the eagle gaze, dark forehead and stern smile betrayed Paul’s great-great-grandfather, Peter I. “Don’t get too attached to this world, Paul,” continued the sovereign ghost with a certain tinge of sadness, “because you won’t stay in it for long.”

“Do you see this? walking next to you? Do you hear his words? - Pavel turned to his comrade. “You are walking right next to the wall,” he answered, “and it is physically impossible for anyone to be between you and it. I don’t hear anything, absolutely nothing!” - “Ah! It’s a pity that you don’t feel what I feel,” Pavel said reproachfully. “Something special is happening in me.”

In this textbook episode, after which Pavel Petrovich received the famous nickname “Russian Hamlet,” not only the future monarch himself is noteworthy, but also the dandy who accompanied him. The latter was called the “diamond prince” for his love of pomp and brilliance. It was Prince Alexander Borisovich Kurakin (1752-1818), who really did not hear anything, because he could not be blamed for not wanting to understand the thoughts and feelings of his royal friend.

The scion of an ancient boyar family dating back to the legendary Lithuanian Gediminas and Vladimir the Red Sun, Kurakin became close to the Grand Duke from a young age, becoming an indispensable companion to his childhood amusements. The fact is that Paul’s chief chamberlain was Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin, a relative of Kurakin, who became his “second father” after the death of the boy’s parent (1764). As Semyon Poroshin testified, Prince Alexander Borisovich “almost every day has lunch and dinner with His Highness”; They also enjoy playing cards, chess and shuttlecock.

Alexander's friendship with Pavel did not break even during their five-year separation: Kurakin, as befitted a well-born youth, received his education abroad - first at the Albertine Academy (Kiel), and then at the University of Leiden. A lively correspondence ensues between him and the Tsarevich. “How pleased I am to see that Your Highness honors me with his favors,” Alexander wrote in May 1767. Pavel maintains contacts with Kurakin when he travels throughout the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Denmark and Germany.

Our prince benefited from his studies (he mastered several languages, acquired an interest in the sciences and educational literature, and also became proficient in court politesse), but as for moral education. One of the rules of the academy, which students had to strictly follow, was the following: “Observe chastity, moderation and modesty in life, avoid reasons for debauchery. Avoid luxury, arrogance and vanity and other spiritual ulcers.” And it was this leadership that Alexander Borisovich openly neglected.

Since 1773, Kurakin has been directly attached to the Grand Duke, becoming one of his most devoted persons. They see each other often. Moreover, their friendly relations are constantly growing stronger. Paul's attachment to the prince strengthens all the more after the crown prince's other closest associate, Count Andrei Razumovsky, who turned out to be the seducer of his first wife, was expelled in disgrace. In 1776, it was Kurakin who accompanied Paul to Berlin to meet his bride Sophia Dorothea (future Empress Maria Feodorovna). In 1778, the prince was granted the rank of full chamberlain, and in 1781 he was elected leader of the nobility of the St. Petersburg province. Knowing his closeness to Paul, many, through Kurakin, petitioned the Grand Duke about their affairs and invariably received the help they sought. The mood of such blessed petitioners was expressed by the poet Pyotr Kozlovsky:

Am I the only one who owes you?

Many live by you!

We build thrones in your hearts:

Ah, the laws of gratitude

And the most villains honor.

During his trip to Europe in 1781-1782, Alexander Borisovich was also in Pavel Petrovich’s retinue. By unanimous opinion, Kurakin was then recognized as the most elegant gentleman in the Tsarevich’s entourage. Thus, Duke Leopold of Tuscany, in a letter to his brother, Emperor Joseph II dated June 5, 1782, says that of all Russian nobles he considers the prince the most “subtle.”

However, upon returning from this trip, Kurakin was disgraced by the empress and was removed from the Court. The reasons for this are said to be the prince’s Masonic activities, which seemed harmful to Catherine (in 1779 he was accepted into the main St. Petersburg Masonic Lodge) and a illustrated letter to Alexander from his friend, Colonel Pavel Bibikov, in which he allegedly slandered the monarch, and, finally, “suspicious” the proximity of the “diamond prince” to the heir to the throne. By the way, the monarch was generally jealous and wary of her son’s entourage; as Paul said about this in his hearts: “Oh, how I would regret it, having in my retinue even a poodle devoted to me; Mother would have ordered him to be drowned.”

Alexander Borisovich spent fourteen long years on his estate in the Saratov wilderness. But even here he maintained correspondence with the Grand Duke, who asked his mother for permission to see the prince twice a year.

Kurakin arranged his estate, which at his whim received the characteristic name Nadezhdino (he had in mind the hope that he did not abandon even in the hard times of disgrace from the empress), modeled on the most exquisite European Courts. The architect of the Nadezhdinsky mansion was the famous Giacomo Quarenghi, but the interior chambers and three facades were designed by the prince himself. His three-story house-palace with a ceremonial portico included 80 rooms lined with alabaster masses of various colors. The chambers were decorated with expensive furniture of rare beauty and grace. The rich art gallery contained several hundred paintings by first-class masters. To create it, Kurakin invited landscape painters Yakov Filimonov and Vasily Prichetnikov to Nadezhdino. The collection of magnificent tapestries and the extensive fundamental library collected by the owner with books in several languages ​​also attracted attention.

Around the mansion there was an English garden, wooden temples of Friendship, Truth, Patience, Gratitude, a pavilion-gallery “Receptacle of Eternal Feelings”, monuments-obelisks to monarchs; paths ran through the green grass, named after the prince’s relatives and friends.

But most of all, the court staff that served Kurakin struck the imagination. The prince’s pride was greatly flattered by the fact that the positions of butlers, managers, masters of horsemen, masters of ceremonies, secretaries, librarians and bandmasters were occupied exclusively by nobles (Kurakin did not skimp, paying them a notable salary). His retinue consisted of dozens of other “amiables”, without positions, praising the owner. One historian said about this: “How was he not dizzy in the whirlpool of flattery lavished on him from all sides!”

Alexander also flaunted his “open tables,” at which several dozen people usually sat down at once, including faces barely known to the prince. Guests always had carriages and riding horses at their disposal; and on the Nadezhda ponds, boats with daring oarsmen were waiting for those who wished. The prince printed special instructions, which were given to every visitor to Nadezhdino; it also contains the following points: “The owner considers hospitality and hospitality to be the basis of mutual pleasure in the hostel. Any visit to the owner here will be accepted with pleasure and recognition as perfect. The owner asks those who can come to him. so that they consider themselves to be masters and manage their time and their exercises from the very morning, as everyone is used to and as everyone pleases, without at all imposing on the owner himself in spending his time.”

On Kurakin’s initiative, a painting school was opened at the estate, and then a music school, in which Parisian musicians conducted classes; a home theater, horn and ballroom orchestras were created; an almshouse was established. “Luxury, which he loved so much and among which he always lived, and voluptuousness, to which he always had an inclination, softened his physical and mental energy, and Epicureanism was visible in all his movements. No one more than Prince Kurakin was carried away by the pleasures of external vanity,” the memoirist sums up. And, indeed, the prince boasted not only of his fabulously expensive clothes, but also of his magnificent carriages. It is significant that in the time of Alexander I, when rich carriages disappeared, Kurakin alone rode in a gilded carriage with eight windows, in a train, with one postilion, two footmen and a walker at the back, two horsemen in front and two walkers running behind the carriage.

Kurakin created a kind of cult of the Tsarevich in his Nadezhdino - alleys and temples were named after the Grand Duke; in the chambers there were busts and figurines depicting Paul; the walls were decorated with his ceremonial portraits.

At the same time, there was one point on which the prince and the crown prince decisively disagreed. This is their attitude towards clothing and panache. The Grand Duke was certified as an opponent of male elegance. At first, he did not attach much importance to outfits at all and did not sit, like many courtiers, for hours at the dressing table, and then he became a devotee of the old Prussian-style dress. Not so Kurakin, for whom clothes were extremely important. Mikhail Pylyaev said: “Every morning when he woke up, the valet handed him a book, like an album, which contained samples of the fabrics from which his magnificent suits were sewn, and samples of dresses; Each dress had a special sword, buckles, ring, and snuffbox.”

According to this historian, a tragicomic incident once happened to Alexander Borisovich: “While playing cards with the empress, the prince suddenly felt faint: opening the snuff box, he saw

that the ring that was on his finger does not at all match the snuff box, and the snuff box does not match the rest of the suit. His excitement was so strong that he lost the game with big cards.”

Commenting on what happened to the prince, dandyism researcher Olga Vainstein notes: “For him, consistency in the details of a costume is the first condition for peace of mind and the main way of self-expression. He behaves like a classic courtier, using fashion as a stable semiotic code, a sign of his high position, wealth and ability to manage his own property. Therefore, involuntary negligence in small things for him is tantamount to loss of status or undress.”

But it should be noted that Kurakin, being a dandy, dressed according to his own, self-invented laws of grace, luxury and splendor. He, according to Philip Wiegel, did not want to “frivolously and slavishly submit to fashion, he wanted to appear not as a fashionista, but as a great gentleman, and always in velvet or brocade, always with diamond buckles and buttons, rings and snuff boxes.”

His glazed caftan, stars and crosses on the neck made of large solitaires, a pearl epaulette over his right shoulder, openwork lace on the chest and sleeves spoke of the originality of his taste.

Alexander was characterized by emphasized narcissism. How else can one explain his truly manic passion for ordering his portraits and giving them away to his friends?

And these canvases were painted by remarkable painters - Pompeo Battoni and Richard Brompton, Marie Elisabeth Louise Vege-Lebrun and Jean Laurent Monier, Alexander Roslin and Johann Baptist Lampi Jr., Augustin Christian Ritt and Jean Louis Voile. Portraits were copied and reproduced by serf artists, they were repeated in countless engravings. In a letter to Kurakin dated December 22, 1790, Jean Louis Veil complains that “the overly light color of the clothes and generally too shiny details” (which the prince insisted on) “weakened the main part a little. namely the head, to which everything else must be subordinated.” However, such “brilliant details” were valuable in themselves for Kurakin, and he did not at all want to sacrifice them.

This is exactly how Alexander appears in all the splendor of his greatness in the famous portrait by Vladimir Borovikovsky (1799). The harmonious combination of colors in the suit chosen by the prince himself is worthy of attention. Art critic Tatyana Alekseeva described the portrait: “The bright contrasting colors of the clothes - sparkling gold and silver, iridescent blue and red, bluish-white and black - are devoid of sharpness, juxtaposed with similar in color, but less intense shades of crimson, dark blue, brownish and golden.” .

By the way, subsequently a luxurious uniform drenched in gold saved our prince from imminent death in a fire that occurred in Paris in the palace of the Austrian ambassador Carl Philipp Schwarzenberg on July 1, 1810. The gold on Kurakin’s clothes then heated up, but did not melt and served as a kind of protection from fire, and therefore, although he received numerous burns and lost diamonds worth 70 thousand francs, he still saved his life. During this fire, Alexander Borisovich, like a true gentleman, remained almost the last in the huge hall engulfed in flames, sending out the fair sex and not allowing himself to get ahead of them one step.

It must be said that Alexander Borisovich began to think about marriage quite early. In a letter to Nikita Panin dated December 16, 1773, the prince was frank: “What is more useful for me, to remain single, or to begin the enterprise of acquiring a wife, respectable, virtuous and with all the qualities corresponding to our desires? It is true that I am still young, that time has not yet left me, that it will always be possible to make a decision according to the passion of my heart; But I fear this passion most of all: having been blinded by it, it is rarely possible to distinguish evil from good. And I prefer that such an important choice be made within me by the sole power of reason. was guided, and so that instead of a hot love flame, there would be a strong, close, firm and indestructible friendship between me and my future wife.” It is significant that Kurakin appeals here to reason, and not to feeling. Therefore, one must assume, he did not marry the lovely but poor Swedish Countess Sophia Fersen, for whom he had a heartfelt inclination. The marriage between the lovers did not take place, but the depth and constancy of their mutual feelings amazed their contemporaries. And what eminent young ladies were not destined to be Alexander Borisovich’s wife! Among them are Countess Varvara Sheremetev, the granddaughter of State Chancellor Alexei Cherkassky and the legendary Peter the Great field marshal Boris “Sheremetev the noble”, and Princess Anastasia Dashkova, the daughter of the famous “Ekaterina Malaya” (Dashkova), and many others.

Friends did not give up trying to marry the prince even when his matrimonial plans failed. An older friend, Pavel Levashov, encouraged him in 1777: “There is no end to the newly grown beauties here [in Moscow - L.B.], there are thousands of brides, among whom there are some very rich ones. I noticed one of them for you, in which beauty, intelligence and wealth are combined.” But, apparently, our prince did not like this “noticed” candidate either. He remained a bachelor.

And how can one not turn here to the curious classification of Russian bobs of the 18th century, presented by Kurakin’s contemporary, the literary parodist Nikolai Ivanovich Strakhov (1768-1825) in the magazine “Satirical Messenger” (1790-1792): “Someone from the offspring of the glorious Pustomozlovs says: “Be at least pig, but only golden bristles”; and since no bride has yet been found for him, for this reason he will not marry. G. Spesyaga agrees to bend his knee only in front of one whose nobility would extend beyond 20 or 15 knees; but since girls with only so many generations are not found, that’s why he won’t marry. G. Znatnov composed in his imagination such a new provision about brides, which exceeds the power of the human mind, namely: for their ranks, nobility, noble kinship, noble acquaintance, he made it a wise rule to demand for brides twice as much as they give for them , and since none of the brides satisfied these wise expectations of him, this great man has very little hope for marriage.”

Leaving aside the offensive “talking” names of Pustomozglov, Spesyagu and Znatnov, it must be admitted that our prince miraculously combined the needs of all these three inveterate bachelors. His relatives often reproached him for his boyar fanaticism and for his pursuit of a rich dowry.

The last attempt to find a family seemed to promise good luck for the prince, who was then over fifty - the twenty-year-old rich bride Countess Anna, the daughter of Catherine’s brilliant “Alekhan”, Alexei Orlov-Chesmensky, was very supportive of him, as was her father. But even here the groom turned out to be indecisive, and the marriage failed.

Alexander himself said this best, because he was not happy about his bachelor status. He wrote to Panin: “Let us consider, dear sir, the unfortunate and often necessary consequences of a single life, depravity of morals, removal from virtue, theft of innocence, forgetfulness of one’s own affairs and one’s own economy, and various similar disorders.”

The historian Pyotr Druzhinin very accurately characterized Kurakin’s attitude towards the ladies: “In that era in Russia there was no one more famous than the prince of ferlakur [helicopter - L.B.] - according to approximate estimates, he had up to seventy children and at the same time was never married " Indeed, isn’t this a funny phenomenon - usually bold and assertive with women, he became indecisive and passive as soon as the topic of marriage came up!

In this, the prince was like his titled grandfather, Count Nikita Panin, who combined celibacy with the most refined debauchery. The bachelor Kurakin was known as one of the most skillful seducers of the 18th century, and the astronomical number of child-baiters he fathered is not at all exaggerated. The fate of only a few of them is known, who later received, through the efforts of the prince, hereditary noble dignity and majestic family coats of arms. These are the children of Kurakin from a certain Akulina Samoilova - Boris, Stepan, Maria, as well as half-blooded (from other mothers) Pavel, Ipollit and Alexander, who were granted the titles of barons and the surname Vrevsky (toponym of the village of Alexandro-Vrev, Ostrovsky district, Pskov province). Other side children of Alexander Borisovich - Alexander (1), Alexander (2), Alexey, Ekaterina, Lukerya, Sofia and Anna - became barons Serdobin (from the Serdoba River in the Serdobsky district of the Saratov province, where the Kurakino estate was located). It was rumored that the voluptuous prince had built something like a harem on the top floor of his family estate. They also rumored that Kurakin did not disdain connections with ladies of the lowest class - the main criterion here was the same “heartfelt passion” that he was so afraid of in marriage matters.

Of course, Kurakin was multifaceted and interesting not only for his panache and epicureanism. Alexander Borisovich was flesh and blood of the 18th century with its deep contrasts and contradictions. Feeling like a representative of an ancient family, he contributed in every possible way to the publication of his genealogy in print and collaborated with the famous Nikolai Novikov and Nikolai Bantysh-Kamensky. He was connected with the latter by a long correspondence for forty (!) years, in which topics were discussed mainly on the topic of the day. The disgraced prince, even in exile, was keenly interested in current politics, as evidenced by his extensive epistolary heritage. Speaking about Kurakin’s political views, we have to admit that he, like Pavel, hated radical figures and the French Revolution, scourging in his letters the “sarcastically raving” “philosophers of the present century,” and Alexander Radishchev first of all. He was no stranger to education and literature, and he himself sinned with writing, publishing several books in Russian and French. The prince was a philanthropist, and many literary scholars turned to him for help, and some even dedicated their books to him. Kurakin patronized the famous author of “Darling” Ipollit Bogdanovich, who, by the way, imitated the prince with his dandyism (this poet also “always walked dandy in a French caftan with a wallet on his back, with a taffeta hat under his arm”). Alexander Borisovich was also an excellent agronomist, applying in practice, in Nadezhdino, knowledge on this subject and was even admitted to the Free Economic Society.

After the death of Catherine II, it was as if a rain of ranks, awards and other favors poured on Kurakin from Paul I, who favored him (now the emperor) - marshal, actual privy councilor, vice-chancellor, holder of all the highest Russian orders, etc. He was granted a house in St. Petersburg, 4,300 souls in the Pskov and St. Petersburg provinces, and then together with his brother he received 20 thousand acres of land in the Tambov province, fishing grounds and government plots in the Astrakhan province and much more. And although this dizzying career rise of the “diamond prince” was somewhat overshadowed by the short-term disgrace imposed on him in 1798 by an eccentric friend-monarch (under pressure from the courtiers Ivan Kutaisov and Fyodor Rastopchin, who competed with Kurakin), his position at the beginning of 1801 was strengthened again - Alexander Borisovich again began to occupy all conceivable senior sinecure positions.

This is what the insightful contemporary Count Fyodor Golovkin says about Kurakin: “He loved to shine, not because of his merits or the trust he inspired, but with his diamonds and his gold, and he strove for high places only as an opportunity to constantly flaunt them.”

Therefore, ranks, titles and awards served him essentially the same attributes of panache as a magnificent outfit or a gilded carriage.

During the reign of Alexander I, Kurakin’s honorary positions did not decrease. He became a member of the Permanent Council and manager of the College of Foreign Affairs, then appointed Chancellor of the Russian Orders. Since July 1806 he has been ambassador in Vienna, and then, since 1808, in Paris. In 1812

Alexander Borisovich, by the way, made an attempt to regulate Russian-French relations and, after failure, resigned from his duties as ambassador.

In the last years of his life, he did not play a noticeable political role, remaining a figure of the bygone century and - the zenith of his greatness - Pavlovsk's reign. And it is not at all by chance that it was he who was entrusted with sorting out the papers of the late Pavel. In memory of that era, a huge painting by Martin Ferdinand Quadal “The Coronation of Paul I and Maria Feodorovna in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on April 5, 1797” hung in a place of honor in his Nadezhda for a long time, where, among other dignitaries, he himself cheerfully flaunted his luxurious dress. Diamond Prince." What was once perceived as special chic and splendor, in the new Alexander reign, with new ideas, gave rise to comparing Kurakin with a peacock.

Having loved luxury, Alexander Borisovich was, however, buried “without any pomp” in Pavlovsk on August 29, 1818; Only relatives were present at the ceremony. Among them was the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, who favored the prince, and ordered the erection of a monument with a bas-relief of the prince and a modest inscription “To the friend of my husband.” This epitaph has a certain accuracy: after all, Kurakin went down in history, first of all, as an associate of “Russian Hamlet”.

Lev Berdnikov

From the book “The Russian Gallant Age in Persons and Plots”, Vol.1

KURAKIN Alexander Borisovich, prince, Russian statesman and diplomat, active Privy Councilor 1st class (1807). From the Kurakin family. Brother of Alexey B. Kurakin. A large landowner and soul owner (he owned estates in the Saratov, Penza, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Pskov, Tambov, and Ryazan provinces). After the death of his father, he was raised by N.I. Panin, the brother of grandmother A.I. Kurakina, together with Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (the future Emperor Paul I), and became a childhood friend of the heir to the throne. He attended lectures at the Christian Albrecht University in Kiel (1766), Strasbourg (1769) and Leiden (1770-1771) universities. Upon returning to Russia in 1773, he was a member of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, in 1776 he accompanied him on a trip to Berlin to meet his bride, Princess Sophia of Württemberg Dorothea Augusta Louise (future Empress Maria Feodorovna), then the grand ducal couple on their trip to Western Europe ( 1781-82). From 1777 he served as Chief Prosecutor of the 3rd Department of the Senate, in 1779 he served as Chief Prosecutor of the 2nd Department. In 1780-83, leader of the nobility of the St. Petersburg province and assessor in the 1st (criminal) department of the Upper Zemsky Court. One of the initiators of the opening in 1778/79 of the Masonic lodge of the “Swedish system of strict supervision” in Russia, which Empress Catherine II suspected of inciting the heir to her overthrow. In 1782, for correspondence with the adjutant P. A. Bibikov, which contained criticism of G. A. Potemkin (see Potemkin-Tavrichesky) and the morals of the Russian court, he was removed to the Saratov estate (later, thanks to Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, he received permission to visit the capital twice a year ). Returned to the court by Emperor Paul I upon his accession to the throne. Member of the Council at the Imperial Court (1796-98, 1801). In 1796-98, a member of the College of Foreign Affairs (in 1801-02, its manager) and vice-chancellor (again in 1801-02). Together with F.V. Rostopchin and Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich (the future Emperor Alexander I), he sorted out the papers of Empress Catherine II and probably participated in the destruction of her will, which deprived Paul I of the throne. Plenipotentiary representative of His Imperial Majesty at the signing of the 4(15).1.1797 Convention with the Order of Malta (see the article by Joannita) on the establishment of the Grand Priory of Russia (grand bailiff of the order since 1801). Full member of the Russian Academy (since 1798). Senator (since 1798). I lost my position as vice-chancellor as a result of court intrigue. P. Kutaisov (from the Kutaisov family), whose goal was to weaken the influence of the “party” of Empress Maria Feodorovna, to which both Kurakin brothers belonged. His disgrace ended after the resignations of N.P. Panin and F.V. Rostopchin. 1(13).3.1801 signed a treaty with Sweden on friendship, trade and navigation. Since 1801, member of the Permanent Council. Since 1802, Chancellor of Russian Orders. After the defeat of the 3rd anti-French coalition, he supported the conclusion of a Franco-Russian alliance. Russian ambassador in Vienna (1807-08). Replaced P. P. Dolgoruky and P. Ya. Ubri at the negotiations in Tilsit, participated in the signing of the Peace of Tilsit in 1807. Ambassador to Paris (1808-12; simultaneously with 1810, member of the State Council). He showed great persistence in trying to achieve the signing of a convention that guaranteed France’s refusal to restore Poland, which caused increasing irritation to Napoleon I. He became famous for his heroic behavior during a fire at the ball of the Austrian ambassador, Prince K. F. Schwarzenberg (1810). Since 1811, in dispatches he called on Emperor Alexander I to prepare for war with France, proposed to achieve support or neutrality from the Austrian Empire and Prussia, conclude a peace treaty with the Ottoman Empire, and alliances with Great Britain and Sweden; in the event of war, he recommended avoiding a general battle, using "small war" tactics used by the Spaniards against the French. In February 1812, he proposed to N.P. Rumyantsev to negotiate with Napoleon I in order to delay the start of the war. Until the end of his life he retained the appearance and habits of an 18th century nobleman; For his love of diamonds and excessive attention to clothing, he received the nickname Peacock. He was not married, had many illegitimate children, and from him came two baronial families - the Serdobins and the Vrevskys.

In 1804, he transferred about 3 thousand peasants from the Belokurakinskaya and Pavlovka settlements of the Starobelsky district of the Voronezh province to free cultivators. He gave them 60 thousand dessiatines (65.5 thousand hectares) of land for a ransom.

Member of the VEO (since 1776), elected president in 1797 (resigned from office).

Awarded the orders of St. Alexander Nevsky (1796), St. Andrew the First-Called (1796), Vladimir 1st degree (1802), etc.

Works: Souvenirs d'un voyage en Hollande et en Angleterre. Saint-Pétersbourg, 1815; Description of the journey in 1786 down the Sura... // Sura. 2001. No. 1.

Lit.: Cousin I. A. Prince A. B. Kurakin. Diplomat and man (based on materials from the Foreign Policy Archive of the Russian Empire of the Russian Foreign Ministry) // Kurakinsky readings. M., 2006; Shlyapnikova E. A. A. B. Kurakin // Questions of history. 2007. No. 3.

Prince Alexander Borisovich Kurakin(January 18 (29), 1752 - June 24 (July 6), 1818) - Russian diplomat from the Kurakin family, vice-chancellor (1796), member of the State Council (1810), senator, chancellor of Russian orders (1802), actual privy councilor 1 1st class (1807). Creator of the Nadezhdino estate and owner of the Kurakina dacha east of St. Petersburg. Older brother of Stepan and Alexey Kurakin. For his “skillful presentation” and passion for jewelry, he was nicknamed the “Diamond Prince.”

early years

Alexander was the first-born of Prince Boris Alexandrovich and his wife Elena Stepanovna, daughter of Field Marshal S. F. Apraksin. Shortly before his father’s untimely death, he was taken into care by his grandmother’s brother, Nikita Ivanovich Panin, and brought from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

Panin did not have his own children and, being the teacher of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, encouraged him to communicate and play with his nephew. From that time on, Prince Kurakin became one of the closest friends of the future emperor, whom he called Pavlushka in private letters. Once he even mortgaged his estate in order to deliver the necessary amount to the crown prince, who needed money at that time.

In 1766, Prince Kurakin was sent to study in Kiel, at the Albertine College, where he attended lectures for about a year, being at the same time registered with the Russian embassy in Copenhagen and even receiving the Danish Order in 1766. He completed his education at Leiden University in the company of such brilliant young people as N.P. Sheremetev, N.P. Rumyantsev, N.B. Yusupov, S.S. Apraksin.

The nephew's stay in the Netherlands was framed by Count Panin as a punishment for some pranks; in surviving letters to his uncle, the young prince promises to reform and expresses remorse for his actions. During his grand tour, “Monsieur Borisov” (the pseudonym of the Russian traveler) also visited England and the south of France; a condensed description of this trip was published by him in 1815 in St. Petersburg from Plushar. Kurakin’s entire stay abroad cost him 13,000 rubles.

In 1772, Kurakin, who had served in the guard since childhood, was promoted to chamber cadet, and in 1775 appointed to the Senate. In 1778, Kurakin was made a full chamberlain, and after the reform of noble self-government he was elected St. Petersburg leader of the nobility. This unburdensome service did not prevent Prince Kurakin from accompanying Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich on his journey abroad, and before that to Berlin to meet his bride, Sophia of Württemberg, who learned to appreciate Kurakin’s friendship with her crowned husband and for many years corresponded with him.

After Berlin, he was sent to notify the Swedish king about the second marriage of the crown prince to Stockholm, from where he sent curious reports to Panin. During this trip, Kurakin was initiated into the highest degrees of Freemasonry with the order to assume the grandmastership of the Russian provincial lodge, subordinating it to the main Swedish chapter. The stately, dexterous and witty handsome prince captivated the heart of the young Countess Fersen, later the best friend of the wife of Charles XIII.

Upon returning to Russia, Prince Kurakin again becomes the closest person to the Tsarevich and visits him in Gatchina almost more often than anyone else. The heir was very attached to him, calling him his “soul.” Emperor Joseph II wrote about this:

This friendship did not meet with approval from the then reigning Catherine II, since she learned that during the visit to St. Petersburg of the Swedish King Gustav III, who was also a prominent Freemason, he attended a meeting of Freemasons in the house of Kurakin, where he initiated Pavel Petrovich into Freemasonry . The immediate cause was Kurakin’s illustrated correspondence with young P. A. Bibikov. At the insistence of the Empress, who was suspicious of the Freemasons, Kurakin was expelled from St. Petersburg to the Saratov village - the village of Borisoglebskoye.

Kurakin Alexander Borisovich (18(29).1.1752, Moscow, ≈ 24.6(6.7).1818, Weimar, Germany], prince, Russian statesman, diplomat. He was brought up together with the future Emperor Paul I. Upon his accession to the throne in 1796 K . Was assigned… … Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Kurakin A. B. (17521818)- KURAKIN Alexander Borisovich (17521818), prince. In 1796-1802 vice chancellor, pres. Collegiums of foreign business Participated in the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit in 1807. In 180812, ambassador to France, informed the Russian. about the upcoming invasion... ... Biographical Dictionary

- (1752 1818) prince, Russian diplomat. In 1796 1802 vice chancellor, president of the College of Foreign Affairs. In 1808, the 12th ambassador to France promptly informed the Russian government about the upcoming invasion of Napoleon I... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Kurakin, Alexander Borisovich- KURAKIN Alexander Borisovich (1752 1818), prince, Russian diplomat. In 1796 1802 vice chancellor, president of the College of Foreign Affairs. In 1808, the 12th ambassador to France promptly informed the Russian government about the upcoming invasion of Napoleon I... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

I (1697 1749), prince, diplomat, senator (from 1741). Son of B.I. Kurakin. One of the first Russian people to receive education abroad. In 1722 24 ambassador to Paris. Under the leadership of his father, he provided assistance to France in preserving the Russian-Turkish... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Wikipedia has articles about other people with this surname, see Kurakin. The request "Kurakin, Alexander Borisovich" is redirected here; see also other meanings. Alexander Borisovich Kurakin ... Wikipedia

Portrait of Alexander Kurakin by Vladimir Borovikovsky. Prince Alexander Borisovich Kurakin (January 18, 1752 June 24, 1818) Russian statesman and diplomat, member of the State Council (since 1810), active Privy Councilor.... ... Wikipedia

Vice Chancellor, friend of Paul I; R. 18 Jan 1752, † June 25, 1818 Addition: Kurakin, book. Alexander Borisovich, † 2nd (not 20th) October 1749 in Moscow, buried in the Chudov Monastery. (Polovtsov) ...

Chancellor of Russian Orders, Actual Privy Councilor 1st Class, Member of the State Council; genus. January 18, 1752, d. June 24, 1818 His father was Prince. Bor. Alec. Kurakin, first president of the College of Economy, mother Princess Elena... ... Large biographical encyclopedia