Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

William rode fast on his way to St. Petersburg this time, after all, his aunt the Queen told him clearly that he should come to St. Petersburg as soon as possible. Although it was not explained why, Archduke Joseph told him so much, probably he was here for a blind date.

Over the years, except for the portraits he saw at his grandfather's place, which showed that Alexandra and Elena had grown up a little, his impression of his cousins ​​was still a few "little beans".

He quickly rushed to St. Petersburg, and he also changed horses several times in the post station on the way. His riding skills were still superb, and on the way to St. Petersburg, according to Paul's order, he provided "royal treatment services" to the heir of the Prince of Württemberg, so his journey was smooth.

When he arrived in Gatchina, he met the engaged Elena and her fiancé here before he went to St. Petersburg to see his aunt.

They were here to cultivate feelings before marriage. Although these royal princesses had the opportunity to visit their relatives after they got married, it was only once in many years, and it had to be under relatively peaceful conditions in Europe.

Since 1788, Europe has been in the midst of war, especially after the French people overthrew the Bourbon royal family. The war has lasted for more than ten years and has not been interrupted until now.

It is very difficult to go back to my mother's home to visit. It is not like the peaceful years more than ten years ago, when it was a daily routine for nobles from various countries to visit each other, and the Austrian emperor could even come to the door to counsel his sister and brother-in-law on the issue of having children.

Now that William can come to Gatchina, the northern German states and Russia, far away from the core area of ​​the European continent, are still at peace.

And Elena was very enthusiastic when she saw her cousin.

"Cousin William, my mother told us you were coming. This is Frederick Ludwig of Mecklenburg, my fiancé."

"Hello, Your Highness William of Württemberg. We are in Gatchina, and we are here to escape the summer heat."

"You are only here to get engaged and to welcome your bride, and you already speak Russian so fluently."

"My brother serves in the Russian army, and Russian is also a compulsory course. Maybe I will come to St. Petersburg to become an officer like your father."

It is common for Mecklenburg to go out to serve in various countries. Before Frederick Ludwig inherited the territory of Prince Mecklenburg-Schwerin, if there were no accidents, he would also choose to serve in the Prussian or Russian army.

For a small German prince like his family, which looks decent in name but is on the edge, this is very normal.

Of course, unlike his brother who was used to military life, Frederick Ludwig was a sociable person with a decent appearance and a gentle personality. He soon fell in love with Elena and was quickly recognized by Paul and his wife.

"Being an officer here is a hard job. You have to travel all the time, and there is a terrible plague in the south."

William said this because his sixth uncle Karl died of malaria in the army when he followed Prince Potemkin to the south to fight against the Ottoman Empire.

At that time, their family returned to Württemberg. When they received the bad news, William's grandfather, the old Prince of Württemberg, was heartbroken. After all, his son died early, and he was sending his son to his death.

In military life, sometimes the plague is more terrible than the enemy's bullets.

However, Frederick Ludwig, who reads a lot, and William, who reads a lot but likes to read pornographic books, said: "If you want to improve sanitary conditions, at least it is safe in the city. I have seen a lot in St. Petersburg, especially the edict issued by His Majesty the Emperor of Russia to improve the sanitary environment, which can be said to have been strictly implemented in St. Petersburg. This is even cleaner than Berlin and Vienna, and the rumored Paris and London"

"Okay, don't say it, I think this is a consensus, although I haven't been to these two cities."

Paris and London are both dirty and messy, which is a consensus in Europe. Both sides laughed. Frederick Ludwig didn't like his British relatives very much. Although Louise from another branch of their family married the King of Prussia, George III was the brother-in-law of Louise's father, but the connection with their family in this regard was a bit distant.

The main reason is that although the British relatives still care about these Mecklenburg families, what the British cabinet is doing, and the British attention to Hanover, make them move closer to Mecklenburg.

Moreover, George III, like Sir Humphrey, entered a state of mental illness as he aged, and is not always awake now. In fact, the British monarchy is now weakened.

"If there is a chance, we may travel to Paris and London together, but the novelties there may not be as good as those in Petersburg recently!"

"Not as good as Petersburg? What do you mean?"

William had been away from Petersburg for a long time after all. He was here at the end of Empress Catherine's reign, and he and his father left here because of political issues.

"What I want to talk about is the large aquarium built in the bay, which is also an exhibition hall for rare animals. Unlike the museum in Berlin, the collection there is all living things."

"That's very interesting. Although there are many rare and exotic animals in the sea in the museums we know, they are all specimens and dead. In Petersburg, these animals are all alive?"

"My brother Alexander advocated the construction of the Royal Exhibition Hall for my sister-in-law, although it has just opened."

"Elena, you still have to explain it specifically. It's just the first phase of the exhibition hall. His Highness is really good at it. He invested a lot of the funds allocated to him by the Russian royal family, just to make the beauty smile."

"That's because of my sister-in-law. Her hobbies are not ordinary people."

Indeed, a senior homegirl who loves philosophy, history and geography, and also likes encyclopedias, has no awareness of being the next Russian queen. You must know that Queen Maria's main work is in charity. The Crown Princess can only show her presence here.

"Yes, Louisa is from Baden, our neighbor in Württemberg. There are many well-educated ladies in that family."

This is indeed true. Louisa's second sister married the King of Bavaria this year (before she became the fiancée of Duke Enghien), the fourth sister is the Queen of Sweden, and the fifth sister married to Brunswick. Only the eldest sister and the youngest sister have not yet married.

The Tsar's father-in-law is still very good at arranging marriages for his family. And all the girls are well-educated. Even the eldest daughter Amalia, who lacks charm, has received a full education and has always had plans for marriage - but none of them succeeded.

William himself was not aware of it. He still talked about the name of the Crown Princess before she got married, because as old neighbors, the two families are still very familiar with each other, not like the chattering sisters-in-law in the Winter Palace who call this name to express intimacy.

"No wonder this prince loves learning so much. She is so radiant, but she always locks herself in the boudoir. Elena, your sister-in-law really rarely participates in social activities!"

"Yes, especially recently she is pregnant again, these two sisters-in-law of my family"

At her age, she is only a junior high school student, and the issues she talked about are all matters to pay attention to as a hostess and a mother in the future. But in front of her fiancé and cousin, it's all her family's business, so it doesn't matter.

William and the couple agreed to visit the Tsar and his wife and Alexander and his wife first when they went to St. Petersburg, and then go to the Royal Aquarium together.

And this time, all the sisters were there. Only Constantine and his wife were not at home because they went to war and went home for recuperation.

When Alexandra heard that her cousin was coming, she actually knew that this might be another blind date. She and Elena were one year apart in age, but they were like twins and always acted together.

The sisters agreed to get married together, at least one of them would get married and the other would be engaged, and the ceremony would be held together.

Frederick Ludwig of Mecklenburg stayed in St. Petersburg, in addition to the pre-marriage adaptation period, and was waiting for his sister's engagement.

There are many palace fighting dramas in the European court, but in Paul's family, the blood relationship between the nine of them is still very obvious. Except for Maria and Catherine, who sometimes fight and fight for toys like ordinary sisters, it is rare to see them quarreling with each other.

Even if a crown falls in the future, they will still refuse each other. What's more exciting is that the bond between brothers and sisters, as well as between brothers and sisters, has always accompanied them throughout their lives. The saying "The most ruthless is the imperial family" seems to not exist here.

The next day, William came out soon after meeting Paul and his wife. Moreover, Paul has recently become the Grand Master of the Knights and is addicted to issuing medals. He gave his wife's beloved nephew an "honorary weapon", but it was not a sword, but a revolver.

The most simple and shabby person in the Russian royal family is undoubtedly Tsar Paul himself. He can survive with water, cabbage, sausage and bread, and only occasionally have some red wine or sweet wine, but he has not reduced the expenses for his family.

It may be that when his empress mother was there, the budget was too much. After he cut the emperor's expenses, he could save a lot of money, even a luxury for his son and the budget for the hot springs built for the children were more than enough.

Russia was still short of money. He met William when he was looking at the military expenditure report, so he did not entertain too much.

But for Frederick Ludwig, who has been confirmed to be his son-in-law, this involves relations with Britain. Russia's diplomacy has always been following the two routes of Russia-Prussia-Britain and Russia-Austria-France, and all aspects need to be taken care of.

Paul has been eating "working meals" at noon recently. For the Tsar, it is really not grand. Elena took the initiative to go to Uncle Alexei with her sisters, fiancé and cousin.

These nobles have to book the hotel converted from the mansion inherited by Count Bobulinsky's biological father Orlov.

However, the count himself is in the hotel, and their aunt is at the counter of the store. When Elena comes to play outside the Winter Palace, she often brings her fiancé and takes care of her uncle's business - that is, she spends directly here with the expenses of the royal family, but buys some strange things, especially sets of animal dolls.

"What is this?"

"It's a great auk, a bird that can't fly, but lives in the sea."

Now the survival of this bird is in danger. If nothing unexpected happens, it will be officially declared extinct in 1852. The killing efficiency of those countries sailing on the sea is too high, especially the United Kingdom and France should be criticized by name, and the museums have purchased it at a high price, which has led to the killing.

When Alexander and Louisa want to build an aquarium, this animal must be brought to St. Petersburg alive, and the price is 500 rubles, which has suppressed the museums that make specimens and collect bird eggs. The entire Iceland and northern Scotland island area are racking their brains to catch a pair of live ones to St. Petersburg.

In the counter of Count Bobulinsky's store, these animal dolls and various toys for children are the most popular ones made according to the great auk.

In fact, it should be said that it is more like the penguin that took the place later in the naming, especially the round appearance.

But Elena just likes it, and there is also a polar bear doll. Among her sisters, she is now more like a girl from a wealthy merchant.

She had to buy a lot of dolls and put them in the palace. Although the ladies-in-waiting would pay attention to etiquette, she was getting married, and because Frederick Ludwig liked them and because Mecklenburg needed Russia as a backer, and because their family also valued family affection, these dolls had to be packed in boxes and taken home. It can be said that she did not pay a lot of rubles for her uncle's business.

That's right, she was still a little girl, and she was still in the consumer group to pay for animals like Pinguinus that evolved convergently with penguins.

The family education of the Mecklenburg family itself was more like that of an ordinary family, and there were so many rules. Elena was very smart. She knew that if she married into this family, she would be subject to much less constraints than in St. Petersburg.

Queen Louise of Prussia was famous for her civilian style, so it was not surprising.

It's just that the food here is somewhat different from that outside, because the main dishes in the Count's hotel are all donkey meat.

But considering that the selling point he has racked his brains to think of now is the nutritional value of donkey meat and the Russian version of donkey-hide gelatin that he used for the Queen and the Crown Princess before, this is not surprising.

And compared to horse meat, the taste of donkey meat is more acceptable, and the two Italian chef brothers are also very good at making donkey meat dishes, just follow the Spanish cooking method.

Fortunately, Solovyov has never patronized the Count's restaurant because he was in the army. If he knew that the brothers looked like the Mario brothers, it would be fine. If he knew that the fat chef's name was Paul, he would have to spit it out.

Aren't Chinese people the most like Italians in Europe!