Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 99 049 A Double Wedding (Part 1)

On Christmas Eve, after Elena’s fifteenth birthday, the Russian court began to organize the weddings of the two grand duchesses.

There was no precedent for holding them together, but Alexandra and Elena were too close in age, and the Russian princess had encountered too many engagement turmoil, so they finally got together.

On her birthday, Elena’s wish was also very simple, hoping that she and her sisters would be happy.

This request was actually a bit high.

Their two sisters-in-law are now here as actual examples. These sisters-in-law are still good friends with their sisters-in-law, but they have blood ties with their brothers. If they are fair, they can just play their own games and not interfere with each other.

The wedding venue 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 building in the Winter Palace. Now this Winter Palace is the fifth version after the previous temporary buildings and various ancillary buildings. The main structure has been maintained until now.

Before the wedding, you 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's better to have this red one. Who made the white one, just like the petticoat you usually wear."

Speaking of which, in 1799, white wedding dresses were definitely not the mainstream. The trend at this time was mainly more conspicuous 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" have the highest status. It is difficult to obtain the fuel for purple clothes. 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 red, which was processed with madder. When the two of them stood there, it was like

Solovyov thought of the barbarian invasion and the fall of Rome. These historical events were all filling his mind, and there was also Julius and the Roman Senate. Who is not a total war player?

He is still a guard today, but the soldiers are all on guard in the Winter Palace, and he is busy with several officers. He is mainly responsible for Prince William of Württemberg.

Put him here, and meet such a "Silver Horn King" who is generally tall and strong, which makes him look small and exquisite.

"Your Highness, you have to wear your medals. Although we don't have our Russian medals, the Württemberg medals should be here. And below, here are the commemorative medals. You must wear your military uniform properly."

"Thank you, Major. You are really an expert in military drills."

"It was stipulated by our emperor, and you look really smart in this outfit. He especially likes to make regulations, and the royal etiquette should also have some changes."

This is actually simplified a lot. It was very complicated during the empress's period.

When getting married, the man has to wear this, and the main cumbersome thing is the woman.

"Do you want to go and see?"

"I want to see it too, but my dear Alexandra, will she agree?"

"You should also know, Your Highness, Your 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 he was asked to copy Wagner, he couldn't copy it, not the whole set, but he could try to make a small part in the middle.

And 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 because of the Hungarian Revolution. It was the premiere sponsored by Maria, who was already an old lady.

Speaking of which, Liszt went to Weimar in the future because of Maria's brother. The relationship here is very complicated.

There is a passage in the opera that is very suitable for today's occasion, and it was used so frequently that I don't know how many times it was rewound and played.

There is actually no problem with using the "Wedding Chorus" alone, but Solovyov doesn't know what the lyrics are in German, he just knows this piece of music.

If he really wants to come up with it, he had to squeeze it out of his mind when Maria pestered him the other day, otherwise he would be locked up in the garden of the Winter Palace and freeze that day, which is also very fatal.

Maria looks very well-behaved. This little girl also likes riding horses and walking hounds a lot, but she is not as exposed as her younger sister.

You know, the empress directly called her "Dragoon".

Now she is rehearsing with the court band. When her two sisters get married, she and Catherine will definitely not have enough to drag the skirts behind them, so she asked the bridesmaids to do it for her.

William is now anxious to see his future bride. I don't know why he is so anxious. From tonight, they will sleep in the same bed. There will be a long time to see each other in the future. It would be best if they grow old together.

"Your Highness, I will take you there now."

There was still some time left, and the procedures for dressing up the two princes were already very complicated.

Even finding a priest for the Orthodox ceremony would require double the workload, that is, the weddings of two couples were held together, which had never happened before.

The prince of Württemberg, under the guidance of Soloviev, who was familiar with the internal structure of the palace, came to Alexandra's dressing room.

"Fortunately, Alexandra, you didn't use a veil."

"When did the veil come into use? Look, is it beautiful like this?"

The veil was almost abolished at this time, and the prince of Württemberg suddenly spoke like a...

Coming from the Middle Ages, the customs in Germany may still emphasize the veil, while Russia does not pay too much attention to it, and the veil is relatively thin. In cities and villages, there are also people wearing traditional Russian costumes.

Soloviev had seen a portrait of Alexandra wearing traditional Russian costumes when she was a child, and it didn't feel out of place to put it directly on the chocolate wrapper.

Of course, he also wanted to open a chocolate factory in St. 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 course, Alexandra's size also made William's eyes scan back and forth from her face to her chest. Alexandra was also relatively quiet and shy among the sisters. At this moment, her face was red, redder than the red dress chosen by Elena next door.

"You are 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 people with this name except the one in Egypt! Including Alexander the Great's sister."

The Prince of Württemberg realized at this moment that no matter whether it was the Great's sister or Cleopatra, the end was not good.

He finally stopped talking nonsense and just started to use a lot of adjectives to describe Alexandra's beauty. But after a long time, the Countess who came to help, Mrs. Stroganova of No. 17 Nevsky Avenue, felt that the groom was too long-winded and wanted to drive him out.

However, she always paid attention to etiquette and used very skillful methods.

"Major, you still need to help check the clothes of His Highness."

Indeed, if it is impolite, it can be said to be a serious diplomatic incident.

Hearing this, Solovyov also understood: "Your Highness, we still need to check it, and Her Highness Alexandra's wedding dress is not convenient to be seen before the ceremony when she is dressed neatly."

William also understood, but he could take advantage of his height to take a few more glances outside the screen. The height of the screen

It can also be seen how much he likes his cousin and how lustful he is.

Elena was very quiet. The two sisters at 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 had been by Elena's side. They both helped with makeup and put jewelry on her.

"This wedding dress was made according to the style of the Queen's wedding."

If you count them, the two of them were also raised in the Queen's court. Naturally, they are also sisters to Elena, and they have some blood relationship from Catherine I.

Elena was the most favored by her grandmother at the beginning. The two sisters who came to help her with makeup also received a lot of favors from the Queen. They both called her Grand-mère (great lady). They were the girls waiting to be married who missed the Queen the most in the court.

This was also the style Elena asked for herself. She also thought that it was a pity that her grandmother didn't see any of the sisters get married.

Looking back, it turned to that annoying Swedish king again. This idiot has been pulling hatred all the time.

The Winter Palace Cathedral, where the wedding was held, was also preparing intensively.

Madam Varvara Golovina was making the final arrangements in a hurry. The decorations needed for the wedding, the precious decorations moved from various warehouses and halls in the palace, the huge peacock self-ringing clock, and the huge enamelware, even the seats for the guests from Petersburg had to be carefully checked.

"That's good. The self-ringing clock will be moved back outside the palace in the future. This big guy will always have to be moved. The emperor also loves the two princes, so it is reasonable to arrange it like this."

It's also good that the wedding held in the palace is mainly a witness ceremony held in the church, rather than the lively wedding in the oriental culture, which saves a lot of things.

The subsequent wedding banquet and dance may be the focus, and there will be various preparations in the hall afterwards.

The palace eunuchs are indeed busy in order to prepare for the banquet and dance. Before, Tsar Paul always kept the ceremony simple in the palace, but now it is very complicated, which is indeed two levels of work intensity.

In the past, I was so idle, but now I am so busy. The chefs in the palace are not enough, so I have to call the chefs and cooks from the homes of the nobles to help.

This time, there are many guests. In addition to the royal family and nobles from Petersburg, people from Wurttemberg and Mecklenburg also came.

One of the more troublesome things in Württemberg is that the French army occupied Stuttgart at the end of the year, so Frederick, a German strongman who was 211cm tall and weighed 200 kilograms, had to drag his family and family to Petersburg.

I wonder if this marriage with Württemberg will make the French restrain themselves. At least when they occupy Württemberg, they won’t have locusts everywhere like they did in Italy - the French military discipline is really bad. , they were originally welcomed, but what happened next was that there were rebels and guerrillas everywhere.

It is also because of this that envoys from some European countries did not appear at the wedding, but dances and receptions also needed to be arranged.

This is a huge challenge for little Prince Saltykov. Although he looks like Sir Humphrey, he really wants to work, and he looks more like that little angel. After all, people who are familiar with the diplomatic relations, address etiquette, and external administrative affairs of European countries are scarce resources everywhere.

It also includes some bishops and patriarchs. When they appear here and announce the entrance of all distinguished guests, their titles cannot be mistaken.

In the invitation, even the U.S. ambassador was included in the invitation. Here they would also meet the British, who had never dealt with them well, and the French, who had just fought a quasi-war.

Not long ago, Mr. Talleyrand of France caused a diplomatic scandal between the United States and France because he failed to demand a bribe.

But in Petersburg, there were still a lot of congratulatory gifts from all parties, and the atmosphere was different from other places in Europe.

The Russian Czar is still a decisive force in Europe, and all parties still hope to win them over to support their side.

Count Rostopchin is negotiating with France, and the Diplomatic Academy's policy towards France is also changing.

What he himself wanted to fulfill was the will of the tsar himself. Since foreign policy had to be reversed and made a 180° turn, some risks would always have to be taken.

The marriage alliances with various countries are mainly with some small countries among the German vassal states, rather than with big countries. Marriage with a big country means a stable alliance. In recent years, there have been few direct marriages between the major powers. Instead, they choose wives from various small countries, mainly concentrated in these German countries.

After all, it’s hard to say when betrayal and betrayal suddenly occurred in the relationship between major powers.