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Dorothea de Benckendorff was born December 28, 1785. Bright, vivacious and personable, she was destined to become an influential player in international diplomacy. Spending three of her most formative years in exile with her mother, Dorothea was not only the recipient of an excellent education, she was also the beneficiary of years of her mother's careful social training. She was adopted by an intimate friend of her mother, Empress Maria of Russia, after her mother's death. Dorothea's close connections to the Russian imperial family positioned her for the life role she wished to play. Marriage to Count Christopher Lieven at the age of 14 (a custom typical of the place and time) furthered Dorothea's desire to play a part in the fascinating world of politics. Beginning with her husband's appointment by Tsar Alexander I as ambassador to Great Britain, Dorothea used her intellect, charisma and social skills to become a political force in European diplomacy during the first half of the nineteenth century. This biography provides a detailed look at the life and times of Dorothea Lieven, a woman who achieved the status of an independent stateswoman in her own right in the diplomatic communities of Russia, France and England. It examines the way in which Dorothea, entrusted with a secret diplomatic overture to England by Tsar Alexander I, participated in events which culminated in the birth of modern Greece. Using Princess Lieven's memoirs and other unpublished correspondence, the work provides a perspective on four Romanov rulers--Empress Catherine, Tsar Paul I, Tsar Alexander I and Tsar Nicholas I. The extent of Dorothea's political and diplomatic influence, through her friendships with King George IV, the Duke of Wellington and Talleyrand as well as her liaisons with Clement Metternich and Francois Guizot, is also discussed. An appendix contains medical testimonial regarding the Princess' declining health as well as some of Princess Lieven's letters. A reference list of key events in her life is provided.

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Continuation of the reference work that originated with Robert Dodsley, written and published each year, which records and analyzes the year’s major events, developments and trends in Great Britain and throughout the world. From the 1920s volumes of The Annual Register took the essential shape in which they have continued ever since, opening with the history of Britain, then a section on foreign history covering each country or region in turn. Following these are the chronicle of events, brief retrospectives on the year’s cultural and economic developments, a short selection of documents, and obituaries of eminent persons who died in the year.

The Russian Great Reforms of the 1860s were the last major modernizing effort by the Romanov dynasty. From 1855 to 1861, Grand Duchess Elena, born Princess Charlotte of Württemberg (1807-1873), acted as the spokeswoman for the reform-minded circles of Russian society, bringing before her nephew Emperor Alexander II a group of civic-minded experts who formed the core of the committee that prepared the greatest and most complex of the reforms, the abolition of serfdom in Russia. The Grand Duchess’s involvement in these crucial events in Russian history highlights the considerable influence aristocratic women had in Russian society, quite unlike women of the same class and status in Western Europe. A study of the Grand Duchess Elena of Russia offers a new understanding of Russian and international events of the time, the Romanovs’ role in them, the degree of autonomy enjoyed by high-born women in Russia and the ways in which new ideas gained ground in the nineteenth-century Russian empire. Based on abundant and largely unused archival sources, published documents and literature of the period in French, Russian, German, Italian and English, this is the first book about Grand Duchess Elena and it expertly interweaves the story of a woman’s life with that of Imperial Russian high politics.