Abstract

The article examines the audiences of a prominent dignitary Count S.D. Sheremetev with Emperor Nicholas II. Sheremetev, who was close to Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna, after the enthronement of Nicholas II in 1894 sought to build trusting relations with the new monarch, and in many respects he succeeded. The novelty of this study lies in the fact that the content of the numerous audiences of the count can only be reconstructed from his diaries, which are still unpublished and little studied due to the Sheremetev’s highly illegible handwriting. The author of the article has studied descriptions of about a hundred audiences that took place from the accession to the throne of Nicholas II and until the First World War. Their content is systematized: the author describes the issues discussed by the emperor and the count, and highlights some features of the tsar’s behavior, which were noted by his interlocutor and which add new traits to the stereotypical characteristics of this historical personality. Audiences dedicated to the discussion of political problems are examined. Thanks to the detailed narration of such meetings left by Sheremetev, it becomes possible to clarify the tsar’s position on some signifi cant issues. Among them, for example, are the conflict between the Tver Governor P.D. Akhlyostyshev and the Minister of Internal Aff airs I.L. Goremykin, or the special disposition of Nicholas II to the Minister of the Interior D.S. Sipyagin, which Sheremetev, who was a relative of the minister, was well informed about. Some other topics of the audiences are indirectly related to politics, in particular, the activities of the Russian Historical Society and debate about the assessment of past events. The diary puts the mutual antipathy of Sheremetev and the chairman of this society, A.A. Polovtsov in this context. Based on the analyzed audiences, an important conclusion is made about value differences which the count and the emperor had. The former extremely negatively perceived the liberal manifestations of the government course of the new reign, the latter was a much greater realist and was forced to turn a blind eye to the reformist undertakings that the political situation demanded.