Милое семейство британского посла в Петербурге и «большая политика» Екатерины II

Электронный научно-образовательный журнал "История". 2024. Т. 15. № 6.

Smilyanskaya E.

The family archive of the Scottish aristocrats Cathcarts, which until recently did not attract serious attention from researchers, contains rich material for a discussion about the “diffusion” of public and private in history (as Yu. L. Bessmertny thought about). Charles 9th Lord Cathcart was British ambassador to the Russian court from 1768 to 1772. The Cathcart’s mission left not only extensive diplomatic correspondence, but private papers too, including diaries and notes of the ambassador’s wife, Lady Jane (1726—1771). The article is based on translations of Lady Jane’s handwritten diaries. Based on these family records, possible trajectories are presented for studying the roles of the ambassador’s family members in the implementation of the tasks of the diplomatic mission in the second half of the 18th century in Russia, including in the field of culture, personal contacts with the Russian Empress, and the transformation of forms of both etiquette and private communication.

Keywords: Catherine II, русская англофилия, Екатерина II, Российско-британские отношения, британский посол Каткарт, Anglophilia, list (en): British Diplomacy, Russo-British relations in the eighteenth century, the Cathcart family archives, Британская дипломатия