It's quite obvious from the context of my post that we were talking about diplomats, and not all the people admitted to the court.
A single documented reference to some foreign diplomat (not a head of mission, permanent or acting) ever engaged in a conversation with a Russian emperor from Alexander II to Nicholas II would convince me that my assertion was not completely correct. And even then "blatant" seems to me a bit too strong choice of words.
Mihkail,
You are misquoting. Please reread my postings. Your postings are very informative but I always do not agree with them.
The "blatant" was referring to your statement that French was not the language of the Court.
First, we engaged a discussion as to whether or not French was the de jure or the de facto language of the Court.
Then a friend of mine in Moscow at the Moscow Institute of International Relations suggested that French had been made the language of the Court by an Ukaze rendered by Paul I in the very early part of his very short reign and my friend has provided me with the date on which he believes the Ukaze was rendered.
As I wish to contest your point, since based on family memories I can assure you that French was used at the Court in most cases equal to or greater than Russian by the "dvoriatsvo", the Dowager Empress and her suite, the Emperor to a certain degree, and by the Empress hardly at all, I have asked others in Russia to locate this Ukaze and then I will publish it here to dispute your point.
You referred to the Apostolic Nuncio in one of your writings and I wrote back saying that I was unaware that Imperial Russia had maintained relations with the Holy See. I am awaiting your further comments on that issue. For me, it would be interesting to know since one family member was also Ambassador to Rome before the Revolution and this subject never surfaced. This point can also be checked in the 1914 Baedeker which lists all of the Missions in St. Petersburg.
Belochka or Hirakushka, can you help me here? Do either of you have a listing of the accredited diplomatic missions in St. Petersburg, 1914? Are you either of you aware of whether or not the Holy See had separate diplomatic relations with the Imperial Russian Court as Mike indirectly alludes to?Additionally, you wrote that "only ambassadors enjoyed the privilege of regularly speaking with the Emperor and the Empress" and I strongly disputed that point, and asked you to comment on the Receiving Schedule for a given day, taking into account the Court Circular, the discussion of which will show one or the other received many, many people in Tsarkoe Selo, and the Empress in particular, which is a credit that is often denied her.
I asked you, and I ask again, and I ask Hikarushka, and Belochka in your opinions who would have been received in the morning, who would have been received in the afternoon and who would have been received at tea?I am quite not honestly not trolling, I will share my personal knowledge once I learn what others think. We will compare oral history to written history, it is only fair.
All of this is very interesting. Thank you.
