Tolstoy, Nikolai Aleksandrovich (1765)

Came from a very noble family . His great-grandfather, Count Peter Andreevich Tolstoy, was an associate of Peter the Great . The son of Alexander Petrovich and Evdokia Lvovna Izmaylova, whose brother Michael was the first to deliver to Catherine II the news of Peter III ’s abdication. A cousin Nikolai Saltykov led the upbringing of the future Paul I.

With such a number of noble relatives with influential connections, Count Tolstoy very quickly made a career. At birth, he was recorded in the lists of the Life Guards Semenov regiment . By the age of twenty he was already captain of the guard.

Appointed to be under the Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich , he soon managed to win the favor of both the Grand Duke and Catherine II, and even Pavel Petrovich . Practically without interfering in politics and intrigue, being interested only in the performance of official duties, Nikolai Aleksandrovich secured a stable position at court.

On May 10, 1793, he received the rank of chamberlain of a brigadier rank and shortly thereafter was appointed chief marshal of the court of Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich. Paul I repeatedly expressed his position to Tolstoy, bestowing 600 peasants on his coronation day, and in 1799 he awarded the orders of St. Anne of I degree (March 11, 1799) and St. Alexander Nevsky (May 29, 1799).

After the accession of Alexander I, the position of Tolstoy was further consolidated. For 13 years he enjoyed the right of unhindered entry to the emperor, and also accompanied him everywhere. At the same time, Nikolai Alexandrovich continued not to interfere in matters beyond his direct court duties. There is information that, before the battle of Austerlitz, General Kutuzov , anticipating defeat, asked Tolstoy to influence the emperor and dissuade him from the battle, to which Nikolai Aleksandrovich responded that his business was the fowl and wine , and the war was the business of the generals.

Against Arakcheev, Count Tolstoy did not intrigue, although he was considered to belong to the camp of his enemies. At the same time, he was suspected of involvement in the elimination of the reformer Speransky . MA Korf calls Tolstoy the most prominent of the minor participants in this conspiracy.

In one question, Nikolai Aleksandrovich changed his neutrality - it was a dislike for Napoleon . Tolstoy never concealed his hostility towards the French emperor. So, when Alexander and Napoleon met in Erfurt , after Alexander had placed the ribbon of the Order of the Legion of Honor next to Andrew's ribbon on himself, Tolstoy sharply noticed that the French order was not worthy to be near Andrey Pervozvanny. To which the angry emperor declared that then Tolstoy would never receive the order of St. Andrew . (According to another version, having a ribbon of the Legion of Honor on his chest, laid by Napoleon himself, Tolstoy refused to award the Order of St. Andrew the First Called). September 15, 1812 was granted the Swedish Order of the Seraphim .

He died on December 9, 1816 in Dresden . He was buried in the Lazarus Church of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery.

From 1787 he was married to Princess Anna Ivanovna Baryatinskaya (1772–1825), the daughter of Ivan Sergeyevich (envoy at the court of Louis XVI ) and his wife Catherine Petrovna , born Princess Holstein-Bekskaya. Married had two sons and two daughters:

• Ekaterina Nikolaevna (08.29.1789–11.02.1870), was baptized on September 1, 1789 in the Nikolsky Naval Cathedral , the goddaughter of N.I. Saltykov and the maiden A.S. Tolstoy ^[1] . She was brought up near the Court, enjoyed the constant attention and disposition of the Empress, and rotated in the societies of Countess V. N. Golovina and her daughters. Her name is often found in the correspondence of Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna and in the notes of the Countess Golovina and her daughter, Countess P. N. Fredro. She was married to Lieutenant-General Prince Konstantin Ksaveryevich Lyubomirsky (1786-1870), had a son and six daughters in marriage.
• Evdokia Nikolaevna (1793-1797)
• Alexander Nikolaevich (09/21/1795–25.06.1866), was married to Princess Anna Mikhailovna Scherbatova, ur. Khilkova (179. — 1868); died in Nice.
• Emmanuel Nikolayevich (1802-1825), buried at the Volkov Lutheran cemetery in St. Petersburg.

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  Anna Ivanovna,
  wife
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  With wife and son Alexander
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  Anna Ivanovna with her daughter and son Emmanuel
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  Daughter Catherine
  and son Emmanuel

• Russian biographical dictionary: 25 tons. / A. A. Polovtsov. - M., 1896-1918.
• Russian portraits of the XVIII and XIX centuries. Edition of Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich . T.I, issue. III, No. 81.