The Visit of the French President (From the Diary of Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, May 1902)

For the first time, entries from the diary of Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich for 1902 are published, which reflect the visit of French President Émile Loubet to Russia. The original document is kept in the State Archive of the Russian Federation. The voyage described was carried out as part of the development of allied relations that connected the two powers at that time. The diary vividly describes the celebrations associated with the stay of the head of the French Republic in the Russian Empire. The President arrived in Russia on the newest French cruiser “Montcalm”, was personally greeted by Emperor Nicholas II and the Successor to the Russian throne, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, on the magnificent Imperial yacht “Alexandria” and was accommodated in the Grand Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, which was one of the main Imperial residences. Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich took an active part in the events accompanying the visit. Gala dinners, parades, and a gala performance were held in honor of the distinguished guest, during which the pearl of Russian classics, the ballet “Swan Lake” by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, was shown. The Successor himself participated in one of the parades as an officer of the Preobrazhensky Life-Guards Regiment, in which he was doing active military service at that time. The recordings demonstrate the mutual signs of attention that the receiving and receiving parties showed to each other. In particular, President Loubet presented the author of this diary as the Successor to the throne of the allied power, knowing about his passion for hunting, two shotguns made by the famous French arms company Pirlet. The visit of the head of the French Republic was the last striking chord in the “honeymoon” of the union of the two powers. As a result of the internal political changes that took place in France in the same year 1902, and the change of the French ambassador, there was some cooling in bilateral relations, but at the same time allied agreements continued to exist.