Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 206 018 Mecklenburg's Queen Elena
In fact, it is very pleasant to spend the whole summer in Sweden, which may not be the case in St. Petersburg.

After all, once you get there, as long as you have a certain status, you will be unconsciously involved in something. Although people in Stockholm also like to socialize, they are not as social as those in St. Petersburg.

Being always in conspiracy makes people feel depressed.

Solovyov boarded a Swedish clipper ship to Pomerania, which was still Swedish territory, and then to Mecklenburg.

When Alexander assigned him the task, he mentioned that he should go and see how his sisters were doing, and how Alexandra and Elena were doing in their husband's homes. They were both hit hard after learning of their father's death.

But it had been a long time since I last saw them. Solovyov remembered that Elena had teased him a lot, for example, when he wore women's clothes, except for the time when he supported Louisa at the coronation ceremony, which was Alexander's impromptu idea.
Of course, all this is in the past. After arriving in Pomerania, he went to Schwerin, the capital of Mecklenburg.

Northern Germany had been relatively peaceful since the Thirty Years' War, and was only besieged by Prussia during the Seven Years' War.

It is no wonder that these branches of Mecklenburg are particularly concerned about this malicious neighbor at the doorstep, especially since King Frederick the Great is a well-known robber.

Solovyov admired his thick skin, and secondly his civil and military skills, and this person's approach was always to take advantage of others' misfortunes or to launch a preemptive strike, which would be very popular with netizens and kimchi in the future.

When he arrived in Schwerin, he just stayed in a hotel here.

Mecklenburg is not just the Mecklenburg-Schwerin family where Elena married, but also Mecklenburg-Strelitz where Queen Louise of Prussia came from. The two families coexisted for a long time. Schwerin occupied a larger territory, while Strelitz only owned two small plots in the southeast corner and west of the vast land of Mecklenburg.

Therefore, we can also see the difference in status between the two grand duchies. The smaller one can only rely on marrying its daughters to cling to the big country of Prussia, while the larger one is better off. It has its own independent status and faces pressure from Prussia, but it has Russian relatives.

Moreover, the two Mecklenburg families have good relations with Russia and Prussia.

While in Schwerin, Solovyov also rode to the vicinity of Schwerin Palace, which looked very dilapidated.

"Sheriff, what's going on?"

"Major, the capital of our Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin is now located in Ludwigslust, and your highness's daily office and court activities are also conducted there."

"I see. It seems that there are some problems with the official documents of our country. This is a common bureaucratic mistake. It should be defined as such."

The sheriff listened and smiled, "You have a point. In the German region, our northern port area is fine, but if we go deep inland."

"You don't have to go inland, maybe it will be like this in Berlin."

Thinking of the image of the Prussians, the sheriff nodded.

"You have come to greet the Crown Prince's wife with a personal letter from the Russian Caesar, and you are also carrying an important mission."

"After all, the Crown Prince's wife is also a Grand Duchess from the Russian royal family, and she is also my benefactor."

By the way, Elena asked Solovyov to be a model, and since he had been on duty in the palace for a long time, he had more opportunities to get acquainted with the royal family members. However, when she was preparing to get married, she participated in Suvorov's expedition to Italy and Switzerland and was not in St. Petersburg. Therefore, after she got married, she rarely had the opportunity to see them.

Now he came to Mecklenburg with a mission to go to the palace of Frederick Franz.

Although this palace is located in northern Germany, it is still very majestic. Moreover, even though they were welcoming a Russian messenger who was not of very high status, they still made a small welcoming ceremony.

"Look who this is! Michael, how did you get here?"

"Frederick Ludwig, Your Highness, I came from Stockholm. I just accompanied Her Highness the Queen of our country to meet her relatives in Baden. As for my coming here, I have a letter for Her Highness Elena from His Majesty the Emperor of our country."

"I know. It must be another intimate conversation between brothers and sisters. My brother-in-law, the emperor, is like this. He loves his sisters deeply."

"Don't say that our emperor is like the Greek rulers of the Ptolemaic dynasty who are 'loving sisters'. Your Highness, I am asked to deliver this letter in person. Besides, it's business."

Solovyov relayed to Frederick Ludwig those parts of his orders concerning contacts with Mecklenburg.

"If it is really peace, it is a good thing. We will be preparing to travel soon. You know, when Elena visited Berlin, the citizens there praised her as beautiful as the Queen of Prussia."

"Elena? Your Highness is indeed very beautiful, but Queen Louise has the demeanor of a mature woman. I have seen her portrait, and it is the latest portrait. She is a very sweet beauty. Our Highness is still a young girl. How can we compare them? Maybe in a few years."

After all, the two were good friends on the court in St. Petersburg, so they could walk in the corridor and talk like this.

"But Elena's biggest advantage is that she loves to study."

"Yes, among the several princes in our country, Elena's studies are the best."

Indeed, even though she felt that she was pregnant again, the 18-year-old married girl was still holding her son while listening to the tutor's lessons. Today was music class, so it was a relatively relaxing time.

But there is another point that Solovyov wanted to say. In his opinion, Elena is still a child. The Duke's family of Mecklenburg-Schwerin pampers her very much, but her physical burden is also not small, especially since her own physique is still very healthy. As long as Frederick Ludwig has time to love her a few more times, she will have a great chance of getting pregnant later.

The problem that followed was mainly that the court in Mecklenburg did not seem to like opening windows to keep air circulating during the day, especially in summer.

As a enthusiastic citizen who liked to manage the palace hygiene on a daily basis, disinfected the garrison barracks when on duty, and even secretly drafted a hygiene declaration for the Tsar, he felt that this was not good for health.

In a palace like this, if someone was unlucky enough to get infected with lung disease, it would be very terrible.

As he walked in the corridor of Ludwiglust Palace, he could already hear the sound of the piano. However, Elena was different from Maria, her playing skills were not very high, and she even lowered the pitch when she played, but it could still be heard if one listened carefully.

"Your Highness, as a messenger, is it appropriate for me to go in at this time?"

"It can wait a while. Elena has to stick to her classes every day. Today is music and Latin." "Latin?"

"I heard your Latin is a bit poor, Michael, not as good as your German. But I'm also curious, your accent is very good, like an Austrian."

"Her Royal Highness, the Queen of our country, is from Baden, and she speaks Russian without an accent, isn't that normal?"

“Yes, there are always some people who are gifted.”

Frederick Ludwig only saw a sense of pride when Soloviev mentioned Louisa, but he certainly couldn't tell how much of it was Soloviev's love for his lover and how much of it was pride in the queen's abilities as a guardsman and aristocrat.

After the music teacher played for a while, the door opened.
Elena saw her husband and put her son down, then she also saw Mr. Messenger.

"Misha, it's you who came here."

They are truly a couple who understand each other, and their reactions are also very similar.

"Your Highness, I brought a letter from the Emperor. Both the Emperor and the Empress Dowager miss you very much."

"But my father is gone."

Although the two married girls were not the most favored by their father, they were also concerned about what happened in Petersburg.

"The murderers were punished, those who deserved it were hanged, and the property of the regicide was confiscated and turned over to the treasury. As an aide-de-camp, I also participated in supervising this matter."

"I know, Misha, you have always been very good. Father trusted the flatterers around him too much. He shouldn't have sent you to my brother at that time."

Elena began to wipe her tears with a handkerchief, then opened her brother's letter and a small jewelry box that Solovyov had brought.

"I want to write back. You know, my brother and sister-in-law have always been very kind to me. I should write back to express my gratitude. But I probably won't be able to return to Petersburg recently. You can tell from my health."

Elena touched her belly, but it showed no shape at all.

However, considering that she is very smart and has taught herself a lot of medical knowledge, she is still very clear about the physical condition of her family.

"I am going to live somewhere with fresher air. What my brother said in his letter makes sense, but this is the court of Mecklenburg. Everyone here loves me, even a little too much."

"It is conceivable, your Highness, that you could go to Schwerin if you like."

"The palace there is a bit ruined, but the garden environment is very good. I have thought about going there. The ventilation here is not very good."

"According to what I know, the more you look like this, the more likely you are to get tuberculosis, which is very troublesome. Although some people like that look, it is also a disgrace to your body."

"Thank you, I know what to do. At least I haven't coughed."

When leaving Elena, Solovyov kissed the back of her hand. The little hand holding the paintbrush was still so slender.

"Misha, as my guest, you can stay here for a while. Do you have any other mission after that? For example, go to my sister's place?"

"Her Majesty did order me to go to Her Highness Alexandra. At a time like this, I can only be assured if an aide-de-camp comes out to act as a courier. And I never bring servants with me. I always act on my own, so this is very convenient."

As for living in the palace, Solovyov could not have imagined that this was the idea of ​​the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

After all, the Duke's family had signed a contract with Count Bobulinski. In Schwerin, there was a chain of Count Bobulinski stores, which, in addition to restaurants and hotels, also sold various novelties imported from Russia, and the Duke himself could also get some of the profits.

While walking through the corridor, Solovyov also saw a very new portrait, also the work of an Austrian painter. Maria was a little girl but was painted like a middle-aged woman, while Elena looked very young and beautiful in the portrait.

These painters were not good at painting, but Elena was very picky about portraits. She chose this painting because the depiction was more in line with her own taste, although she liked the portrait painted by Madame Le Brun when she was a child with her sister more.

Young girls are indeed what painters prefer to portray in their works of art.

As for the trip to Dresden in the future, he had to put it aside. During this journey, he would pass through Saxe-Weimar, which was Maria's potential husband's home. However, two heavyweights had always lived there, namely Goethe and Schiller.

The schedule for this trip was relatively relaxed, and even when the Duke of Mecklenburg wanted to keep him for two days, he obeyed his host's kindness.

Mecklenburg-Schwerin itself is also very close to Russia. Elena's brother-in-law is now an officer in the Grenadiers. However, given his status, he is now a colonel and will command the Grenadiers in the future.
Solovyov sometimes found it very strange that the Moscow Grenadiers were a place where many important figures who came and went had served there or had some connections with the regiment. Although they had left the regiment long ago, they still had many advantages due to their background.

He was able to be entertained by Friedrich Franz because he was a friend of the prince and another duke, Karl August, on the court, and Friedrich Ludwig also brought "basketball" to Mecklenburg.

But here, this event is called "Grenadiers' Sport" because the people who come to play are always tall grenadiers. There are quite a few tall people in places like the German princes.

However, he did not come here to play basketball, but to write a memo as usual.

This is not really a diary, because Solovyov wanted to record in detail what he saw and heard along the way, as well as the attitudes of the people in the places he visited.

Now he knew the general attitude of the two families in Mecklenburg, and through his conversation with Frederick Ludwig, he also learned some of the latest arrangements.

For example, a wedding is to be held in Berlin. Louisa's sister Mary is going to get married. The man is the fourth son of the Duke of Brunswick, the man who looks very powerful.

(End of this chapter)