Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn (vice chancellor)
Russian politician (1723-1807)
Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn (Russian: Александр Михайлович Голицын; 17 November [O.S. 6 November] 1723 – 27 November [O.S. 15 November] 1807) - was a representative of the younger branch of the House of Golitsyn; a Russian envoy to the Dutch Republic, Great Britain, and Vice-Chancellor. A connoisseur of art, a collector and philanthropist, Golitsyn was one of the key figures of the Russian Enlightenment: he acted as a cultural intermediary between Russia and Europe, inviting foreign artists and sculptors to St. Petersburg, purchasing works of art and books for Catherine II.
Biography
He was born on 17 November [O.S. 6 November] 1723, as the eldest son of General-Admiral Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn from his marriage to Tatiana, the daughter of the Moscow governor Kirill Alekseyevich Naryshkin. He studied in Geneva together with Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov? In 1742, he began serving at the Russian Embassy in Holland. In 1749, he was on a brief unofficial mission to Paris, as part of the Austrian Embassy. In 1755–1761, he was an envoy to London and became involved in the Seven Years' War. In 1762 he was appointed Knight of the Order of Alexander Nevsky.
He contributed to the accession to the throne of Catherine II of Russia. During the June coup of 1762, Golitsyn was sent to Peter III of Russia who wrote to Catherine a letter in which the emperor "asked for a pardon" and permission to retire in a foreign country.
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