NAPOLEON’S RUSSIAN NAMESIS

In 25 June 1807, a raft with a specially constructed single-storey structure on it was floated out into the middle of the Neman River near Tilsit in what is today Lithuania. It consisted of a roofed, lavishly furnished salon that was decorated with flowers and boasted two finely carved weathervanes, one in the shape of the French eagle and the other in the shape of the Russian bear. It was anchored in the middle of the river where it looked, to all intents and purposes, like a floating stage set. Fitting really, because it was here that Napoleon Bonaparte, whose carpenters had built it, was to meet with one of the great actors of the age – Emperor Alexander I of Russia.

By the time their two-hour summit was over, a peace treaty had been agreed that would bring an end to years of hostilities between Russia and France that had seen the Russian army crushed by the French and Europe transformed. Napoleon, one of the shrewdest political operators of his age, wrote of Alexander soon after this fabled encounter: “The emperor is intelligent, pleasant and well-educated. But he cannot be trusted. He is insincere, a subtle deceiver and a devious fellow.” In the event, Napoleon’s assessment was to prove correct. Within five years Alexander had broken the terms of the agreement and an even more costly war would break out between France and Russia – one that could only have one winner. Little did Alexander know that when he signed the treaty on that floating stage in 1807, he was setting himself up for a starring role in what would turn out to be one of history’s most epic dramas.

Alexander’s skill as an actor had begun in childhood – and had been born of necessity. His parents were Maria Feodorovna, the former Princess of Württemberg, and Paul Romanov, the son of the brilliant, but