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LS in Cyrllic, signed “Ekaterina,” one page both sides, 10.25 x 15.25, May 24, 1784. Cordial letter to King George III of Great Britain, expressing gratitude for the appointment of the Russian envoy Count Simon Vorontsov and emphasizing the friendship and harmony between the Russian and British crowns. Written in Russian and entirely in the formal language of eighteenth-century dynastic diplomacy, Catherine addresses King George III as her “beloved brother” and acknowledges the favourable reception accorded to her trusted representative, Count Simon Romanovich Vorontsov (1744–1832), whom she had appointed Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St. James’s.
She expresses particular satisfaction that the ambassador had been received with distinction and entrusted with conveying the assurances of British goodwill. In part (translated): "For the good disposition shown towards our faithful and beloved Count Simon Vorontsov, whom We have appointed Our Minister Plenipotentiary at Your Court…We have received with great pleasure the assurances conveyed through him of the continuation of friendship, confidence, and perfect harmony between Us and Our realms."
Catherine continues by stressing the importance she attaches to the preservation of the close relationship between the two powers and instructs Vorontsov to communicate her own sentiments in return: "We have charged him to assure Your Majesty of the sincerity of Our sentiments and of the esteem and friendship which We bear towards Your Royal Person." The letter concludes with a renewed affirmation of the mutual friendship between the sovereigns and their nations. In very good to fine condition, with light soiling, and minor splitting to the intersecting folds.
The year 1784 fell during a particularly important phase of Anglo-Russian relations. Following the conclusion of the American War of Independence and the Treaty of Paris (1783), both powers sought stability in European affairs and maintained extensive diplomatic and commercial contacts. Count Vorontsov, one of Russia’s most distinguished diplomats, would remain ambassador in London for nearly two decades and become one of the principal architects of Russian-British relations during the reigns of Catherine II and her successors. An attractive and historically significant royal letter illustrating Catherine the Great’s diplomatic style and documenting the close relations between two of the most powerful monarchies of late eighteenth-century Europe. Letters signed by Catherine concerning international diplomacy and addressed directly to George III are of considerable rarity and importance.
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