Alexander Bezborodko

Prince Alexander Andreyevich Bezborodko (; 6 April 1799) was the Grand Chancellor of Russian Empire and chief architect of Catherine the Great's foreign policy after the death of Nikita Panin. Early life Аleksander Bezborodko was born in the city Hlukhiv, Cossack Hetmanate, Russian Empire on (now Hlukhiv, Ukraine) in a family of Zaporizhian Cossack nobility. His father Andrey Bezborodko was a general scribe (chancellor), while his mother Eudokia was a daughter of general judge Mikhail Zabila. He was educated at home and in the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Upon finishing his education, he entered the public service as a clerk in the office of Count P. A. Rumyantsev, then Governor-general of Little Russia, whom he accompanied to the Turkish War in 1768. He was present at the engagements of Larga and Kagul, and at the storming of Silistria. On the conclusion of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774) the field marshal recommended him to Catherine II, and she appointed him in 1775 her petition-secretary. He thus had the opportunity of impressing the empress with his brilliant gifts, the most remarkable of which were exquisite manners, a marvellous memory and a clear and pregnant style. At the same time he set to work to acquire the principal European languages, especially French, of which he became a master. It was at this time that he wrote his historical sketches of the Tatar wars and of Ukraine.