Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov

Count Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov (27 July 1827, Saint Petersburg – 22 March 1889, Saint Petersburg) was an influential Russian statesman and a counselor to Tsar Alexander II. Biography Pyotr Andreyevich came from the Shuvalov family which has been prominent in the Russian culture and politics since the mid-18th century. His father, Count Andrey Petrovich Shuvalov, was a prominent figure at the courts of Nicholas I of Russia and Alexander II of Russia. His mother was Thekla Ignatyevna Walentinowicz, Prince Zubov's widow and heiress. Count Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov was his brother. Rundāle Palace was notable family estate. After graduating from the Corps of Pages, Pyotr Shuvalov rose through the ranks of Alexander II's retinue, making wing adjutant, major general of the retinue and adjutant general in short order. In 1857 he was put in charge of the Saint Petersburg police and went to France for training. In 1860 Shuvalov was appointed director of the Department of General Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and, in 1861, was made Chief of Staff of the Special Corps of Gendarmes. He proposed for the Corps to be abolished, which contributed to his reputation as a liberal and an Anglophile. His plan was rejected, and he resigned in late 1861. He served elsewhere in the early 1860s and, in 1864, was appointed governor-general of the Baltic region.