Vladimir Frederiks
Count Vladimir Borisovich Frederiks or Adolf Andreas Woldemar Freedericksz (16 November 1838 – 1 July 1927) was a Finno-Russian statesman who served as Imperial Household Minister between 1897 and 1917 under Nicholas II. He was responsible for the administration of the Imperial family's personal affairs and living arrangements, as well as the awarding of Imperial honors and medals.
Imperial Household Minister
Between 1866 and 1870 Frederiks lived in Paris, where both his daughters were born, Eugene in 1867, Emma in 1870.
Succeeding Vorontsov Daskov at the Ministry at the age of 60, Frederiks established a close relationship with the Tsar and the Tsaritsa, calling them 'mes enfants' in private. He was praised in this role by the French ambassador, Maurice Paléologue, who called him 'the very personification of court life'. However, in later life he became forgetful and ill, and often fell asleep during conferences. Frederiks was a strong conservative who described the deputies of the First Duma as: "The Deputies, they give one the impression of a gang of criminals who are only waiting for the signal to throw themselves upon the ministers and cut their throats. I will never again set foot among those people."[1]
Later life
His private mansion in St. Petersburg was pillaged and set on fire on the first day of February Revolution. After the Revolution, Frederiks lived in Petrograd before being allowed in 1925 to leave for Finland where he spent the last years of his life.
Family
In the late 18th century the Russian noble Frederiks family was given fiefs in what was later to be known as Old Finland. In 1853 Vladimir's father Bernhard Freedericksz (1797–1874) was naturalized into the Finnish House of Nobility as the baronial family number 36 under the name Freedricksz. Upon Vladimir Freedericksz's death in 1927 the Finnish baronial family was extinguished in the male line.[2] His Russian comital title was never accepted into the Finnish nobility.
Cultural depictions
He was portrayed in the 1971 film Nicholas and Alexandra by Jack Hawkins. In 1983, he was portrayed by Vsevolod Safonov in the 1983 film Anna Pavlova directed by Emil Loteanu.
References
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- ↑ Massie (1967) p. 242
- ↑ "Friherreliga ätten nr 36 † Freedricksz" (in Swedish). Finnish House of Nobility. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
Sources
- Out of My Past: The Memoirs of Count Kokovtsov Edited by H.H. Fisher and translated by Laura Matveev; Stanford University Press, 1935.
- Massie, Robert K. (1967). Nicholas and Alexandra.
- Margarita Nelipa (2015) Servant to Three Emperors: Count Vladimir Frederiks. In: Royal Russia Annual No. 7.