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1913] MY TRANSFER TO STOCKHOLM 221
recollection of Russian sympathy in 1913, and of the
support that we then lent to Rumanian policy, greatly
influenced the decision taken by the Rumanians in 1916,
when they finally ranged themselves on the side of the
Entente against the Central Empires. Unfortunately,
no good came of it, at least as far as Russia was
concerned!
The following day, during the picturesque journey
between Vienna and Munich, the sun was so bright and
hot that I forgot my flight of crows and the gloomy
thoughts which had perpetually assailed me during the
latter part of my stay in Sofia.
Two or three days after my arrival in Paris, I called
on M. Sazonoff, who, as usual, received me with great
friendliness. The Minister appeared tired but content,
and on the whole optimistic. This optimism spread to
those around him, and thence naturally reflected itself
back on him, increasing his confidence in the political
situation. M. Sazonoff questioned me at some length
on my opinion about the situation in Bulgaria;
nevertheless, I had the feeling that he already possessed
fairly precise ideas on the subject, and that these did
not agree fundamentally with my opinion on the men
and affairs of the post that I was leaving. I was careful
not to lay any stress on this, and our conversation
turned naturally to questions concerning the post of
Stockholm, to which I was shortly to be appointed. It
was only then that I learnt from M. Sazonoff’s lips the
reason why M. Savinsky could no longer stay in
Sweden: the Grand-Duchess Marie (daughter of the
Grand-Duke Paul of Russia), who six years before had
married Prince William of Sweden (second son of the
King), was on the eve of separating from her husband.
Profiting by a journey to foreign parts, the
Grand-Duchess, on her arrival in Berlin, informed her husband
that she did not wish to live with him any more, and
she left to join her father in Paris. There was no
scandal, no romance even, to cause the divorce of the
Grand-Duchess ! It was merely that this young Russian
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