Prince Serge Kotchoubey

Overview

The owner of Dikanka, the great Kotchoubey estate ten kilometres from Gavronzi, and a friend of Marie's father in 1876. Marie names him: «Nous avons été chez le prince Serge Kotchoubey» (066.0576, 066/1876-10-01), and calls the statesman Victor Pavlovitch Kotchoubey «le père du prince actuel» (066.0578). The Mon Journal t.9 index lists him as «Kotchoubey (prince Serge)», apart from «Kotchoubey (Victor Pavlovitch), (grand chancelier de l'Empire)» and «Kotchoubey (princesse)». Wikipedia («Maria Vasilyevna Kochubey») lists a Sergey Viktorovich among the children of Viktor Pavlovich Kochubey and his wife, which agrees with Marie's «le père du prince actuel». His first name in Russian (Sergei Viktorovich) is taken from that list; no biography was checked.

Not the same person as Princesse Kotchoubey, whom Marie meets at the Nice skating rink in December 1876.

Relevance to Marie

• Marie's father and he are drinking friends: «Il est son ami, ils se grisent ensemble» (066.0493). She asks her father, laughing, to marry her to him: «le prince Kotchoubey, qui est veuf, qui a deux fils, quarante-cinq ans et cent mille arpents de terre, soit sept cent mille roubles de rente» (066.0492, 066/1876-09-27).
• He lends his nets and his huntsman for the wolf hunt described on 24 September 1876 (066.0397, 066.0408).
• On 1 October 1876 Marie and her father call on him at Dikanka. She now puts his age at «cinquante ou cinquante-cinq ans, veuf depuis deux années je crois» (066.0581) and finds him «si agréable, si amusant» (066.0587). The next day she hears he may be away taking «ses deux fils à Odessa» (066.0595).
• Mme Volkovitsky is his natural daughter: «Volkovitsky est marié à une fille bâtarde du Prince Serge Kotchoubey» (066/1876-09-06); «Mme Volkovitsky, (la fille de Kotchoubey)» (066.0244).
• On 4 August 1882 Marie describes the neighbouring «princes Kotchoubey, ils sont deux; jeunes, orphelins» (096.0014, 096/1882-08-04; see POMAR). These are presumably his two sons. The genealogical sources cited in POMAR.md name Viktor Sergeyevich (1860–1923) and Vasily Sergeyevich (1862–1911).

Translation

Marie's two age estimates (45 on 27 September, 50–55 on 1 October) disagree; keep both as written.

References in Diary

• First mentioned: 1876-09-06 (066, via Mme Volkovitsky)
• 1876-09-15 (066.0244); 1876-09-24 (066.0397, 066.0408); 1876-09-27 (066.0492–0493); 1876-10-01 (066.0576–0587); 1876-10-02 (066.0595–0596)

Sources

• Mon Journal t.9 (L'Âge d'Homme), index «Kotchoubey».
• Wikipedia EN, Maria Vasilyevna Kochubey (list of children).