Katya & The Prince of Siam

The Pages were in attendance at all the various functions connected with these visits, then proceeded in June and July to manoeuvres at Tsarskoye Selo, and afterwards at Krasnoe Selo. During this period, so that ‘they might live in comfort and quiet’, Chakrabongse ‘ordered a two storey cottage with stabling for six or eight horses, which was subsequently presented to the Regiment.’ This ‘order’ with its airy suggestion of magical wand-waving, as though the cottage arose fully-furnished from the ground for a mere two months stay, would have naturally seemed nothing out of the way to Chakrabongse, or indeed to any aristocrat or royalty of those times.

After the manoeuvres, the long-awaited day arrived when, after certain formalities had been completed, they could expect to join the Hussars of the Imperial Guard. After the years of arduous training and examinations, and the candidate’s announcement that he wished to join, practical matters would be looked into such as the status of his family, financial independence and so on. But above all, it was his character that was of prime importance, great stress being laid on modesty and tact ‘for an officer of the Guards was expected to act nobly on all occasions’.

On the day of their promotion as sub-lieutenants – 2nd August 1902 – Chakrabongse and Poum, in full uniform, called formally on the thirty officers of the Hussars and also on Commandants of the Regiment, including the Tsar’s brother, the Grand-Duke Michael.

That evening, as was customary, a dinner was given at Ernest’s, a well-known restaurant on one of the group of islands in the Neva river. This must undoubtedly have gone on all night, for it was not only held to reward the years of stern endeavour, but to celebrate the first appearance of the promoted Pages in a public restaurant, locales which had been out-of-bounds while in the Corps. Each was presented with the traditional steel, gold-lined ring engraved with the Page’s name and date, and the words ‘One of Forty’ (there being forty members in their class). In addition, they also received a golden fob bearing the Maltese Cross in white enamel.

In the late summer of this same year, Chakrabongse and Poum left for England, where they joined Crown Prince Vajiravudh and, together with him, his tutor, aide-de-camp, and secretary, they sailed for the USA, where the New World must indeed have seemed new to them, fresh as they were from the pomp and ritual discipline of their life in Russia.

Arriving in New York, they stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, and were conducted by an official of the State Department on a round of sight-seeing and formal receptions, including a visit to the White House where they met President Theodore Roosevelt. Somewhere along the line of this rather conventional formal trip, Poum learned to dance the cakewalk, and they arrived back in St Petersburg after a stormy voyage in early November.

Once accepted in the Hussars, Chakrabongse and Poum savoured what was to be the final flowering of an elite and stylish military tradition. Founded by Catherine the Great in 1775, the Hussars played a brilliant part in the field, notably in the Napoleonic wars but, in time of peace, their duties apart, ‘they led an elegant and joyful life’. Originally their uniform was a short green dolman and fur-covered shako, but this had been changed to blue on service, while dress uniform was either bright scarlet with gold frogging, or white – both trimmed with rich dark fur – and rightly described as ‘the most showy and splendid in the Imperial Army’.

Their banquets and festivals were famous. ‘Nothing was too good for them and expense was no consideration. Not only special carriages, but special trains were ordered for their guests, and the musical performers who enlivened their celebrations were of the same high quality – the best obtainable – as the catering and the cellar.’

Thus, not only their regular military obligations, but their social life as well demanded considerable stamina. On the regiment’s fête day, for instance, the menu of the banquet set before them was as follows:

 

 

Later, between two and three in the morning, a light supper to assuage possible pangs of hunger was served:

 

Soupe a l’oignon

Quails and Partridge – Vodka

Coffee and Liqueurs