Social Victorians/People/Boulatzell

Also Known As

 * Family name: Boulatzell
 * M. Boulatzell (M could be Monsieur)
 * M. V. Boulatzell (the V is a typo?)
 * N. Boulatzell (the National Portrait Gallery says Mons. N. Boulatzell)
 * Misspelled in the London Evening Mail as Bolatzell (also the Times?)

Friends

 * Baron Alexandre de Stoeckl, Attaché of the Russian Embassy (as of 1892)

Organizations

 * Russian Embassy in London (2nd Secretary, until 29 June 1896)
 * Russian Embassy in Vienna (1st Secretary, from 29 June 1896)

Timeline
1890 September 10, Boulatzell attended the Great Yorkshire Handicap; many were there, including the Prince of Wales: "Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Beckett's party included the Marchese and Marchesa Torrigiani, the Earl of Chesterfield, Lord and Lady Norreys, Colonel Paget, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie, Mrs. Hwfa Williams, Miss Grant, M. Boulatzell, Mr. C. de Murrieta, Mr. Julian Storey, and Count Mensdorff."

1892 June 30, Boulatzell was best man in the wedding of Baron Alexandre de Stoeckl and Miss Agnes Barron.

1895 December 17–19, Boulatzell was among the guests at a country-house party at Highclere Castle, also attended by the Prince of Wales, "Lord and Lady Westmorland, Lord and Lady Burghclere, Lord and Lady Chelsea, Lord and Lady Howe, Lady Dorothy Neville, Lady De Trafford, Hon. Mrs. Lowther, Sir Edward and Lady Colebrook, the Russian Ambassador (M. de Staal), the Brazilian Minister (Chevalier de Souza Correa), M. Boulatzell, Mr. Alfred Cooper, and Mr. James McCraw" (see 1895 December).

1896 June 29, Boulatzell was appointed First Secretary to the Russian Embassy in Vienna.

1897 July 2, Friday, M. Boulatzell attended the Duchess of Devonshire's Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House.

1898 June 14, Boulatzell attended the Ascot: "Mrs. Bischoffsheim’s party includes Sir Edward and Lady Colebrooke, Lord and Lady Rossmore, Lady de Trafford, Lord Elcho, and M. Boulatzell."

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball
At the Duchess of Devonshire’s 1897 Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball, M. Boulatzell (at 280) went as Prince of Mingrelia, one of the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court in the procession of the Empress Catherine II of Russia.

W. & D. Downey's portrait of N. Boulatzell as Prince of Mingrelia in costume is photogravure #31 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Mons. N. Boulatzell as Prince of Mingrelia."

Mingrelia was a province of Georgia on the Black Sea ruled by the Dadiani dynasty, part of the Ottoman Empire in the 17th and 18th centuries, under the "patronage" and then part of the Russian empire, and part of the Soviet Union since. There have been princes, dukes and grand dukes of Mingrelia (now called Samegrelo) since the 1180s, and it is impossible to know which one Boulatzell is thinking of here.

The row of tubes running across his chest appear to be fabric ornamentation, a characteristic reasonably common in that part of the world, as other examples of it can be found. For example, this 1840 painting (right) of a Georgian Prince from Mingrelia by Grigory Gagarin, is not the original, if one exists of Boulatzell's costume, but it has the same row of fabric tubes and crossed belts or straps, though it is missing the very prominent epaulettes.

Demographics

 * Nationality: Russian, perhaps Georgian?

Family

 * N. Boulatzell