Without a doubt, Alexander I is the most incomprehensible of Russian monarchs: generous and despotic, timid and brave, until the end of his life he considered himself a republican, but resolutely suppressed any attempts to encroach on his power. “In his love, anger grumbled, / And in anger, love glowed,” P. A. Vyazemsky wrote about him. He did not want, like Napoleon, to be in awe of him, but wanted to be loved. After the victory over France, the allies took away its ports, fortresses, ships, guns - the Russian emperor did not take anything and, having taken Paris, saved the Louvre from plunder, but never visited the Borodino field in his life. Society ladies throughout Europe could not resist his charm, but in his own family he was just one of the “sides” of the love quadrangle. The assessments given by historians to the personality and reign of Alexander I are so polar that they only aggravate the feeling of reticence. Leonid Lyashenko offers his own view of the motivation for the actions of the restless emperor, allowing us to lift the veil of secrets of his life and death.

[Adapted for AlReader]