Early Life
Nikolay Ignatyev was born in St Petersburg to Maria Ivanovna Maltsova and Captain Pavel Nikolayevich Ignatyev. His father had been taken into favour by Tsar Nicholas I, owing to his fidelity on the occasion of the Decembrist revolt in 1825, and Grand Duke Alexander (later Tsar Alexander II) stood sponsor at the boy's baptism. After graduating from the Corps of Pages, at the age of seventeen he became an officer of the Russian Guards. He was appointed military attaché in London in charge of intelligence but was expelled by Britain after a failed operation.
Read more about this topic: Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev
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