The Ambassador, the Grand Duke, his Wife and her Lover, a Talk by Sir Tony Brenton, OBE

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• Sir Tony Brenton OBE
• Friday 24 October 2025, 18:30-20:30
• Trinity Hall, Main Lecture Theatre, Trinity Lane, Cambridge CB2 1TJ.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Ksenia Afonina.

This talk explores a little-known episode in 18th-century diplomacy: the secret correspondence between the future Catherine the Great and the British ambassador to Russia, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams. At a time of political instability and personal danger, Catherine navigated the treacherous court by allying with Hanbury Williams—captivated by her intelligence and charm—who became her trusted adviser. Their relationship, shaped also by Catherine’s affair with the ambassador’s secretary, shows how private passions could intersect with great power politics on the eve of the Seven Years’ War.

When: Friday, 24 October, 18:30-20:00 (BST)

Where: Trinity Hall, Main Lecture Theatre, Trinity Lane, Cambridge CB2 1TJ

Language: English

Format: In-person & Online via Zoom

In-person tickets: £9 – Standard, £6 – CamRuSS members and concessions

Zoom tickets: £5 – Standard, free – CamRuSS members & students.

Access to the video recording is included with all ticket purchases

Video recording only: £5

This event will be followed by a drinks reception.

Please book your tickets via AllEvents, https://shorturl.at/7j3Nr

More details on our website, https://shorturl.at/8iA5s

Sir Tony Brenton, OBE , is a distinguished British diplomat, writer on international issues. He worked for over 30 years in the Foreign Office. Tony first learnt Arabic and spent three years in Cairo working on the Middle East Dispute. From 1980-1989 he handled European matters in London and in Brussels, working on energy issues and the birth of European environmental policy. Back in London he ran UN issues in the Foreign Office and took charge of the preparation for the 1992 ‘Earth Summit’, which achieved the first global agreement on Climate Change. After a year at Harvard he published a book about international environmental policy – ‘The Greening of Machiavelli’ (Royal Institute of International Affairs, Energy and Environmental Programme, 1994), learnt Russian and spent 1994-1998 in Moscow dealing with Russian economic reform. After a further period in London on UN matters (including the establishment of the International Criminal Court), he was posted in 2001 to Washington dealing with the consequences of 9/11, the Afghanistan war and the Iraq war. In 2004-2008 he was posted to Moscow as Ambassador where he managed Britain’s relations with Russia during a turbulent period. He edited a publication Historically Inevitable?: Turning Points of the Russian Revolution (Profile Books, 2016). Tony is a regular commentator in The Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent and other British publications, Director of the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce and a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. Sir Tony Brenton has been a patron of the Cambridge Russian-Speaking Society since May 2018.

This talk is part of the The Cambridge Russian-Speaking Society series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Trinity Hall, Main Lecture Theatre, Trinity Lane, Cambridge CB2 1TJ
• The Cambridge Russian-Speaking Society

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