VIII
Return to Russia
As Chakrabongse wrote in his diary, ‘After lighting candles and joss-sticks for my ancestors and the Buddha images, we said good-bye to our son and went by steamboat to Ta Tien.’
Assembled at the landing-stage were members of the Royal Family, prominent army officers, the French Ambassador and the King with a full cavalry escort. Having bidden farewell to each member of this large group and ‘respectfully taken leave of the King’, Chakrabongse, Katya and Chakrabongse’s ADC, Prince Amornthad (‘Tapong’) continued by boat to their ship the Donai. Awaiting them on board were many of the diplomatic corps and their wives and a number of Siamese officials so that it was only after these additional farewells that they finally got away. Even then a few close friends remained for luncheon, going ashore when the ship reached the mouth of the river and finally allowing Chakrabongse and Katya to retire to their cabin.
After two days at sea, their first ports of call were to be French Indo-China – Cambodia and later Vietnam. The journey was recorded by Chakrabongse in his diary and while sometimes disappointingly factual, the reader is able to track their trip in some detail. Of Phnom Penh Chakrabongse commented in a soldierly way that it ‘is a city which was attacked in the past by our armies.’ Then back on the Donai ‘on a sea as calm and waveless as a drum-skin’, they sailed for Saigon arriving – dead on time – at seven in the morning, where they were welcomed by the Governor’s Chef du Cabinet, the Siamese Consul and a representative of the Messageries Maritime.
They found Saigon ‘a truly European town with smart shops in the wide main street, shaded by fine trees, with an impressive theatre and pleasant cafés – just as one would find in France.’ After an official luncheon and a siesta, they were taken for a drive in the cool of the evening and Chakrabongse noted with surprise that ‘what is very strange is that there are graves and burial grounds all over the place, for if the Vietnamese take a fancy to dig a grave, they just go ahead and do so. And for some reason a grave by the roadside is thought especially desirable!’ Having dined with the Governor General, one hopes they were early in bed for, around dawn, General Leblois came to conduct Chakrabongse on a tour of army installations.
At the Barracks of the Infanterie Coloniale, after being received by a full fanfare, the Siamese National Anthem and the Marseillaise, they proceeded to the parade-ground, where a company was lined up for inspection in battle-gear. According to Chakrabongse ‘company exercises which followed were unimpressive – but the French are often like this’. Nor was he greatly impressed by the next barracks about which his only comment was: ‘Not at all clean!’
The next part of their journey was overland by the Chinese Northern Railway, on which their first stop was to be Mukden (scene of the bloodiest battle of the Russo-Japanese war). Here they were received by the Japanese and French Consuls and officials from the South Manchurian Railway. According to Chakrabongse, ‘the station was spacious, clean and tidy, and the hotel, only recently built inside the station, was in European style and extremely comfortable. We had a large bedroom, adjacent bathroom and a sitting-room to receive guests.’
However, hardly had they installed themselves and prepared to relax, than the sitting-room immediately filled with about 20 Japanese officers and officials, who lined up to greet them. As there was no common language, conversation was impossible and Chakrabongse comments: ‘They all seemed clumsy and awkward and shook my hand till it was bruised. Even our recently graduated young officers would have coped much better.’ These strictures perhaps have a particularly sharp edge due to the ordeal of facing twenty speechless, bowing Japanese, when he and Katya were fatigued and hungry. Fortunately dinner in their private dining-room was ‘enjoyable European style food – quite edible.’
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A Russian map showing the route taken by Chakrabongse and Katya on the Chinese Northern Railway.
Early next morning, the Chinese Minister accompanied them on a carriage tour of the town, first with an escort of Japanese cavalry, and on arrival at the Chinese Quarter, by Chinese Mounted Police. In the centre of the walled city was Mukden Palace with a bright yellow and green porcelain roof and scarlet, carved wood supports. Inside the Treasury, they examined rare books and portraits of Chinese Emperors. But what impressed them most was a sumptuous gold-yellow Emperor’s coat embroidered with the five-fingered dragon and sewn with seed-pearls, a royal hunting-hat encrusted with precious stones and a lavishly decorated saddle.
From a three-storied pavilion in an inner courtyard, they had a fine view of Mukden and were plied with tea and champagne. After luncheon the Japanese and French Consuls saw them into their train, where they were provided with ‘an extremely grand carriage with two beautifully decorated drawing-rooms and a dining-room with the table already laid.’
At Tiehling a General joined them from the Brigade charged with Railway Security. ‘He was really of the old school, and much amused us by seizing every chance to bow, salute and click his heels with tremendous verve and precision. These soldiers have no European characteristics whatever.’
Chakrabongse recorded that the train made a short stop at Szepingkai, ‘Where the Russian Army made its last stand and where traces of their outposts were still visible.’ By eight o’clock that night, they had reached ‘Changchun, the last station on the South Manchurian Railway, where the line connects with the Russian Railway.’
Although recorded in his usual laconic manner, this is a moment that must have been emotionally moving for both him and Katya, for it was five years since they had set foot on Russian soil. While to Katya it was naturally dear, as being her native land, it must also have been of great significance to Chakrabongse as the country where his most formative years had been spent – where he had worked so hard and so successfully – where he had fallen in love so madly, and participated in the glories of Imperial splendour, now inexorably in decline.
Chakrabongse continues:
‘At this station there were not only Chinese and Japanese Guards of Honour and the Mayor of Changchun in uniform, but also a representative bearing greetings from the Emperor and an official from the Russian Railways. Thus there were three nations vying with one another to pay us the greatest attention!
‘After dividing conversation between them as best I could, but naturally chatting a little longer with the Tsar’s Emissary, we were just about to board the train in which we had been given a coach from the Imperial Palace, when I was grabbed by a Chinese Official, who announced we could not possible go before he entertained us. So we were hurried into a minute room – not big enough to swing a cat – and also dirty and smelly, where after drinking even more tea and champagne, we were at last allowed to leave!’
On the train, to his great surprise, was his old batman Alfred whom he had not seen since his days in St Petersburg. At Harbin reached at 9 am the next day, Chakrabongse donned his Russian uniform brought by Alfred, noting that ‘although all was in order, my sword had inexplicably been sent to Japan, so I had to borrow Baron Mayendorff’s. (The latter presumably being the Tsar’s emissary sent to accompany the Prince’s party.)
‘To greet us at Harbin were four Russian Generals including General Mardunoff, whom I was particularly pleased to meet: a most excellent soldier, who made a great name for himself in the recent war. In addition to these top-brass, there was a hundred-man strong Guard of Honour and not one, but a whole line of buglers.