Századok – 2019
2019 / 6. szám - MAGYAR HIVATALVISELŐK MÁRIA TERÉZIA SZOLGÁLATÁBAN - Olga Khavanova: Madridtól Szentpétervárig. Gróf Esterházy Miklós, Mária Terézia első magyar karrierdiplomatája
OLGA KHAVANOVA 1139 az orosz–osztrák szövetséget létrehozni és fenntartani: „Egy olyan hatalmas országnak, mint Oroszország, amely minden erőforrással rendelkezik, nincs szüksége külső szövetségesre.”76 Esterházy Miklós hosszú külügyi szolgálatának tapasztalataiból pedig tudta, hogy ez így igaz. FROM MADRID TO ST. PETERSBURG Count Miklós Esterházy, the first Hungarian Career Diplomat of Maria Theresa by Olga Khavanova SUMMARY Count Miklós Esterházy (1711–1764), brother of Ferenc Esterházy, Hungarian royal chancellor, was one of those Hungarian aristocrats who were employed as professional diplomats by the Viennese court. Having studied, together with his younger brother Ferenc, at one of Europe’s oldest noble academies at Lunéville in Lotharingia, from October 1732 to April 1733, Count Miklós went on a Kavalierstour. In 1738 he obtained part of a councillorship at the Hungarian Royal Lieutenancy Council. In 1741 he was chosen by Maria Theresa as ambassador extraordinary to Great Britain, probably on account of his general acquaintance with European affairs and in particular his familiarity with London. Thus began Miklós Esterházy’s twenty-year-long diplomatic career: having served at Lisbon, Dresden, and Madrid, in 1753 he was transferred to St. Petersburg, where, as Imperial and Austrian ambassador, he served for eight years as the instrument of cooperation between the two courts in times of both peace and the Seven Years War. In the absence of the family and personal archives of the Count, the study reconstructs his career and analyses the experiences he underwent throughout its period on the basis of the reports of Esterházy himself. 76 Jekatyerina Daskova: Zapiski 1743–1810. Moszkva 2009. 149. Többek között emlegeti „Keglovics grófot”, akit még szentpétervári tartózkodása idejéről ismert, és örömmel értesült róla, hogy II. József bizalmasainak a köréhez tartozott, lásd Uo. 147.
