Heading: (American Navy hosts Russian Grand Duke, 1877)
Author:
Title: Printed program for a Ball given in honor of visiting Officers of the Czarist Russian Naval fleet
Place Published: Norfolk, Virginia
Publisher:
Date Published: 1877
Description:

Norfolk, Virginia Navy Yard, Feb. 8, 1877. 3 x 4.5", gold-bordered card with original red tassel attached. Graphic shows crossed American and Russian Imperial flags. On verso is a list of the 18 dances, from Waltzes to a Virginia Reel.

Though unstated, everyone knew that one of the attending officers was the Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, 27 year-old unmarried son of the Czar Alexander.

Alexeri had visited the United States six years before, as goodwill ambassador , staying for three months that included a gala reception at the White House by President Grant and a buffalo hunt in Nebraska, accompanied by General Sheridan, the ill-fated General Custer, and Buffalo Bill. The young Grand Duke was nominally a bachelor - he secretly had a son by his liaison with an unsuitable commoner - and it was widely rumored that became "enamored" of various of the American dance partners he met on his trip.

When the Russian fleet visited again in 1877, remaining for five months. Alexis came again, this time as captain of one of the Russian warships. Since he was still a bachelor, each gala social event - including the Ball for which this program was issued - was a scene of frantic interest to the young American women in attendance. One belle with whom he was to dance was so nervous that she fainted in his arms. An American newspaper humorously reported that he merely handed her off to an older lady with the comment, "Too-damn-thin-ovitch".

All memorabilia of the Grand Duke's visits to America are rare.

Very good.