Prince Cantacuzene

Prince Grigory Lvovich Cantacuzene (1843–1902) entered the Russian Foreign Ministry in the 1860s. He worked in Vienna and Paris, then held counselor appointments in London and Vienna before becoming minister to the United States in 1892. His Washington work included arrangements connected with Russia’s participation in the Chicago world’s fair and recognition of Americans who had organized relief during the Russian famine. ¹

Commercial negotiations occupied a substantial part of his assignment. After Russia extended concessions enjoyed by French goods to American products, Cantacuzene sought clarification of reciprocal treatment in the United States. He discussed the question repeatedly with Secretary of State Walter Q. Gresham. The eventual February 1895 reply affirmed Russia’s equal tariff treatment but excluded the special American reciprocity agreement with Hawaii. ²

He also enforced discriminatory imperial restrictions on Jewish travelers. When American officials questioned the refusal of a visa to naturalized U.S. citizen Mannie Lerin in 1893, Cantacuzene replied that the Russian consul had followed instructions barring foreign Jews except in specified cases. ³

Cantacuzene signed amendments to the extradition convention in 1893 and a temporary fur seal protection agreement in 1894. He transferred to Württemberg in 1895, also representing Russia in Baden until 1897. He died in Stuttgart in 1902 and was buried at Komargorod, now in Ukraine. ¹