Forsaking the priesthood about 1864, he was employed as a diplomatist by the British government in Egypt, Asia Minor, the West Indies, and Bulgaria, being appointed resident minister in Uruguay in 1884; he died at Montevideo on the 30th of September 1888.
Accepting the position in which the Tudor king would have his great nobles, he became the faithful soldier, diplomatist and official of the new power.
As a diplomatist he displayed many brilliant qualities - adroitness in negotiation, incisiveness in argument and elegance in style.
As a diplomatist he has had few rivals and perhaps no superiors.
In that year he was made an adjutant-general, lieutenant-colonel of the Preobrazhensky Guards, a member of the council of state, and, in the words of a foreign contemporary diplomatist, "the most influential personage in Russia."
