English "Cloak And Dagger Knights" at the Court of Catherine II
The article is devoted to the unexplored problem in the historiography of intelligence activities of British ambassadors at the court of Catherine the Great. Modern historians do not pay enough attention to the study of the "secret war", most likely due to the lack of necessary sources. Based on diplomatic correspondence and memoir literature of ambassadors John Buckinghamshire, George Macartney, Сharles Cathcart, James Harris, the author covers the unofficial, secret activities of diplomats. It turns out that the most important for the ambassadors were information about the Army and Navy of the Russian Empire, as well as information about the state of affairs in Russia and the first persons of the state - Catherine II, and her Ministers and confidants. It is emphasized that to collect such information was entrusted to the ambassadors by the reigning king George III. The author comes to the conclusion that diplomats were often informed by high-ranking Russian officials, including well-known statesmen N. Panin, G. Potemkin, who due to selfish motives or "special" disposition to Britain - anglophiliya, supplied ambassadors with secret information, thereby causing obvious harm to their state. Information about the Army and Navy of the Russian Empire occupied a primary place in the intelligence of ambassadors. Important for the British government, and hence for the ambassadors, was also information about the first persons of the Russian state. Therefore, each of the ambassadors felt it necessary to inform London about their observation of the activities of the Empress and her entourage of ministers, the courtiers. All diplomats saw them as a potential source of information that could be used in the interests of the Great Britain.