Handsome, charming and modest, Nicholas was easy to like. He was also, Edward judged, ‘weak as water’3 – and weakness in the autocratic monarch of a vast empire did not bode well. Worse, the premature death of his father had left him ill-equipped to shoulder responsibilities of such overwhelming magnitude. ‘I know nothing of the business of ruling,’ he wailed upon his accession at the age of twenty-six. ‘I have no idea of even how to talk to the ministers.’4 In dealing with one so diffident, Edward realised that charm would yield greater dividends than pugnacity.
