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# Andrey Rostopchin, son of Moscow's governor-general, looked far older than his years
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/chelovek-prezhdevremenno-sostarivshiisia-vyzyvaet-udivlenie-esli-ne-strakh/
- Published: 2019-03-14T18:53:32.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:00:21.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Aristocracy, Archive, Observations, Mores

"A man prematurely aged provokes surprise, if not fear"

Countess Lydia Andreyevna Rostopchina applied this conclusion to the memory of her father, Andrey Fyodorovich.

Not very flattering words, but the fact is that the younger son of the all-powerful Governor-General of Moscow really did look considerably older than his years. And when his future father-in-law, on the eve of the wedding, happened to see in some papers that the bridegroom was not past thirty but only eighteen, there was a dreadful scene of embarrassment: the groom turned out to be even younger than the bride, which struck her most of all, and which nobody could ever have suspected, given his appearance.

“Despite his premature baldness, my father knew how to please when he wished to. He had an imposing bearing, a fine figure, a brilliant and playful wit,” recalled the 67-year-old Lydia Andreyevna of her papa.

It will sound banal, but in fact it is not appearances that one ought to fear in people, nor appearances that should surprise us.