"Wasteland" - that's what "andurrial" means in translation from the Basque language. Andorra was once a wasteland. A tiny country sandwiched in the eastern Pyrenees between France and Spain. Today this state is not called any other than an economic paradise. And largely thanks to our compatriot - Boris Skosyrev …
True, in the "Pyrenean dwarf" - and Andorra is called that way - they prefer not to remember this man. As if it never existed. That is why information about Skosyrev is so few and so contradictory …
Act-pareage
The roots of this story, as usual, go back to the distant past. In 1278, Spain and France agreed on joint custody of Andorra. The Bishop of Urgell and the Comte de Foix shook hands and decided: the Spaniards ruled the principality for six months, and the French for the other six months.
This status quo has persisted for centuries. Andorrans were so happy with this state of affairs that when, during the French Revolution, the new government declared Andorra independent, the "Pyrenean dwarf" was outraged: "Trampling on traditions! Shame! Ugliness!" Indignation reached its limit in 1806: it was then that the Andorrans sent a petition to Napoleon demanding "to return everything as it was." They say that Bonaparte chuckled: “Andorra is a political curiosity that must be preserved,” and allowed the principality to return to medieval order …
Andorra returned to her secluded life: she strictly maintained neutrality and generally preferred to "keep my head down." And the peculiarities of the geographical location and disgusting roads contributed greatly to this.
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XX century begins
Secluded life in the mountains ended at the beginning of the 20th century. At first, good roads "came" to Andorra, and already along them - telegraphs, telephones, and most importantly - people! Completely different people from the civilized world - with different views and, what is worse, ideas: about democracy, sovereignty, world order, etc.
As a result, in August 1933, Andorrans suddenly came to their senses: why, all these 655 years, France and Spain have been robbing us! They use our minerals (and the local mountains are literally stuffed with iron and lead ore, copper and pyrite), they rule our country! And we? - Sovereignty is urgently required!
Spain, which at that time was shaken by its own revolutions, was not averse to yielding to Andorra's demands, but France was not going to surrender without a fight: a military invasion seemed more than possible.
The press of all three participating countries relished the events in every way, dubbing them the "Andorran revolution". It was then that our compatriot, the Russian emigrant Boris Skosyrev, appears on the stage.
At the right time in the right place
When a former officer of the tsarist army, who had once served in the Baltic Fleet, showed up in Andorra, he was already 37.
Tall blue-eyed blond. Dandy antennae. The unchanging silver cane. A suit with a needle. Fiery speeches and the title of Earl of Orange, coupled with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Dutch army. All of this was impressive. Looking at this man, no one would have thought that he had 16 years of emigration behind him, which included a short service in the Royal Naval Forces of Great Britain and the Netherlands, marriage with an elderly French woman and a life supported by a rich American woman, Polly P. Herd. And he has no money, no earl, no military rank. But - the gift of persuasion and eloquence! And most importantly, the desire to "disinterestedly" help Andorrans, who "have no leader, no proper organization, and there is no program of further action either."
Boris Skosyrev, sorry, Count of Orange, "the best friend of King Juan III of Spain" appeared in the right place at the right time. He turned up at the General Council - the highest legislative and executive body of power in Andorra, and almost promised to make the country "fabulously rich". He was sent home. But the extensive campaigning on the streets of the principality bore fruit: Skosyrev's eloquence made an impression on the 5,000 population of Andorra. The crowd literally carried him in their arms. After all, the "Count of Orange" promised all men suffrage, sovereignty, the abolition of taxes and private property on land, and most importantly - he guaranteed that he would end the dominance of foreigners!
It is not surprising that on July 7, 1934, the members of the General Council unanimously voted for the development program of Andorra, proposed by the Russian emigrant. Boris Skosyrev proclaimed himself king - Boris I, and proclaimed Andorra a monarchical state.
Long live the king
But what happened next - the versions diverge.
Some sources give Tsar Boris a little more than a week of reign. But they pay tribute to his "labor productivity": during this time he managed to compose the Constitution, consisting of only 17 points, and at the same time to keep most of his election promises.
Already on August 1, Spanish guards appeared in Andorra, sent by the Bishop of Urgell. They easily "overpowered" the royal army, which consisted of only 16 policemen, and overthrew Tsar Boris. He fled to Portugal, where his tracks were safely lost.
Another version leaves the throne for Skosyrev and even rewards the adventurer with heroic features.
Allegedly, Boris Mikhailovich ruled Andorra right up to 1941 and at times - very heroically. So, when the civil war began in Spain, he, in continuation of long traditions, kept state neutrality, but his sympathies were clearly on the side of the republicans. He freely allowed all Spanish refugees to follow through Andorra to France and, moreover, obliged the local population to help these forced emigrants in every possible way. Franco was beside himself with anger: only the intervention of France saved Andorra from a military conflict.
But in 1940, the Nazis occupied France, and the small principality lost its ally. The fascists hastened to eliminate Boris I, fearing that he, following humanistic views, would organize a shelter in Andorra for members of the French Resistance. In the fall of 1941, Skosyrev was taken to a concentration camp near Perpignan. There he died in 1944.
Finally, the third version marks Skosyrev for a much longer century.
They say that he managed to escape from the concentration camp. Allegedly, he got to the Eastern Front, and from there he moved to the Americans. As a result, Boris Mikhailovich and his wife settled in Thuringia, in the small town of Eisenach. But even there he was found - this time by the occupation Soviet troops: in 1948 Skosyrev was exiled to Siberia, where he remained until 1956. After waiting for his release, he went to West Germany, where he lived safely right up to 1989.
Rules of the game
Whatever the true history of the Russian adventurer, one thing is clear: Andorra, in particular, owes its current wealth to his ideas. After all, it was Tsar Boris who proclaimed universal suffrage in the principality, exempted all Andorrans from taxes, established a tax haven for foreign companies, and established an offshore zone. It was he who abolished private ownership of land, banned the sale of natural resources to foreigners. Simply put, it was he who came up with the rules of business by which they play in the "Pyrenean dwarf" even now. And they play very successfully.
Vladimir ROGOV