Charles E. Piguet (17 April 1859 – 24 September 1918) was a Swiss tutor. He tutored the sons of
Nicholas I of Montenegro and served as the
honorary consul of the
Kingdom of Montenegro in Switzerland until 1918.
Life
Piguet was born in
Geneva in 1859. He studied medicine.
From 1881 to 1901, Piguet lived in the Montenegrin capital of
Cetinje
Cetinje (, ) is a town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital (''prijestonica'' / приjестоница) of Montenegro and is the location of several national institutions, including the official residence of the president of Montenegro ...
. Here, he tutored the sons of
Nicholas I of Montenegro, Princes
Danilo,
Mirko and
Peter.
In 1916, Montenegro established a consular mission in
Geneva, and Piguet was considered for the position of
honorary consul. He held the position until his death, after which it became vacant. He was the sole consul of Montenegro in Switzerland, since the kingdom was absorbed into the new
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes shortly after his death.
Piguet also worked as a translator and translated ''Gordana'' by the Serbian writer
Laza Kostić into French.
Honors
In 1893, Piguet became an Officer of the French
Legion of Honour. He was awarded the
Order of the Crown of Italy
The Order of the Crown of Italy ( it, Ordine della Corona d'Italia, italic=no or OCI) was founded as a national order in 1868 by King Vittorio Emanuele II, to commemorate the unification of Italy in 1861. It was awarded in five degrees for civi ...
, Commander class in 1894.
Mentions
Piguet was mentioned in several
travelogues by authors who visited Cetinje.
In her ''Twenty Years Of Balkan Tangle'',
Edith Durham recalls Piguet as a "truly tactful man" who would often defuse heated altercations between the Foreign Ministers Plenipotentiary.
Henrik Angell Henrik August Angell (22 August 1861 – 26 January 1922) was a Norwegian military officer, sportsman, and writer. He was a ski pioneer and the first Norwegian delegate to the International Olympic Committee.
Early life
Henrik Angell was born ...
describes him in ''Gjennem Montenegro paa Ski'' as a "diligent man, working all day despite the cold", as well as a "huge, handsome fellow, naturalized Montenegrin".
In his memoir ''Bilješke jednog pisca'',
Simo Matavulj
Simo Matavulj ( sr, Симо Матавуљ, 14 September 1852 – 20 February 1908) was a Serbian writer.
He was a representative of lyric realism, especially in short prose. As a writer, he is best known for employing his skill in holding up ...
writes of his friendship with Piguet, who he says had a "poetic soul and extensive literary education". He describes Piguet as a "mystic and convinced
spiritist", which he preached with "proselytizing zeal".
The Swiss painter
William Ritter also mentions Piguet in his travelogue.
Works
* Le Monténégro, 1905
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piguet, Charles
1859 births
1918 deaths
Honorary consuls
Montenegrin diplomats
Officers of the Legion of Honour
Recipients of the Order of the Crown (Italy)
19th-century Swiss educators