Reminds me of Castlereigh trying to deal with Tsar Alexandar I at the The Congress of Vienna (1814)

https://youtu.be/QtOXq9SwarQ?t=1061

It's difficult to characterize Tsar Alexander, because it seems that most of his mental energy was caught up in creating narratives about what kind of person he was, and not so much on what he did or how he behaved. Alexander had 8 or 10 of these narratives going through his head at the same time, and wasn't particularly bothered when they contradicted each other.

Alexander considered himself a true "Enlightenment Monarch," and told anybody who would listen that he believed in a limited, constitutional monarchy, and wanted Russia to have elections, and a parliament, and independent courts. At the same time, he ruled Russia as a tyrannical dictator, which was justified in his mind because he believed that he was God's chosen instrument on Earth. These two thoughts are not compatible.

But Alexander did not see a contradiction. He would simply switch between these two modes of thought depending on who he was talking to and how he felt that day.

Alexander believed himself to be the most honourable man in Europe, a man who revered ritual, and tradition, and justice. Simultaneously, he believed that God made him Emperor of Russia for a reason, and if he needed to go back on his word and use brute force to implement his will, that was all part of God's plan.

These contradictory beliefs made Alexander impossible to deal with. His positions came off as utterly random, and they could change at any time depending on his mood.