Whakakiia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whanau a Nikolay Ignatyev i St Petersburg, ki a Maria Ivanovna Maltsova me Kapene Pavel Nikolayevich Ignatyev. I tangohia tona papa i roto i te manakohia e te Tsar Nicholas ahau, no te mea o tona pono i runga i te take o te
I puta te tutu Decembrist i te tau 1825, a ko te Grand Duke Alexander (i muri mai ko Tsar Alexander II) i tu hei kaitautoko i te iriiringa o te tamaiti. Whai muri i tana tohu i te Corps of Pages, i te tekau ma whitu o ona tau ka noho ia hei rangatira mo nga Kaitiaki o Ruhia, e mahi ana me te Hussar Guards Regiment o tona Rangatiratanga. Katahi ka tohua a Ignatyev ki te Kaiwhakahaere Matua me te noho hei kaiawhina ki te rangatira rangatira i te rohe hoia o Estonia. I whakatairangahia ia hei rangatira i te tau 1856. I te wa o te mahi a Ignatyev i muri mai, kaore ia i te pai ki a Count Pyotr Shuvalov: tetahi atu Corps of Pages alumnus.