 In 1909, he organised the visit to Great Britain of a delegation of the Third Duma on which occasion he was presented with a silver punch bowl and salver with eighteen goblets.Reputed to be the products of the Faberge workshop, these are currently on display in the foyer of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies building at University College London.With the outbreak of the First World War, Pares was appointed official observer to the Russian army and later seconded to the staff of the British Embassy in Petrograd.