There is a mention of her in “War and Peace” L.N. Tolstoy, in the description of Natasha Rostova’s first ball. Maid of honor Peronskaya, describing the first persons of the Russian Empire who were in the hall to the newcomers in the high society of St. Petersburg, Countess Rostova, her daughter and niece, notes: “Here she comes! No, our Marya Antonovna is the best! And how simply dressed. Lovely!”. The ball in the novel is dated to the eve of 1810. Hence, Maria Naryshkina was almost 31 years old at that time (for a woman at that time - “pre-retirement” age), and she was already the mother of five children. But time seemed to have no power over her beauty.
Contemporaries Maria Antonovna They are unanimous in their mentions of her - she was an extraordinary beauty. “Her beauty was so perfect that it seemed impossible, unnatural... The ideal features of her face and the impeccability of her figure stood out even brighter with the ever-present simplicity of her attire.”, - the famous memoirist and gossip wrote about the royal favorite Philip Wiegel (1786-1856).
Portrait of Maria Naryshkina by the Austrian portrait painter I.-M. Grassi.
Countess MARIA ANTONOVNA NARYSHKINA(nee princess Svyatopolk-Chetvertinskaya)(1779-1854) was a descendant of an ancient Ukrainian (Volyn) princely family, directly descended from Rurikovich. The founder of the family is considered to be the Grand Duke of Kyiv, Svyatopolk Izyaslavich(1050-1113), grandson Yaroslav the Wise, son of his eldest son Izyaslav Yaroslavich(1024-1078). The surname of the family itself was formed from the name of their family estate Chetvertnya in Volyn, and was first mentioned in documents from 1388. Console “Svyatopolk” appeared, according to Polish traditions, closer to birth Maria, after the clan was Polished and Catholicized (the first of the ancestors of the favorite Alexandra I her great-grandfather converted to Catholicism, Gabriel Vyacheslavovich, although his own brother, Sergey, was a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church under the name Sylvester, and until the last day of his life he defended Orthodoxy from the oppression of Catholics and Uniates in his Mogilev and Mstislav dioceses, on the territory of modern Belarus).
Interestingly - Chetvertinsky can rightfully be called one of the main Ukrainian collaborators and hereditary traitors to national interests. For example, great-grandfather's cousin Maria, prince Grigory Zakharovich Chetvertinsky(died in 1690) forever “famous” in the history of Ukraine for becoming the first Metropolitan of Kyiv ( Gideon), subordinate to the Moscow Patriarchate. November 8, 1685 Moscow Patriarch Joachim erected Gideon to the rank of Metropolitan of Kyiv and took an oath of allegiance to Moscow from him.
Before this, the Kiev Metropolis (the first and oldest in the territory of the former USSR) was completely independent of Moscow, and directly subordinate to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Yes, after the subordination of Moscow, the Kiev church department was recognized as the original one in Russia, but not for long - already from January 27, 1688 (just 2 years later), the Kiev Metropolitan was forbidden to use the title “Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and All Rus'” (it was allowed to be called “Metropolitan of Kyiv” , Galitsky and Little Russia”). The property rights of the metropolis were also significantly limited. The largest monasteries (Kievo-Pechersk Lavra, Polotsk Epiphany and Mezhigorsky monasteries) received stauropegy and, together with the Chernigov diocese, were removed from the jurisdiction of the metropolitan and subordinated directly to the Moscow Patriarch.
But the most outstanding collaborator of this Ukrainian noble family was the father of our heroine, Prince Anthony-Stanislav Svyatopolk-Chetvertinsky(1748-1794) - for which, ultimately, he paid with his life. Kastelian of Przemysl (Przemysl, with its capital in the ancient Ukrainian city of Przemysl, renamed Przemysl by the Poles), a participant in many Polish diets, he led a pro-Russian party in the Polish parliament, which openly spoke out against reforms and the adoption of a constitution. His party had full support (primarily financial) Catherine II, which helped its figures financially. During the uprising Kosciuszko in 1794 he was hanged by the Poles without trial or investigation in front of his family for his commitment to Russia and betrayal of national interests.
After my father's death Maria Chetvertinskaya She, along with her brother and sister, became an orphan at the age of 15. Her mother, a noblewoman from a Swedish-Dutch family, Baroness Tekla von Campenhausen(about 1750-1784), died when the girl was only 5 years old. Stepmother, Coletta Adamovna Kolonevskaya(1774-1840), the former was only 5 years older Maria, took her stepdaughters and stepson, along with her own two sons, to St. Petersburg, to the court Catherine II.
The empress granted the widow 1,500 souls of peasants (a huge fortune in those days) in Lithuania, in the Grodno province, and the court title of lady of state (which did not prevent her from later returning to Poland). Both daughters were granted maids of honor and placed in the palace, and their brother, the young prince Boris- assigned to the cadet corps, from where on January 1, 1796, despite his still very young years (he was only 12 years old), he was released as a second lieutenant in the Preobrazhensky regiment. All five children of the collaborator who died “for loyalty to Russia” eventually occupied a brilliant position at the St. Petersburg court. And, of course, they accepted the Orthodox faith. At 16 years old, a young beauty Maria married to a 31-year-old count Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin(1764-1838), one of the richest nobles of Russia at that time and a relative of the ruling royal house Romanovs(his paternal grandfather, Alexander Lvovich Naryshkin(1694-1746), was cousin Peter I.
When exactly did the love affair begin? Maria Antonovna With Alexander I, it is not known exactly. It is generally accepted that the beautiful Ukrainian woman was the main official favorite of the emperor for 15 years. And since their relationship ended in 1813, it means it began somewhere in 1798, even before Alexander Pavlovich ascended the throne after the murder of his father, Paul I(in 1801).
Alexander I and his wife, Elizaveta Alekseevna, née Louise Maria Augusta of Baden - before they became Emperor and Empress in 1801. Portraits ca. 1795. This dating also coincides with the fact that the husband Maria Naryshkina considered only her eldest daughter to be his child, Marina Dmitrievna Naryshkina(1798-1871), although all the children of the emperor’s favorite bore his surname and patronymic. An interesting point in his biography: remaining resigned throughout his life after marriage “cuckold of all Rus'”(and, by the way, also not being a model of marital fidelity), Dmitry Naryshkin, however, prepared in advance a kind of “rebellion” after his death in 1838 - bequeathing all the huge property to his only daughter Marina(by that time Guryeva), bypassing the “son” Emmanuel. However, the inheritance of the largest family fortunes of the Russian Empire, according to the then existing laws, could not be carried out without the signature of the emperor, so Nicholas I immediately eliminated this “afterlife demarche” of the fake father of his nephews. Of course, Count Naryshkin could not help but understand that the consequences of his posthumous protest would be exactly this. So he looked both then and now, a kind of “fig in his pocket” - as pathetic as the status of this courtier, which was assigned to him for centuries.
To your royal lover Maria She gave birth, as is commonly believed, to five children - four daughters and one son. Three daughters - two Elizabeth And Zinaida– died almost immediately after birth (in 1803, 1804 and 1811, respectively). Another daughter Sophia(1808-1824), died of consumption at the age of 16, almost on the eve of her wedding to the Count Andrey Petrovich Shuvalov(1802-1873). Her death hit me very hard Alexandra I, who doted on his only daughter (two of the emperor’s daughters from a legal marriage died in early infancy, moreover Alexander I was not their biological father, although he recognized them as his children), and may have hastened his own death the following year, 1825.
Sofia “Naryshkina”. The only child of Alexander I who did not die in childhood. It should be noted that debauchery specifically with crowned persons, apparently, was in the senior branch of the family Svyatopolk-Chetvertinsky(to which the royal favorite belonged) was a family feature. If Maria Antonovna was in an intimate relationship with Alexander I, in total, approximately 15 years old, then her own older sister, Princess Zhanetta Antonovna Chetvertinskaya(1777-1854), was the mistress of the emperor's younger brother, the Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich(1779-1831), at least 8 years. Their relationship began even before marriage Constantine in 1796, when Jeannette was about 18 years old, and the crown prince was about 16. After the legal spouse Konstantin Pavlovich, Grand Duchess Anna Fedorovna(nee princess Julianne-Henrietta-Ulrike of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld(1781-1860) in 1801, under the pretext of her mother’s illness, she left Russia forever (the princess did not want to put up with the rude martinet antics of her husband), and it became clear to the royal family that she would never return to her husband, Konstantin in 1803 he decided to officially divorce her in order to marry Zhanetta Chetvertinskaya, but met strong resistance from his mother, the Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna and himself Alexandra I, so was forced to abandon these plans. His marriage was dissolved only in 1820, but for Jeannette this no longer mattered - in 1816, at the age of 39, having suffered the defeat of her ambitious hopes, she finally got married. Her husband, a Polish nobleman, count Severin Vyshkovsky(1771-1859), was an ardent Polish patriot and an opponent of everything Russian, so the elder sister spent the rest of her life Maria Naryshkina spent exclusively abroad, and died in Munich, where she was buried.
Zhanetta Chetvertinskaya, older sister of Maria Naryshkina. Miniature by unknown artist, 1800s. What Alexander Pavlovich I loved Maria Naryshkina, there is no doubt. He made no secret of his relationship with her, and lived practically between two families. For his wife, the empress Elizaveta Alekseevna(1779-1825) there was also no secret that the husband had, in fact, a second wife. This is evidenced, in particular, by an excerpt from her letter to her mother:
“... for such an act one must have shamelessness, which I could not even imagine. This happened at the ball... I talked to her, like everyone else, asked about her health, she complained of being unwell: “I think I’m pregnant.”... She knew very well that I knew who she could be pregnant from. I don’t know what will happen from this and how it will all end!”;
About feelings Maria Antonovna It is much more difficult to judge the emperor. Of course, she was pleased with the material confirmation of his affection for her. Her legal husband Dmitry Naryshkin, for example, was granted vast lands in the Tambov province, the elder sister, Zhanetta Chetvertinskaya, received as dowry from Alexandra I a huge sum of 200 thousand rubles at that time, and this happened in 1816, 3 years after the breakdown of relations between the emperor and his favorite. Her three younger brothers were not offended by rank and money either. However, over the course of 15 years of love relationships Maria Naryshkina I have never been faithful to my lover. This is what ultimately caused the end of their relationship.
At the end of 1812 Maria Antonovna fell in love with the prince Grigory Ivanovich Gagarin(1782-1837). The result of this hobby is believed to have been the birth of her only son, Emmanuil Dmitrievich Naryshkin(1813-1901). Although it was believed at that time, and is now believed, that the boy’s father was the emperor, and the legal spouse, apparently, did not care at all who his wife gave birth to children who bore his last name, immediately after the birth of the child Naryshkina was ordered to go traveling, and the prince Gagarin was dismissed from the post of Secretary of State (he was able to return to service only after 10 years. The prince’s wife, after 3 years of living apart, forgave him and accepted him back into the family much earlier, in 1816). I must say that Alexandra I, as time has shown, there was every reason for indignation:
On the left is Count Emmanuel Naryshkin, on the right is his alleged real father, Prince Grigory Gagarin. No DNA test is needed. Maria Antonovna together with her husband, Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin, and at that time, with her three children, she obediently left for Europe in 1813, and lived for a long time in France, Switzerland, Germany and England, visiting Russia only on short visits. In 1818, in St. Petersburg, she married off her only legitimate eldest daughter, Marina Dmitrievna Naryshkina(1798-1871), for a count, famous diplomat and envoy Nikolai Dmitrievich Guryev(1789-1849). In 1824, there, in St. Petersburg, she buried her daughter from Alexandra I, Sophia, who died at the age of 16, shortly before her own wedding.
In 1835 (after his death Alexandra I in 1825), at the age of 56, Maria Antonovna Naryshkina settled with her husband in Odessa. After 3 years she was widowed, and, according to rumors, after the death of her cuckolded husband, she married her last lover, a former aide-de-camp Pavel Ivanovich Brozin(1782-1845), which caused the displeasure of the younger brother of her late royal lover, Nicholas I. Apparently for this reason she spent the last years of her life with Brozin Abroad. She came to Odessa only occasionally.
Widowed again in 1845, at age 66, the former favorite Alexandra I made a pilgrimage to Palestine, where she lived for a year, as ill-wishers said, to atone for the sins of her youth. She died on September 6, 1854, at the age of 75, on Lake Starenberg, and was buried in Munich in the old southern cemetery.
The eldest, legitimate daughter of Maria Naryshkina is Countess Marina Guryeva. Portrait of an unknown artist from the 1820s. It is interesting that of the two remaining after the death of the Countess Maria Naryshkina The children were continued only by her only legitimate daughter, the Countess Marina Guryeva, who had two daughters and a son. Emmanuel Naryshkin, although he lived a long life (he died in 1901, at 88 years old), and was married twice, he never had children. His widow Alexandra Nikolaevna, born Chicherina(1839-1918), who devoted her life after the death of her husband to charity (with her money, a whole network of fully equipped hospitals for wounded soldiers during the Russo-Japanese War was organized), died of a broken heart while being transported by the Tambov Bolsheviks to the execution site. The fact that the daughter-in-law of the Tsar’s favorite was the aunt of the Soviet People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs Georgy Chicherin, didn't help her at all. After her death, the entire huge fortune Naryshkins was nationalized.
More interesting things: my own niece Maria Naryshkina, princess Natalia Chetvertinskaya(1825-1906), daughter of her brother Boris, married the eldest son of the Decembrist Fedor Shakhovsky, prince Dmitry Shakhovsky (1821-1863).
In November 1836, while still alive “the main cuckold of the Russian Empire” and his prodigal wife, A.S. Pushkin received an anonymous “diploma” of his election as Deputy Master of the Order of Cuckolds Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin. The authors hinted at a love relationship Natalia Nikolaevna Pushkina with the late emperor's younger brother Alexandra I, Nicholas I, in the most offensive way putting an “equal sign” between the poet and the count. This anonymous libel directly caused the duel and death of the poet.
P.S. The title illustration for the essay shows Natasha Rostova’s first ball (which was attended by Countess Maria Naryshkina). Still from the film “War and Peace” (Mosfilm, 1965-1967).
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Sophia was a lovely creature, everyone loved her - the emperor, the empress, the so-called “father” Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin. Maria Antonovna and her daughter were so good that no one was surprised, and there was no spirit to condemn all those responsible for the creation of this child.
Maria Antonovna's husband Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin was older than his beautiful wife and came to terms with his dual position at court and with his wife. All children born to Alexander I were called Naryshkins. Once at the Congress of Vienna, Emperor Alexander I asked his favorite Dmitry Lvovich about the health of his children, he answered: “Which children, Your Majesty, are you inquiring about? About mine or yours?”
But, despite the situation created in his family, Naryshkin D.L. adored all of Mary’s children, especially the fair-haired, blue-eyed, gentle and fragile Sophia.
The Naryshkins' dacha along the Peterhof road, where Sophia lived, was a real small palace, from the windows of which the Gulf of Finland, St. Petersburg and Krondstatt were visible. An English topiary garden with trellises and labyrinths strewn with yellow sand. In the chambers there is the heavy splendor of Pavlovsk times, painted ceilings, gilded furniture, wallpaper from Paris.
During His Majesty's receptions, the evening-ball opened with a traditional polonaise paired with Maria Antonovna.
On ordinary evenings, the emperor, having arrived at the Naryshkin palace, retired together with the mistress of the house to the boudoir she had arranged for their meetings. Everything here is simple, sweet, intimate. Maria told Alexander that she felt happy in this secluded corner, and unobtrusively inspired the emperor that this was his home too. Alexander is cold by nature, so he is grateful to his mistress for awakening in him gusts of passion that amaze him. In the circle of his second family, he enjoyed the warmth and charm of home comfort, which his marital hearth was deprived of.
Empress Elizabeth endures his betrayal with dignity.
Alexander is proud with happiness and love for his daughter Sophia. He writes to his sister Catherine: “I am at home and writing to you from a cozy nest, where my beloved woman and my long-awaited child are. My daughter Sophia adorns my existence.”
In the arms of the beautiful Mary, Alexander forgot everything: the magnificent ceremonies, the strictness of court etiquette, the halls of the imperial palace, where he was haunted by the shadow of his bloody father, and the wife who was with him on the night of the murder. Only away from his wife he tries to become a different person - a person who has no memories.
But he does not leave the empress and lives with two women and even visits the empress’s bedroom from time to time, since he does not lose hope for the birth of an heir to the throne. Tired of the ambivalent position with his women, he could have parted with Maria Antonovna, but he is restrained by fear for the health of his only daughter.
Sofya Naryshkina bravely endured her illness. Emperor Alexander chose Count Shuvalov as her husband, the wedding was scheduled for the summer. A magnificent wedding dress was brought from Paris, but the bride refused to look at it.
During the ice break-up, the disease intensified and hemoptysis began. The doctors were afraid to tell the Emperor that Sophia’s days were numbered.
Sophia struggled with her illness; As soon as she felt better, she got up, wandered around the castle, assuring everyone that she was almost healthy.
Her childhood friend and lover, Prince Valerian Golitsyn, having learned about her illness, was constantly with her and often persuaded her to eat at least something.
Sophia, looking back at her nanny Prokofievna, said: “Well, let’s finish the oatmeal! Ugh! See, I finished. Don't cry, silly! I'm better. Thank you! The prince will honor you, and I will rest.”
Raising her in his arms, the prince felt that every day she became lighter and lighter. He carried her to the balcony and sat her in a chair. Sophia pressed her face to him: “How good! Which sea! What sails! Where are they going? Far, far away. When they get there..." “When they get there, I will no longer be there,” Golitsyn guessed her thoughts.
She began to ask him about the Secret Society. But he told little, fearing that she might let it slip to the sovereign, but he felt that she understood more... He tried to distract her from her dark thoughts.
She read him poetry:
Oh, shame! Oh, the horror of our days!
Like beasts, the Janissaries invaded;
Inglorious blows will fall,
The crowned villain is dead!
She said that Dmitry Lvovich gave her the poems. Nanny also talked about this.
And suddenly she whispered: “Do you think he knew? Tell me...” “I think I didn’t know everything,” he answered forcefully, “just sick, unhappy...”
Sophia, with alarm in her voice, turned to her friend Golitsyn: “Valenka, I saw a terrible dream, a prophetic dream... You want to kill him, you, dear, my beloved, my only one, will raise your hand against my father! It would be better if you me...”
She trembled all over, thrashed like a wounded bird, sobbed, and then broke into a wracking cough. Finally, the coughing subsided. He thought about calling for help.
But she opened her eyes: “Not gone? Nothing, don't be afraid, has passed. Just don’t leave, stay with me...”
He fell to his knees, his eyes filling with tears.
Sophia continued: “Nothing, don’t cry, everything will be fine. I don't want to see Shuvalov, I want to run away with you. If necessary, we’ll run away, right?”
Golitsyn smiled. Hooves clattered on the bridge at the gate, and they listened.
In parting, she crossed herself and kissed him: “If I die, remember, I am always with you. Well, give me your blessing. Help and have mercy on us. Save us, Most Pure Mother! ”
He ran out of the room. On the stairs Golitsyn met the emperor and stood aside with a low bow. The Emperor frowned; he had long asked Maria Antonovna not to receive Prince Golitsyn. Sophia, contrary to her father’s demands, spent all her time with Golitsyn and did not let her fiancé Count Shuvalov see her. The Emperor was irritated.
But when he saw the condition of his only daughter, he immediately became worried. He had not seen her for only two days and was very frightened by such a change. He only now realized that she was terminally ill.
Returning to the city, after some time, Prince Golitsyn received a letter from Sophia’s mother, she asked to come to them immediately. He realized that Sophia was dying.
Her father sat by her bedside and thought that she was pretty and that the Romanov blood was noticeable in her, which was felt in the carriage of her head and the liveliness of her eyes. Sophia had the cheerful temperament of the Great Catherine herself, and before the disease had its destructive effect on her, with her beautiful figure she resembled Maria Naryshkina. He noticed that the hair curling around the girl's head was damp with sweat, and wiped her forehead with his handkerchief. She has to get better, she just has to! He gave alms in her name and ordered services in monasteries throughout Russia for her health.
If the Lord takes Sophie from him, then this can only mean one thing - that he is still not forgiven... Alexander planned a brilliant marriage for her, worthy of the legitimate daughter of a king. He often heard, sitting with his eyes closed, the sounds of the piano played by his daughter's pretty fingers.
He constantly read to her - no matter what, although she hardly listened to him. One day he stopped and looked at her.
He remembered his old conversation with Golitsyn. Golitsyn advised him to abdicate the throne. Alexander thought: “What have I done for people, I didn’t even give my only daughter happiness, forbidding her to meet her loved one, forcing a man she didn’t want. How to atone, what to say, what to do before it’s too late? Or is it too late?
Sophia opened her eyes, it seemed to him that she was thinking about the same thing. She began to calm him down: “No need, daddy, dear. Don't think, don't be afraid. Everything will be fine".
When he left the room, he saw Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin, who was standing in a dark corner by the door and quietly crying. The deceived husband, whom everyone laughed at, loved this wonderful child as if he were his own.
The Emperor hugged him, and both began to cry. He asked Naryshkin, if anything happened at night, to send for him.
I went to the maneuvers, after which I galloped back to the Naryshkins’ dacha. He could not later remember clearly what happened there. There were a lot of strangers there. Among them, he recognized Maria Antonovna, who threw herself on his neck shouting “Alexander!”, the crying Dmitry Lvovich and the old nanny, who told everyone that “Sofyushka died quietly, in her sleep.”
Sophia was lying in her wedding dress, and only a light strand of hair moved on the deceased woman’s forehead from the wind.
The Emperor touched his lips to the cold lips of his only beloved daughter and suddenly saw a small portrait of Empress Elizabeth on her chest. Next to her daughter stood her beloved man, her friend, Prince Valeryan Golitsyn. Sophia was between them, as if connecting irreconcilable people with her “presence”.
After the death of his daughter Sophia, Alexander became close to his wife Elizabeth.
Do you know, Lise, what torments me most? “That everyone I love is unhappy because of me,” he spoke, and she felt that he was not lying now.
Are we unhappy with you?
Yes. Sophia’s death, your illness, everything is from me. This is what I will never forgive myself for. Oh, how scary it is to think that you cannot return, redeem. I came to you and you...
She didn’t let him finish, she grabbed his head and pressed him to her, without words, without tears.
When he left, she went to bed, remembered the conversation with the sovereign and suddenly realized that he was dying and she was not able to save him.
Maria Antonovna was grieving the loss of her daughter and after the funeral she and her husband D.L. Naryshkin goes outside Russia, where she heard that Emperor Alexander died in 1825 in Taganrog, shortly after the death of his most beloved person - their only daughter Sophia.
The Naryshkins settled in Odessa in 1833. Few of the residents of Odessa recognized the middle-aged woman who occasionally appeared on the boulevard with an elderly gentleman in an old-fashioned camisole and a long frock coat as a social “lioness” - the beloved of Emperor Alexander I of Russia. Many who met her in the Cathedral knew that the old man, relentlessly following behind Naryshkina, none other than her husband Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin.
After the death of Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin, her faithful husband, in 1838, Maria Antonovna headed to Palestine. She spent almost a year on the Sinai Peninsula, atonement for her sins. Whether she found peace there, no one knows.
Maria Antonovna lived in Europe in recent years and found her peace in 1854 at the Sudlicher Friedhof cemetery in Munich.
Maria Naryshkina came from a Polish princely family that stood for rapprochement with Russia, and was the daughter of Prince Anthony-Stanislav Svyatopolk-Chetvertinsky (from his first marriage to the girl Copenhaus). Gifted by nature with a remarkable appearance, Maria was already a maid of honor at the age of 15. At the age of 16, Maria Chetvertinskaya marries 37-year-old Prince Dmitry Naryshkin.
In the portraits that have reached us, Maria Antonovna Naryshkina shines with bright beauty. Contemporaries testify that Maria Antonovna was truly a dazzling beauty. “Aspasia is dearer than all of them,” Derzhavin sang of her greatness. Possessing remarkable beauty and occupying a prominent position in the highest metropolitan society, the exquisite Polish woman skillfully sought and achieved the flattering attention of the childless Emperor Alexander Pavlovich. Her relationship with the emperor resulted in practically the creation of a second family. Although Alexander was officially married to Louise Maria Augusta of Baden, in fact for 15 years Alexander lived with Maria Antonovna Naryshkina and had two daughters and a son with her. She even insisted on dissolving the emperor’s marriage and officially recognizing herself as his wife.
Children
Maria Antonovna had six children, three of whom died in infancy, all of them were officially considered the children of Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin. It is generally accepted that the father of the other five children was Emperor Alexander I. Once Naryshkina insulted Empress Elizabeth, who described this incident in a letter to her mother in Baden: “... for such an act one must have shamelessness, which I could not even imagine. This happened at the ball... I talked to her, like everyone else, asked about her health, she complained of being unwell: “I think I’m pregnant.”... She knew very well that I knew who she could be pregnant from.”
- Marina Dmitrievna (1798-08/11/1871) - according to contemporaries, Naryshkin considered her only child to be his; married to Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Guryev (1792-1849).
- Elizaveta Dmitrievna (b. and d. 1803)
- Elizaveta Dmitrievna (d. 08/28/1804)
- Sofya Dmitrievna (1808-06/18/1824)
- Zinaida Dmitrievna (d. 07/18/1810)
- Emmanuil Dmitrievich (07/30/1813-12/31/1901) - chief chamberlain.
Emperor of All Russia from March 11 (24), 1801 to November 19 (December 1), 1825, the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Maria Feodorovna.
Family
In 1793, Alexander married Louise Maria Augusta of Baden (who took the name Elizaveta Alekseevna in Orthodoxy) (1779-1826), daughter of Charles Ludwig of Baden. Both of their daughters died in early childhood:
Maria (1799-1800); Elizabeth (1806-1808).
For 15 years, Alexander practically had a second family with Maria Naryshkina (nee Chetvertinskaya). She bore him two daughters and a son and insisted that Alexander dissolve his marriage to Elizaveta Alekseevna and marry her. Researchers also note that from his youth Alexander had a close and very personal relationship with his sister Ekaterina Pavlovna.
On the night of March 11-12, 1801, Emperor Paul was killed by conspirators. Paul's sons were so confused that night that the St. Petersburg governor-general, Count Palen, had to take the eldest, Alexander, by the shoulders and tell him: “Sovereign, it’s enough to be a child, go reign.” The new king was not yet 24 years old. He was a young man, taller than average, slightly stooped, reddish blond with a smile on his perfectly contoured lips and sad eyes. Even men admired the grandson of Catherine II, and women were ready to adore the handsome crowned man. The family life of the future crown-bearer almost immediately turned out unhappily. Catherine, when he was sixteen years old, married Mr. Alexander to the 14-year-old Baden princess Louise-Maria-August, who was named Elizabeth when she converted to Orthodoxy. He was handsome, she was charming, tender, fragile, and there was something airy, elusive in her appearance, external and internal, intimate. "Here are Cupid and Psyche!" - Catherine exclaimed, admiring this boy and girl, who, she thought, should have suited each other perfectly...
It happened, however, that they did not suit each other at all. “Psyche,” the young Grand Duchess, with the face of a frightened bird, thoughtful and passionate, needed love, needed tenderness and outpourings of a close heart. The husband either behaved like a boy or did not pay attention to her, returning from Gatchina, where a soldier was drilling with his father, so tired that he could barely stand on his feet, and, having slept, again hurried to the guardhouse. She wanted happiness and decided to look for it. Much is known about Elizaveta Alekseevna’s hobbies, but it has never been precisely determined whether she truly loved anyone before she met Alexander Okhotnikov. The ex-favorite of Catherine II, Platon Zubov, courted her, then his best friend, Prince Adam Czartoryski, fell in love with the Tsar’s wife. Elizabeth's love for the young officer Alexei Okhotnikov is an undeniable fact. But the idyll ended tragically. Okhotnikov was killed under mysterious circumstances. From a young age, Alexander Pavlovich sought oblivion in women, a break from the doubts and contradictions that tormented his soul.
Maria Antonovna Naryshkina, née Princess Svyatopolk-Chetvertinskaya, was his greatest passion. Maria Antonovna Naryshkina was Polish from birth. While still a very young girl, she was married to the favorite of Alexander I, Dmitry Naryshkin. As soon as the sovereign saw her for the first time, he fell madly in love and quickly achieved reciprocity with Naryshkina. They say that one fine day, when the emperor was in an excellent mood, he appointed Naryshkin chief huntsman with the words addressed to the wife of the deceived husband: “Since I gave him antlers, let him now be in charge of the deer.” The result of this relationship were three children, of whom the king madly loved his daughter Sophia. The children were all called Naryshkins, despite the fact that Maria Antonovna’s husband knew very well that he was not their father. Contemporaries testify that Maria Antonovna was truly a dazzling beauty. She was neither particularly intelligent, nor even particularly sensitive in a feminine way.
Sometimes, without intent, she caused him intense suffering. But for Alexander Pavlovich, when he held her in his arms, she was like nature itself, life itself - clear, merciful, unexpectedly revealed to him. Maria Antonovna was a desirable, irreplaceable friend... This romance began when Alexander was still the heir. After the tragedy of March 11, Alexander was again overcome by the desire to flee from the world, from power, from responsibility - to America, but not with Elizabeth, but with Maria Antonovna. He came to his senses: Elizabeth, the sorrowful “Psyche,” in search of happiness, moved her heart further and further from him, but they were connected by a friendship that was also painful, full of internal obstacles, like all their relationships. He did not run away then, did not break up with Elizabeth, and Maria Antonovna remained with him as a refuge from worries. But this connection did not always have a beneficial effect on his state of mind, for, having given him the joy of stormy, all-consuming passion, Maria Antonovna then tormented him with her countless love adventures. Alexander Pavlovich's jealousy reached the point that he was unable to hide his grief from strangers and, losing all self-control, complained about his mistress even... to the Napoleonic ambassador. However, he himself cheated on her no less. The life of Alexander Pavlovich was truly multifaceted, and it can be argued that women played the same role in his spiritual drama as the fight against Napoleon or the desire to transform the fatherland. He is the liberator of Europe, he is the first among monarchs, there is no one in the world who is more powerful than him. Alexander Pavlovich loved to show off, but usually he was a stranger to pomp, because his famous elegance itself was impeccable because it never caught the eye. The king's voice sounded more powerful at the congress in Vienna than the voice of other monarchs. The balls he gave, receptions, and ceremonies he organized were more magnificent than those in Austria. To outshine everyone - such was the desire of Catherine’s worthy grandson.
In Vienna, he decided to outshine everyone and... in love. Most likely, his Viennese adventures are a consequence of the fact that big politics by that time had already brought him a lot of disappointment. In them, too, he showed a truly Catherine-like scope. He began to court Countess Julia Zichy, the one whom everyone recognized as a dazzling beauty. But after a few days, Alexander’s eyes were turned to another: to Princess Bagration, the widow of the Borodino hero, nicknamed “Russian Andromeda” in Vienna. Soon his attention turned to Countess Esterhazy. At one of the balls, the tsar began to court Countess Szechenyi. He did not disdain ladies of more modest origin. Messrs. Schwartz and Schmidt, wives of St. Petersburg Germans, arrived in Vienna. Both were his former mistresses, and both in Vienna resumed their relationship with the Tsar, which caused general indignation. Let us note that Maria Antonovna was also in Vienna during the congress and Alexander Pavlovich did not break ties with her at all. There was also a wife in Vienna, Queen Elizabeth. They pitied the queen, and the Viennese society was very disapproving of the fact that Alexander Pavlovich forced her to go to Princess Bagration’s ball. However, although Elizabeth had the right to consider herself a victim of an extremely frivolous husband, she was still not deprived of some consolation, for in Vienna she again met Prince Adam Czartoryski, and the former idyll between them was resumed for a moment. So, Alexander Pavlovich spent his time in Vienna seemingly very carefree. It would, however, be completely erroneous to believe that amorous entertainment, even in the slightest degree, prevented him from fulfilling his duties. He actually headed the Russian delegation at the congress: he was in charge of Russian foreign policy, impressing with his persistence and knowledge of the matter all other monarchs who preferred to avoid direct participation in diplomatic disputes.
Alexander adored women. But when some higher considerations required this, he knew how not to succumb to even the most seductive love spells. The passion that the most beautiful and intelligent Queen Louise of Prussia had for him remained, in the end, unanswered. Knowing himself and not wanting to fall in love with the queen, fearing to give in to her and provide support to Prussia, the tsar wanted to protect the independence of his policy. Alexander Pavlovich, when he was visiting the royal couple in Memel, frightened at night by the arrival of this charming woman, locked himself away from her... Later, after the defeat of Prussia, she and her husband went to St. Petersburg, hoping to completely take possession of Alexander’s heart; he caressed her, but when at the ball he saw her, in a luxurious toilet, low-cut, sparkling with stones, next to Maria Antonovna, in a smooth white dress, without a single jewel, as always, blinding with her beauty alone, he enveloped his chosen one with a loving gaze, and the queen realized that she would not achieve her goal.
In Malmaison, in 1814, the king charmed the abandoned Empress Josephine with his courtesy. It is known that she died of a cold caught at night in the park, where she walked arm in arm with Alexander Pavlovich. The Russian Guard paid tribute to the ashes of Napoleon's ex-wife, whose last earthly joy was friendship with the Russian Tsar. At the same time, Alexander became close to her daughter, Queen Hortense. He visited her often and talked with her for a long time. Having defeated Napoleon and restored Louis XVIII to the throne, he in every possible way emphasized his affection for the emperor’s family and his associates.
Meanwhile, the tsar also happened to care for the maids. As you know, the Vienna “carnival” was overshadowed by a very unpleasant event: Napoleon returned to France, and the monarchs, who had quarreled a lot with each other at the congress, willy-nilly united again to fight. The Russian Tsar had to once again stand up for the “freedom of peoples.” The hour of the last battle with the “usurper” has come. Two weeks before Waterloo, Alexander Pavlovich arrived in the Württemberg city of Heilbronn to send troops newly called from Russia into battle. His state of mind was depressed. The campaign began without his participation: the British and Prussians were ahead of him. Again he believed that it was necessary to rouse the people to fight Napoleon. But he did not have the previous power over Europe, and although this time he insisted that the war must be brought to complete victory, he no longer felt the former sacred fire within himself. It was now clear to him that he had to pursue some new goal, completely different from before, in life. The sudden death of his father, Emperor Paul, frightened Alexander for the rest of his life. The memory of this death influenced and tormented him so strongly throughout his life that at one time many were convinced that this death had not happened without the participation of Alexander.
Maria Antonovna Naryshkina
Alexander found salvation from these terrible memories in the mysteries of religious mysticism; all the good undertakings that he had in mind for the good of his homeland were forgotten, all his ideals faded, and his earthly desires disappeared. It was at this time that Alexander Pavlovich became interested in the famous Baroness Krudener, and not by chance. The fame of this novelist, “soothsayer” and “teacher”, and in the past a woman of rather frivolous behavior, by this time was already beginning to fade. But since she was endowed with considerable persistence, she decided at all costs to regain her former influence on minds and souls, and for this there was no better way than to attract Emperor Alexander himself among her admirers. The Baroness achieved her goal: Alexander became eager to meet this wonderful woman.
Maria Antonovna Naryshkina
The effect was complete. Alexander listened to this sharp-nosed, middle-aged woman, and the pretense of her speeches did not offend him - he perceived them as manna from heaven. “No, sir,” she told him in an insinuating but also authoritative voice, “you have not yet approached the God-man... You have not yet humbled yourself before Jesus... Listen to the words of a woman who was also a great sinner, but found forgiveness of all her sins at the foot of the Crucifixion. This is how Alexander Pavlovich turned into a zealous mystic, follower and admirer of his subject, Baroness Krudener, who thundered throughout Europe. Baroness Krüdener participated in all his spiritual quests with advice. Some historians are inclined to think that she inspired his policies at this time. In such a judgment lies a fundamental error. Alexander was never directly influenced in politics - not only by Maria Antonovna, but also by any other woman. A well-known exception is, perhaps, only his beloved sister, Ekaterina Pavlovna. Baroness Krüdener was a resourceful woman, but her mind was never capable of generating any new plan for maintaining order in Europe. However, there is no doubt that it was thanks to her teachings, to a large extent even thanks to the nonsense itself, in which she expressed her chaotic mystical theories, that the “White Angel” was finally ripe for the Holy Alliance. And while Alexander devoted himself to religion, government of the state was entirely left to his favorites like Arakcheev. The worst thing was that this same Arakcheev was not an independent person at all, but a doll in the hands of his numerous mistresses, before whom, however, the highest-ranking officials of the empire humiliated themselves. Ten years have passed. In the last period of his reign, before his mysterious departure to Taganrog, Emperor Alexander Pavlovich probably often asked himself what he had achieved, what he had accomplished? He increased the size of his empire, its population by twelve million souls, led his people across Europe from edge to edge and broke the power of Napoleon, but what, besides glory and new lands, did he give to Russia? Have not the affairs of Europe too often diverted his attention from the needs of the people he governed? Of course, he should not have blamed himself alone - the time had not yet come for fundamental reforms. But sadness probably overwhelmed him when he remembered that he was going to free the peasants, and almost two and a half decades after his accession to the throne, he had not done anything decisive for this - and knew that he could no longer do it. What in what he did, in his labors and in the fruits of these labors could give him consolation?
People's rumors gave rise to rumors after his death in Taganrog in 1825 that the monarch was not dead; Instead of himself, he buried someone else, and he himself went to Siberia, where he led the life of a wanderer and died in old age.
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The brightest favorites and mistresses of Russian emperors I February 7th, 2018
Hello dears.
Quite a broad topic. There is, as they say, where to turn around :-)))
Because it turns out that among the Russian emperors only Alexander III did not have a mistress :-)
We won't talk about the two most famous mistresses. For Martha Skavronskaya generally became an empress and even ruled (well, quite formally, to be honest, considering that she almost never dried out :-)) under the name of Catherine I, and Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova became the morganatic wife of Emperor Alexander II, gave birth to 4 children and even introduced a new word for sex - bingerle. This is exactly what they called this process in correspondence with the emperor :-) 
E. M. Dolgorukova
Let's not remember both Nelidovs, the unfortunate Hamilton and Kantemir. Let's focus only on 5 ladies :-))
The first and probably the brightest of all was Olga Alexandrovna Zherebtsova nicknamed "domestic Milady"..Née Zubova, from a young age she learned to party and light up in such a way as to frappe the public even in not at all puritanical times :-)
The lady was born in 1766 and married very early, to a representative of the old but seedy Zherebtsov family. She immediately began the carnival of life, saying that she was “a widow with a living husband” :-) When Platosha’s brother was caressed by the aging Catherine the Great and became her last lover, she moved to St. Petersburg and shone with new facets. Having changed several lovers, she focused her attention on two - the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich, and the English one after Whitworth. The first one was interesting as a “dessert”, and she really loved the second one. maybe in her own way, but she loved it. It's funny that it was precisely because of her love that she played a fairly large role in the Conspiracy of March 11-12, 1801, thus helping one of her lovers destroy another (albeit a former one). And if you take into account that Count Palen was another of her lovers, then you get a rather complex love figure :-)
However, Whitworth was expelled abroad shortly before the coup and Zherebtsova rushed after him. But the mechanism has already been launched... 
Charles Whitworth
Beyond the borders of Russia, the English envoy tried to get rid of Olga Alexandrovna, who was already unnecessary and fairly tired of her extravagances, but she was not ready to just give up. Then Whitworth...ran away, and a couple of weeks later married the Dowager Duchess of Dorset. Zherebtsova did not back down and broke into London to sort things out. She left there after some time and was no longer missing her former lover. Evil tongues say that the Duchess of Dorset simply... paid off :-) And I can’t even imagine what the amount should be (if this is really not a legend), because after Platosha’s favor, as well as his participation in the Conspiracy, with the money from Zherebtsova there were no problems. 
However, she did not go to England in vain :-) According to rumors, there she became the mistress of the Prince of Wales, the future George IV, and even gave birth to a son, Yegor. She passed off this illegitimate son as the son of the British monarch until the end; he rose to the rank of colonel and took Princess Shcherbatova as his wife.
George IV
She spent the last years of her life in St. Petersburg. In her old age, Zherebtsova was an interlocutor of the young A. I. Herzen, who dedicated several pages to her in “Past and Thoughts.” Here's what he wrote about Zherebtsova:
«… A strange, original ruin of another century, surrounded by a degenerate generation on the barren and low soil of St. Petersburg court life, she felt superior to him and was right... Her mistake was not in contempt for insignificant people, but in the fact that she mistook the works of the court garden for our entire generation».
She died on March 1, 1849 and was buried in the family tomb of the Zubov counts, in the Trinity-Sergius Hermitage.
Beautiful Maria Antonovna Naryshkina, born Princess Svyatopolk-Chetvertinskaya, nicknamed “Russian Aspasia,” was the mistress of Alexander I for about 15 years. “The bald dandy” was generally a big hit, but Maria Antonovna was the main pearl in his collection. Again, his legal wife Elizaveta Alekseevna (nee Louise Maria Augusta Badenskaya) was tolerant of her. 
Maria Antonovna was born on February 2, 1779 in cheerful Warsaw. Her father, Polish tycoon Antony Chetvertinsky, was a pro-Russian politician, for which he was literally lynched by a mob during the Kosciuszko uprising. Catherine II ordered his widow and children to be taken to St. Petersburg and took upon herself the arrangement of their future. After such a protectorate, the fate of the girl and her sister and brother was secured. Despite the fact that the mother could not bear the loss of her husband and soon died, leaving the children orphans. But fate turned out well for them. His brother, Prince Boris Antonovich Chetvertinsky, later became the manager of the Moscow stable department and chief horseman, and his sister, Princess Zhanetta Antonovna Chetvertinskaya (married Vyshkovskaya) became the mistress of Grand Duke Konstantin and almost divorced him from his wife :-) 
Zhanetta Grodzinskaya (by her husband)
Maria Antonovna herself, at the age of 15, Maria was promoted to maid of honor, and a year later she was married to 31-year-old Dmitry Naryshkin, one of the richest nobles of Catherine’s era. By the way, it was this wedding that Derzhavin sang in “Housewarming of the Young”. 
In marriage, Mary's beauty blossomed so much that she became the first beauty of the court. Despite her appearance and enormous wealth, she was always sweet and very modest. It was this modesty that perhaps attracted the attention of Tsarevich Alexander Pavlovich. Their relationship lasted more than 15 years even after their official marriage, and according to rumors, the emperor had several children with her. Although I strongly doubt this - he was childless. But everyone says with confidence that the daughter Sofya Dmitrievna Naryshkina was his. And her death from consumption at a young age greatly undermined the health of the emperor himself. 
Sofya Dmitrievna
When her older sister Jeannette formed the same “shadow family” with the emperor’s younger brother, Constantine, it turned out to be an interesting and piquant situation :-)
However, this did not last very long. It is not clear to Uon whether she broke up with the emperor herself, or whether he believed the rumors about many other lovers. At least two were talked about openly - about Prince Gagarin and Adjutant General Count Adam Ozharovsky.
What about the husband, you ask? Oooh..that was an interesting character. Remember the “Order of Cuckolds”, because of which Pushkin later died? Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin in the world was considered his “Master” :-)) 
After the end of her love affair with the emperor, Maria Antonovna did not lose his favor, but left Russia in 1813 and lived mostly in Europe.
During a short visit to St. Petersburg in 1818, Naryshkina arranged the marriage of her eldest daughter with the son of minister D. A. Guryev. In 1835, M. A. Naryshkina settled with her husband in Odessa. From this time on, the former adjutant Brozin began to play a noticeable role in her life. According to some reports, having become a widow in 1838, Naryshkina married this general, which caused the displeasure of Nicholas I. She spent the last years of her life with Brozin abroad. She came to Odessa only occasionally. 
She died on Lake Starenberg and was buried in Munich in the old southern cemetery.
This is such an interesting lady.
To be continued...
Have a nice time of day.
