Was Catherine II's daughter really replaced by a boy, the future Emperor Paul I?

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

All sorts of rumors and legends arise about almost each of the monarchs - most often concerning the circumstances of his birth or death, and also the authenticity of his personality. Many of these versions are seriously or not discussed by historians. The theme of the birth of one of the most controversial and unloved rulers in Russian history, Paul I, was no exception. There were such rumors about how the son of Empress Catherine II came to this world.

Favorites of Catherine and Grigory Potemkin

Arriving in St. Petersburg in 1744, the young princess Sophia Frederica Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst at first fully devoted herself to adapting to life in Russia as a bride, and then as the wife of the heir to the throne. But as time went on, Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich showed himself not the best companion in life, and there were many brilliant gentlemen around, who, moreover, treated the future empress with much greater admiration than her own husband. The first favorite of Catherine was the chamberlain of the Grand Duke Sergei Vasilyevich Saltykov, and then a long line of those who won the favor of the German princess, and then the Russian empress, stretched. Among them, a special place was occupied by Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin, who is considered the morganatic spouse of the empress, and even after the termination of their close relationship, until his death in 1791, remained among the most influential persons of the state.

The future Most Serene Prince, a native of the Smolensk nobility, in 1757 was introduced to Empress Elizaveta Petrovna among the 12 best students of Moscow University. Catherine drew attention to Potemkin in 1762, when, as a result of a palace coup, power was in her hands, and Emperor Peter III was killed. In the future, Grigory Potemkin served the empress, first as a military man, and then as a courtier, eventually becoming for her the closest person in her life and the right hand in governing the state. At the end of 1774 or at the beginning of 1775, a marriage was apparently concluded between Catherine and Potemkin, and at the same time his nieces were presented to the court, among whom was twenty-year-old Alexandra Engelhardt.

Swapping a baby?

It was Alexandra, or Sanechka, as her relatives called, and was directly related to the legend about the origin of the heir to the throne. Having become the maid of honor of the empress, she enjoyed the exceptionally tender disposition of the empress; the empress provided this patronage to Potemkin's niece until her death. Since Alexandra was born in 1754, at the same time as the Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, there were rumors that a substitution had occurred, and that Catherine gave birth not to a son, but to a daughter, Sanechka.

It was assumed that the replacement was due to the fact that the state needed an heir - Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich did not meet the expectations of Empress Elizabeth, and she was present, according to the records of official chronicles, at the birth of her daughter-in-law. Allegedly, on an emergency basis, a newborn Chukhonsky boy was delivered from the village of Kotly near Oranienbaum, he became the future emperor Paul, and the girl was transferred to the Engelhardts for upbringing. In addition to Alexandra, this family had four more daughters and two brothers, the mother - Martha Potemkina-Engelhardt - died in 1767, and the children were brought up in the village with their grandmother Daria Vasilievna Potemkina, and later the family moved to Moscow.

The very fact of the birth of Catherine's girl was not limited to rumors, it was rumored that the first favorite of the Grand Duchess, Sergei Saltykov, became the father of the child, since over the ten years of her marriage with Peter it became obvious that this union was apparently fruitless. his official parents were actually removed from upbringing: the name of the heir to the throne was chosen by Elizabeth, the baby was baptized by her confessor, educators, teachers, environment - everything was determined by the empress, and Paul's childhood passed away from his mother, which became one of the reasons for the cool relations between them. According to some versions, it was Catherine who subsequently spread rumors about Paul's "illegality" in order to question his right to the throne and achieve the transfer of the imperial title to her beloved grandson, Alexander. It is assumed that Catherine reflected this wish in her will, but the document was destroyed by Paul's supporters.

Alexandra Engelhardt and Paul I

One way or another, and the life of Alexandra Engelhardt was completely arranged, and even more. Together with her two sisters and a slightly more distant young relative, she not only lived in the palace and served as a maid of honor, but became part of Potemkin's harem - and this is no longer a legend, but a completely definite historical fact. The nieces of the Most Serene Prince replaced each other in the position of his favorites, after which they successfully got married. Leo Tolstoy in his diaries mentioned the disfavor that his grandfather incurred by refusing to marry one of the Engelhardt sisters because of the ambiguity of their position. At the same time, warm relations between Potemkin and his nieces were maintained until his death, Empress Catherine also treated them warmly, especially highlighting, as already mentioned, Alexandra.

In 1781, Sanechka Engelhardt was married to the Polish Count Xavier Branicki, who was 23 years older than her. It was a lucrative political alliance designed to strengthen Russian-Polish relations. Yes, and financially benefited both sides - and by the way, Alexandra Branitskaya did not think about money, apparently never - after receiving the title of maid of honor. In any case, by the end of her life, the countess's fortune was said to have reached almost thirty million rubles. Catherine presented the Branitskys with the Shuvalovs' palace on the Moika (later called Yusupovsky). In 1787, Alexandra accompanied the empress in the retinue of the Tauride voyage, and generally continued to enjoy the empress's favor. Branitskaya was awarded the Order of St. Catherine. Alexandra lived a long life and passed away at the age of eighty-four.

As for her peer, the Grand Duke, and then Emperor Paul, despite his mother's aspirations to deprive her son of the throne, in 1796 he still became the ruler of the state - for four years, four months and four days. On March 12, 1801, the emperor, who was not popular among the aristocrats, who sometimes gave the impression of a mentally ill, was killed in a coup d'état. The official cause of death was called apoplectic stroke. In memory of the reign of Pavel Petrovich, numerous cartoons.