Secret Children of Russian Empresses: Who They Become, and How Their Life Developed

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

The 18th century went down in Russian history as the "age of empresses": five times, counting the regent Anna Leopoldovna, ladies sat on the throne. Of the rulers of this century, the most famous are Peter's daughter Elizabeth I and the wife of her nephew Catherine II. Much is known about their state affairs, while their personal life has always been shrouded in a veil of mystery.

Both empresses - Elizabeth I and Catherine II - have a lot in common: not only long and successful reigns, but also the curious fact that they were not married at the time they were sitting on the throne. However, the status of a widow and an unmarried girl did not prevent either the first or the second from having a stormy and rich personal life and illegitimate children. But if historians speak with confidence about the illegal offspring of Catherine II, then the fate of the secret children of Elizabeth Petrovna still remains a mystery.

Princess Tarakanova or nun Dosithea?

In 1774. Western European society was in considerable confusion: a young lady appeared in Venice, calling herself Princess Tarakanova and claiming that she was the legal heir to the Russian throne and daughter of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, who died 13 years ago. The lady did not know how to speak Russian, she looked more like an Italian, but there were many people who believed her. The fact is that rumors about the secret children of Elizabeth Petrovna circulated even before her accession to the throne.

It was believed that the crown princess gave birth in the 1730s to several children from Alexei Razumovsky, who, according to legend, was not just a favorite: in 1742 or 1744, having already become an empress, Elizabeth allegedly secretly married him. Why secret? Because Razumovsky, by his origin, was in no way suitable for the role of a consort - he was the son of a simple Cossack. Where and when the wedding took place, no one could say for sure.

It is also unknown how many children Elizabeth and Alexei had: their number is presumably from one to three, but most often contemporaries mentioned a son and daughter, and the latter was persistently called "Princess Tarakanova". But was the lady who stirred up European society really the daughter of the Russian empress? According to most historians, Tarakanova was indeed an adventurer, but this does not remove the question of the existence of Elizaveta Petrovna's illegitimate daughter.

There is another historical figure, much less famous than Tarakanova, but no less mysterious: this is the nun Dosithea, who died at the age of 64 in 1810 in Moscow. She died in the Ivanovsky monastery, where she lived the last 20 years of her life. Dositheus lived in a separate room, practically did not communicate with anyone (especially during the reign of Catherine II, later the regime was softened).

There is a version that it was Dosithea who was the very illegitimate daughter of Elizabeth, about whom there was so much talk, and who in the world bore the name of Augusta. This is indirectly confirmed by the following facts: large sums were allocated from the state treasury for the maintenance of Dosifei; Dosithea never ate with other nuns: during the meal, her face could be clearly seen.

After the death of Catherine II, she was visited by a representative of the imperial family; Dosifei was buried in the family tomb of the Romanovs - the church of Roman the Sladkopevts. Unfortunately, after the autopsy of her grave, no genetic examination of the remains was carried out, so we will most likely never know the truth.

Counts Bobrinsky

In the 1770s. the list of noble families of Russia was replenished with a new surname: Counts Bobrinsky. The first Count Bobrinsky was a 13-year-old boy named Alexei. Neither in adolescence, nor in later years, he did not differ in any special merits, except for origin: his mother was Catherine II, and her father was her recognized favorite, Count Orlov.

Since Alexey was born in April 1762, when Peter the Third, Catherine's husband, was still alive, formally he could be considered his son, but no one ever had any illusions on this score. By the time of the conception of the child, Peter and Catherine remained husband and wife only on paper. Therefore, immediately after the birth of Alexei, they transferred the wardrobe master V. Shkurin to the family, where he grew up safely until the age of 13.

Later, he was assigned another educator - Betsky, who supervised Alexei until the age of majority. The life of Count Bobrinsky was not bad (especially in comparison with the alleged daughter of Elizabeth): he studied in the cadet corps, traveled a lot in his youth in Russia and Europe, married successfully, had four children and died already under Alexander the Great. And the Bobrinsky family continued until the twentieth century, and among the descendants of the secret son of the empress there were many quite worthy people - scientists, writers, travelers.

However, Bobrinsky is not Catherine's only secret child. At least, this was the opinion of those who saw in the pupil another favorite - G. Potemkin - not a pupil, but his illegitimate daughter and the empress. However, in the year of birth of Elizabeth Temkina - that was the name of the girl - Catherine was already 45 years old. In addition, unlike Alexei Bobrinsky, she never showed interest in this child. Most likely Elizabeth was Potemkin's daughter or one of his mistresses.

Of great interest today is the unsolved mystery of Nikolai Ge's paintings, which are not shown to visitors to the Tretyakov Gallery. "Catherine II at the tomb of Empress Elizabeth".