Table of contents:
- How at first it did not work out, and then Catherine's relationship with the valet assigned to her was improved
- How Shkurin started a fire during Catherine's birth
- Raising a child and gratitude to the empress
Video: Why did the valet of Catherine II set fire to his house and How did he raise her illegitimate son
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
In the biographies of great rulers, you rarely find mention of small people. But sometimes they also end up in the chronicles - as, for example, the valet who served Catherine II. Most likely, if the history of the Russian state had not been under the empress, and before that - the Grand Duchess Vasily Shkurin, the very history of the Russian state could have developed differently. And in any case, the life of Catherine's son would have been different - the one who could change his mother on the throne, but preferred a much less ambitious life.
How at first it did not work out, and then Catherine's relationship with the valet assigned to her was improved
Young Catherine, who found herself in a strange Petersburg for herself under the constant supervision of the court of Elizabeth Petrovna, really needed friends or at least sympathizers. Even a devoted servant could become a valuable ally in Catherine's eyes. The future empress had such a valet Timofey Evreinov. True, he did not stay in this position for long - he was dismissed as a result of palace intrigues.
In her memoirs, Catherine wrote: "".
In place of Evreinov, by order of Elizabeth, his assistant Vasily Shkurin was appointed. Young Catherine was suspicious of the new valet, and not without reason. "" - she wrote.
Once Shkurin told those close to Elizabeth Petrovna that the Grand Duchess was going to present the Empress with expensive fabrics - the position of the wife of the heir to the throne was then precarious, and Catherine with might and main tried to earn a kind attitude from the ruler. As a result, the gift was handed over without the participation and knowledge of Catherine herself, which greatly angered her. However, Shkurin managed to assure the future autocrat of his repentance and devotion.
How Shkurin started a fire during Catherine's birth
Ekaterina did not regret her decision to forgive Shkurina, moreover, as she wrote in her memoirs - "". Now it is already known what kind of "case" was discussed - in fact, and not a case, but the whole fate of Catherine's son, born as a result her romance with Grigory Orlov. While still in the status of the wife of the Russian emperor, Catherine became pregnant from her favorite. It would not have been possible to call the child the heir of Peter III - the relationship between the spouses had long since come to naught. Peter was busy with Elizaveta Vorontsova, meeting with his wife only during official court ceremonies.
On April 11, 1762, two months before the coup d'état, Catherine gave birth to a boy in the Winter Palace. Childbirth - like pregnancy - took place in an atmosphere of strict secrecy, among the initiates were only the closest ones, Vasily Shkurin belonged to this circle. To temporarily remove Peter III from the palace, the Empress's valet even set fire to his own house on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. The emperor rushed to the place of the fire with his entire retinue: he loved to personally dispose of during extinguishing and observe the elements.
Immediately after birth, the son of Catherine was given to Shkurin and his wife, Anna, Grigorievna, for education. There is a legend that the newborn was hidden in a beaver fur coat - which later helped to determine his future surname. The boy received the name of Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky, however, this did not happen immediately, until 1774 he grew up under the name of Shkurin.
Raising a child and gratitude to the empress
Catherine repaid her valet extremely generously. Already in 1762, Vasily Shkurin was promoted to chief valet, and later to the wardrobe master of the empress - the same position was once occupied by the artist Diego Velazquez under the Spanish king. The award was not accidentally followed immediately after Catherine's accession to the throne as an autocratic ruler. According to one version, it was the birth of Alexei Grigorievich that contributed to the coup. Peter III made no secret of his intention to imprison his wife in a monastery as soon as a suitable occasion appeared. It was difficult to imagine a better excuse than the birth of a child from a favorite - and Catherine could not but understand that sooner or later the secret would come to the surface.
Another generous gift to Shkurin was the Dylitsa estate near Gatchina, Alexei's teacher became the owner of a thousand serf souls. There is information that Catherine, together with Grigory Orlov, visited her son and communicated with him. Moreover, it was with Alexei that the empress tied the future of the Russian throne, at first giving preference to him over the official heir Pavel Petrovich. In 1770, Alexei, along with Shkurin's sons, went to Leipzig, to a boarding house specially organized for them. And after returning to Russia, on the orders of Catherine, Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy, a prominent figure of the Russian Enlightenment, took up the upbringing of the boy. Betskoy assessed the result of the boy's upbringing by Shkurin as follows: "".
These shortcomings and omissions were soon corrected, Bobrinsky became a fully educated young man, however, he did not feel the zeal for government that his mother expected from him. But he managed to marry for love, and not for political reasons, and live a rather happy life. Vasily Shkurin in 1773 was elevated to hereditary nobility, and by the end of his life he received the rank of privy councilor. His two daughters became Catherine's maids of honor.
A little more about illegitimate children of Russian emperors: secret descendants of the Romanovs.
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