How the wife of Paul I turned from a "wax princess" into a "cast-iron empress"

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

The second wife of Paul I, Maria Feodorovna, had a chance to undergo a metamorphosis from a "wax princess" to a "cast-iron empress". Sophia Maria Dorothea of Württemberg was brought up in accordance with the ideas of that time about the role of women and her destiny. She tried to make up her husband's happiness, gave birth to ten children. But when the family idyll cracked at the seams, a strong-willed woman gradually woke up in her - had she been like that from the very beginning, their relationship with Catherine II could well have been allied (as the empress had hoped).

Instructions for the Empress: or how did Maria-Dorothea's acquaintance with the heir to the Russian throne happen and how did the groom “impress” the overseas bride

Sophia of Württemberg was noticed as a worthy candidate for the bride to Paul I when she was only 13 years old. She suited everyone, except for a too young age. Therefore, preference was given to the princess of Hesse-Darmstadt Wilhelmina. But the young wife died three years later after a difficult birth. And then they remembered the previous candidate Sophia (by that time she had already turned seventeen).

The future spouses met in Berlin. The most direct part in organizing their marriage was taken by King Frederick II of Prussia, through whose efforts the engagement with the former fiancé Sophia (Prince Ludwig of Hesse) was terminated. Paul I was delighted with his bride - smart, well-mannered and good-looking. The young princess was very pleased with the groom, speaking approvingly about geometry: a science useful for the development of thinking. She quickly mastered Russian. Having highly appreciated all the advantages of his bride, Paul I nevertheless did not fail to present her with a letter with a set of rules that she must strictly observe when she becomes his wife. But Sophia was not offended, she found such an act quite understandable - it was a consequence of the experience her fiance had endured from an unsuccessful first marriage.

Why Catherine II called her daughter-in-law the "wax" empress

Princess Sofia adhered to traditional views on the place and position of women in the family and society: she runs the household at home, brings up children and makes her husband happy, and in society she does charity work. But she was quite well-read, she created in Pavlovsk, donated to the young couple by Empress Catherine, a literary salon, which was attended by famous musicians, artists and writers. And Maria Fedorovna itself Pavlovsk (this name was given to Princess Sofia after baptism) transformed in accordance with her taste.

There was mutual love between the spouses, they quietly rejoiced in their happiness, did not interfere in politics and palace intrigues. But this is precisely what Catherine II did not like - she would like to have an ally in the person of her daughter-in-law. She was respectful to the empress and obedient to her, but nothing more. Not counting on the fact that the son, who inherited the "odd thing" in behavior from his father, would become a good ruler, Catherine II firmly held power in her hands and was preparing another heir to the throne - the eldest child Paul and Mary Alexander. The baby was immediately taken away from his mother, the empress herself was engaged in his upbringing. Later, she took away from her parents and son Constantine (all with the same purpose of raising a worthy heir). The daughter-in-law did not contradict and completely submitted to the will of the queen. And she compared her to wax - so malleable was the German princess.

You can rest

Maria Fedorovna gave birth to ten children to Paul I. Their marriage was happy for quite a long time. Pavel found rest from the domineering mother and her noisy and unbridled, in his opinion, courtyard in the company of a calm and well-understanding wife in cozy Pavlovsk.

But still the family idyll was broken. Paul I was carried away by one of the court ladies - the maid of honor Ekaterina Nelidova. In a fit of jealousy and despair, Maria Fedorovna rushed to her mother-in-law for advice. She consoled her, asked to carefully look at herself in the mirror, how beautiful she is. The Empress explained to her daughter-in-law that she had already fulfilled her duty - she gave birth to Paul the heir to the throne and more than one, it was time to rest and take care of herself.

Encouraged by the words of the queen, Maria Feodorovna found an approach to Nelidova, and the two of them began to control Paul's moods. But he soon finds another subject for adoration - Anna Lopukhina. The relationship with the spouse is becoming more distant and cool.

For what "merits" Maria Fedorovna received the nickname "cast-iron empress" and how she realized her ambitions after the death of her husband

After the death of Catherine II, the will of the heir to the throne (and in it, according to the assumptions of historians, the grandson of the Empress Alexander was indicated) was destroyed. On April 5, 1796, the coronation of Paul I and his wife took place. Maria Feodorovna, by order of her husband, becomes the head of the educational society for noble maidens and an educational home for orphans. She takes up the matter with all diligence, but if Catherine II wanted to educate a wide range of women, then Maria Feodorovna considered it necessary to share the education of girls of the noble and bourgeois estates. For noble women, in her opinion, it is enough to know the arts and languages, to have impeccable manners, and the bourgeois women need to be educated so that they later become teachers in noble families. In orphanages, Maria Fedorovna limited the admission of children, since without this measure, such institutions were greatly overloaded and could not provide proper childcare. Healthier and stronger children were sent to good peasant families for upbringing. In addition to supervising these two areas, Maria Fedorovna was involved in a lot of charity work.

After the death of Paul I, Maria Feodorovna suddenly took an interest in power and showed remarkable courage to declare this. But the wife of her eldest son Alexander managed to sober her mother-in-law from this impulse with the words: “This country is tired of the power of a fat old German woman. Leave her the opportunity to enjoy the young Russian tsar. And Maria Feodorovna decided that she had enough regency with this youngest emperor.

But the former Maria Feodorovna, whom Catherine II called the "wax" princess, disappeared irrevocably. She was replaced by a strong-willed woman who felt like the mistress of the situation and the head of the family. She will often give advice to her crowned sons in the future. Nicholas I will jokingly call her the "cast iron" empress.

By the way, Russian monarchs were not buried like mere mortals, their bodies were buried on the ground.