The price of the illegal love of the most coveted empress: Elizaveta Alekseevna and the Okhotnikov cavalry guard

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

Refined, intelligent beauty Elizaveta Alekseevna worried the most sophisticated men of the state. She is the muse of poets and artists. But beauty did not bring the empress happiness either in marriage or in love outside of it. As it turned out, diaries The spouses of Alexander I kept a secret, the publicity of which was feared by all heirs to the throne.

Louise-Maria Augusta, the future empress, was born in 1779. At the age of thirteen, the princess became the bride of Grand Duke Alexander, who rushed the wedding, after which he quickly lost interest in his young wife. Intrigues began to arise around Elizabeth. Count Platon Zubov fought for her favor. At the same time, he was considered the favorite of his mother-in-law - Catherine II. His defiant persistence led to a scandal. Catherine forbade courtship, he was forced to retreat. There were other high-ranking suitors as well. They also failed to gain favor. Elizabeth remained cold, although gossip and humiliating gossip pursued her at court.

At this time, important events were played out on the European arena, Napoleon Bonaparte was advancing. Alexander I gave all the time to the army and … to the first beauty of St. Petersburg, Maria Naryshkina, who would soon give birth to her daughter Sophia. The child of the spouses, Elizabeth and Alexander, died without having lived more than a year. Elizabeth is experiencing hard loneliness. She trusts all secrets only to the diary. It is thanks to her tact and obedience that peace is preserved in the imperial family. Elizabeth pretends that she knows nothing about Alexander's betrayal.

At precisely such a difficult moment, Elizabeth was introduced to a young officer of the active army. Love at first sight turned into a tumultuous relationship, as compensation for the long years of loneliness. However, they are not destined to last long.

The young and ardent cavalry guard of the Hunters did not belong to the high nobility and, accordingly, could not appear at court. "Illegal" dates were shrouded in mystery and risk. Elizabeth's diaries describe how the captain-captain at night in a dark cloak climbed into the window of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace, and in the morning he disappeared unnoticed.

In 1806, Elizabeth confessed to Alexei Okhotnikov that she was expecting a child. Shortly before the birth of his daughter, on October 6, a performance was given in the court theater in honor of the empress. A guest of the Hunters has also arrived. After the performance, tragedy broke out. The sent mercenaries beat and stabbed Alexey. The wound killed slowly. The man died in early 1807. The born daughter, Eliza, died shortly after birth. Both daughters of the empress were buried next to the Lazorevsky cemetery, where her only love was buried.

In her diaries, Elizabeth sincerely and in detail described the relationship with Okhotnikov, flirting and betrayal of her husband - Emperor Alexander. The diary was bequeathed to the historian and writer Nikolai Karamzin, who read some pages during the empress's life. However, the family could not afford publicity. After the death of Alexander and his wife, all the papers were seized. The document was ordered to be burned. But part of it still survived. Nicholas I, after familiarizing himself with the contents of the diary, forbade his wife, Alexandra Fedorovna, to keep personal records. In the royal environment, the only novel by Elizaveta Alekseevna turned into a family secret.

Keeping a diary, which kept cherished secrets, was common and widespread in those days. Emperors were no exception. Today, thanks to them, you can find out what shared the last heir to the Russian throne - Tsarevich Alexei.