Historians still cannot accurately calculate how many illegitimate children Louis XIV had - the offspring of the “Sun King” were too numerous. However, not everything was so pious in the Russian kingdom: rumor ascribes 7 offspring to Catherine II, 9 to Nicholas I, and 12 to Alexander II, but we suggest recalling only the most notable bastards.

Ivan Musin-Pushkin

As you know, Emperor Alexei Mikhailovich had 16 children in two marriages, three of them Feodor III, Ivan V and Peter I reigned. However, there is a version according to which the offspring of the “Quiet” were not limited to this. His illegitimate son It could very well be the future associate of Peter the Great, Ivan Musin-Pushkin, - and this assumption was first voiced by the famous collector of gossip about representatives of the royal family, Prince Dolgoruky. Ivan’s father served as a steward at the court, which means that his wife, Ivan’s mother, Irina, could come to the attention of the tsar - there were persistent rumors about their relationship at court.

Ivan was born in 1661, and at that time the Tsar’s first wife, Maria Ilyinichna, was still alive. Could “The Quietest” have adopted a son on the side, when during 21 years of marriage he had 13 legitimate children? Unknown. Indirect confirmation of Ivan’s noble origins are the facts: Peter called him “brother,” awarded him the title of count in 1710, made him a senator a year later, and in 1725 entrusted him with the management of the Mint. There is a legend according to which Peter, during the next feast, in an attempt to figure out whose son he was, pointed to Ivan with the words: “This one knows for sure that he is the son of my father.” Peter himself was unsure, because rumors included many people as his fathers - from the groom Mishka Dobrov to Patriarch Joachim.

Pyotr Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky

However, Peter himself was not distinguished by monastic behavior. Numerous illegitimate children were attributed to him both at home and abroad. Many have heard that since the 18th century Mikhail Lomonosov was called his son, in contrast to the version that Peter the Great’s blood also flows in the veins of the commander Peter Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky. In his classic biography, Moscow is indicated as his place of birth, but there is an assumption that the future hero of Russia was born in the village of Stroentsy (Transnistria), where his mother, Countess Maria Rumyantseva, was waiting for her husband from a Turkish business trip on the orders of Peter. Allegedly, the boy was named Peter in honor of his noble father.

Whether this is true or not, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna was very favorable “ stepbrother“- for the news of the Peace of Abo, the queen immediately promoted the young captain to colonel and made him a count. The young man resembled his intended parent and was daring, leading a wild life both while studying abroad and during his service at home. His father, the outstanding diplomat Alexander Ivanovich Rumyantsev, threatened to renounce the heir and wrote that he would have to “sew up his ears” so as not to hear about his shameful antics.

Alexey Bobrinsky

The question of the paternity of the children of Catherine II still torments historians and bibliographers. In memoirs Alexandra III there is indirect confirmation of rumors that Paul I was born by Catherine from Sergei Saltykov. Upon learning of this, Alexander allegedly crossed himself and exclaimed: “Thank God, we are Russian!” However, there are many refutations of this version, and one of the most powerful arguments is that the characteristic Western European genes of Paul’s descendants could hardly have been laid down by Saltykov.

Among other children, Alexey Bobrinsky, born in Winter Palace from Count Orlov. The very sacrament of birth was kept in the strictest confidence, and immediately after his birth the boy was given to be raised by the Empress’s wardrobe master, Vasily Shkurin. In 1781, Catherine sent her son Alexei a letter in which she pointed out the “vague circumstances” of his birth and the reasons why she was forced to hide this fact: “strong enemies” and “the desire to save herself and her eldest son.” True, there is a version that the queen deliberately lied to herself, wanting to annoy her eldest.

Meanwhile, the “free brother” Paul, after his accession to the throne, favored his relatives. He canceled Alexei’s disgrace (his mother allowed him to come to St. Petersburg only once - after marriage), and during a personal meeting he treated his “brother,” according to eyewitnesses, with warmth. Bobrinsky received the count with the right to transfer to descendants and the inheritance of his father, Grigory Orlov. Alexey Grigorievich failed to achieve outstanding successes during his service, but he laid the foundation famous family Bobrinsky, whose representatives later became outstanding statesmen.

Nikolay Isakov

IN different times rumor attributed to Alexander I the paternity of 11 children, among whom the most prominent figure was the general and reformer of military education Nikolai Isakov. Officially, his parents were the court riding teacher Vasily Isakov and a student of the Catherine Institute Maria Karacharova. External resemblance Nicholas and the emperor gave rise to a lot of gossip, and even Nicholas I allegedly explained this “similarity” by kinship. There is a legend according to which Nikolai forbade Isakov to care for his daughter Olga due to the fact that the young people were brother and sister.

Nikolai Isakov made a brilliant career, not always without the help of his all-powerful relatives. Graduated with honors from the Imperial military academy, went through the Caucasian War of 1846, during the Crimean War he participated in the defense of Sevastopol, rose to the rank of general, and in 1863 carried out a military reform educational institutions. At the request of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, he headed the Red Cross, and on his personal initiative he devoted a lot of time to charity.

Fedor Trepov

Persistent rumors regularly turned the St. Petersburg mayor Fyodor Trepov into the illegitimate son of Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich - the future Emperor Nicholas I. Reasons for gossip were given by the mysterious multi-million dollar fortune Fedor Fedorovich - allegedly each of his nine children received up to 15 thousand in income annually. True, his other “father” periodically became the German Emperor Wilhelm I. But these are all rumors, but the fact that the capital’s mayor was given a salary unthinkable at that time is a fact. He received more than 18 thousand rubles a year, while Minister of War Milyutin was content with only 15.

did not allow envious people to sleep peacefully and successful career Trepov. In particular, he reformed the city police by attracting retired military officers, most of whom he formed a personal opinion about during the suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863-64. He was the first to fight corruption in the city police. The ban on “holiday offerings” did not cause delight among the townspeople, because “thanking” the police was a common thing. Perhaps this is what partly persuaded the jury to acquit Vera Zasulich, who shot mayor Trepov.

Alexander Dembovetsky

The date of birth of one of the most progressive governors of Mogilev, Alexander Dembovetsky, was not indicated even in official papers. Today we can only guess about the reasons. However, this is exactly what Alexander Stanislavovich’s contemporaries were doing, gossiping about his secret origin and high-ranking patrons. The speculation was also fueled by the fact that it was impossible to occupy the governor’s chair at the age of 30 thanks to one’s own talents; moreover, during his entire service, Dembovetsky was showered with the “highest favors” of his “parent” - Alexander II.

There is one more fact in favor of this version. In 1839, during a voyage across Russia, the emperor fell ill and spent a month and a half in Mogilev, and Sasha Dembovetsky was presumably born in 1840. The date of birth is helped to establish the Formal List from the historical archive of St. Petersburg - in the entry from 1893 there is a mention of 53-year-old Alexander Dembovetsky.

The Emperor personally admonished the newly elected governor, instructing him to do “everything possible to restore the upset affairs in the Mogilev province.” And the illegitimate son tried with all his might to justify the trust: already in the first year of leadership, he brought the Mogilev region out of crisis, and then turned the province into one of the most progressive in the empire.

Lev Gumilev

The thirst for sensation did not spare Nicholas II, who was credited with paternity only son Akhmatova. This version was expressed by the famous St. Petersburg researchers of the biography of the “poet-knight” Vladimir and Natalya Evseviev. Their first argument was that contemporaries noted Akhmatova’s “royal behavior,” although she herself always said that she was brought up in a “philistine” family - supposedly she adopted the manner of behavior from her crowned lover.

Huge bet in evidence base The relationship between Lev Gumilyov and the Tsar is based on the creativity of Akhmatova herself. Just remember the “gray-eyed king” - it was “gray radiant eyes” that many diplomats who met with Nicholas noted. The Evsevievs also remembered the little-known poem “Confusion” with the lines: “And glances are like rays. I just shuddered: this/Can tame me” and “And mysterious, ancient faces/The eyes looked at me...” According to researchers, few people other than the king could have possessed a “mysterious ancient face.”

Further, the first collections with “helpless”, by the author’s own admission, poems were accepted by critics (who would scold a woman with such a patron?), but not by her husband, Nikolai Gumilev, who refused to publish them in the “Workshop of Poets” for a year and a half. The Evsevievs claim that “Evening” and “The Rosary” were successful largely due to the fact that they were published at the height of the relationship between Akhmatova and the Tsar, while the collection “ White flock" of 1917 was not noticed, like the two subsequent books.

If Anna Andreevna categorically denied any connection with Blok, she never denied rumors about a relationship with the Tsar. At the same time, it is known that the married life of Akhmatova and Gumilyov did not work out, and Akhmatova wrote that after the birth of her son, the couple, with tacit consent, gave each other absolute freedom.

Where could Nikolai and Akhmatova meet? And the Evsevievs have an answer to this question: from the windows of their house, the poetess could see the Tsar walking in Alexander Park, and since the residence was open to the public, Anna Andreevna could easily approach him and speak.

Indirect confirmation of Nikolai’s paternity was also found in Emma Gerstein - famous literary critic, who lived at the same time as the poetess. In “Notes about Anna Akhmatova” she wrote that she hated her “Grey-Eyed King” because “her son was from the King, and not from her husband.” What caused such a statement is unknown, but a researcher with such authority could hardly afford groundless statements. However, not a single one is presented historical document, confirming the royal origin of Lev Gumilyov.

Russian Empress Catherine II the Great was born on May 2 (April 21, old style), 1729 in the city of Stettin in Prussia (now the city of Szczecin in Poland), died on November 17 (November 6, old style), 1796 in St. Petersburg (Russia). The reign of Catherine II lasted more than three and a half decades, from 1762 to 1796. It was filled with many events in internal and external affairs, the implementation of plans that continued what was done under. The period of her reign is often called the “golden age” of the Russian Empire.

By Catherine II's own admission, she did not have a creative mind, but she was good at catching every sensible thought and using it for her own purposes. She skillfully selected her assistants, not being afraid of bright and talented people. That is why Catherine’s time was marked by the appearance of a whole galaxy of outstanding statesmen, generals, writers, artists, musicians. Among them are the great Russian commander, Field Marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, satirist Denis Fonvizin, outstanding Russian poet, Pushkin's predecessor Gabriel Derzhavin, Russian historian-historiographer, writer, creator of "History of the Russian State" Nikolai Karamzin, writer, philosopher, poet Alexander Radishchev , outstanding Russian violinist and composer, founder of Russian violin culture Ivan Khandoshkin, conductor, teacher, violinist, singer, one of the creators of Russian national opera Vasily Pashkevich, composer of secular and church music, conductor, teacher Dmitry Bortyansky.

In her memoirs, Catherine II characterized the state of Russia at the beginning of her reign:

Finances were depleted. The army did not receive pay for 3 months. Trade was in decline, because many of its branches were given over to monopoly. There was no correct system in the state economy. The War Department was plunged into debt; the sea barely held on, being in extreme neglect. The clergy was dissatisfied with the taking of lands from him. Justice was sold at auction, and laws were followed only in cases where they favored the powerful.

The Empress formulated the tasks facing her as follows: Russian monarch:

“We need to educate the nation that is to be governed.”

— It is necessary to introduce good order in the state, support society and force it to comply with the laws.

— It is necessary to establish a good and accurate police force in the state.

— It is necessary to promote the flourishing of the state and make it abundant.

“We need to make the state formidable in itself and inspiring respect among its neighbors.”

Based on the assigned tasks, Catherine II carried out active reform activities. Her reforms affected almost all areas of life.

Convinced of the unsuitable management system, Catherine II carried out a Senate reform in 1763. The Senate was divided into 6 departments, losing its significance as the body that manages the state apparatus, and became the highest administrative and judicial institution.

Faced with financial difficulties, Catherine II in 1763-1764 carried out secularization (turning into secular property) church lands. 500 monasteries were abolished, and 1 million peasant souls were transferred to the treasury. Due to this, the state treasury was significantly replenished. This made it possible to ease the financial crisis in the country and pay off the army, which had not received a salary for a long time. The influence of the Church on the life of society has decreased significantly.

From the very beginning of her reign, Catherine II began to strive to achieve the internal structure of the state. She believed that injustices in the state could be eradicated with the help of good laws. And she decided to adopt new legislation instead of the Council Code of Alexei Mikhailovich of 1649, which would take into account the interests of all classes. For this purpose, the Statutory Commission was convened in 1767. 572 deputies represented the nobility, merchants, and Cossacks. Catherine tried to incorporate the ideas of Western European thinkers about a fair society into the new legislation. Having processed their works, she compiled the famous “Order of Empress Catherine” for the Commission. The "Mandate" consisted of 20 chapters, divided into 526 articles. It's about the need for strong autocratic power in Russia and the class structure of Russian society, about legality, about the relationship between law and morality, about the harm of torture and corporal punishment. The commission worked for more than two years, but its work was not crowned with success, since the nobility and the deputies themselves from other classes stood guard only for their rights and privileges.

In 1775, Catherine II made a clearer territorial division of the empire. The territory began to be divided into administrative units with a certain number of taxable (who paid taxes) population. The country was divided into 50 provinces with a population of 300-400 thousand each, the provinces into districts of 20-30 thousand inhabitants. The city was an independent administrative unit. Elective courts and “trial chambers” were introduced to deal with criminal and civil cases. Finally, “conscientious” courts for minors and the sick.

In 1785, the “Charter of Grant to Cities” was published. It determined the rights and responsibilities of the urban population and the management system in cities. Residents of the city elected a self-government body every 3 years - General city ​​council, city mayor and judges.

Since the time of Peter the Great, when all the nobility owed lifelong service to the state, and the peasantry the same service to the nobility, there have been gradual change. Catherine the Great, among other reforms, also wanted to bring harmony to the life of the classes. In 1785, the “Charter of Grant to the Nobility” was published, which was a code, a collection of noble privileges formalized by law. From now on, the nobility was sharply separated from other classes. The freedom of the nobility from paying taxes was confirmed, from compulsory service. Nobles could only be tried by a noble court. Only nobles had the right to own land and serfs. Catherine forbade the subjecting of nobles to corporal punishment. She believed that this would help the Russian nobility get rid of the servile mentality and acquire personal dignity.

These letters were ordered social structure Russian society, divided into five classes: nobility, clergy, merchants, philistines ("middle class of people") and serfs.

As a result of the educational reform in Russia during the reign of Catherine II, a secondary education system was created. In Russia, closed schools, educational homes, institutes for girls, nobles, and townspeople were created, in which experienced teachers were involved in the education and upbringing of boys and girls. In the province, a network of people's non-class two-class schools was created in counties and four-class schools in provincial cities. A classroom lesson system was introduced in schools (uniform start and end dates for classes), methods for teaching disciplines and educational literature, unified curricula were created. By the end of the 18th century in Russia there were 550 educational institutions with total number 60-70 thousand people.

Under Catherine, the systematic development of women's education began; in 1764, the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens and the Educational Society of Noble Maidens were opened. The Academy of Sciences has become one of the leading scientific bases in Europe. An observatory was founded physical office, anatomical theater, botanical garden, tool workshops, printing house, library, archive. The Russian Academy was founded in 1783.

Under Catherine II, the population of Russia increased significantly, hundreds of new cities were built, the treasury quadrupled, industry and agriculture- Russia began to export bread for the first time.

Under her, paper money was introduced for the first time in Russia. On her initiative, the first smallpox vaccination was carried out in Russia (she herself set an example and became the first to be vaccinated).

Under Catherine II, as a result of the Russian-Turkish wars (1768-1774, 1787-1791), Russia finally gained a foothold in the Black Sea, and the lands called Novorossiya were annexed: the Northern Black Sea region, Crimea, and the Kuban region. Accepted Eastern Georgia under Russian citizenship (1783). During the reign of Catherine II, as a result of the so-called partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795), Russia returned the Western Russian lands seized by the Poles.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Almost immediately a complete dissimilarity of character and upbringing is revealed. Georg may be half an hour, an hour late with a visit to both her and her brother Alexander. This infuriates Ekaterina terribly. One day the Prince of Wales was an hour and a half late, but a courtier came out to him and said that His Highness had arrived too early, Her Highness was taking a bath.
Meanwhile, one of George's brothers, Duke of Clarence, became seriously interested in the Russian beauty. If it weren’t for her prejudice against the boors of the English and she would eventually be the Queen of England…
However, the enmity between Catherine and the English world was quite fierce. The wife of our ambassador in London, Daria Lieven ( sister the future chief of gendarmes Benckendorff and head of our station in Europe) writes about the sister of his king, in solidarity with the Prince of Wales: “She was very power-hungry and distinguished by enormous conceit. I have never met a woman who was so obsessed with the need to move, act, play a role and outshine others.”
“The need to move and play a role” led to the fact that in London, Catherine, casually, upset the emerging alliance of the heir to the Dutch throne with one of the English princesses and urgently reoriented it in favor of her younger sister Anna.
Moving further in the matrimonial direction, Catherine finds a groom for herself, this is her close relative heir to the throne of the Duchy of Württemberg, the handsome Wilhelm. For the sake of his beloved sister, Alexander assigns the status of a kingdom to Württemberg through the Congress of Vienna. (Moreover, Württemberg is the birthplace of Maria Feodorovna).
So, having flown past the Austrian, French and English crowns, Catherine still becomes the Queen of Württemberg (since 1816).
Her second marriage is successful in all respects. Spouses love each other passionately and sincerely. Both are engaged in the organization of their kingdom. It’s amazing: Catherine does so much for the prosperity of Württemberg that the inhabitants of this German land still honor her memory! Catherine’s motto: “Providing work is more important than giving alms” sounds acutely relevant today!
She gives her husband two daughters. One of them will eventually become the wife of Count Neiperg, the son of Marie-Louise and her second (after Napoleon) husband. No matter how hard the rope twists, the descendants of Catherine of Württemberg still had to become related to the Habsburgs (and to some extent to Bonaparte)…
In 1818, Maria Feodorovna visited the capital of her kingdom and her hometown of Stuttgart. She is delighted with Catherine’s successes, with the happiness that reigns in their home, and leaves them with tears of tenderness to continue her voyage to the Courts of her daughters. Maria Feodorovna's path lies in Weimar. And here terrible news overtakes her: shortly after her departure on January 9, 1819, Catherine of Württemberg dies of transient meningitis.
She is not yet 32 ​​years old…
King William still could not believe his loss; he was literally taken by force from his wife’s corpse…
Catherine was buried outside the city in Orthodox Church, which has survived to this day. This church is connected not only with Russian history, but also with Russian culture. Many years later, the wedding of the 58-year-old poet V.A. Zhukovsky and the 17-year-old daughter of his friend Elizaveta Reitern took place here.
In 1994, all of Germany widely celebrated the 175th anniversary of the birth of Catherine of Württemberg. They remember her more there than at home…

The future Catherine at the time when she was a Grand Duchess.

Prince Grigory Grigorievich Orlov (1734-1783).

The illegitimate son of Catherine II, Alexey Grigorievich Bobrinsky (1762-1813), is still just a boy in this portrait.

Future Emperor Paul I (1754-1801) was depicted, apparently, at the same age as his half-brother.

Many historians call the Russian 18th century the century of women. Undoubtedly, the brightest and most talented of them on the throne is Catherine II, active and energetic, smart and cheerful, mysterious and easily vulnerable. Many legends are associated with her reign: favorites, impostors, a secret marriage with Potemkin, the question of the father of Paul I, “Potemkin villages” and, finally, an illegitimate son from Grigory Orlov - Alexey Grigorievich Bobrinsky.

The life of the illegitimate offspring of crowned heads has always aroused interest and, as a rule, was shrouded in mystery and legend. Fortunately, surviving archival documents and correspondence can tell us about how Alexei Bobrinsky’s life actually turned out, about his relationship with his mother.

In a handwritten letter dated April 2, 1781, Empress Catherine II informed young Alexei about the date and circumstances of his birth: “Alexey Grigorievich. I know that your mother, being oppressed by various hostile and strong enemies, due to the then troubled circumstances, saved herself and her eldest son , was forced to hide your birth, which occurred on April 11, 1762.”

There is one historical legend associated with the birth of Alexei. To protect expectant mother Because of the anger of her husband, Peter III, her supporters decided: as soon as labor began, one of them would set fire to their own house in order to distract Peter, who was very fond of participating in putting out fires. Alexey Grigorievich was born a few months before the palace coup that elevated Ekaterina Alekseevna to the Russian throne. The main role in the conspiracy was played by the guard led by the Orlov brothers, one of whom, Grigory Grigorievich, was Alexei’s father.

In one of the letters to the encyclopedist F.-M. Grimm, her constant correspondent, the Empress gave an extremely brief description of Bobrinsky’s parents: “He comes from very strange people and in many ways was born into them.” The parents were diligently involved in the upbringing and education of their son, who grew up in the family of wardrobe master V. G. Shkurin. But Catherine was no less concerned about his future social status and financial situation. Among the secret papers from the Empress's office, her own handwritten decrees and orders were preserved, which set out in detail the system of monetary support for the young Alexei. At that time, when he was still a baby, the so-called Bestuzhev project arose at court, according to which the empress was to marry Orlov, and their son was to be “crowned.” This project was discussed especially sharply at the end of 1762, when Tsarevich Pavel was seriously ill and the question of succession to the throne arose. In 1765, Catherine II intended to classify youngest son to the family of the Sitsky princes - the closest family to the Romanovs, which died out at the end of the 17th century. However, in April 1774, the surname Bobrinsky was assigned to Alexei, a derivative of the name of the village of Bobriki, bought for him by Catherine in 1763.

In the fall of 1774, A. G. Bobrinsky was placed in the Land (noble) Corps in St. Petersburg. During his studies, he kept a diary, in which there are many interesting entries about meetings and conversations with Catherine II, with G. G. Orlov, mentor I. I. Betsky and other courtiers. “After dinner, I had the good fortune to see the Empress and congratulate her on the New Year. We talked about this and that...” Alexey wrote in his diary on January 3, 1782. After graduating from the corps in 1782, Bobrinsky and several of his fellow students were sent on a trip to Russia and Europe, accompanied by Colonel A. M. Bushuev and the famous scientist Professor N. Ya. Ozeretskovsky.

Interesting information about the cities through which travelers passed, and most importantly - about the personality of Alexei Bobrinsky, is contained in the correspondence of Bushuev and Ozeretskovsky with Betsky - it is currently a separate file in the personal archive of Catherine II, stored in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. Throughout the trip, Bobrinsky was under the close attention of the people who met him; his ambiguous position was well known, which undoubtedly left an imprint on the behavior young man. “You deign to know the complete character of Alexei Grigorievich: unfortunately, I discovered everything in him that only you deigned to announce about him to me,” Colonel A. M. Bushuev reported to Betsky. “For a long time, under his feigned quietness, he hid his difficult disposition, but on many occasions he could not help but reveal himself. There is no case where he did not show immoderate pride, there is no conversation between his comrades where he did not want to take the surface over them, and it happened so many times with the manifestation of severity."

In the spring of 1785, Bobrinsky remained to live in Paris, at the request of Catherine, he was taken care of by F.-M. Grimm. Their correspondence constantly discussed the character of her son and his financial affairs. "This young man is extremely careless, but I do not consider him either evil or dishonest, he is young and can be involved in very bad societies; he brought out of patience those who were with him; in a word, he wanted to live on his own, and he was given freedom,” wrote the concerned mother. Unfortunately, Bobrinsky upset his mother with constant playing cards and debts, but in her letters to Grimm she tried to justify her son’s addictions, saying that he was not stupid and not without charm. And yet he never managed or was unable to realize his abilities. And this was a disaster not only for Catherine, but also for Bobrinsky himself.

At the beginning of 1788, A.G. Bobrinsky received orders to return to Russia and in April of the same year settled in Revel, where his new guardian, Count P.V. Zavadovsky, also arrived. Only after his marriage to Baroness Anna Vladimirovna Ungern-Sternberg was Alexei able to visit St. Petersburg to introduce his wife to the Empress, and then returned to Revel again. During her lifetime, Catherine never decided to officially hand over the documents for ownership of the estates to her son: she was not completely confident in his ability to independently resolve financial issues.

Everything changed when Paul I ascended the throne. Contrary to the prevailing opinion of him as a callous and stern person, he showed nobility towards Alexei Bobrinsky and not only carried out his mother’s orders, but also immediately recognized him as his brother. “I also introduced myself to the Empress, Grand Dukes Alexander, Konstantin and Nicholas... also to the Grand Duchesses, their spouses and sisters,” wrote A.G. Bobrinsky to his wife from St. Petersburg. “I went to the body of the late empress and kissed her hand. .. Everyone looked at me with such surprised eyes, not knowing what to attribute my appearance to. During dinner, the emperor and empress spoke to me several times, and suddenly the eyes of all those present turned to me.”

Within a few days of November 1796, Bobrinsky received confirmation of ownership of vast lands and a house in St. Petersburg, previously owned by G. G. Orlov, and, finally, the title of Count of the Russian Empire. Having moved to his Tula estates, Count Bobrinsky was mainly engaged in agricultural experiments, mineralogy, and astronomy; books on these sciences, as well as on medicine, alchemy, trade, and geography made up his library in Bogoroditsk. There, in Bogoroditsk, he was caught by the thunderstorm of 1812, and in July 1813 A.G. Bobrinsky ended his earthly journey.

There are numerous legends about illegitimate children of members of the imperial family, where crowned parents renounce their children. As we see, Catherine II showed love and courage and did not give up motherhood. Thus, the myth about the empress’s indifference to her children collapses.

Publications in the Museums section

Portraits of illegitimate children of Russian emperors

P descendants ruling dynasty, born from favorites - what secrets do their images conceal? We look at the “fruits of love” of the Romanov family with Sofia Bagdasarova.

In the Russian kingdom, unlike medieval Europe with morality, at least in the chronicles, it was strict: there are no mentions of extramarital affairs and children of monarchs (with the exception of Ivan the Terrible). The situation changed after Peter the Great turned Rus' into the Russian Empire. The court began to focus on France, including in gallant adventures. However, at first this had no effect on the appearance of bastards. In the first half of the 18th century, the Romanov dynasty had a shortage of legal heirs, not to mention illegitimate children. With the accession of Catherine the Great in 1762, stability came to the country - it also influenced the increase in the birth rate of illegitimate offspring. And, of course, the appearance of works of art dedicated to them.

Son of Catherine II

Fedor Rokotov. Portrait of Alexey Bobrinsky. Around 1763. State Russian Museum

Alexey Grigorievich Bobrinsky was the son of then simply Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna (without serial number) and her favorite Grigory Orlov. He was born under stressful conditions: Catherine was pregnant with him when Empress Elizabeth Petrovna and her legal husband died in December 1761 Peter III ascended the throne. Relations between the spouses by that time were already very strained, they communicated little, and the emperor did not even know about interesting position Catherine. When the time came for the birth in April, the devoted valet Shkurin set his house on fire to distract Peter, who loved to look at the fire. Having barely recovered (a little more than two months had passed), Catherine led the coup, and spent the night without dismounting her horse.

Alexey grew up completely different from his passionate, intelligent parents; he received a poor education, went on a drinking spree, incurred debts, and, on the orders of his angry mother, lived throughout her reign in the Baltic states, away from the court.

In the portrait by Rokotov, a boy with a silver rattle in his hands is depicted at about a year old. When the painting came to the Russian Museum, it was believed that it was a portrait of his half-brother, Emperor Paul. The subtle resemblance to the mother's features, and the fact that the painting came from her private chambers, seemed to confirm this version. However, experts in Rokotov’s work saw that, judging by the style, the painting was created in the mid-1760s, when Pavel was already ten years old. Comparison with other portraits of Bobrinsky proved that it was he who was depicted.

Daughter of Catherine II

Vladimir Borovikovsky. Portrait of Elizaveta Grigorievna Tyomkina. 1798. Tretyakov Gallery

Elizaveta Grigorievna Tyomkina was the daughter of the Empress's favorite Grigory Potemkin - this is evidenced by her artificial shortened surname (these were given by Russian aristocrats to illegitimate children), and the patronymic, and the words of her son. Who exactly was her mother, unlike Bobrinsky, is a mystery. Catherine II never showed attention to her, however, the version about her motherhood is widespread. Tyomkina’s son, directly pointing out that she is Potemkina on her father’s side, writes evasively that Elizaveta Grigorievna “on her mother’s side is also of high-ranking origin.”

If the empress is really her mother, then she gave birth to a child at the age of 45, during the celebration of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi peace, when, according to the official version, Catherine suffered from an upset stomach due to unwashed fruit. Potemkin's nephew, Count Alexander Samoilov, was involved in raising the girl. When she grew up, she was given a huge dowry and married to Ivan Kalageorgi, a school friend of one of the grand dukes. Tyomkina gave birth to ten children and, apparently, was happy. One of her daughters married the son of the sculptor Martos - is this really how the author of “Minin and Pozharsky” became related to the Romanovs?

The portrait painted by Borovikovsky, at first glance, is quite in line with the images of beauties for which this artist became so famous. But still, what a contrast with the portrait of Lopukhina or other languid young ladies of Borovikovsky! Red-haired Tyomkina clearly inherited both temperament and willpower from her father, and even an empire-style dress in antique fashion does not give her coldness. Today this painting is one of the decorations of the Tretyakov Gallery collection, proving that Borovikovsky could reflect the most different sides human character. But the founder of the museum, Tretyakov, twice refused to buy a portrait from her descendants: in the 1880s, the art of the gallant age seemed old-fashioned, and he preferred to invest money in current, highly social Itinerants.

Daughter of Alexander I

Unknown artist. Portrait of Sofia Naryshkina. 1820s

Sofya Dmitrievna Naryshkina was the daughter of the long-time favorite of Emperor Alexander I, Maria Antonovna Naryshkina. Despite the fact that the beauty deceived the emperor (and her husband) either with Prince Grigory Gagarin, or with Count Adam Ozharovsky, or with someone else, Alexander I considered most of her children to be his own. Besides eldest daughter Marina, born from her husband, Maria Antonovna, during the 14 years of her relationship with the emperor, gave birth to five more children, two of whom survived - Sophia and Emmanuel. The emperor especially loved Sophia, who was even called “Sofya Alexandrovna” and not “Dmitrievna” in the world.

Alexander I was concerned about her fate and wanted to marry the girl to one of richest people Russia - the son of Parasha Zhemchugova, Dmitry Nikolaevich Sheremetev, but he managed to evade this honor. Sophia was engaged to the son of her mother’s friend, Andrei Petrovich Shuvalov, who expected a great career takeoff from this, especially since the emperor had already begun to joke with him in a related way. But in 1824, 16-year-old Sophia died of consumption. On the day of the funeral, the upset careerist groom said to a friend: “My dear, what significance I have lost!” Two years later he married a millionaire, the widow of Platon Zubov. And the poet Pyotr Pletnev dedicated the lines to her death: “She did not come for the earth; / She blossomed not in an earthly way, / And like a star in the distance, / Without approaching us, she shone.”

In a small miniature painted in the 1820s, Sophia is depicted as young, pure girls were supposed to be depicted - without an elaborate hairstyle or rich jewelry, in a simple dress. Vladimir Sollogub left a description of her appearance: “Her childish, seemingly transparent face, large blue childish eyes, light blond curly curls gave her an unearthly glow.”

Daughter of Nicholas I

Franz Winterhalter. Portrait of Sofia Trubetskoy, Countess de Morny. 1863. Chateau-Compiegne

Sofya Sergeevna Trubetskaya was the daughter of Ekaterina Petrovna Musina-Pushkina, married to Sergei Vasilyevich Trubetskoy (future Lermontov’s second) on long term pregnancy. Contemporaries believed that the father of the child was Emperor Nicholas I, because it was he who organized the wedding. After the birth of the baby, the couple separated - Ekaterina Petrovna and the child went to Paris, and her husband was sent to serve in the Caucasus.

Sophia grew up to be a beauty. When she was 18 years old, he saw the girl at the coronation of her alleged brother Alexander II French ambassador, Duke de Morny and proposed to her. The Duke was not embarrassed by the dubiousness of Trubetskoy’s origins: he himself was the illegitimate son of the Dutch Queen Hortense of Beauharnais. And moreover, he even flaunted the fact that for several generations there were only bastards in his family: “I am the great-grandson of a great king, the grandson of a bishop, the son of a queen,” meaning Louis XV and Talleyrand (who, among other things, bore the title of bishop) . In Paris, the newlywed was among the first beauties. After the Duke's death, she married the Spanish Duke of Albuquerque, created a sensation in Madrid and in 1870 erected the first Christmas tree there (an exotic Russian custom!).

Her portrait was painted by Winterhalter, a fashionable portrait painter of the era who painted both Queen Victoria and Empress Maria Alexandrovna. A bouquet of wildflowers in the hands of a beauty and rye in her hair hints at naturalness and simplicity. The white outfit emphasizes this impression, as do pearls (of fabulous value, however).

Children of Alexander II

Konstantin Makovsky. Portrait of the children of His Serene Highness Princess Yuryevskaya. 19th century

George, Olga and Ekaterina Alexandrovich, His Serene Highness Princes Yuryevsky, were illegitimate children of Emperor Alexander II from his long-term mistress, Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova. After his wife Maria Alexandrovna died, the emperor, unable to withstand even two months of mourning, quickly married his beloved and granted her and the children the title and new surname, while simultaneously legitimizing them. His murder by the Narodnaya Volya the following year stopped the further flow of honors and gifts.

Georgy died in 1913, but continued the Yuryevsky family, which still exists today. Daughter Olga married Pushkin's grandson, the unlucky heir to the Luxembourg throne, and lived with him in Nice. She died in 1925. The youngest, Ekaterina, died in 1959, having survived both the revolution and both world wars. She lost her fortune and was forced to earn a professional living by singing at concerts.

Portrait of Konstantin Makovsky, which shows the three of them in childhood, - is typical of this secular portrait painter, from whom many aristocrats ordered their images. The picture is so typical that for many years it was considered an image of unknown children, and only in the 21st century did specialists from the Grabar Center determine who these three were.