What happened to the illegitimate children of Russian monarchs. Biography of Empress Catherine II the Great

The Russian Empress Catherine II the Great was born on May 2 (Old Style April 21), 1729 in the city of Stettin in Prussia (now the city of Szczecin in Poland), died on November 17 (Old Style November 6), 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 being done during. The period of her reign is often called the "golden age" of the Russian Empire.

By her own admission, Catherine II, she did not have a creative mind, but she was good at capturing any 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 is 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 writer Denis Fonvizin, the outstanding Russian poet, Pushkin's predecessor Gavriil Derzhavin, Russian historiographer, writer, creator of the "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 founders of the 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 as follows:

Finances were depleted. The army did not receive a salary for 3 months. Trade was in decline, for many of its branches were given over to a monopoly. There was no correct system in the state economy. The War Department was plunged into debt; the marine was barely holding on, being in utter neglect. The clergy were dissatisfied with the taking away of his lands. Justice was sold at a bargain, and the laws were governed only in cases where they favored the strong person.

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

— It is necessary to enlighten the nation, which should govern.

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

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

- It is necessary to promote the flowering of the state and make it abundant.

“We need to make the state formidable in itself and inspire respect for its neighbors.

Based on the tasks set, Catherine II carried out active reformatory activities. Her reforms affected almost all spheres of life.

Convinced of the unsuitable system of government, Catherine II in 1763 carried out a Senate reform. The Senate was divided into 6 departments, having lost the importance of the body in charge of the state apparatus, and became the highest administrative and judicial institution.

Faced with financial difficulties, Catherine II in 1763-1764 carried out the secularization (conversion to secular property) of church lands. 500 monasteries were abolished, 1 million souls of peasants passed to the treasury. Due to this, the state treasury was significantly replenished. This made it possible to ease the financial crisis in the country, to 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 been significantly reduced.

From the very beginning of her reign, Catherine II began to strive to achieve the internal order 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 Cathedral Code of Alexei Mikhailovich of 1649, which would take into account the interests of all classes. For this purpose, in 1767, the Legislative Commission was convened. 572 deputies represented the nobility, merchants, Cossacks. In the new legislation, Catherine tried to carry out the ideas of Western European thinkers about a just society. Having reworked their works, she compiled the famous "Order of Empress Catherine" for the Commission. "Instruction" consisted of 20 chapters, divided into 526 articles. It is about the need for a strong autocratic power in Russia and the class structure of Russian society, about legality, about the relationship between law and morality, about the dangers 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 carried out 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 in each, provinces into counties of 20-30 thousand inhabitants. The city was an independent administrative unit. Elected courts and "judicial chambers" were introduced to deal with criminal and civil cases. Finally, "conscientious" courts for minors and the sick.

In 1785, the "Letter of Letters to the Cities" was published. It determined the rights and obligations of the urban population, the system of governance in cities. Residents of the city every 3 years elected a self-government body - the General City Duma, the mayor and judges.

Since the time of Peter the Great, when all the nobility was obliged to lifelong service to the state, and the peasantry to the same service to the nobility, gradual changes have taken place. Catherine the Great, among other reforms, also wanted to bring harmony into the life of the estates. In 1785, the Letter of Complaint to the Nobility was published, which was a set, 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, from compulsory service was confirmed. Nobles could only be judged by a noble court. Only nobles had the right to own land and serfs. Catherine forbade subjecting nobles to corporal punishment. She believed that this would help the Russian nobility to get rid of the slave psychology and acquire personal dignity.

These charters streamlined the social structure of Russian society, divided into five classes: the nobility, the clergy, the merchants, the bourgeoisie ("the middle class of people") and the serfs.

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

Under Catherine, the systematic development of women's education began, in 1764 the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, the Educational Society for Noble Maidens were opened. The Academy of Sciences has become one of the leading scientific bases in Europe. An observatory, a physics office, an anatomical theater, a botanical garden, instrumental workshops, a printing house, a library, and an archive were founded. 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 for the first time began to export bread.

Under her, paper money was introduced for the first time in Russia. On her initiative, the first vaccination against smallpox was carried out in Russia (she herself set an example, 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 on the Black Sea, the lands were annexed, called Novorossia: the Northern Black Sea region, Crimea, the Kuban region. She took 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 torn away by the Poles.

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

24/08/2012

Last week, the descendants of the illegitimate son of Catherine II, Count Alexei Bobrinsky, gathered for a congress in St. Petersburg. For the first time after the revolution of 1917, the Bobrinskys met together in such a number - 21 people. The meeting was held at the Bobrinsky Palace (58, Galernaya St., where the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences of St. Petersburg State University is now located).

IN This year, the Bobrinsky family turned 250 years old. By this anniversary, they had just completed the restoration of the central building of the palace, which overlooks the garden. “In this garden, Aleksey Alekseevich Bobrinsky, the son of the founder, tested the railway: there was a rail track, where instead of trains, loaded carts drove,” says Valery Monakhov, director of the Arts and Humanities program of the faculty. Restoration is still going on in the garden: everything has been dug up.

The Bobrinsky family arose in the 18th century somewhat unexpectedly - as a result of a romance between Empress Catherine II and Count Grigory Orlov. On April 22, 1762, a boy was born to the Empress, later Alexei, who was immediately sent from the palace to be raised by the wardrobe master Vasily Shkurin. “According to legend, in order to distract Catherine’s legal husband from childbirth, Peter III, on the outskirts of St. Petersburg initiated a fire. After all, it was the emperor’s passion to watch the fires,” says Nikolai Bobrinsky, who lives in France.

Why the illegitimate baby was named Bobrinsky is still debatable. “They say he was carried out of the palace on beaver skins,” says Alexei Nikolaevich, a representative of the Bobrinskys from Moscow. There is another version - the boy was brought up on the Bobriky estate, and this name formed the basis of the surname. In 1796, Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky was elevated to the dignity of a count by Paul I, and two years later, the palace in St. Petersburg on Galernaya Street ended up in his possession.

The current Bobrinskys represent three branches from the three sons of Alexei Grigorievich. So, Nikolai Bobrinsky is a descendant in the 7th knee of Alexei Alekseevich, who was one of the founders of Russian railways(he built the road in the garden. - A.D.), and also built the first sugar factory, for which he was awarded the gold medal "For Refined Sugar".

Nikolai lives in France and works in Germany, at the European Space Agency. “I am an engineer by profession, I graduated from a higher school in space and aeronautical sciences. Lyosha, my brother is a businessman, my sister Olga is a historian. Father is an Orthodox priest, he graduated from the Theological Institute, he is 87 years old, he really wanted to come, but he could not.”

After the revolution of 1917, the Bobrinsky family gradually disappeared from Russia: fleeing from Soviet power, many emigrated, and only a small part remained. The descendants of the Bobrinsky family live all over the world - in France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the USA. After the revolution, there were no Bobrinskys left in St. Petersburg at all; in Russia they can be found in Moscow. But for the most part, the Bobrinskys are citizens of foreign countries. “My mother was 12 years old when the revolution happened,” says Nikolai Witter (after his mother, Bobrinsky). - At that time, everyone lived in Bogoroditsk, then they had to constantly move. In the end, my mother began to live in Moscow. Then my aunt found herself a rich American, got married and left. And my mother found herself an Englishman and also left. Elder sister mine was born back in Moscow, the middle one was born in Paris, and I was born in London.”

Today's Bobrinskys are not very similar to counts - rather, to foreign tourists. “I am Bobrinsky by my mother,” says Nikolai Witter, “my dad is English, so my last name is different.” He is one of the few Bobrinskys who speak Russian: "When I was 18, I was ashamed that I did not speak Russian, and began to teach." Nikolai Borisovich, who lives in France, speaks almost without an accent and teaches Russian to his younger 9-year-old son Pavel: “Everyone here speaks Russian, except for my older children. But we are already teaching the youngest. I tell my son that his ancestors lived in Russia, that they built trains, that great-great-grandmother was an astronomer. He is interested in such concrete facts.”

The count's legacy of the Bobrinsky family, which survived until the 21st century, is very meager - paintings, photographs, some interior items have been preserved (Nikolai Witter has an old mirror that belonged to his great-grandfathers). “Russian emigration after the revolution was very poor - some relics were taken out, but after 5-6 years of living abroad everything was gone,” says Nikolai Borisovich: “But we have thimbles with the family coat of arms - some of them were inherited , some were made recently. The motto of the Bobrinskys is squeezed out there - "Glory to God, life is to you." I wear this ring every day when my son grows up - they will make him the same.

Anthony Maciewski lives in Los Angeles and works as a programmer. His grandmother Sofya still bore the surname Bobrinskaya. Anthony has his own idea of ​​Russian traditions: “For Christmas we always have Russian-Polish cuisine, traditional sweets.”

Being faithful to family traditions abroad, says Nikolai Borisovich, is not so easy - there the history of the Bobrinsky family is of no interest to anyone: “French and German society is indifferent to this history of ours. If you were born in France, you are French and no one wants to know about your family history.” That is why, apparently, the Bobrinskys are gathering all together in Russia. .

Anastasia DMITRIEVA, photographer Roman YANDOLIN

The history of the relationship of the Russian Empress Catherine II with men no less than her state activity. Many of Catherine's favorites were not only lovers, but also major statesmen.

Favoritism and the children of CatherineII

The development of relations between the rulers of European countries and the opposite sex in the 17th-18th centuries created the institution of favoritism. However, one must distinguish between favorites and lovers. The title of the favorite was practically a court title, but not included in the "table of ranks". In addition to pleasures and rewards, this carried the need to perform certain state duties.

It is believed that Catherine II had 23 lovers, of which not everyone can be called a favorite. Most sovereigns of Europe changed sexual partners much more often. They, the Europeans, created the legend about the depravity of the Russian Empress. On the other hand, you can’t call her chaste either.

It is generally accepted truth that the future Catherine II, who arrived in Russia at the invitation of Empress Elizabeth, was married off in 1745 to Grand Duke Peter, an impotent man who was not interested in the charms of his young wife. But he was interested in other women and periodically changed them, however, nothing is known about his children from his mistresses.

About kids Grand Duchess, and then Empress Catherine II, more is known, but even more unconfirmed rumors and assumptions:

There are not so many children, especially given that not all of them necessarily belonged to Catherine the Great.

How Catherine diedII

Versions of death (November 17, 1796) great empress there are several. Their authors do not cease to mock the sexual irrepressibility of the Empress, as always "not seeing the beam in their own eyes." Some of the versions are simply full of hatred and obviously fabricated, most likely in revolutionary France that hates absolutism or its other enemies:

1. The Empress died during sexual intercourse with a stallion raised above her on ropes. Allegedly, it was crushed by him.
2. The Empress died during an affair with a wild boar.
3. Catherine the Great was killed by a Pole in the back while correcting the need for a toilet.
4. Catherine, with her own weight, broke the toilet seat in the toilet, which she had made from the throne of the Polish king.

These myths are completely unfounded and have nothing to do with the Russian Empress. There is an opinion that unflattering versions of death could be invented and distributed at court by a son who hated the empress - the future Emperor Paul I.

The most reliable versions of death are:

1. Catherine died on the second day after she suffered a severe heart attack.
2. The cause of death was a stroke (apoplexy), which caught the empress in the restroom. In excruciating agony, without regaining consciousness for about 3 hours, Empress Catherine died.
3. Pavel organized the murder (or untimely first aid) of the empress. While the Empress suffered in her death throes, her son Pavel found and destroyed the will transferring power to his son Alexander.
4. An additional version of death is called a gallbladder ruptured during a fall.

The official and generally accepted version, when determining the causes of the death of the Empress, is considered to be a stroke, but what actually happened is not known or not proven conclusively.

Empress Catherine II the Great was buried in Peter and Paul Fortress in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul.

The personal life and death of people of great importance for the history of the state always causes a lot of speculation and rumors. The depraved "free" Europe, as soon as it saw the results of European "enlightenment" in Russia, tried to prick, humiliate, insult the "wild" one. How many favorites and lovers there were, how many children Catherine the Great had - far from the most important questions for understanding the essence of her reign. For history, what the empress did during the day, not at night, is more important.

An incredible amount of myths, gossip and rumors always gather around historical figures, cultural figures, art and politics. The Russian Empress Catherine II was no exception. According to various sources, the children of Catherine II were born from her lawful husband Peter III, favorites Grigory Orlov and Potemkin, as well as adviser Panin. Now it is difficult to say which of the rumors is true and which is fiction, and how many children Catherine II had.

Children of Catherine II and Peter III

Pavel Petrovich- the first child of Catherine II from Peter III, was born on September 20 (October 1), 1754 in the Summer Imperial Palace in St. Petersburg. At the birth of the heir to the empire were present: the current Empress of Russia Elizaveta Petrovna, the future Emperor Peter III and the Shuvalov brothers. The birth of Paul was an extremely important and expected event for the empress, so Elizabeth arranged festivities on this occasion and took all the trouble of raising the heir upon herself. The empress hired a whole staff of nannies and educators, completely isolating the child from her parents. Catherine II had almost no contact with Pavel Petrovich and did not have the opportunity to influence his upbringing.

It should be noted that the father of the heir doubted his paternity, although Catherine II herself categorically denied all suspicions. There were also doubts at court. Firstly, the child appeared after 10 years of marriage, when everyone at the court was sure of the infertility of the spouses. Secondly, it is not known for certain what caused the long-awaited pregnancy of Catherine II: the successful cure of Peter III from phimosis by surgical intervention (as the empress claims in her memoirs) or the appearance at the court of the noble handsome Sergei Saltykov - Catherine's first favorite. In fairness, it should be noted that Pavel had an extraordinary external resemblance to Peter III and was completely different from Saltykov.

Anna Petrovna

Princess Anna was born on December 9 (20), 1757 in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. As in the case of Paul, Empress Elizabeth immediately took the baby to her chambers for education, forbidding her parents to visit her. In honor of the birth of a girl from the Peter and Paul Fortress, 101 shots were fired around midnight. The baby was named Anna in honor of the sister of the Empress Elizabeth, although Catherine intended to name her daughter Elizabeth. The baptism was carried out almost secretly: there were no guests and representatives of other powers, and the empress herself entered the church through a side door. Both parents received 60,000 rubles each for the birth of Anna, which greatly pleased Peter and offended Catherine. The children of Catherine II from Peter grew up and were brought up by strangers - nannies and teachers, which deeply saddened the future empress, but completely suited the current one.

Stanislav August Poniatowski

Peter doubted his paternity and did not hide it, there were rumors at court that Stanislav Poniatowski, the future king of Poland, was the real father. Anna lived a little over a year and after a short illness she died. For Catherine II, the death of her daughter was a strong blow.

Illegitimate children

Children of Catherine II and Grigory Orlov

Alexey Bobrinsky

The connection between Catherine II and Grigory Orlov was quite long, because many are inclined to the idea that the empress gave birth to several children of the count. However, information about only one child, Alexei Bobrinsky, has been preserved. It is not known whether Orlov and Catherine II had other children, but Alexei is the official offspring of the couple. The boy became the first illegitimate child of the future empress and was born on April 11-12 (22), 1762 at the Summer Palace in St. Petersburg.

Immediately after birth, the boy was transferred to the family of Vasily Shkurin, Catherine's wardrobe master, where he was brought up with Vasily's other sons. Orlov recognized his son, secretly visited the boy with Catherine. The son of Catherine II from Grigory Orlov, despite all the efforts of his parents, grew up as a mediocre and infantile man. The fate of Bobrinsky cannot be called tragic - he received a good education, arranged his life well at the expense of state funding, and even maintained friendly relations with his brother Pavel after his coronation.

Other children of Orlov and Catherine II

In various sources, one can find references to other children of the empress and favorite, but there is not a single fact or document confirming their existence. Some historians are inclined to the version that Catherine II had several failed pregnancies, others speak of stillborn children or those who died in infancy. There is also a version about the illness of Grigory Orlov and his inability to bear children after it. However, the count, having married, became a father again.

Children of Catherine II and Grigory Potemkin

As well as with Orlov, with Potemkin, Catherine II had a close relationship for a long time, because there are many myths around this union. According to one version, Prince Potemkin and Catherine II had a daughter who was born on July 13, 1775 in the Prechistensky Palace in Moscow. existence itself Elizabeth Grigoryevna Tyomkina there is no doubt - such a woman really existed, even left behind 10 children. The portrait of Tyomkina can be seen in the Tretyakov Gallery. More importantly, the origin of the woman is unknown.

The main reason for doubt that Elizabeth is the daughter of Potemkin and the Empress is the age of Catherine II at the time of the birth of the girl: at that time the empress was about 45 years old. At the same time, the baby was transferred to be raised in the family of the prince's sister, Potemkin appointed his nephew as guardian. The girl received a good education, Gregory allocated significant amounts for her maintenance and fussed about the marriage of his alleged daughter. In this case, it is more obvious that Grigory Potemkin was Elizabeth's father, while one of his favorites, and not Empress Catherine, could well have been her mother.

Other illegitimate children of Catherine II

It is not known for certain how many children Empress Catherine II had and how their fate turned out. Different sources call a different number of children, mention different fathers. According to some versions, miscarriages and stillborn babies were attributed to Catherine's union with Potemkin, as well as with Orlov, but there is no evidence of this.

The fate of the children of Catherine the Great. If you include Elizabeth Temkina among the children of the Empress, then Catherine gave birth to two boys and two girls.

Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna - future Empress Catherine 2

Empress Catherine the Great is one of the brightest women in the political history of Russia. Having married the son of Elizabeth Peter III, she was not happy in marriage. However, due to her brilliant mind, healthy ambition, natural charisma, she managed to organize the overthrow of her unpopular spouse, ascend the throne and successfully rule Russian Empire from 1762 to 1796.

The weak, sluggish husband of Catherine could become a father only once. Married to Peter III, the nee Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst gave birth to the future Emperor of Russia, Paul I. Meanwhile, her bright appearance, good education, cheerful disposition and statesmanship gave Catherine not only the opportunity to decide the fate of the country.

The personal life of the Empress was stormy, often scandalous, and the number of favorites exceeded two dozen. The most famous lovers of Catherine were Grigory Orlov, Sergei Saltykov, Grigory Potemkin. The Empress became the mother of three children: legally recognized Paul, Anna and illegitimate son Alexei. However, some historians suggest that Catherine gave birth to another child - Elizabeth. Disputes about this last motherhood of the Empress have not subsided to this day.

The children of Catherine the Great, their fate is the subject of close attention of historians. If you include Elizabeth Temkina among the children of the Empress, then Catherine gave birth to two boys and two girls.

Pavel I

The legitimate heir to the throne, Paul I, was born on September 20, 1754, after ten years of an unhappy childless marriage of his parents. Immediately after the birth and the first cry of the newborn, the grandmother, the reigning Empress Elizabeth, took her. In fact, she removed the mother and father of the child from raising.

There are two versions regarding the secret of the birth of this child. According to the first, Pavel's biological father was Catherine's favorite Sergei Saltykov. However, the portrait resemblance between Peter III and Paul I makes this version very weak.

According to another version, the mother of the child was not Catherine at all, but Elizabeth. Proponents of this theory explain the actual separation of the child from his parents.

Thematic material:

Paul received a brilliant upbringing, was carried away by the idea of ​​chivalry, but was not happy. The first wife, Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt, died in childbirth. In the second marriage with Maria Feodorovna, nee Sophia of Württemberg, ten children were born. Relations with the reigning mother were cold and strained due to the complete dissimilarity of worldview positions and mutual dislike.

Paul was crowned at the age of 42 in 1796. Immediately after accession to the throne, he began political reforms, but four years later he was assassinated.

Anna Petrovna

The legally recognized daughter of Catherine the Great was born on December 9, 1757. Grand Duke Pyotr Fedorovich, who was yet to become Peter III, was not her father, although he recognized the girl. The child was named Anna in honor of the sister of the reigning Empress Elizabeth, Anna Petrovna. The child was named, of course, by the grandmother, who again actively intervened in personal life daughter-in-law.

The real father of the girl was Stanislav Poniatowski, who arrived in Russia a year before Anna's birth as the ambassador of Saxony. A few weeks before the birth of his daughter, Poniatowski was expelled from Russia. In the future, he became the king of Poland.

Anna Petrovna did not stay long in this world. She lived for just over a year and died of smallpox in February 1759.

Alexey Bobrinsky

The illegitimate son of Catherine from the favorite Grigory Orlov was born in April 1762. The child was named Alexei and sent to be raised in the family of the royal chamberlain Shkurin. The child was born a few months before the overthrow of Peter III, so for the first time after the birth, Catherine saw the baby only a year later. She did not immediately reveal the secret of birth to her son. The young man was brought up with the sons of Shkurin until the age of 12, studied with them abroad, then was sent to the Ground Cadet Corps.

For many years he traveled around Russia, Europe, in 1788 he settled in Reval. He married Baroness Anna Ungern-Sternberg. After the death of his mother, he was unexpectedly kindly received by Emperor Paul I, to whom Catherine revealed the secret and handed over the relevant documents. The children of Catherine the Great were thus spiritually reunited: Paul officially recognized the existence of a brother.

In 1796, Bobrinsky received the title of count, settled in the Tula province in the estates given to him by his mother. He was interested in the sciences (medicine, geography), alchemy, and conducted agricultural experiments.

Died in 1813.

Elizabeth Temkina

The theory that Catherine the Great in 1775 gave birth to her second daughter, Elizabeth, who received her father's surname at birth, is highly controversial. Illegitimate children of high-born families in those days were named after the parental surname, cutting off the first syllable. So Elizaveta Temkina was born.

There is nothing particularly unusual in this theory. The connection between Potemkin and Catherine the Great was very strong (there were rumors about their secret marriage), and on the day the baby was born, 46-year-old Catherine was still in childbearing age. The fact that the empress did not appear in public for several days before and after the birth, saying she was sick, speaks in favor of the supporters of the theory.

However, skeptics argue that the birth healthy child at the age of Catherine in those days was extremely unlikely. In addition, Catherine did not feel any interest and sympathy for the girl.

One way or another, after the death of Count Potemkin, Elizabeth was granted her father's estates in the Kherson region. She happily married Ivan Kalageorgi, who was brought up in the palace, next to the son of Paul I, Grand Duke Konstantin. The couple had ten children. Elizaveta Temkina died at the advanced age of 78.

The fate of Catherine's children was different. However, all of them are covered by the great shadow of one of the brightest women in the political history of Russia.