Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova, whose photo you can see in the article, is completely different from the recluses of the seventeenth century. They say she was very beautiful and proud. Moreover, she was able to preserve these qualities in captivity. She was the bride of Emperor Peter II. Despite this, she was not destined to experience true happiness ... The biography of Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova will be presented to your attention in the article.
Secret Council member daughter
Ekaterina Dolgorukova was born in the distant 1712 in a famous family. So, her father was a major statesman and at one time was one of the members of the Supreme Privy Council. He was also a mentor to the grandson of Peter the Great, the future emperor Peter II, and had a tremendous influence on him. However, we will return to this a little later.
Catherine, like her older brother Ivan, was brought up in Warsaw. Both lived in the house of their eminent grandfather Grigory Dolgorukov.
A few years later, brother and sister returned to the Northern capital. In St. Petersburg, the young princess was seriously carried away by Count Melissimo. He was a relative of the Ambassador of Austria. The young man reciprocated the girlās sincere love. Perhaps this crazy romance would end in a wedding. But Catherine had a completely different fate. For in the political horizon appeared the figure of the Russian autocrat Peter II.
Heir
He was born in 1715. His father is Tsarevich Alexei, the eldest son of Peter I, who died in the royal dungeons under the most mysterious circumstances.
Unfortunately, the grandson of the great emperor was also doomed to misfortune. And when Peter the Great died, the nine-year-old heir to the throne became a bargaining chip in the courtiers' game connected with the succession to the throne. This time, the victory was won by the closest associate of the late emperor - Alexander Menshikov, and the widow of Peter I Catherine ascended the Russian throne . Note, Dolgoruky were long-standing opponents of the generalissimo.
Meanwhile, at the instigation of Menshikov, the empress decided to make a will in favor of the grandson of Peter I. After this, the heir was forced to move to the apartments of the courtier on Vasilievsky Island. The Serene was intending to give his fifteen-year-old daughter Maria to wife Peter and had already begun to prepare for the upcoming wedding. Catherine was not at all opposed, and the children were even engaged. But in late spring of 1727 the empress died ...
The collapse of the all-powerful generalissimo
The influence of the once powerful courtier suddenly lost. They say that the reason for the future disgrace was a reprimand: Menshikov scolded the emperor "for wastefulness." The enemies of the courtier took advantage of this, including primarily the Dolgoruky clan. As a result, in 1728, Menshikov was deprived of the nobility, orders, and other regalia, after which he went with his large family to the Siberian exile, to Berezov, on the Ob. On the road, his wife died. A little later, already in Siberia, the royal bride Masha, the eldest daughter of the courtier, also died. And later, a year later, there was no omnipotent Menshikov.
Well, the young emperor himself found his friend and favorite. They became the brother of Catherine Dolgorukova Ivan. And the kingās mentor and educator was Ivanās father, a member of the Supreme Council.
The bride of the Russian emperor
The Russian autocrat began to live in Moscow, which again turned into the capital of the empire. Peter lived in the estate of Prince Alexei Dolgorukov. The ambitious mentor in every possible way indulged the amateurs who fell in love with the pupil - bear persecution, fist fights, falconry and dog hunting. In parallel, he began to prepare for the role of the Empress his daughter Catherine. She has already come to terms with her unenviable fate.
Catherine's parents deliberately made sure that the princess was constantly near the king. And pretty quickly their plans were realized. Peter told officials that he intends to marry Ekaterina Dolgorukova.
November 24, 1729, the day of St. the great martyrs Catherine, all the highest ranks of the country and foreign ministers honored the beloved of the royal heart with the day of namesake. And the Dolgorukovs in every possible way were in a hurry to complete what had begun, and six days later they appointed a day of engagement.
The celebration took place in the Lefortovo settlement. Members of the imperial family were invited. Even the grandmother of Peter the Great, nun Elena, who lived at that time in the monastery, arrived at the event. Then Catherine was granted the title of āsovereign brideā.
After the betrothal, she began to live in the Golovinsky Palace, and the unfortunate lover Melessimo was sent abroad.
Thus, the Dolgorukov family reached the extremes of greatness. All officials literally looked into their eyes and flattered.
Meanwhile, the marriage was scheduled for January 19, 1730, immediately after Baptism. But two weeks before the ceremony, the young emperor fell ill with smallpox ...
Fake testament
The kingās favorite practically did not leave the patientās bed. Perhaps it was he who informed his father that the emperorās body was not able to cope with a fatal illness, and the autocrat was weakening day by day. And Dolgorukov, the father, decided to write a false testament. According to him, the royal throne should go to the bride of Peter II - Catherine. And Ivan skillfully faked the signature of his dying friend. True, in the future, the emperorās mentor destroyed this important document. Moreover, Dolgorukova Ekaterina Alekseevna and Peter 2 did not have time to become spouses. The emperor died on the day that the wedding was scheduled. But the news of a fake testament leaked into the royal circles. After a few years, this important evidence became known to everyone, but we will return to this issue a little later.
Meanwhile, Catherine was forced to return to her parental home, and Anna Ioannovna ascended the Russian throne. Unfortunately, the mentor of the late king was the only person who voted against the election of the current empress to the kingdom. Thus, a couple of months after the death of Peter, the entire Dolgorukov family was sent into exile in the city of Berezov. That is, to the place where the luminous Alexander Menshikov suffered at one time.
Did Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova have children? She suffered a sad fate. They say that a few months later, in Berezovo, she gave birth to a dead child. It was the daughter of the late emperor Peter II.
Denunciation
A few years later, a certain clerk Tishin from Tobolsk, in a state of intoxication, expressed her wishes to her and molested her. The princess was offended and complained to Lieutenant Ovtsyn, who was then serving in the same Berezovo. The officer stood up for the former royal bride, and the clerk was beaten. He, in turn, wrote a denunciation to the Dolgorukov family. Officials began to check the message and unearthed a half-forgotten story about the forged will of Peter II. By the way, long before compiling the libel, the main person involved in this case - Alexei Dolgorukov - was no longer in this world.
Nevertheless, when this terrible secret was finally revealed to the reigning person, all the Dolgorukovs suffered again. So, in Novgorod, the brother of Catherine Ivan was wheeled. After these events, the former royal bride was imprisoned in a convent in Goritsy, in the Novgorod province.
Imprisonment
The Goritsky monastery, surrounded by impassable forests, served more than once as a place of detention. It was built by Princess Euphrosyne, the mother of Vladimir Staritsky, who was poisoned by Ivan the Terrible.
In the monastery, in addition to attendants and abbesses, there were wells, among which was Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova. Unfortunately, the princessās personal life did not work out. They didnāt stand on ceremony with the wells. To pacify them, they used shackles, sticks, lashes, chairs with chains. And the name of the Dolgorukovs was even scary to pronounce.
Nevertheless, the princess, apparently, did not completely forget the former greatness. Misery and suffering only hardened her. For all the years of imprisonment, she did not utter a single word.
One day a member of the secret chancellery arrived at the monastery. He visited Dolgorukova. She turned away from the important dignitary and did not even get up. The official ordered the abbess to follow her. As a result, the only window in the casemate where Ekaterina was kept was boarded up.
Two girls who lived in the monastery decided to look at the well in the castle well. For this they were carved.
Return
Princess Dolgorukova spent almost three years in the monastery. When Empress Elizabeth ascended the throne, Catherine was released from prison and even returned the status of maid of honor. A crew and a servant were sent specially for her.
The princess was merciful. He decided to forget about the humiliation in Goritsy and kindly said goodbye not only to the nuns, but also to the abbess. At the same time, she vowed to always leave the monastery with offerings. And since then, the Goritsky hermits constantly came things and money.
Last years
When Dolgorukova arrived in the capital, the first thing she met with relatives who had survived after a decade of disgrace. And the Empress, meanwhile, tried to arrange her personal life. So, in 1745, she met with 38-year-old general-anshef Alexander Bruce. His uncle was a famous sorcerer, astronomer and associate of Peter the Great.
This relationship ended with a magnificent wedding. After some time, Countess Bruce went to Novgorod. She visited the grave of her executed brother, including her uncle. At this place, Catherine laid the church of St. Nicholas.
Soon she was gone. She was only 35. Before her death, she ordered all her clothes to be burned so that after her no one could wear her dresses. The burial place of Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova (years of life - 1712-1747) is still unknown ...