Maria Naryshkina

Marija Antonovna Naryshkina (Russian Мария Антоновна Нарышкина; * 1779, † 1854 in Saint Petersburg ) was a Polish princess and the mistress of the Russian Tsar Alexander I.

Origin and Marriage

Maria was the daughter of the Polish prince Stanisław Antoni Czetwertyński - Światopełk ( 1748-1794 ). She was married since 1795 to the upper -Jägermeister Dmitri Lvovitch Naryshkin ( 1764-1838 ). The former Grand Duke Alexander (1777-1825) made ​​Marija Antonovna 1799 to its permanent mistress, a position which she - should hold for nineteen years - with the approval of her husband.

Mistress

In St. Petersburg no one was shocked or surprised that the later Tsar himself a mistress took, especially since you knew about it, least of all his mother Maria Fyodorovna, the Czar had treated Paul courtesans always as personal friends and companions, provided of course that Paul his consent gave. But his wife, Elisabeth Alexeyevna (1779-1826), was in a very different situation: They had no children and was always a lonely person, to whom everything Russian was a stranger, and she could never entirely to the land which they had adopted, converge. She looked at the Naryshkina as a common prostitute who was out to destroy something beautiful that even after ten years of marriage had magic for themselves. She took her friend, the Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna, not as an example, which, tired of the tantrums and the infidelity of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich, - also remained childless - had left Russia; she had learned to be patient.

Later years

Marija Naryshkina was not a courtesan in the ordinary sense of the word. Around 1803 was her nickname in society " Aspasia of the North", a name which flattered her wit and spirit, and the statesmanlike qualities of her lover. With the art of coquetry familiar, charmed them like a siren. Again and again she found ways and means to deceive those to which she had a crush. In July 1803 came in other circumstances, and with great indiscretion she posed in front of Empress Elizabeth Alexeyevna her pregnancy to show, by making no attempt to hide the paternity of her unborn child. Perhaps she believed Alexander would move the Orthodox Church to annul his and her marriage in order to make her his wife and Empress. Should this have been her dream, so she appreciated the complexity of Tsarism and the bonds that existed between the ruler and his wife, wrong one.

In January 1804 Marija Naryshkina gave birth to her beloved daughter, Zenaida. Alexander was a proud father, and he was not able to hide his joy in Elizabeth Alexeyevna. A few months later died Zenaida, but this sad event did not affect the hectic life of the Duchess Maria. It was Elizabeth and not Marija who shared Alexander's pain and gave him self-confidence and consolations.

1814 was followed by Marija Naryshkina the Tsar to Vienna and rented a house in the Paniglgasse No. 60, which was observed by agents of Baron Hager, police chief of Prince Metternich at the Congress of Vienna. Since she was by birth a Pole, believed the Austrians, they would, their country concerning, want to influence Alexander's policy. Perhaps their motive was rather the jealousy of the leading political courtesans at the Congress of Vienna, Princess Wilhelmine, Duchess of Sagan and Duchess Catherine Bagration. Prince Boris Golitsyn it was the Tsar know again and again that God would punish him for his adultery with Marija Naryshkina. The Tsar respected the views of the prince, but he was attracted to Marija and loved his children born out of this relationship, Zenaida (1806-1810), Sophia (1808-1824) and Emanuel ( 1813-1901 ). He just was not able to this relationship that had existed until a few interruptions, almost nineteen years to break. It was not until the summer of 1818 he decided after serious soul struggles to do so. In a letter to his sister Catherine Pavlovna he had once even gone so far as to call Marija and her children as " my family ".