mistresses of Russian emperors. The brightest favorites and mistresses of Russian emperors I - id77

But in the old days there were no stars, because there was no stage, no television. There were royal families and other aristocrats - they caused such mass delight, as actors and musicians do now. And they could not talk about PR relations: they married only those who could be married, and lovers became favorites. That is, lovers.!

Favorite of Alexander II Ekaterina Dolgorukova

A princess, an aristocrat, but not a princess, and therefore she could not marry her lover. The emperor was friends with her family: he met Katya only when she was twelve. He gave education to all the children of the Dolgorukovs after the death of their father, and then he met again a sixteen-year-old girl already ... and fell in love with madness! And the girl refused to become a mistress!

However, when Maria Alexandrovna, the queen, came down with tuberculosis, the doctors strongly recommended that she refrain from intimate contact with her husband. This suited Catherine, and she officially became the maid of honor of the Empress in order to live next to her lover! She gave birth to four, note, children. And when Maria nevertheless died, the emperor, with a clear conscience, married Katya. Alas, the family did not accept her, and even did not let her lover go to the funeral, so she had to take the children and leave for France.

Mistress of Alexander I Maria Naryshkina

She was sixteen, she came from Poland - the princess was married to the aristocrat Dmitry Naryshkin! Maria amazed everyone with her beauty and taste, shone at the balls. Alexander I did not just fall in love with her - he agreed with her husband! And, despite the presence of both legal spouses, Alexander and Maria constantly appeared together at balls. But he refused to divorce his wife, and Maria, who gave birth to five children (at least four from the tsar, all under the name of her official husband, who, we recall, was not against it!), left Alexander.

Only one question remains open: were they or Dmitry simply could not object to the emperor due to any threats? ..

Mistress of Paul I Anna Lopukhina

At the age of nineteen, Anna met the emperor ... and it was a fateful meeting. Pavel ordered the Lopukhina family to move to St. Petersburg, gave all relatives good positions and even titles. The emperor painted the walls of the Mikhailovsky Palace in the color of her gloves! He gave the ships the name "Anna"! But in the end, since the pressure of society was strong, she still left the king and got married. Pavel believed that Anechka would return, but two years later he died - so she stayed with her husband. Gagarin, but in the heart

Mistress of Nicholas II Matilda Kshesinskaya

Prima ballerina and author of an amazingly fascinating memoir! She lived in a mansion in St. Petersburg, bought for her by the Tsar in love, and for four years they met there. Nicholas was not then the heir, just the king's son, and sincerely hoped to marry, but it did not work out. And when he had to become emperor, he left Matilda. Kshesinskaya, on the other hand, began dating cousins of the imperial family, with two at the same time, and did not know who the father of the two was! But in the end she married one of the brothers, went to Paris, opened a ballet school. And Nikolai died during the revolution.

JoInfoMedia journalist Diana Lynn recalls that, in fact, there are enough such mistresses and modern powers that be ... May society finally stop putting pressure on people so that they can meet and live together in the open!

The brightest favorites and mistresses of Russian emperors I February 7th, 2018

Hello dear.
Pretty broad topic. There is, as they say, where to turn around :-)))
For it turns out that among the Russian emperors, only Alexander III did not have a metress :-)
We will not talk about the two most famous mistresses. For Marta Skavronskaya generally became an empress and even ruled (well, quite formally, to be honest, given that she almost never dried out :-)) under the name of Catherine I, and Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, became morganatic, wife of Emperor Alexander II, gave birth to 4 children and even introduced a new word for sex - bingerle (benzherl). That is how they called this process in correspondence with the emperor :-)

E. M. Dolgorukova

Let's not remember both Nelidovs, the unfortunate Hamilton and Kantemir. Let's focus on only 5 ladies :-))

The first, and probably the brightest of all, was Olga Alexandrovna Zherebtsova nicknamed "domestic milady" .. Nee Zubova, from a young age she learned to revel, and light it in such a way as to frap the audience even in by no means puritanical times :-)

The lady was born in 1766 and got married very early, to a representative of an old but seedy family of the Zherebtsovs. The carnival of life immediately began, saying that she was "a widow with a living husband" :-) When Platosha's brother was caressed by the aging Catherine the Great and became her last lover, she moved to St. Petersburg and shone with new faces. Having changed several lovers, she focused her attention on two - on the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich, and the English after Whitworth. The first was interesting as a "dessert", and the second she loved very much. Maybe in a different way, but I loved it. It's funny that it was because of her love that she played a rather large role in the Conspiracy of March 11-12, 1801, thus helping one of her lover to destroy another (albeit a former one). And given that Count Palen was another of her lover, then a rather complicated love figure turns out :-)
However, Whitworth was expelled abroad shortly before the coup, and Zherebtsova rushed after him. But the mechanism was already running...

Charles Whitworth

Outside Russia, the English envoy tried to get rid of Olga Alexandrovna, who was already unnecessary and pretty tired of her extravagances, but she was not ready to just give up. Then Whitworth ... fled, and a couple of weeks later he married the Dowager Duchess of Dorset. Zherebtsova did not retreat and broke through to London to sort things out. She left there after a while and more of her former lover was missing. Evil tongues say that the Duchess of Dorset simply ... paid off :-) And I can’t even imagine what the amount should be (if it’s really not a legend), because after Platosha’s favor, as well as his participation in the Conspiracy, Zherebtsova had money there were no problems.

However, she did not go to England in vain :-) According to rumors, she became the mistress of the Prince of Wales, the future George IV there, and even gave birth to a son, Yegor. She passed off this illegitimate son to the end as the son of a British monarch; he rose to the rank of colonel and married Princess Shcherbatova.

George IV

She spent the last years of her life in St. Petersburg. In her old age, Zherebtsova was an interlocutor of the young A.I. Herzen, who devoted several pages to her in his Past and Thoughts. Here is what he wrote about Zherebtsova:
«… A strange original ruin of another century, surrounded by a degenerate generation on the barren and low soil of St. Petersburg court life, she felt superior to him and was right ... Her mistake was not in contempt for insignificant people, but in the fact that she took the works of the court garden for our entire generation».
She died on March 1, 1849 and was buried in the family tomb of the Counts Zubovs, in the Trinity-Sergius Hermitage.

beautiful Maria Antonovna Naryshkina, nee Princess Svyatopolk-Chetvertinskaya, nicknamed "Russian Aspasia", was the mistress of Alexander I for about 15 years. The "bald dandy" was generally a big walker, but Maria Antonovna was the main pearl in his collection. Again, his legal wife Elizaveta Alekseevna (nee Louise Maria Augusta of Badenskaya) also tolerated her.

Maria Antonovna was born on February 2, 1779 in cheerful Warsaw. Her father, the Polish magnate Antony Chetvertinsky, was a pro-Russian politician, for which he was literally lynched by a mob during the Kosciuszko uprising. Catherine II ordered to take his widow with children to Petersburg and took upon herself the organization of their future. After such a protectorate, the fate of the girl and her sister and brother was secured. Despite the fact that the mother could not bear the loss of her husband and soon died, leaving the children orphans. But fate turned out well for them. Brother, Prince Boris Antonovich Chetvertinsky, later became the manager of the Moscow stable department, and chief master of the horse, and sister Princess Jeanette Antonovna Chetvertinskaya (married Vyshkovskaya) became the mistress of Grand Duke Konstantin and almost divorced him from his wife :-)

Jeanette Grodzinskaya (by husband)

Maria Antonovna herself, at the age of 15, Maria was granted a maid of honor, and a year later she was married to 31-year-old Dmitry Naryshkin, one of the richest nobles of the Catherine era. By the way, it was this wedding that Derzhavin sang in the Housewarming of the Young.

In marriage, Mary's beauty blossomed so much that she became the first beauty of the court. Despite her appearance and great wealth, she was always sweet and very modest. It was this modesty that perhaps attracted the attention of Tsarevich Alexander Pavlovich. Their relationship lasted more than 15 years even after the official marriage, and according to rumors, the emperor had several children with her. Although I strongly doubt it - he was childless. But everyone says with confidence that the daughter Sofya Dmitrievna Naryshkina was just his. And her death from consumption at a young age greatly undermined the health of the emperor himself.

Sofia Dmitrievna

When her older sister Jeanette made up the same “shadow family” with the emperor’s younger brother, Konstantin, the situation turned out to be interesting in terms of piquancy :-)
However, this did not last very long. It is not clear to you whether she herself broke with the emperor, or whether he believed the rumors about many other lovers. At least two were openly discussed - about Prince Gagarin and Adjutant General Count Adam Ozharovsky.
And what about the husband, you ask? Ooooh .. it was an interesting character. Remember the "Order of Cuckolds", because of which Pushkin subsequently died? Dmitry Lvovich Naryshkin in the world was considered his "Master" :-))

After the end of her love affair with the emperor, Maria Antonovna did not lose his favor, but left Russia in 1813 and lived mostly in Europe.
During a short visit to St. Petersburg in 1818, Naryshkina arranged the marriage of her eldest daughter with the son of Minister D. A. Guryev. In 1835, M. A. Naryshkina settled with her husband in Odessa. From that time on, the former adjutant wing Brozin began to play a prominent role in her life. According to some reports, having been widowed in 1838, Naryshkina married this general, which caused the displeasure of Nicholas I. She spent the last years of her life with Brozin abroad. She came to Odessa only occasionally.

She died on Lake Starenberg and was buried in Munich in the old southern cemetery.
This is such an interesting lady.
To be continued...
Have a nice time of the day.

“Over the past hundred years, only one Russian tsar has not lived with a ballerina. It's me,” says Alexander III in the film “Matilda”. Moreover, this emperor had no mistresses at all, unlike his predecessors from the Romanov dynasty. Whoever they did not go to the favorites ... And the fate of these women developed in different ways.

Peter I

The Russian Emperor No. 1 was an amorous man: two official marriages and many mistresses. The first favorite of the young king was Anna Mons. And Peter met a beauty - the daughter of a merchant from Minden in the German Quarter in Moscow, where he liked to go in his free time to chat with the foreigners who lived there.

Anna Mons

At that time he was already married to Evdokia Lopukhina. His romance with Mons lasted over 10 years. Peter even divorced Lopukhina and sent her to a monastery. But the tsar never married Anna, although he openly lived with her. According to rumors, Mons never really loved Petra, but rather allowed herself to be loved and used him for her own purposes. Moreover, she twisted novels on the side, for which she eventually received a resignation in 1704. Peter had already begun an affair with Martha Skavronskaya, the future Empress Catherine I. Mons was put under house arrest and accused of divination. She was saved from further trouble by her relationship with the Prussian envoy to Russia, Georg-John von Keyserling. Peter eventually gave even the go-ahead for their marriage. The husband, however, died suddenly shortly after the wedding. And three years later, in 1714, Anna herself died of consumption in Moscow. Mons was 42 years old. Her last lover was the Swedish captain Karl-Johann von Miller, whom she presented with valuable gifts and to whom she bequeathed almost her entire fortune (5,740 rubles).

The youngest daughter of the Yakut governor Mikhail Arsenyev barbarian beauty was not. But she was smart and educated, which charmed not only Peter, but also his wife Catherine, whose maid of honor she served. Varvara Arsenyeva's sister Daria was the wife of the closest associate of Emperor Alexander Menshikov. However, they say that women gave love to both gentlemen in turn. Arsenyeva outlived Peter, but not Menshikov's disgrace. She was exiled to a monastery, where she died a year later.

Varvara Arsenyeva

"Mary Hamilton Before her Execution".

Photo: wikipedia.org. Artist: Pavel Svedomsky

Even more tragic fate Mary Hamilton. Catherine's maid of honor quickly disappointed Peter; love, however, never smelled here. Then she started an affair with Peter's batman Ivan Orlov. But he cheated on her, and Maria, in order to return the gentleman, showered her with gifts: jewels that she stole from the empress. And when she eventually became pregnant from him, she killed the baby. When all this became known, Peter ordered Mary to be executed, although the empress stood up for her. But the monarch did not change his mind, and the former favorite was beheaded. Orlov was forgiven.

In parallel with Hamilton, Peter had an affair with Avdotya Rzhevskaya, to which he gave the nickname "boy-woman". A happy fate awaited the favorite. Peter married her to his batman Grigory Chernyshev, who later rose to the title of count and the rank of general. The woman bore him four children. Avdotya Chernysheva continued to enjoy influence at court: she was equally valued by both Anna Ioannovna and Peter's daughter, Elizabeth.

Avdotya Chernysheva

Photo: wikipedia.org. Unknown artist of the 18th century

Maria Rumyantseva

Maria Matveeva was a distant relative of her namesake, Mary Hamilton. But how different were their fates. The granddaughter of the boyar Matveev, the closest associate of Father Peter - Alexei Mikhailovich, spoke fluent French, danced well, had beauty and liveliness, which attracted the attention of Peter I. He was very jealous of her, and married her to another of his batmen (it was profitable then position) - Alexandra Rumyantseva.

According to rumors, the father of her son, the famous Russian commander Peter Rumyantsev, may have been the emperor. Maria Rumyantseva lived for almost 90 years. And she became famous for accepting foundlings and homeless children in her house.

Maria Cantemir

Photo: wikipedia.org. Artist: Ivan Nikitin

The last love of Peter is the daughter of his ally, the Moldavian ruler Dmitry Maria Cantemir . The father, who at that time lived in Moscow, encouraged his daughter's romance with the emperor. Mary became pregnant by Peter, but the boy was stillborn. After the death of the emperor in 1725, Cantemir never married again and died alone in 1757.

Alexander II

After the death of Maria Alexandrovna, Alexander II, to the displeasure of his relatives, marries Dolgoruky. Their romance by this point had lasted for 14 years. But this marriage was considered morganatic, that is, their children did not have rights to the throne. Dolgoruky was granted the title of the Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya, the same surname was henceforth worn by her children with the emperor. Alas, less than a year after the wedding, Alexander II was killed by the Narodnaya Volya. And Alexander III, who ascended the throne, did not intend to endure Princess Yuryevskaya. And she and her family leave Russia forever. Ekaterina Dolgorukova died in Nice in 1922 at the age of 74. History has preserved numerous letters from lovers and memoirs written by the princess already in a foreign land.

Ekaterina Dolgorukova

With a young Katya Dolgoruky the emperor met for the first time when he was 41 years old. But they started dating only after 7 years. Alexandra's wife, Maria Alexandrovna, was already ill with consumption by that time. And then there is the death of the eldest son Nikolai, which greatly crippled her. The affair with Dolgoruky was not approved by either the court or those close to the emperor, especially his son Alexander, heir to the throne. The monarch was even forced to send his favorite abroad, where he went on dates. But over time, he settled her in the palace with the children. They had four of them, one boy, however, died in infancy.

Nicholas I

Curious things sometimes happen in history. So, the most famous mistress of the third son of Paul I was Varvara Nelidova- Cousin of his father's favorite. Actually, Ekaterina Nelidova raised her. The wife of Nicholas I, Alexandra Fedorovna, gave birth to numerous offspring, but, alas, because of this, at the age of 35, according to rumors, she could no longer fulfill her marital duty. So the emperor became interested in the maid of honor's wife. Their relationship lasted almost 17 years. Alexandra Feodorovna, they say, approved of them, at least she didn’t interfere and didn’t make scandals. And this connection was not openly advertised.

Varvara Nelidova

Nelidova was a decent and beautiful girl, unlike her aunt. But she captivated Nikolai not only with her beauty, but also with her mind. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, “she knew how to manage her master with a tact that is characteristic only of a woman. Pretending to submit to everything, she always knew how to direct him on the path that, in her opinion, was the best. She could have abused her influence in terms of intrigue and nepotism, but she was far from it and never tried to show herself, did not surround herself with ghosts and a halo of power; she was well aware of the proud and suspicious nature of the sovereign. After the death of Nicholas I in 1855, she wanted to leave the court, but his son Alexander II did not allow it. Nelidova almost never went out into the world, she also never got married. She survived Nicholas I for 42 years, having died in the reign of his great-grandson Nicholas II.

Alexander I

According to rumors, Alexander I and his favorite had children - in particular, the daughter Sophia, who, of course, bore the surname Naryshkin. She died young shortly before her wedding. They say that Alexander was very worried, and this undermined his health. He died a year later, in 1825, without leaving an heir. The throne passed to his brother Nicholas.

Maria Naryshkina

Naryshkina, after parting with the emperor, went abroad, then settled in Odessa, where, according to rumors, she married again - to the former aide-de-camp Brozin. She died at the age of 75 and is buried in Munich.

Pavel I

One of the first pupils of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens Ekaterina Nelidova she was not a beauty either, but she danced beautifully, she was smart, educated and well-read, she knew how to conduct conversations on various topics. By this she attracted the heir to the throne, Pavel Petrovich. Together they spent a lot of time, which, naturally, embarrassed the wife of the Tsarevich Maria Feodorovna, whose chamber-maid of honor was Nelidova. But Ekaterina Ivanovna managed to convince that they only have friendly relations. Yes, and Pavel repeated more than once that he was connected with Nelidova by "friendship sacred and tender, but innocent and pure." Maria Fedorovna believed her husband and also became friends with his favorite, who by that time had become the head of Smolny. Together they tried to influence the future emperor.

The first persons of the state could afford the most noble beauties, yet they were absolute rulers, constrained only by some official tradition - to marry the persons of the imperial houses, and not just anyone, but whoever they needed. For the soul, the kings kept favorites for themselves and loved many more than legal wives. Dilettant. media talks about some mistresses of Russian tsars.

Alexander II met Ekaterina Mikhailovna during military exercises near Poltava, when he was visiting her father, Prince Dolgorukov. She was still a little girl. The misfortune of this family helped the happiness of the emperor - Dolgoruky went bankrupt, leaving his wife with four sons and two daughters without funds. Alexander II took them into his care, placing the Dolgorukov brothers in military schools, and the sisters in the Smolny Institute.

In March 1865, during a visit to Smolny, he was introduced to 17-year-old Ekaterina Dolgorukova, whom he remembered and, it seems, fell in love with at that time. The first meetings were held secretly - at the Winter Palace. After - in Peterhof, they began to spend more time together. The legitimate wife of the king was ill with consumption and did not get out of bed. Ekaterina Dolgorukova gave birth to Alexander four children, but her marriage was not recognized by the Romanovs, one of the most ardent opponents of the morganatic connection was the Tsarevich - the future Emperor Alexander III.

Ekaterina Dolgorukova gave birth to four children to Alexander II

It is believed that Anna Vasilchikova was the fifth wife of Ivan IV, called Grozny by the people, but this marriage was not recognized by the church, that is, in fact, it was not a marriage.

The tsar found Anna Vasilchikova in the house of Prince Peter Vasilchikov as a 17-year-old beautiful girl and immediately planned to take her to his palace. The prince did not want to give his daughter away, but Grozny simply sent matchmakers to him. True, this marriage did not last long - only about three months. Moreover, the king cooled off towards her already at the end of the first. Vasilchikova was forcibly tonsured in the Suzdal Intercession Monastery. In 1577, it became known about her death under mysterious circumstances. The tsar himself announced the death - sending out the news of the commemoration of Vasilchikova.

Ivan IV lost interest in his mistress Vasilchikova in a month

Ekaterina Ivanovna was called a phenomenon by Catherine II herself, she herself loved to marvel at the talented, graceful and beautiful graduate of the Smolny Institute. Nelidova received a gold medal from the Empress. In 1776, she was appointed maid of honor to Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna, and by the time Paul I came to the throne, she had already become a maid of honor.

The emperor called their relationship "sacred and tender friendship, but innocent and pure", she claimed that God himself appointed her to protect the sovereign. True, a quarrel soon occurred between them - Nelidova was to a much greater extent the party of Catherine II, and not her lover. As a result, the emperor expelled Nelidova from St. Petersburg. Upon learning of the murder of Paul I, Ekaterina Ivanovna was so shocked that in just a few months she became a perfect old woman.

Catherine II called her son's mistress a phenomenon

Maria Andreevna comes from a noble noble family, the daughter of a real Privy Councilor, a woman of incredible beauty. Peter I not only loved her terribly, but was also terribly jealous. Once he even punished her for being too free with other men and threatened to marry her to a man who would imprison her at home, as in a monastery. By and large, he did just that, but he entrusted her only to one of the people closest to him - Alexander Rumyantsev.

Together with his wife, the tsar distinguished his batman with "considerable villages" and a piece of land for a palace on the road to Tsarskoye Selo, on the banks of the Fontanka. However, the presence of a husband, as they say, did not interfere with meetings with the emperor. While Rumyantsev was in Constantinople, and then dealt with state issues near the Persian borders, Peter I visited his love and even, as if, gave her a son, named after the tsar Peter.

Peter I punished his mistress for free behavior with others

The favorite of Peter III, Elizabeth Romanovna Vorontsova, according to some statements, did not give the impression of a beauty. With olive skin, a scarred face after suffering smallpox - these are the remarks of the Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna, to whom Vorontsova was appointed as a lady-in-waiting. The addiction of Peter III (in general, an eccentric person) to her caused general surprise, "the Grand Duke expressed a very regrettable taste." He himself, as they say, called his mistress in a simple way: Romanovna.

As soon as Peter III became emperor, Vorontsova became his official favorite. Appointed as a lady-in-waiting, she spent almost all the time with him, participating in the entertainment and amusements of the king who was bogged down in childhood. The heyday of the Vorontsova era will end along with the decline of the era of Peter III, however, in relation to her, the measures will be quite mild. She even manages to marry a state councilor.

Peter III called his mistress in a simple way: Romanovna

Favorites and mistresses of Russian sovereigns

Were there favorites at the grand-ducal and royal sovereign courts?

At the sovereign courts of the Grand Dukes of All Russia, John III Vasilyevich and his son Vasily III Ioannovich, there were no favorites, no favorites in the full sense of these words. True, there were suspicions that John III at one time singled out Princess Elena, the wife of his son, Prince Ivan, especially after Ivan's death, which he bitterly mourned.

Ivan, who bore the name Young to distinguish himself from his father, was born in 1458 from the Grand Duke's first marriage to Princess Maria Borisovna of Tver (1422–1467), was the heir to the throne and his father's support. He died in 1490 when he was 32 years old. Ivan the Young was married to Elena, daughter of the Wallachian ruler Stephen III, and had a son from this marriage, Dimitri, who was born in 1483. (We note in passing that Elena's brother, Ivan, was the ancestor of the famous composer and performer S.V. Rachmaninov.)

As you know, in 1472, John III married a second time to Sophia (Zoya, Zinaida) Paleolog, the daughter of the Despot of the Seas, the niece of the last emperor of Byzantium, Constantine XII Dragash. From their marriage in 1479, Vasily Ioannovich (Vasily III) was born, who, according to the then existing laws, after the death of his elder brother, was to inherit the Moscow throne. However, John III, who at that time paid much attention to his widow-daughter-in-law Elena and removed his wife Sophia Paleolog from himself, appointed as his heir not 19-year-old Vasily, his son, but his grandson, the son of Ivan the Young and Princess Elena, 15-year-old Dimitri Ivanovich.

On February 14, 1498, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, according to a specially written wedding ceremony (later traditionally used in wedding ceremonies for the kingdom of Moscow sovereigns), the wedding ceremony for the Grand Duke of John III, Dimitri Ivanovich, took place.

Grand Duchess Sophia could not come to terms with the fact that her own son Vasily, a descendant of the Byzantine emperor, who received a name meaning "king", would be in the service of his unremarkable grandson Demetrius and his mother Elena. She understood that this decision was caused by her husband's passion for the young and beautiful Wallet (Moldovan) Elena. Sophia Paleolog, famous for her intelligence, knowledge and ability to intrigue, for 11 years fought hard for her son Vasily. First of all, she drew the attention of the Grand Duke to the fact that his grandson, already married to the Grand Duchy, was not at all interested in the affairs of the state and was not going to help his grandfather in public administration. She managed to make peace with the Grand Duke, again enter into his confidence and draw his paternal attention to his worthy son Vasily Ioannovich, already quite a mature man, always ready to help his father in his difficult affairs of state. She managed to accuse her rival, the young beauty Elena Vala, not personally, but indirectly, of heresy and achieve that on April 11, 1502, Elena, as a harmful heretic, and her son Dimitri were arrested and taken into custody.

Sophia's victory was complete: 3 days after their arrest, on April 14, 1502, in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, Vasily Ivanovich was proclaimed heir to the Moscow throne on the same rite of wedding to the Grand Duchy.

Demetrius, followed by his mother Elena, died in prison in 1509.

Is it possible to call Princess Elena the favorite of John III in the period from 1490 to 1502? Judging by her influence on the Grand Duke John III, by removing his legitimate wife Sophia and the legitimate heir of his son Vasily, by the wedding of her son Dimitri as heir, in our opinion, it is possible.

But his son Vasily III Ioannovich, who dreamed of children and did not have them for almost his entire life, despite his infertile wife Solomonia, did not have any obvious metres.

His grandson, Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible, after the death of his wife Anastasia Romanovna, treated women so dismissively and even cruelly, had so many wives, concubines and random women whom his slanderers did not even bring to him - they dragged them, and he, having disgraced them, At best, he drove out of sight, and even executed, so that not one of them can be called not only a favorite, but also just a favorite. However, one of them can be called the favorite of Ivan the Terrible: the poor beauty widow Vasilisa Melentyeva. She became a widow because of her magnificent, mature beauty, which pleased John. His minions, in order to free the beauty from marriage, killed her husband, and she was brought to the palace to the king. But the already middle-aged tsar was not long amused by this beauty of a Russian woman in her prime. Vasilisa suddenly disappeared from the palace, but where she went is unknown. There are many different versions on this score: that she was executed, that she was tonsured to a monastery, etc. But everyone points out the same reason for this disgrace: Grozny did all this out of jealousy. The great Russian playwright A. N. Ostrovsky wrote a play, which he called Vasilisa Melentyeva. The plot is historical, but uncomplicated: in the palace chambers of the royal favorite Vasilisa Melentyeva, under the guise of her terem girl, her lover made his way. Once the lustful king found this “girl” with his favorite Vasilisa and desired her. This “girl” had to submit to the desire of the king, who was so inflamed with love for her that he even gave her an expensive pearl necklace. The deception, of course, was discovered, and Vasilisa and her lover were severely punished.

Of course, Vasilisa Melentyeva could not be a favorite in the European sense: she did not play any role at the grand ducal court, few people saw her in the palace. This favorite was rather just a concubine of the Terrible Tsar.

Tsar Theodore Ioannovich had one wife, Irina Feodorovna Godunova, and, being deeply religious and church-going, he did not even think about any other women and could not even think about his health.

There is no information about the favorites of Boris Godunov. His support, confidant was his wife Maria Grigorievna, nee Skuratova-Belskaya, daughter of Malyuta (Grigory) Skuratov, a woman, according to legend, domineering and stern, who under no circumstances would allow Tsar Boris to have any kind of metreska.

After the difficult years of the Troubles, Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov was popularly elected tsar. In the first years of his reign, he was under the vigilant attention of his mother, nun Martha. He even married, according to her insistent desire, Princess Maria Vladimirovna Dolgorukova, who died a month after the wedding. Upon the return of his father, Patriarch Filaret, the years of joint rule of two “great sovereigns” began from Polish captivity, which in itself excluded the appearance of any favorites, and even more favorites.

The son of Tsar Mikhail - the Tsar of "Great, and Small, and White Russia" Alexy Mikhailovich - was surrounded all his life by his sisters, headed by Princess Irina, and then by his beloved wife Maria Ilyinichnaya Miloslavskaya with thirteen children from her, and after her death - with her last love - Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina, who gave him the son of Peter I. So Alexy Mikhailovich did not have enough time or opportunities for this "pampering", favorites.

His son from Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, Tsar Feodor Aleksievich, was weak and sick from childhood, lived in the world for only 21 years and ruled the state for about 6 years. A student of the humanist Simeon of Polotsk, Tsar Theodore II destroyed localism, worked on the development of the project of the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy and other cultural programs. Throughout his reign, he was under the patronage of his sister, Princess Sophia, who had a very strong influence on him, and surrounded by the Polish relatives of his wife Agafya Grushetskaya. One of the people closest to him can be called the boyar Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Golitsyn, but he was a favorite of Princess Sophia.

There is no need to talk about favorites or favorites of the "sorrowful head", the sick John V Aleksievich. Although he was recognized, thanks to the intrigues of Princess Sophia, as the “senior tsar”, he had nothing to do with government, especially independent, agreeing with everything that was offered to him first by Sophia, and then by Peter I. According to some reports, he, married to Praskovya Feodorovna Saltykova, could not be, due to his weakness, the father of his daughters, including the survivors of Anna (Anna Ioannovna), Ekaterina and Praskovya, and therefore, in order to have children, he was assigned to help him with Tsarina Praskovya bed-keeper Yushkov.

So during the 16th and 17th centuries there were no official favorites of the Russian throne.

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