Gagarina, Anna Petrovna (1777-1805),
née Lopukhina, daughter of the senator P. V. Lopukhin and his first
wife P. I. Levshina. She lost her mother early and was brought up by her
stepmother, a woman of doubtful reputation. Being herself of very little
education she did not take care of her stepdaughter’s education as well.
Anna Petrovna had an attractive appearance: big dark eyes and gorgeous
black hair, high complexion and beautiful smile. But she was not a beauty
to the tastes of strict critics as she was short and ungraceful. Her debut
in 1797 coincided with festivities on account of Paul’s I coronation in
Moscow. She had an immediate success and attracted the attention of the
Emperor. A court party, headed by Kutaisov, tried to use Emperor’s interest
in order to decrease the influence of the Empress Maria Fedorovna, on him.
The Emperor was assured that the young Lopukhina was deeply in love with
him and he invited the family to move to St. Petersburg, where they all
were in favor of the Emperor. Anna Petrovna was appointed maid of honor,
her stepmother became lady-in-waiting, and the father was appointed Procurator
General, member of the State Council, and January 19, 1799 was made a Prince.
The post of maid-of-honor obliged Anna Petrovna to be constantly in the
retenue of the Empress and follow the tsar’s family in all their travels.
Thanks to this the Emperor could see her daily. Unfortunately for the anti-Empress
party, Anna Petrovna did not share the Emperor’s passion and being not
very ambitious openly told him that she’d been in love with another man,
Prince Pavel Gavrilovich Gagarin. Paul I, wishing to be a noble knight,
called Prince Gagarin from Italy, where he, a major, was in the army of
Suvorov. Then the Emperor promoted Gagarin to the rank of a general and
ordered him to marry Anna Petrovna. Prince Gagarin subordinated, but evidently
he did not share the feelings of his young wife, and his indifference made
her turn to her regal admirer. Paul I was happy with such a sudden change.
Princess Gagarina became his mistress and remained one to his death. The
Emperor promoted her to the rank of lady-in-waiting and decorated her with
the orders of St. Catherine of 1st degree, and St. John of Jerusalem.
The remarkable tact and modesty of the princess helped her to survive
the court intrigues. She was born for quiet family life, which she did
not get, and being the mistress of the most powerful man in Russia, she
tried to create a kind of a family home with him – she avoided the court
life and intrigues.
After accession to the throne of Alexander I, Prince P. G. Gagarin
was appointed an envoy to the King of Sardinia, and Princess A. P. Gagarina
followed her husband to Italy. She died there in childbirth April 25, 1805.
Zherebtsova, Olga Alexandrovna (1766-1849),
nèe Zubova, sister of Platon Zubov, one of Catherine’s II favorites,
and wife of the royal chamberlain Alexey Zherebtsov, whose promotion to
this high post was secured by his wife and brother in law. Olga was beautiful,
full of energy and self-interested. She took part in the plot to remove
Paul I, Catherine's son, from the throne: in her house conspirators who
prepared the murder of Paul I gathered, through her the English government
passed a big sum of money to the conspirators, which she left for herself
in full. Her portrait by Voille – a young woman with tender and serene
face - does not reveal her real character.