Varvara Arkadyevna Nelidova (Варвара Аркадьевна Нелидова, 1814–1897) was a
mistress
Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to:
Romance and relationships
* Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a d ...
of
Nicholas I of Russia from 1832 until his death in 1855. Her aunt
Yekaterina Nelidova
Yekaterina Ivanovna Nelidova (russian: Екатери́на Ива́новна Нели́дова; 1756–1839) was a Russian Empire noblewoman and lady-in-waiting. She was the royal mistress of Tsar Paul I of Russia.
Nelidova graduated from the S ...
was a mistress of Nicholas' father
Paul, and her maternal grandfather was Count
Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoeveden
Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Buxhoevden (russian: Фёдор Фёдорович Буксгевден, ''Fyodor Fyodorovich Buksgevden''; other spellings: ''Feodor Buxhoeveden'', ''Buxhœwden'', ''Buxhöwden'') (September 14, 1750 Võlla, Govern ...
.
Nicholas discontinued visits to his wife's bedroom and set his sights on Nelidova after the court doctors had declared that sex might be detrimental to the frail health of the Empress and that another childbirth might prove fatal for her.
Nelidova's liaison with the Tsar was kept more or less secret, giving rise to never ending speculations about its length and the number of children she had with him. According to
Nikolay Dobrolyubov, their several children were adopted by her relative,
Peter von Kleinmichel, Russia's Minister of Communications.
Nelidova is also claimed to have been the mother of
Baron Paskhin, an 8-year-old boy who was made a Baron of the
Austrian Empire in 1839. His surname is derived from the feast of
Pascha, for he was born on Easter Sunday. No documentation as to his parentage survives, however.
Nelidova's secretive relationship with the Tsar is the subject of
Yuri Tynyanov
Yury Nikolaevich Tynyanov ( rus, Ю́рий Никола́евич Тыня́нов, p=ˈjʉrʲɪj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ tɨˈnʲænəf; October 18, 1894 – December 20, 1943) was a Soviet Union, Soviet writer, literary criticism, literary cr ...
's novella ''Young Vitushishnikov'' (1933)
and is briefly mentioned by
Leo Tolstoy in ''
Hadji Murat''.
References
Mistresses of Russian royalty
Ladies-in-waiting from the Russian Empire
1814 births
1897 deaths
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