Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia (russian: Великая Княжна Екатерина Михайловна) (28 August 1827 – 12 May 1894), was the third of five daughters of
Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia
Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich of Russia (russian: Михаи́л Па́влович; ''Mikhail Pavlovich'') (8 February 1798 S 28 January– 9 September 1849 S 28 August was a Russian grand duke, the tenth child and fourth son of Paul I of ...
(youngest son of
Emperor Paul I
Paul I (russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич ; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III and Catherine the Great, although Catherine hinted that he was fathered by her l ...
) and
Princess Charlotte of Württemberg
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Stuttgart, Kingdom of Württemberg, Confederation of the Rhine
, death_date =
, death_place = Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
, burial_place = Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire ...
(known as Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna after marriage). She was also the wife of
Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
, spouse = Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia
, house = House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
, father = George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
, mother = Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel
, birth_date =
, birth_place = N ...
.
She was a great philanthropist and many of the organisations she supported and helped to create still operate today.
Biography
Early life
![EKATERINA and Maria MIKHAILOVNA by Hau](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/EKATERINA_and_Maria_MIKHAILOVNA_by_Hau.jpg)
Catherine was born on 28 August 1827 in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, almost certainly in the recently completed
Mikhailovsky Palace
The Mikhailovsky Palace (russian: Михайловский дворец, tr=Mikhailovskiy dvorets) is a grand ducal palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is located on Arts Square and is an example of Empire style neoclassicism. The palace cu ...
that was the primary residence of her parents. She was a younger sister of
Grand Duchess Maria Mikhailovna of Russia and
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mikhailovna of Russia, as well as an older sister of
Grand Duchess Alexandra Mikhailovna of Russia and
Grand Duchess Anna Mikhailovna of Russia
Grand may refer to:
People with the name
* Grand (surname)
* Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor
* Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist
* Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper
Places
* Grand, Oklahoma
* Grand, Vosges, village and comm ...
.
Her mother took a great interest in her daughters and was very involved in their childhoods, raising them relatively strictly and personally selecting their teachers in subjects such as foreign languages, singing, and drawing. Unfortunately, Anna and Alexandra died in childhood while Elizabeth and Maria died only a year apart in 1845 and 1846 respectively. This meant that for much of her life, her mother had only Catherine on whom to focus her attention.
Also in 1846, Catherine became 'Chief' of the
Sergievsky Dragoon Regiment which would later receive her name, but the regiment disbanded in 1851. She received another regiment in 1856 which became known as "Her Imperial Majesty's Dragoon Regiment, Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna."
In 1849, Catherine's father died suddenly at the age of fifty-one whilst in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
, which spurred her mother to begin the charitable work that would be the legacy of both herself and Catherine.
Marriage and Issue
On 16 February 1851, Catherine married
Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (russian: Георгий Георгиевич Мекленбург-Стрелицкий; 6 June 1859 – 5 December 1909) was the eldest of the two surviving sons of Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg- ...
in St. Petersburg. Catherine "loved her husband deeply and selflessly," despite a three-year age gap and the disapproval of her mother. Although the young couple ended up settling in the Mikhailovsky Palace with Elena, she supposedly did not get along very well with Georg. Nevertheless, the marriage produced five children of whom three lived to adulthood.
On 12 July 1854, Catherine gave birth to a son named Nikolaus (or Nikolai) who "died immediately by birth."
On 16 January 1857, the couple's only surviving daughter was born and named Elena, presumably for Catherine's mother. Elena would go on to marry
Prince Albert of Saxe-Altenburg
Prince Albert of Saxe-Altenburg (Albert Heinrich Joseph Carl Viktor Georg Friedrich; Munich, 14 April 1843 – Serrahn, 22 May 1902) was a German prince of the ducal house of Saxe-Altenburg.
Biography Family and early life
Prince Albert was ...
and become
Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (16 January 1857 – 28 August 1936) was a daughter of Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his wife, Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia. She was the second wife of Prince Albert of Saxe-A ...
. After her husband's death she remarried, but had no issue from either husband.
Catherine's third child,
Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (russian: Георгий Георгиевич Мекленбург-Стрелицкий; 6 June 1859 – 5 December 1909) was the eldest of the two surviving sons of Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg- ...
, was born on 6 June 1859 at the family's estate in
Remplin
Remplin is a village and a former municipality in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Since 7 June 2009, it is part of the municipality Malchin.
Palace Complex
The town includes the remains of a once lar ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. He would marry one of Catherine's ladies in waiting,
Natalia Feodorovna Vanljarskaya
Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (russian: Георгий Георгиевич Мекленбург-Стрелицкий; 6 June 1859 – 5 December 1909) was the eldest of the two surviving sons of Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg- ...
, and have four children. Catherine severely disapproved of the marriage, and it became a point of contention between herself and her son until her death.
![Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna with her children](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Grand_Duchess_Catherine_Mikhailovna_with_her_children.jpg)
Another daughter was born sometime in 1861 named Maria-Frederica who died soon after her birth.
Finally on 17 June 1863, Catherine gave birth to her final child,
Charles Michael, Duke of Mecklenburg
Charles Michael, Duke of Mecklenburg (german: Carl Michael Herzog zu Mecklenburg; russian: Михаил Георгиевич; – 6 December 1934) was an officer in the Imperial Russian Army, heir presumptive to the throne of Grand Duchy of Meckle ...
, at
Oranienbaum, Russia
Oranienbaum (russian: Ораниенба́ум) is a Russian royal residence, located on the Gulf of Finland west of St. Petersburg. The Palace ensemble and the city centre are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
History
In 1707, four years afte ...
. He would never marry nor have issue, but lived much of his life in Russia and managed to flee shortly after being arrested following the
February Revolution
The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
.
Her husband died in June 1876 at the age of fifty, and Catherine would outlive him by eighteen years.
Later life and extensive charitable works
Catherine enjoyed a high position in St. Petersburg society, having her own court, and was "a strict woman, well aware of herself and her rank." She was often seen in somewhat old-fashioned dresses containing much lace.
By 1870, she had been made chairwoman of the
St. Petersburg Women's Patriotic Society, which she had been a member of since 1847 and began to devote more time to helping her mother with some of her foundations.
When her mother died in 1873, Catherine inherited the Mikhailovsky Palace which she used to continue many traditions begun by Elena involving the use of the palace for various arts and handicrafts exhibitions. She also began to take much more of an interest in the work begun by her mother and the list of charities she was patroness to grew exponentially. An incredibly small selection of these charities and organisations includes:
* the St. Helena School
* the Elisabeth Hospital for Young Children
* the Clinical Institute (now the Institute for Advanced Medical Studies)
* the Frebelev Society
* the Berlin Society of Art Lovers
She was also known to help almost everyone who applied to her for monetary assistance via petitions which she accepted each year around the major holidays.
When
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Poland and Gra ...
was assassinated in 1881, Catherine was asked by the mayor of St. Petersburg to help arrange a memorial to the Tsar. She accepted and even offered some of her own land adjacent to the Mikhailovsky Palace for it on the condition that the nearby trees were preserved as many of them had been there since the reign of
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
.
Death and inheritance
At some point in either late 1893 or early 1894, Catherine became seriously ill with
Influenza
Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptoms ...
. While on her deathbed, she summoned
Alexander III of Russia
Alexander III ( rus, Алекса́ндр III Алекса́ндрович, r=Aleksandr III Aleksandrovich; 10 March 18451 November 1894) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death in 18 ...
in order to approve the will she had had written. He inquired briefly about who had written it, but signed it directly and without first reading it.
When Catherine finally died on 12 May 1894, she was buried in the
Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg
The Peter and Paul Cathedral (russian: Петропавловский собор) is a Russian Orthodox cathedral located inside the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is the first and oldest landmark in St. Petersburg, built b ...
after a funeral procession from the Mikhailovsky Palace led by the Emperor himself.
After the funeral, her will was examined and two issues were discovered. Firstly, she had practically disinherited her son Georg on account of his marriage, but asked, "May God grant them happiness and prosperity." Secondly and most importantly, she had left the Mikhailovsky Palace to the princes of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (i.e. her daughter and youngest son) rather than the Imperial family. This was a problem as she did not technically own the palace, it had been effectively on loan to her father and then to her, but upon her death should have reverted to the Imperial family as her heirs were not members of the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
.
Sergei Witte
Count Sergei Yulyevich Witte (; ), also known as Sergius Witte, was a Russian statesman who served as the first prime minister of the Russian Empire, replacing the tsar as head of the government. Neither a liberal nor a conservative, he attract ...
recalled that, "The Emperor once said that it was very unpleasant for him that this historic palace, which belongs to the Imperial House, had passed, by some misunderstanding, into the hands of these princes." He did not consider attempting to overrule the will, however, on account of the facts that Catherine had been very well respected in society and the whole ordeal was really his own fault as he did sign the will without reviewing its contents.
Awards
* Grand Cross of the
Order of Saint Catherine
The Imperial Order of Saint Catherine (russian: Императорский Орден Святой Екатерины) was an award of Imperial Russia. Instituted on 24 November 1714 by Peter the Great on the occasion of his marriage to Catherine ...
Ancestry
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catherine Mikhailovna Of Russia, Grand Duchess
1827 births
1894 deaths
House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Russian grand duchesses
19th-century people from the Russian Empire
19th-century women from the Russian Empire
Duchesses of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Burials at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg