Princess Tarakanova in her flooded cell - painting by Konstantin Flaviksky, 1865
(State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow)
(Large jpg - 30K)
Princess Tarakanova in her flooded cell - painting by Konstantin Flaviksky, 1865
(State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow)
(Large jpg - 30K)
The gloomy walls of the Peter and Paul Fortress Prison have seen many famous prisoners, starting with Peter the Great's son Tsarevich Alexei and ending with the ministers of the Provisional Government.
Among those imprisoned there were Artemy Volynsky, accused of conspiracy in the reign of Anna Ioannovna, the Decembrists, terrorists from the Narodnaya Volya, and the Communist writer Maxim Gorky. There was also an unknown beauty known as Princess Tarakanova, although she never used the name herself.
In the 1740s and 1750s people often wondered why the beautiful Tsarina Elizabeth never had a husband, and there were many rumors and legends that she had secretly married Count Alexei Razumovsky in 1742.
It was believed that their daughter was Augusta Tarakanova quite a strange family name, since 'tarakan' means 'cockroach' in Russian.
According to legend the name came from Count Razumovsky's relatives by the name of Daraganovka, on whose estate the princess spent her childhood until she was sent abroad.
As to her later whereabouts, different tales were told. According to the most popular of these, the daughter of Elizabeth and the count returned to Russia in 1785, becoming a nun at the Convent of St John in Moscow under the name of Dosiphea, and died peacefully in 1810.
This legend was presented as fact in the Russian Biographical Dictionary published in 1912. But as the historian Alexander Vasilchikov had definitely proved in his book "The Razumovsky Family" published in 1880, the Count had no children by the Tsarina Elizabeth.
While the nun Dosiphea never made any claim to the Russian throne, the other Princess Tarakanova openly declared her intention to become tsarina.
It is hardly likely she was Russian. Her nationality was perhaps German or French because she spoke both fluently. She could also speak Italian and English, but not Russian. However, when she appeared in Paris in 1772, she claimed to be the daughter of the late Tsarina Elizabeth. She told some people that Count Kirill Razumovsky was her father; others, the Count Alexei Razumovsky. She did not keep very strict account of the legend she was trying to exploit.
Her stories about her childhood in Russia and her time spent at the court of the Shah of Persia seemed even more fantastic. Nonetheless, several Russian noblemen living in Paris at the time were prepared to believe her.
Accompanied by these noblemen, she lived a life of luxury and traveled all over Russia looking for other people to rely upon. She was 30 years old and good-looking, which made her popular. Her appearance was similar to the Tsarina Elizabeth's, but not as much as Princess Tarakanova wanted it to be. In different countries and different cities she appeared under different names Miss Frank, Madame Tremouille, Princess Voldomir and Countess Pinneberg being but a few. She said her christian name was Elizabeth, like her mother's.
Soon news about the pretender reached Russia and Catherine the Great, who felt uneasy about the matter. Catherine II realized that if Tarakanova was indeed the daughter of Elizabeth, she would have a stronger claim to the throne than Catherine, and thus posed a dangerous threat.
The tsarina asked Count Alexei Orlov to find the imposter and bring her to Russia. Count Orlov was in Italy when he received the secret instructions and eventually tracked the princess down in Rome.
He started gaining her confidence by paying off her debts, and pretended he was in love with her. Then he said he wanted to marry her and had arranged the ceremony aboard a Russian battleship in the port of Livorno. As soon as the Princess stepped aboard the ship she was arrested, in February 1775.
The alleged princess was taken to St Petersburg and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The Tsarina asked Prince Alexander Golitsyn to investigate the imposter's case. But under no circumstances could Golitsyn learn the true name of the woman.
In her cold prison cell, Princess Tarakanova fell seriously ill with tuberculosis. When she realized her death was near, she asked Alexander Golitsyn to let her confess to a Russian orthodox priest.
Father Peter Andreyev, who had a good command of German, could not extract her real name even under the sacrament of confession. She died on December 4, 1775 in her cell in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and the mystery of her true identity died with her.