Natalya Naryshkina was born on August 22 (Old Style September 1) in 1651, died on January 25 (Old Style February 4) in 1694. The Queen lived a difficult life. This woman shone like a dazzling star in the sky, and every citizen of the then Russia saw her radiance, even without ever meeting her. The name of the queen is always heard, she is always higher than ordinary people and is surrounded by a halo of greatness and sublimity. Almost every crowned lady has to go through not only luxury and we alth, but also through trials, anxieties, and betrayal. Both this woman drank in full. Her eyes had to see a lot, and her heart fluttered with both delight and terrible anxiety.
So let's touch the life story of this amazing woman. In the vast majority of cases, only kings and their merits are remembered, but this lady deserves the attention and respect of the reader.
Parents
A significant person in the history of Russia is Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina. Her pedigree deserves attention, if only because she was a true aristocrat.
The future queen was born in a family of not very rich, but not quite poor nobles of that time. Father's name was Kirill Poluektovich Naryshkin. The mother's name was Anna Leontievna. The maiden name of Natalia's mother was Leontyeva.
Queen portrait
Yakov Reitenfels described Natalya Kirillovna as a beautiful woman in appearance and soul. Many artists of that time wanted to capture her appearance, because Natalya Naryshkina was so beautiful. Photos of portraits of that time, which are attached to the article, will help you get an idea of all the charms of this woman.
She was tall and slender, she had piercing and deep dark eyes, a pleasant face with refined features. Natalia's lips were attractive, and looking at her lips, one wanted to hear the pleasant words that were born in her bright head. She had a high forehead, which was considered a feature that emphasized the noble origin and sophistication of the lady.
She was proportional no matter which way you looked. Grace itself sang in her graceful body. And when she nevertheless opened her beautiful lips, a resonant female voice poured out of them, pleasantly caressing the ear. As befitted a noblewoman, she was very educated, educated and refined. And it's not just about upbringing. There was pressure in this woman, but not hard and sharp. Its stem was rather like a thin birch in young foliage.
Youth
Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina was brought up not at home, under the wing of her parents, but with her close relatives. Their house was located in the noisy secular Moscow.
Her main guardian, guide to adulthood and protection wasboyar Artamon Matveev. At one of the secular evenings, Natalya Kirillovna was lucky enough to meet Alexei Mikhailovich. He spotted a girl in a crowd of other ladies.
The tsar noticed her and wished to include the beautiful girl in the casting list for the most important role of their lives - the role of the first lady of the country, the queen of Russia. No matter how funny it was to call this event a competition, but Natalya Naryshkina came out of it as the winner and the second half of the head of state.
The wedding took place on a cold day on January 22, 1671, melting all the ice and snow drifts in the hearts of the citizens of the whole country. She was all charm at nineteen. Although at that time it was the age of full maturity for a woman, the image of a girl still very young, charmingly naive and beautiful pops up before our imagination. As a result of their joint years, the royal couple enriched the world with three children.
The hardships of government
Nothing lasts forever, including the king, no matter how powerful, godlike and omnipotent he may seem. So Alexei Mikhailovich left this mortal world. Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina at that time was sad, thoughtful and inconsolable, like any spouse who sincerely loves her husband. She experienced anxiety and excitement, emptiness from the loss of a person with whom she walked through life shoulder to shoulder, whose soul became part of her own soul.
Fight and survive
Now Natalia was not just a faithful wife sitting near the king, she was not standing behind his back, whispering words of encouragement in his ear. Hershe herself had to come to the fore and reflect all the blows of fate that her family had to take. She became the queen of her hive. She had to not only care, but also protect.
The family felt threatened by the Miloslavskys, who wanted to seize power. Natalya Naryshkina at that time lived with her child away from the epicenter of events, where it was quiet, calm and safe, so that the boy could know all the joys of adolescence. Villages near Moscow, far from the noise and undercover intrigues of the capital, became their shelter.
New losses
How much the mother did not want to hide her son and herself from worries and bad weather, being at the top of the aristocracy, ruling the people, it is hard to hide from worries. In 1682 there was a riot. Natalya Naryshkina survived it with difficulty.
During this ill-fated event, many of her relatives and friends were killed. It took her a long time to smooth out the terrible impressions left by this bloody event in her soul. Thus began the two-kingdom of Peter and Ivan. Not completely unilateral, however.
Russia was divided into two halves. But one was still bigger. After all, Ivan was called the "senior" king. The former power of Natalya Kirillovna was shaken when Sophia ascended the throne as regent, who cut off all the ways to rule for the queen. Now it was in the hands of Sophia that the fate of the state was. Courtyard, aristocracy. How can these two words get along without their third bosom friend named scandal? Palace wars flared up with renewed vigor, burning all life onyour way. The battlefield was Moscow and Preobrazhenskoye.
So the son grew up
1689 was distinguished by the fact that Natalia Naryshkina, mother of Peter 1, blessed her offspring to marry the first wife of the innovator tsar Evdokia Lopukhina. At that time, the queen and her son had to be content with little and dream of the renewal of their power.
When Peter got stronger and established himself, he was able to overthrow Sophia. Then he was only seventeen years old. The gaze of the young king was turned to great conquests, progress and new victories for his state. Therefore, he seriously took up the strengthening of Russian troops.
Also, on the orders of Peter, large-scale construction of the fleet began. Peter played the role of an innovator and conqueror, he was drawn to direct his efforts outside, while his mother watched over the “home”. Natalya took on her fragile shoulders the duties of organizing the life of the population that were not new to her. In this difficult and responsible business, she was not alone, because her relatives fully supported her.
Government Style
Some of her contemporaries describe Natalya Kirillovna as a kind, but not a woman with leadership qualities. She was rather an excellent wife and mother than the head of state. That is why she delegated many of her affairs to her brother Leo, as well as to other close associates. But is Natalya Naryshkina bad in our eyes? Her biography says just the opposite. It's just that not everyone can be born a leader, that's all.
SheI couldn't keep track of everything. She lacked iron discipline and orderliness. Citizens sometimes resented individual bills.
The attention of this fragile woman dissipated, and she could not help everyone, and even more thought about saving her own family, that there would always be solid ground under her son's feet. Many government officials took advantage of the long absence of the king from the throne and broke the law, allowed themselves a little more than was supposed to. They stole from the treasury, took bribes. However, when did this not happen? Another thing is that the flower of depravity opened its petals more widely, began to bloom more fragrance and crawled all over Russia like poison ivy.
How she went down in history
She was not the captain of a ship called Russia, sailing towards a brighter future. And why, if her worthy heir did an excellent job with this? Natalya Naryshkina was an excellent mother. A brief biography of this woman provides an excellent opportunity to verify this. The king listened to his mother, did not reject her advice. She supported and protected him.
In her heart she wished that he was close, did not go on such long journeys, although she understood that this would glorify her son for centuries.
But any mother wants her child to be safe and close much more than to become a significant part of history. Let him live happy years during his lifetime, and not shine in dazzling glory after death, because then nothing will be important. At the age of 43Natalia Naryshkina died in 1694.
