Among the romantic heroines of past centuries, one of the most famous was the beloved of the English Admiral Nelson - Emma Hamilton. She owes her unfading fame to the pen of Alexandre Dumas, who embodied her image in the novel Confessions of a Favorite. But few people know that in Russia, at the court of Perth I, her namesake, Maria Hamilton, shone at one time, whose short but bright life gave rise to many mysteries and legends.
Russian daughter of foggy Albion
It is known from historical documents that during the time of Ivan the Terrible, a certain Scottish nobleman Thomas Hamilton came to Russia. In a cold and snowy country, a warm welcome awaited him, and soon a native of the British Isles received a good position at the royal court and became the founder of a new branch of his aristocratic family.
In the next century, one of his descendants, completely Russified, but proudly bearing the English name William, had a daughter, whom fate prepared to know the love of the greatest of Russian autocrats and end her short life under the executioner's axe. Surnamethey gave her, having changed the foreign name of her father into a Russian way. It turned out − Maria Danilovna Hamilton.
Ekaterina's young maid of honor
The date of her birth has not been established, and even about the first appearance at court there are very conflicting reports. According to some sources, this happened in 1709, and according to others - six years later. But it is known for certain that she was then about sixteen years old and she possessed extraordinary beauty. The portrait of Mary Hamilton, given at the beginning of the article, gives an idea of her features. The young girl was noticed by the wife of Peter I, Empress Catherine I, and soon became one of her ladies-in-waiting.
In addition to external data, nature endowed Mary with a lively character, sensuality, as well as a cunning and insightful mind. On the whole, she was a classic heroine of the romantic and adventurous eighteenth century, so vividly sung in world literature. Not satisfied with the role of the maid of honor, he decided, as they say, to play big and win the heart of the emperor himself.
Youth and beauty are an irresistible weapon, and very soon her name began to appear in the "bed register" of the loving autocrat. Such a list of favorites really existed - the European order was maintained at the court, everything was subject to strict accounting. But did Maria Hamilton realize what a dangerous game she started? Has this Russian Englishwoman ever heard the folk wisdom that says: "Near the kings - near death"?
Peter I and Maria Hamilton
The love stories of these people are notwas destined to last a long time. The feelings that the crowned lover had for her were no different from all his previous and subsequent hobbies. Actually, it is hardly appropriate to talk about anything at all, except for a purely physical attraction to a young and pretty girl who successfully played along with him in another affair. And its result was quite predictable - ardent and stormy passion soon gave way to satiety and cooling. After a while, the emperor's heart closed for the maid of honor, and with it the doors of his chambers.
Forced romance with the royal batman
If Maria Hamilton had resigned herself to the role of a dismissed favorite, then she might have managed to live her life safely at court. But then she would have lost her romantic halo in our eyes. Maria was a real child of her era, and she decided to go to the last.
Her further actions are subordinated to one thing - to be as close as possible to Peter, who has slipped away from her arms, and to have comprehensive information about everything related to his personal life. To this end, she starts an affair with the person closest to the emperor - his personal orderly Ivan Orlov, who performed the duties of not only a servant, but also a secretary. Most of his contemporaries characterize him as a rude and uncouth person, but at the same time extremely narrow-minded and ingenuous. It was from him that Maria received all the information she needed.
Foreign voyage
In 1716, Peter I and his wife went abroad. Of course, Ivan Orlov and Maria Hamilton followedbehind them, since both were part of the retinue of the most august persons. In Europe, the situation of the young intriguer became more complicated due to the fact that the royal batman went headlong into a wild and cheerful life, which was led by all the close associates of the sovereign, led by himself. Ivan had new hobbies, and he not only deprived his former passion of love, but often beat him from drunken eyes.
No matter how humiliating it was, but Maria had to keep this libertine and boor near her, otherwise - goodbye to all her plans. There was only one option left - if a man's heart has cooled down to her feminine charms, then it can be warmed up with money and gifts. The method is proven, but here's the trouble - where to get money in such an amount?
Jewel heist and late night visits from the king
And then the Russian Lady Hamilton - Maria Danilovna - took her first step towards the future scaffold. She did not find anything better than stealing jewelry from the Empress Empress. And, having sold them, buy gifts for Ivan, as well as pay his numerous debts. What is the result? The impudent graciously allowed himself to be bestowed, but, having drunk once again, he continued to beat his girlfriend with a mortal combat.
However, Mary's perseverance did not go unrewarded. Once, the courtiers - great hunters for spicy news - noted that at night the sovereign honored her bedchamber with his visit. How long these nightly visits lasted is not known, but only after a few months did everyone notice that the young lady-in-waiting began to givepreference for wide and spacious outfits that hide the figure. However, this was not given any importance.
Baby corpse found in palace
The days of travel swept by like a whirlwind of festive amusements, and again the whole brilliant retinue, headed by the crowned spouses, breathed in the fresh B altic air of the Northern capital. Life here is pure pleasure. But then one day a nuisance happened - in one of the secluded corners of the palace they found an infant corpse wrapped in a blanket. There was obvious murder, and the culprit would not have been blown off her head, but no matter how the search was carried out in this case, they could not convict anyone.
Ivan's unexpected confession
So this nameless sin would have sunk into oblivion, but fate would have decreed otherwise. Once someone handed the sovereign a written denunciation of one of his enemies. At that moment, Peter had no time to read, and he put it away, and when he missed it, he could not remember where he put it. As a suspicious person by nature, Peter decided that it was Ivan who had taken yesterday's paper, wanting thereby to shield someone, and having come to such a thought, he became angry.
Ivan was urgently called. Seeing the king in anger, and not understanding the reason, he decided that his connection with the maid of honor was to blame. Knowing that Maria Hamilton and Peter 1 were in close relations, he decided that he had incurred the jealousy of the autocrat. Falling to his knees, Orlov tearfully confessed, and among other things, began to swear that he knew nothing about the murder of a secretly born baby, which Maria had committed.
Beauty exposed-ladies-in-waiting
For Peter, this turn was a complete surprise. An urgent search was made in the room of the ill-fated maid of honor and, to general amazement, they discovered jewels stolen from Empress Catherine. The unfortunate woman was shackled and placed in the casemate of the newly rebuilt Peter and Paul Fortress.
There, in the hands of a skilled executioner, she spoke in detail about how she stole diamonds from her benefactor, the Empress, in order to pay Ivan's gambling debts. When the shoulder master was especially zealous, she remembered that she twice etched the fruit of criminal love in her womb, and strangled the baby that was born with her own hands.
The investigation lasted four months, and all this time she repeated that she herself was guilty of everything, and although Ivan was a drunkard and a rowdy, he knew nothing about theft or murder. No matter how hard the executioner tried, she did not change her testimony. It is difficult now to understand what caused such persistence. It seems that one word from her, and all the insults inflicted on her would have poured out to Orlov with bitter tears. But can you understand the heart of a woman - maybe there was a place in it for this wretched man.
Execution
In 1719, by the decision of the sovereign, Maria Danilovna Hamilton was sentenced to death. The execution took place on Trinity Square with a large gathering of people. The convict ascended the scaffold in a white dress trimmed with black ribbons. Everyone involuntarily noted her extraordinary beauty, which did not fade even after long months of imprisonment. Maria Hamilton, whose execution waslegal execution of the sentence, nevertheless aroused universal sympathy.
Peter was with her in this last moment of her life. He personally made sure that the executioner carried out his command exactly. Maria Hamilton prayed quietly before her execution. Eyewitnesses wrote that when the woman's head fell at the king's feet, he lifted her up, kissed her on the lips and crossed himself and left.
The unanswered riddle
It would seem that the case can be archived. A thief and a child killer was executed - justice has triumphed. But questions remain that are unlikely to be answered. It is not clear the persistence with which Peter demanded her execution. It is known that his wife, Empress Catherine I, a generous and soft-hearted woman, forgiving Maria the theft of diamonds, with tears begged her husband to spare the unfortunate woman. However, the king, who always fulfilled her requests, this time was adamant. The widowed tsarina Praskovya Fedorovna, the widow of his brother Ivan, addressed him with the same. She was also given a categorical refusal.
There could be two reasons for Peter's hatred of his former mistress. First of all, we must recall the decree he issued in 1715, which legitimizes the rights of all illegitimate children. According to this document, no one could humiliate a person on the grounds that he was born without a church blessing.
Thanks to this humane act, a large number of shelters were opened in Russia at that time, and all mothers were strictly punished that if the fruit of sinful love was born, not to destroy it, but toss it to the door of the shelter - and you will save the life of the baby, and souldeliver you from eternal torment. Thus, the murder of a newborn by Mary was a direct challenge to the will of the sovereign.
But there is another reason that the courtiers were afraid to speak out loud. The child killed by Mary was found in the palace exactly nine months after immodest eyes followed the king's nightly visits to the bedroom of the maid of honor Hamilton. If this is a coincidence and the suspicions it arouses are justified, then Mary killed his own son with her own hands, and this explains the father's rage.
