4 Russian beauties who left their mark on history

The Tsar’s wife, the emperor’s mistress, serf actress and the richest woman in the Russian Empire had one thing in common - they were amazingly beautiful.

Anastasia Romanovna Zakharyina-Yuryeva

Sculpture of Anastasia Romanova at the monument "Millennium of Russia"

“The tsar chose her not for a noble birth, but for personal qualities. During her life, contemporaries attributed to Anastasia all the female virtues that were possible and existed in the Russian language. She was chaste, humble, pious, sensitive and merciful; not to mention her beauty, which is given to the happy royal bride "- - so the famous Russian historian of the XIX century Nikolai Karamzin wrote about Anastasia, the first Russian queen and the first of the wives of Ivan the Terrible. The tsar chose a 17-year-old beauty during a special brides show, when hundreds of applicants were delivered to the Kremlin. It is known that she was not very tall, with long light brown hair.

The marriage with Ivan lasted 13 years. "He was young and impetuous, she controlled her husband with wonderful friendliness and wisdom, knew how to calm him down"- wrote diplomat Jerome Horsey.

Her death in 1560 led the king to serious psychological trauma. Ivan believed that she was poisoned by rebellious boyars. The death of Anastasia was followed by the first wave of tsarist repression against the nobility. Anastasia belonged to the family of the Zakharyin-Yuryevs (who later became the Romanovs), whose representatives will occupy the Russian throne for 300 years from 1613.

Praskovya Zhemchugova

Praskovya Zhemchugova. Andre-Ernest-Modest Gretry

One of the best Russian opera singers and actresses of the 18th century, Praskovya Zhemchugova was born in a family of serfs, a hundred years before the abolition of serfdom. She and her family were the property of the noble Sheremetev family. Praskovya served in the serf theater, which was founded by Peter Sheremetev and his son Nikolai. The latter was incredibly impressed by the tender and sophisticated beauty of a talented young actress.

As Nikolai Petrovich later wrote to his son, it was her “sincerity, friendliness and loyalty” that made him even more impressed. "These qualities made me challenge public prejudices regarding noble birth and chose her to marry me."- he noted. In 1801, they secretly married. To make marriage possible, Sheremetev ordered the actress to fake documents, according to which she was descended from a Polish noble family. Two years later, Praskovia died after the birth of his son Dmitry. He was addressed to the above-mentioned letter from his father. She was only 34 years old.

Maria Naryshkina

Maria Naryshkina by Joseph Grassia

For many years, Maria Naryshkina was the mistress of the Russian emperor Alexander I. Contemporaries spoke of her amazing beauty, and one of them, Philip Vigel, wrote in her memoirs that her appearance was so amazing that she seemed "unnatural and unreal". The well-known Russian military leader Mikhail Kutuzov, who defeated Napoleon during the Patriotic War of 1812, joked that while among women, such as Maria Naryshkina are worth loving.

Contemporaries knew that she tried to convince the emperor to divorce her wife, but she did not succeed. Mary had 4 illegitimate daughters from the emperor. Her husband Dmitry Naryshkin served at the royal court as the chief jägermeister and turned a blind eye to his wife’s love affairs.

Zinaida Yusupova

Zinaida Yusupova painted by V. Serov

Princess Zinaida Yusupova was one of the richest and most beautiful women of late imperial Russia. Her son Felix Yusupov, the organizer of the murder of Grigory Rasputin, wrote about her: “Mother was charming. Tall, thin, refined, dark, dark-haired, with eyes that shone like stars. She was smart, educated, artistic and kind. Nobody could escape her magic.

She was famous for helping everyone who needed it. Mariel Buchanan, daughter of the last British ambassador to Imperial Russia, described the Russian noblewoman in her book "Ladies of the Russian Court": "She was always ready to voluntarily and generously endow anyone who addressed her, to do what she could help someone in trouble, provide her name, home, resources for any worthy cause, but she tried to do it in secret, not ".

Belonging to one of the richest Russian families, she owned a large collection of jewelry. Her collection was second only to royal treasures. When the princess fled from Russia after the 1917 revolution, she managed to take only the largest diamonds with her.