Pushkina, Natalya Alexandrovna

She was born on May 23 ( June 4 ), 1836 in St. Petersburg (at the cottage, which the Pushkins rented from Dolivo-Dobrovolsky on Kamenny Island). Baptized on June 27 in the Church of St. John the Baptist on Kamennoostrovsky Prospect. Receivers: Count M. Yu. Vielgorsky and E. I. Zagryadskaya (Zagryazhskaya) ^[2] . Natalya Alexandrovna did not remember her father: she was an eight-month-old child when he died. Natasha Pushkina inherited the character of the poet to a greater extent than other children and resembled him strikingly, although she was similar to Natalya Nikolaevna.

Possessing exceptional beauty, Natalya Alexandrovna was a man of ardent disposition, immutable in her decisions. Received home education. In her youth she was in love with Prince N. A. Orlov (1827–1889), who passionately loved her and wanted to marry her, but his father A. F. Orlov did not allow this marriage, considering Pushkin’s daughter an unsuitable bride for his son.

At 17, she accepted an offer from M. L. Dubelt. Mother Natalya Nikolaevna and stepfather P.P. Lanskoy were against this marriage: Dubelt was famous for his frantic character, there was a player, but they could not do anything: Natalya Alexandrovna insisted on her own, afraid to repeat the fate of her older sister , who was not yet married ^[3] . Concerned N. N. Lanskaya wrote to P. A. Vyazemsky ^[4] :

The little devil Tasha quickly passed from childhood to adulthood, but there is nothing to do - you will not get around fate. For a year now, I have been fighting with her, finally, to the will of God and the impatience of Dubelt. My one fear is her youth, in other words - childishness.

In February 1853, the wedding took place. Natalya Dubelt surprised her contemporaries with her beauty, they called her "the beautiful daughter of a beautiful mother." A close acquaintance of E. A. Reckampf called her "radiant beauty, if a star descended from heaven to earth, it would shine as brightly as it was . " The son of the writer M. Zagoskin , who saw Natalia Dubelt in 1858 at one of the St. Petersburg balls, wrote ^[5] :

In 1862, what Lansky feared happened: the marriage broke up and the couple parted. Natalya Alexandrovna went abroad with her two older children to her aunt A. N. Friesengoff , and her mother was also visiting there. Dubelt also followed his wife at the Friesengoff estate, A. P. Arapova wrote ^[6] :

The summer months passed in constant troubles and endless unrest. Dubelt, who first gave this thought to his wife [about traveling], soon changed his mind, refused the word, he himself came to Hungary, at first confessing, and when she was unsuccessful, he gave full rein to his unbridled, mad character. It is difficult even to recall the scenes that occurred until, at the insistence of Baron Friesengoff, he left his estate, giving his wife temporary rest. Her position was hopeless, the future was hopeless. The sister did not lose heart: she was supported by an extraordinary firmness of spirit and willpower, but her mother was tormented for two.

A long divorce proceedings began. Natalya Alexandrovna lives for a long time abroad, from the authorities she received the right to free residence. At this time, Natalya Nikolaevna handed her daughter 75 letters of Pushkin with the hope that in difficult times she would be able to publish them and improve her financial situation. In 1876, Natalia Alexandrovna, already Countess Merenberg, turned to I. S. Turgenev for help in editing and publishing these letters. In the preface to the publication, Turgenev wrote:

“In these letters, as in the ones that appeared before, Pushkin’s light and courageous mind beats like a jet, striking straightness and fidelity of his views, accuracy and seemingly involuntary beauty of expression ... Let me add on my own behalf that I consider my election as Pushkin’s daughter to the publishers of these letters as one of the most honorable facts of my literary career .... It remains for us to sincerely thank Countess N. A. Merenberg for this act, of which she, of course, decided not without some hesitation, and to express the hope that she will feel the same gratitude and give her public opinion. ” ^[7]

Turgenev’s hopes did not materialize: the publication of letters was premature, she was perceived as a demonstration of “domestic rubbish”, “vulgarity”, an attempt on the authority of Pushkin, and the poet’s sons were outraged: Natalya Alexandrovna did not consult with them.

Finally, the marriage with Dubelt was dissolved. On August 19, 1868, in Geneva, Natalya Alexandrovna married Prince Nikolai of Nassau ^[8] . She first met her future second husband in Russia at one of the balls during coronation celebrations during the accession to the throne of Emperor Alexander II. Arriving in Russia as a representative of the Nassau Court, the prince met Pushkin's youngest daughter and was subjugated by her.

In 1882, the originals of Pushkin’s 64 letters to his wife were transferred by their son Alexander , who received them from N. A. Merenberg, to the Rumyantsev Museum ^[9] . Pushkin’s letters to the bride were later given by Merenberg to her daughter from her second marriage, Countess de Torbi.

Countess Torbi, offended by the tsarist rejection of her marriage [with the grandson of Nicholas I], flatly refused [to transmit the remaining letters] and stated that Russia would never see Pushkin’s letters. ^[ten]

The texts of these letters were published in 1936 by Sergey Lifar . Died in 1913 - March 10 and Cannes ^[11] or May 14 ^[12] Ashes N.A. Pushkina-Merenberg was scattered on the grave of her husband Nikolai Nassau in Wiesbaden.

Marriages

• First marriage (1852-1868, divorce) Mikhail Leontyevich Dubelt (1822-1900), son of Leonty Dubelt .
• The 2nd marriage of Prince Nicholas-William of Nassau (1832-1905).

Since 1868, Countess Merenberg (this title was given to her by the family of her husband at the Merenberg fortress, which stood near Wiesbaden (patrimonial possession of the Nassau princes). Later, she turned this fortress into a museum.

Children

Children from the 1st marriage:

1. Natalia Mikhailovna Dubelt-Bessel (1854-1925). Husband - Arnold Hermann Joseph Johann Nepomuk Franz Xaver Leopold von Bessel (1827-1887).
2. Leonty Mikhailovich Dubelt (1855-1894), captain of the second rank.
3. Anna Mikhailovna Dubelt-Kondyreva (1861-1919). Husband - Alexander Pavlovich Kondyrev (1855-1900), titular adviser.

Children from the 2nd marriage:

1. Sofya Nikolaevna Merenberg (1868-1927), Countess de Torbi. She received the title of Countess de Torbi from the Grand Duke of Luxembourg in 1892. Husband - (morganatic marriage, 1891) Prince Mikhail Mikhailovich Romanov (1861-1929)
2. Alexandra Nikolaevna von Merenberg (1869-1950, Buenos Aires). Her husband is the Argentine Maximo de Eli.
3. Georg Nicholas von Merenberg (1871-1948). Wife - Olga Aleksandrovna Yurievskaya (1873-1925), daughter of Alexander II

Natalya Alexandrovna wrote an autobiographical novel about her life.

Its history is as follows: Count von Merenberg, great-grandson of A.S. Pushkin, inherited from his aunt sheets of old paper with Gothic German text. In 2002, the daughter of Count von Merenberg Clotilde found that the manuscript belongs to the pen of her great-grandmother Natalya Alexandrovna Pushkina. ^[13]

• Fevchuk L. Portraits and Fates: From the Leningrad Pushkiniana. - 2nd add. - Leningrad: Lenizdat, 1990 .-- 223 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-289-00603-6 .

• Count of merenberg

• Biography of N. A. Pushkina-Dubelt
• Pushkin Cultural Center in Luxembourg