Vorontsova, Anna Karlovna

Anna Karlovna , daughter of the elder brother of Catherine I Karl Samoilovich Skavronsky, built in 1727 as a count dignity. Who her mother was is unknown, her name was Maria Ivanovna. The girl was taken to the courtyard of Tsarevna Elizaveta Petrovna and appointed gof-maid of honor.

Elizaveta Petrovna loved her cousin very much, and after her accession to the throne, she married her to Mikhail Illarionovich Vorontsov . The wedding was celebrated at the court with great pomp on January 31, 1742 , the Empress personally conducted the newlyweds to their house and stayed for dinner and a ball. April 25, 1742 Anna Karlovna was granted the status of ladies. Two years later, in 1744, M.I. Vorontsov, together with his brothers, received the title of Count.

Empress Elizabeth constantly celebrated Anna Karlovna and emphasized her relationship with her; during the overseas trip of the Vorontsovs in 1746, there was even an order that neither the wife of the Russian envoy ^[1] in Berlin nor the Countess Vorontsova kiss the hands of Princess Zerbst , mother of Grand Duchess Catherine Alekseevna .
Anna Karlovna was constantly in the company of the empress, and Elizabeth often visited her house, where she met with all the foreign residents at the Russian court, who looked after the wife of the great chancellor and considered her influence in foreign policy. On June 29, 1760, Anna Karlovna was elevated to the rank of Ober-Hofmeisterina.

In the short reign of Peter III, the Vorontsovs belonged wholly to the party of the emperor and were among the people who accompanied him on June 28, 1762, in flight from the gallery from Oranienbaum to Kronstadt ^[2] .

On February 9, 1760, Anna Karlovna received the Order of St. Catherine of the Great Cross from Peter III. They said that after the accession of Catherine II, Countess Anna Karlovna returned the empress her cavalry order, but received it back. At the coronation of Catherine II, Vorontsova, according to the ceremonial, directed the empress Porfira and St. Andrew’s ribbon .
Widowed in 1767 , Countess Anna Karlovna did not play a prominent role at court, although Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich called her aunt.

Anna Karlovna was different from her ordinary, colorless sisters and aunts and was one of the most interesting and pretty women of the 18th century. Ekaterina Alekseevna, the future empress, wrote about her in 1756 ^[3] :

Anna Karlovna was known as a woman remarkably beautiful; even at the time of Peter III, when she was already under forty, she was still considered one of the first beauties of St. Petersburg. In addition to an attractive appearance, Vorontsova had a mind and a good heart. Anna Karlovna’s own letters to her daughter are drawn by her as a cheerful, impressionable woman with a lively temperament and a chat lover. Unlike other secular ladies, Vorontsova had a good command of Russian literacy.

According to Gelbig, Countess Vorontsova was a lovely woman, but she loved to drink. Thanks to her husband’s position, she was a big winder, fashionista, and goldfinch, who constantly met foreign ministers in St. Petersburg and, as she put it, “with a whole storehouse of envoys,” she knew many diplomatic secrets and was not alien to politics. Catherine II in her "Notes" says ^[4] :

Having only one daughter, Anna Mikhailovna , Countess Vorontsova was strongly attached to her; the unfortunate marriage of her daughter with Count A. S. Stroganov , which ended in divorce, and her early death left her "inconsolable." How Anna Karlovna loved her children, her husband’s brother, Count R.I. Vorontsov , who were left without a mother early; of these, the youngest daughter, Catherine , was brought up in her house from the age of four. Later known as Princess Dashkova, whom Anna Karlovna at the end of "for her dissolute conduct renounced her home." Dashkova described her aunt ^[5] :

Anna Karlovna loved fine arts and knew a lot about them, having seen a lot during her travels in Europe. Her magnificent house was constantly visited by artists, writers, scientists, government people. D. I. Fonvizin named Countess Vorontsov among the first persons to whom he read his "Younger" immediately after writing it.

Anna Karlovna died on December 31, 1775, was buried at the Lazarevsky cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra ^[6] , the tombstone is now in the Annunciation Church .

Married to M.I. Vorontsov, had four children:

• Anna (April 13, 1743 - February 21, 1769), married to Count A. S. Stroganov.
• Nicholas (February 23, 1751 - April 23, 1751)
• Mary (January 14, 1753 - July 25, 1753)
• Elizabeth (July 11, 1757 - June 16, 1758)

• 1749-1763 - Palace on Sadovaya, 26
• 1772-1775 - Mokhovaya st. , 27-29