Maria Hamilton: biography, the story of love and life

Among romantic heroines of the past centuries, one of the most famous was the beloved English admiral Nelson - Emma Hamilton. Her unfading glory, she owes Alexander Dumas, who embodied her image in the novel "Confessions of a favorite." But very few people know that in Russia at the court of Perth I shone at one time her name - Maria Hamilton, a short but bright life which gave rise to many mysteries and legends.

Russian daughter of the foggy Albion

From historical documents it is known that during Ivan the Terrible came to Russia a Scottish nobleman Thomas Hamilton. In a cold and snow-covered country, a warm welcome awaited him, and soon a native of the British Isles received a good post at the royal court and became the founder of a new branch of his aristocratic family.

In the next century, one of his descendants, finally Russianized, but proudly bearing the English name, William was born a daughter, destined to learn the love of the greatest of Russian autocrats and finish her short life under the ax of the executioner. Her middle name was given to him by changing his father's foreign name to Russian. It turned out - Maria Danilovna Hamilton.

Young lady's maid of honor Catherine

The date of her birth is not established, and even about the first appearance at court there is very inconsistent information. 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 possessed extraordinary beauty. Portrait of Mary Hamilton, cited at the beginning of the article, gives an idea of her features. The young girl was seen by the wife of Peter I, Empress Catherine I, and soon found herself among her maid of honor.

In addition to external data, nature gave Maria a smart character, sensuality, and also a cunning and insightful mind. In general, it was a classic heroine of the romantic and adventurous eighteenth century, so vividly glorified in the world literature. Not satisfied with the role of the maid of honor, he decided that it was called, to play in large and win the heart of the emperor himself.

Youth and beauty are irresistible weapons, and very soon her name began to appear in the "bed registers" of a loving autocrat. This list of favorites really existed - the order at the court was supported by the European, everything was subject to strict accounting. But did Maria Hamilton realize what a dangerous game she was up to? Have you ever heard this Russian Englishwoman folk wisdom, saying: "Near the kings - near death"?

Peter I and Maria Hamilton

The love stories of these people were not destined to last long. Feelings, fed to her crowned lover, did not differ from all previous and subsequent his 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 intrigue. And the result was quite predictable - an ardent and violent passion soon gave way to satiety and cooling. After some time, for the maid of honor, the emperor's heart was shut, and with him the doors of his chambers.

Forced romance with the king's orderly

If Maria Hamilton reconciled with the role of a retired favorite, then she might have managed to live her life safely at court. But then she would lose 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 subordinate to one thing - to be as close as possible to Peter, escaping from her embrace, and to have exhaustive information about everything concerning his personal life. To this end, she starts an affair with the closest person to the emperor - his personal orderly Ivan Orlov, who performed the duties of not only a servant, but also a secretary. Most contemporaries characterize him as a man of a rough and uncouth, but at the same time very close and simple-minded. From him, Maria received all the information she needed.

International voyage

In 1716, Peter I and his wife went abroad. Of course, Ivan Orlov and Maria Hamilton followed them, as both entered the retinue of the most august persons. In Europe, the position of the young intriguer became more complicated due to the fact that the tsar's batman went headlong into the wild and cheerful life that all the approximate princes led by himself led. Ivan had new passions, and not only did he deprive his former passion with love, but often drank with drunken eyes.

No matter how humiliating, Maria must have kept this libertine and the boor beside herself, otherwise - farewell to all her plans. There was only one option - if the heart of a man has cooled to her feminine charms, then it can be warmed up with money and gifts. The method is proven, but the trouble is - where to get the money in such quantity?

Theft of jewelry and night visits of the king

And then the Russian Lady Hamilton - Maria Danilovna - made her first step toward the future scaffold. She did not find anything better than stealing from the Empress's treasure jewels. And, selling them, buying Ivan gifts, as well as paying his numerous debts. What is the result? Nahal favorably allowed himself to be gifted, but, having got drunk again, continued to rip his girlfriend with a mortal battle.

However, Maria's perseverance did not remain without a reward. Once the courtiers - big hunters to piquant news - it was noted that at night the sovereign awarded his visit to her bedchamber. How long these night visits lasted, it is not known, but only after a few months everyone noticed that the young maid of honor began to give preference to the wide and spacious outfits hiding the figure. However, this did not attach importance.

The corpse of a baby found in the palace

A vortex of festive amusements swept the days of travel, and again the entire brilliant retinue led by the crowned spouses inhaled the fresh Baltic air of the Northern capital. Life here is all pleasure. But one day there was a nuisance - in one of the secluded corners of the palace found a baby corpse wrapped in a blanket. It was obvious murderousness, and not to take down the culprit of the head, but no matter how they searched the search for this case, no one could be convicted.

Unexpected recognition of Ivan

So it would have gone to oblivion this nameless sin, but fate would have liked to dispose of it differently. One day someone handed a written denunciation to one of his enemies. Peter at that time happened to have no time to read, and he removed it, and when he missed it, he could not remember where he had put it. As a suspicious person by nature, Peter decided that Ivan had taken yesterday's paper, wishing to shield someone, and having come to such an idea, he was angry.

Ivan was urgently summoned. Seeing the king in anger, and not realizing the reason, he decided that it was all to blame for his relationship with the maid of honor. Knowing that Maria Hamilton and Peter 1 were in close relationship, he decided that he had attracted the jealousy of the autocrat. Dropping to his knees, Orlov tearfully complained, and among other things, he began to swear that he knew nothing about the murder of the secretly born baby that Mary had performed.

Exposing the beauty-maid of honor

For Peter this turn was a complete surprise. They urgently searched the room of the ill-fated maid of honor and, to a general astonishment, discovered jewels stolen from the Empress Catherine. The unfortunate woman was shackled and put in the casemate of the newly rebuilt Peter and Paul Fortress.

There, in the hands of a skillful hangman, she described in detail how she steamed diamonds from her empress-empress to pay Ivan's card debts. When the master of shoulder cases especially pored, she remembered that she had twice eradicated the fruit of criminal love in her womb, and she had strangled the baby that was born with her own hands.

The investigation lasted four months, and all this time she repeated that she was guilty of everything herself, and Ivan, though drunk and ruffian, but knew nothing about the theft or the 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 her one word, and bitter tears would have shed Orlov all the grievances inflicted on her. But do you understand the heart of a woman - maybe there was a place in it for this wretched man.

Execution

In 1719, the Tsar's decision, Maria Danilovna Hamilton, was sentenced to death. The execution took place on Troitskaya Square with a large crowd of people. The convict rose to the scaffold in a white dress, decorated with black ribbons. All involuntarily noted her extraordinary beauty, not faded even after long months of imprisonment. Maria Hamilton, whose execution was the lawful execution of the verdict, nevertheless evoked general sympathy.

Next to her at this last moment of her life was Peter. He personally watched that the executioner exactly fulfilled his command. Maria Hamilton prayed quietly before the execution. Eyewitnesses wrote that when the head of a woman fell at the feet of the king, he lifted her, kissed her on the lips and, crossing himself, left.

Riddle that did not receive a response

It would seem that the case can be submitted to the archive. Treasurer and murderer was executed - justice triumphed. But there remain questions that are unlikely to be answered. It is not clear persistence with which Peter demanded her execution. It is known that his wife, the Empress Catherine I, a generous and soft-hearted woman, having forgave Maria the theft of diamonds, prayed with tears to spare her husband. However, the king, who always carried out her requests, this time was adamant. The dowager Praskovya Fedorovna, the widow of his brother Ivan, was also addressing him. She was also categorically refused.

The reasons for the hatred of his former mistress at Peter could be two. First of all, we must recall the decree issued by him 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 in Russia, a large number of shelters were opened at that time, and all mothers were severely punished that if the fruit of sinful love was born, do not ruin it, but throw it to the doors of the shelter - and you will save your life from the baby and your eternal life You can save the torment. Thus, the murder of the newborn, committed by Mary, was a direct challenge to the will of the sovereign.

But there is one more reason that the courtiers were afraid to speak out loud. The child, killed by Mary, was found in the palace exactly nine months after the indiscreet gaze followed the king's nightly visits to the bedroom of the maid of honor Hamilton. If this is a coincidence and the suspicions caused by it are justified, then Maria killed her own son with her own hands, and this explains the rage of her father.