Son of the Empress: Scenes from the Life of Count Alexei Grigoryevich

9 hrs. 19 min.

Language Russian

Author Nikolai Bobrinsky

Narrator Margarita Ivanova

Description

The line of counts of Bobrinskys traces back to Aleksey Grigorievich Bobrinsky (1762–1813), the son of Catherine II and Count G. G. Orlov. Born on March 31 (April 11), 1762, in St. Petersburg, in the Winter Palace, shortly before his mother ascended the throne—something evident from a handwritten letter of April 2, 1781 by Empress Catherine II kept in the Bobrinsky family archive. In another letter dated the same day, the empress granted him a coat of arms. Raised by Admiral de Ribas, A. G. Bobrinsky in 1782, graduating the Land Cadet Corps with a gold medal, was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the army, traveled widely throughout Russia and Europe. Five days after his half-brother Pavel Petrovich ascended the throne, Bobrinsky was promoted to major general in the Horse Guards and, on the same day, November 12, 1796, elevated to the rank of count of the Russian Empire. He was married to the Livonian baroness Anna Vladimirovna Ungern-Shternberg (1769–1846), and in that marriage they had four children: 3 sons and 1 daughter. In his later years he lived on his estate in the Tula Governorate, where he engaged in agriculture, mineralogy, and astronomy. He died on June 8 (20), 1813, at the age of 51, in the town of Bogoroditsk in the Tula Governorate, and was buried in the family vault in Bobriki. After the October Revolution, the Bobrinsky burial site was destroyed, but in 2003 it was restored.