Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.
Dorothea Lieven Countess de Lieven wife of the Russian Ambassador
7 December 1785 – 27 January 1857
Dorothea Lieven
Dorothea von Benckendorff was born into Russia’s distinctive Baltic nobility to a Baltic German family in Riga in today’s Latvia, daughter of General Baron Christoph von Benckendorff, who served as the military governor of Livonia, and wife Baroness Anna Juliane Charlotte Schilling von Canstatt, who held a high position at the Romanov Court as senior lady-in-waiting and best friend of Empress Maria Fyodorovna, and paternal granddaughter of Johann Michael von Benckendorff and wife Sophie von Löwenstern.
Dorothea was the sister of the Russian generals Alexander and Konstantin von Benckendorff. Her other sister Maria von Benckendorff married Ivan Georgievich Sevitsch.
Educated at St. Petersburg’s exclusive Smolny Convent Institute, von Lieven was assigned as a maid of honour to Maria Fyodorovna. In St. Petersburg on 1 February 1800, at age fourteen, some months after finishing her studies, von Lieven married General Count (later Prince) Christopher Lieven. Although the marriage was arranged, the couple managed to live in harmony for many years; only in the last years did serious quarrels develop, leading to a total estrangement. They had one daughter and five sons, three of whom predeceased their mother: Magda, Paul, Alexander, Konstantin, Georg and Arthur.
In 1810 her husband was appointed minister to Berlin. When Tsar Alexander I appointed Count Lieven ambassador to Great Britain in 1812, Dorothea von Lieven used her intelligence, charisma, and social skills to make herself a leader of London’s politically infused society, thereby contributing materially to the success of her husband’s embassy.
In London, Princess Lieven cultivated friendships with the foremost statesmen of her day. As well, she and Austrian Chancellor Prince Klemens Lothar Wenzel von Metternich had a notorious liaison. She was also reputed to have had an affair with Lord Palmerston, although there is no firm proof. She was a close friend of Lord Castlereagh, and was one of the first people to voice concerns about his increasingly strange behaviour in the weeks leading up to his suicide. Lord Grey confided in her, even sharing with her his intense grief on the death of his grandson Charles in 1831; on the other hand she admitted that the details of what became the Reform Act 1832 came as a complete surprise to her, a sign that Grey despite their friendship did not entirely trust her.
In England’s vibrant political environment, the Princess discovered in herself a flair for politics. She also became a leader of society; invitations to her house were the most sought after and she was the first foreigner to be elected a patroness of Almack’s, London’s most exclusive social club, where von Lieven introduced the waltz to England. Despite her apparently frivolous nature she had a deep religious faith, and far in advance of her time seems to have disapproved of the death penalty. She was something of a snob, and made many enemies due to her haughty manner towards those she regarded as social inferiors.
Dorothea von Lieven’s position as the Russian ambassadress, her friendships, and her political acumen established her as a major political force. Though outwardly deferential to her husband she was by far the stronger character and soon completely eclipsed him: London society jokingly called them “the two Russian ambassadors”.
In 1825 Tsar Alexander I entrusted Dorothea with a secret overture to the British government. “It is a pity Countess Lieven wears skirts”, the Tsar wrote to his foreign minister Count Nesselrode. “She would have made an excellent diplomat.”
The Tsar’s mission marked Dorothea Lieven’s debut as a diplomat in her own right. She at least equalled her husband in importance. During Prince Lieven’s ambassadorship in England, (1812–1834) the Princess played a key role in the birth of modern Greece, and made a notable contribution to the creation of today’s Belgium. The appointment of Lord Palmerston as Foreign Secretary in 1830 is generally agreed to have been partly due to his friendship with Dorothea, who lobbied Lord Grey vigorously on his behalf; however, her belief that Palmerston would be reliably pro-Russian turned out to be a mistake, since it was his quarrel with the Tsar which ultimately led to her departure from England. Her friendship with Palmerston was said to be due to a similarity in their mental processes: “an intelligence which depended not on education but experience and long observation of men and women”. She was wise enough to use her influence discreetly: as she observed, a foreigner who meddles in English politics “is liable to end up with a broken neck”.
Tsar Nicholas I recalled Prince Lieven in 1834.
Wonderful post. Anyone interested in Princess Lieven, or indeed the Regency period in general, should read her published letters. Her reporting of Wellington’s first visit to the Brighton Pavilion is priceless, her comments on various others of the age, including Byron, Caro Lamb and Geo IV, are often scathing and her opinions on most things are freely delivered. A chin wag with the Princess over cocktails would have been a hoot – but I would never have turned my back on her!
Smashing character a born socialite being at the same time a very erudite and covert agent diplomats! But pity she had to sleep with sooo many men …..Alrx1