Platon Zubov

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Alexandrovich and the family name is Zubov.
Portrait of Zubov, by Johann Baptist von Lampi the Elder, 1793

Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov (Russian: Платон Александрович Зубов; November 26 [O.S. November 15] 1767 – April 19 [O.S. April 7] 1822) was the last of Catherine the Great's favourites and the most powerful man in the Russian Empire
during the last years of her reign.

Early life

The

Prince Potemkin
.

Favourite of Catherine II

Portrait of Zubov by Johann Lebrecht Eggink

In August 1789, Catherine wrote to Potemkin that she returned to life after a long winter slumber "as a fly does". "Now I am well and gay again," she added, telling about her new friend, "a dark, little one". "Our baby," as she called him, "weeps when denied the entry into my room," Catherine informed Potemkin in the next letter. As young minions succeeded each other monthly in Catherine's heart, Potemkin did not attach importance to her new liaison. Catherine was over 60, Zubov was just 22. The old courtier did not believe that the connection would last for an extended period of time.

Zubov, however, managed to establish a strong hold of Catherine's affections and character. In 7 years, he was made a Count and then a

New Russia (Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty).[2] As Fyodor Rostopchin reported to Semyon Vorontsov
on August 20, 1795, "Count Zubov is everything here. There is no other will but his. His power is greater than that of Potemkin. He is as reckless and incapable as before, although the Empress keeps repeating that he is the greatest genius the history of Russia has known".

During his years in power, Zubov amassed an enormous fortune. The Empress conferred on him tens of thousands of serfs, while simultaneously the courtiers rivaled each other in lavishing presents on him. In the last year of Catherine's reign even most trivial matters came to be decided on Zubov's advice. Crowds of petitioners thronged in his bedroom every morning, trying desperately to attract the attention of his pet monkey if not himself. The old generals prepared coffee for him. Zubov's secretaries enriched themselves on bribes from petitioners. One of them, the Spaniard

Odessa (which was founded on the exact location of the Ottoman settlement Khadjibey[3]
).

Tsarskoe Selo stand next door to the Catherine Palace
of the Empress.

Zubov's character was capricious and unstable. He patronized

Emperor Paul
who drank to his health and wished him "as many years of prosperity as there are drops in this beaker". Nevertheless, he was stripped of his estates, relieved of all his posts and was strongly advised to go abroad.

Later life

During Paul's reign, Zubov traveled in Europe, where he was shown as a curiosity. In

Biron ducal dynasty. He ended his days living in seclusion. His young widow, Thekla Walentinowicz (1801-1873), a local landowner's daughter, remarried Count Andrei Shuvalov (1802-1873), thus bringing the vast Zubov estates into the Shuvalov
family.

References

  1. ISBN 978-0099462347
    .
  2. ^ Генерал-губернаторы. histpol.pl.ua
  3. ISBN 9780804766845
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Platon_Zubov&oldid=1214320831"