Count Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky (11 April 1762 - 20 June 1813), was
the illegitimate son of Empress Catherine II of Russia and her lover,
Count Grigory Orlov. He was brought up away from court, in the village
of Bobriki, in the Tula province.
 |
| Portrait by Fyodor Rokotov, circa 1760s. |
 |
| Portrait by Carl-Ludwig Christinek (1730/1732 - circa 1794), circa 1770. |
Before his nineteenth birthday,
the Empress wrote to him and finally acknowledged that she was in fact his mother. She
was long undecided as to what surname he should carry, but eventually
chose Bobrinsky, a name derived from that of his estate.
 |
| In masquerade costume, unknown artist, circa late 1770s. |
After her
death, one of the very first actions of her successor, Paul I, was to
make his thirty-four year old half-brother a count of the Russian
Empire. Count Bobrinsky married, had four children, and his line
survives to this day. He died at the age of fifty-one at his estate of
Bogoroditsk.
***
 |
| Another portrait by Rokotov, this is considered by many to be of Count Bobrinsky. |
