During her long life, she was in the spotlight of publicity in the Grand Duchy of Finland many times. Aristocratic family connections and the favour shown by the Imperial Family, her marriage to the “Russian Croesus” Paul Demidov and the generous participation of Aurora Karamzin’s family in charitable work made her well known. She is remembered in particular as the founder of the Deaconess Institute.
Background
Ethnicity:
Her father, Lieutenant-Colonel Carl Johan Stjernvall, and her mother, Eva Gustava von Willebrand, both came from noble Finnish families of Swedish origin.
At an early age, Aurora Stjernvall was introduced to the magnificent capital of the empire and, under the care of a governess, to the accomplishments required of a young aristocrat. French became her second mother tongue alongside Swedish, the language of her home. The court naturally occupied a central position for the young members of the family. And the standard attitudes and forms of behaviour required by life at court were to a large extent adopted without question.
Career
Aurora was appointed a lady-in-waiting to Empress Alexandra Fedorovna the elder who was consort to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, and a lady of the bedchamber of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna the younger and Empress Maria Feodorovna. She was made a dame of the Order of Saint Catherine, the highest honor for ladies in Imperial Russia. Her main duty was to be continually near the Tsarina; to function as a secretary, to read aloud to her, to receive and entertain visitors and to act as a playmate for the imperial children both inside and out of doors. A lady-in-waiting accompanied the Empress on journeys and visits and to the theatre and charitable institutes, as well as helping at court in the organising of concerts and private theatrical performances.
Achievements
She undertook pioneering efforts on behalf of social work and women's education in Finland. She is remembered in particular as the founder of the Deaconess Institute.
Connections
In 1836 she married Pavel Nikolayevich Demidov; he died in 1840. In 1846 she remarried to Andrei Karamzin. Aurora's only child was Prince Pavel Pavlovich Demidov (9 October 1839 – 26 January 1885). In 1870 he succeeded his childless uncle, Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, as the 2nd Prince of San Donato.
Father:
Carl Johan Stjernvall
Born on 10 September 1764 in Maaskeskis, Padasjoki, Häme – died 6 February 1815 in Vyborg (now Viipuri). Came from noble Finnish families of Swedish origin. He was a high official in the Grand Duchy of Finland, became the first governor of the Viipuri Province in 1812.
Mother:
Eva Gustava von Willebrand
Born on 18 February 1781 in Finland – died 1 December 1844. She was a remote niece of Gustav I of Sweden.
child:
Pavel Demidov
Born 9 October 1839 – died 26 January 1885. In 1870 he succeeded his childless uncle, Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, as the 2nd Prince of San Donato.
older brother:
Emil Stjernvall-Walleen
Born in 1806. Died in 1890.
Sister:
Emilie Stjernvall-Walleen
Born in 1811. Died in 1846. She was married to Vladimir Musin-Pushkin.
Sister:
Alexandra Stjernvall-Walleen
Born in 4 October 1812 in Vyborg – died 1 January 1851 in Lisbon.
1st husband:
Pavel Demidov
The founder of the Demidov dynasty, a weapon-maker named Demid from the town of Tula, had won the favour of Peter the Great with the pistols that he manufactured and had been granted rights over the mines and foundries on the eastern slopes of the Urals, along with the thousands of serfs who toiled in them. Paul Demidov's father and uncle had settled abroad; in their palazzi in Italy and France, they had collected art and founded charitable institutions. In Russia there was disapproval of such transfers of property to foreign countries.
2nd husband:
Andrei Karamzin
His father was the historian and author Nikolay Karamzin, and his mother was Princess Yekaterina Vyazemsky, one of the leading hostesses of salons frequented by cultural circles in St Petersburg. Andrei was a politically interested, widely travelled, somewhat languid and very accommodating man, and five years younger than Aurora. Aurora was very much in love, and the marriage was celebrated in the presence of the Imperial Family at Peterhof in July 1846.