Catherina Romanovna Dashkova was born into a family of Old Russian nobility. She was the third daughter of Count Roman Vorontsov, a member of the Senate, distinguished for his intellectual gifts. Catherina’s mother died when she was only two. Her father couldn’t care less about his children (she was the third daughter) and so the little girl was given to the care of her uncle.
She received an exceptionally good education, having displayed from a very early age the masculine ability and masculine tastes which made her whole career so singular.
She was well versed in mathematics, which she studied at the university of Moscow, and in general literature.
While still a girl she was connected with the Russian court, and became one of the leaders of the party that attached itself to the grand duchess (afterwards empress) Catherine.
In 1762 she was at St Petersburg and took a leading part, according to her own account the leading part, in the coup d'etat by which Catherine was raised to the throne. Another course of events would probably have resulted in the elevation of the Princess Dashkov's elder sister, Elizabeth, who was the emperor's mistress, and in whose favour he made no secret of his intention to depose Catherine. Her relations with the new empress were not of a cordial nature, though she continued devotedly loyal. Her blunt manners, her unconcealed scorn of the male favourites that disgraced the court, and perhaps also her sense of unrequited merit, produced an estrangement between her and the empress, which ended in her asking permission to travel abroad. The cause of the final breach was said to have been the refusal of her request to be appointed colonel of the imperial guards.
In 1768 she set out on an extended tour through Europe. She was received with great consideration at foreign courts, and her literary and scientific reputation procured her the entrée to the society of the learned in most of the capitals of Europe. In Paris she secured the warm friendship and admiration of Diderot and Voltaire. She showed in various ways a strong liking for England and the English. She corresponded with Garrick, Dr Blair and Principal Robertson; and when in Edinburgh, where she was very well received, she arranged to entrust the education of her son to Principal Robertson.
In 1782 she returned to the Russian capital, and was at once taken into favour by the empress, who strongly sympathized with her in her literary tastes, and specially in her desire to elevate Russ to a place among the literary languages of Europe. Immediately after her return the princess was appointed "directeur" of the St Petersburg Academy of Arts and Sciences; and in 1784 she was named the first president of the Russian Academy, which had been founded at her suggestion. In both positions she acquitted herself with marked ability. She projected the Russian dictionary of the Academy, arranged its plan, and executed a part of the work herself. She edited a monthly magazine; and wrote at least two dramatic works, The Marriage of Fabian, and a comedy entitled Toissiokoff. Shortly before Catherine's death the friends quarrelled over a tragedy which the princess had allowed to find a place in the publications of the Academy, though it contained revolutionary principles, according to the empress. A partial reconciliation was effected, but the princess soon afterwards retired from court.
On the accession of the emperor Paul in 1796 she was deprived of all her offices, and ordered to retire to a miserable village in the government of Novgorod, "to meditate on the events of 1762. " After a time the sentence was partially recalled on the petition of her friends, and she was permitted to pass the closing years of her life on her own estate near Moscow.
The Memoirs of the Princess Dashkoff written by herself were published in 1840 in London in two volumes. They were edited by Mrs W. Bradford, who, as Miss Wilmot, had resided with the princess between 1803 and 1808, and had suggested their preparation.
Ekaterina Dashkova was an outstanding figure and one of the most colorful and striking figures of the age of Catherine the Great. Through her education, travel abroad and writings she became a prominent Russian educator and a leading figure in the introduction of eighteenth-century Russian culture to the W. Dashkova was the first woman in the world to head a national academy of sciences. It was a rarity to this day. She was also remembered as one of the first women in Europe to hold governmental office.
Catherina Romanovna married Prince in February 1759. After his death, she gave herself up to her children, to literature and to politics. Her son, the last of the Dashkov family, died in 1807 and bequeathed his fortune to his cousin Illarion Vorontsov.
Count
Nobleman of Rurikid stock
Count, Chancellor of the Russian Empire
Count, ambassador to Great Britain
Count, statesman, diplomat
