Princess Dorothea von Lieven (1785 – 1857) was the wife of
Prince Khristofor Andreyevich Lieven, Russian ambassador to London from 1812 to
1834. Considered cold and snobbish by London Society Dorothea was not an
instant success when she arrived fresh from the Russian court.
Her long elegant neck earned her the nickname, “the swan” by
those who loved her and “the giraffe” by those who did not. Reputation did not
bother her however; she was not after friendship she was after power and she
used all her intelligence, charisma, and social skills to get what influence
she could for the Tsar and the Holy Alliance in negotiations concerning the
defeat of Napoleon and reestablishment of absolutist monarchy in Europe. Not only did she become the Austrian
Chancellor, Prince Metternich’s lover she was also reputed to have had affairs or
at least very close friendships with Lord Palmerston, Lord Castlereagh and Lord
Grey while she was in London.
Her hard work paid off and soon invitations to Dorothea’s home
became the most sought after in capital. She was the first foreigner to be elected
a patroness of Almack's where she is said to have introduced the waltz, a dance
considered riotous and indecent, to England, during Tsar Alexander’s visit in
1814. It was during that visit she first met Metternich. It seems they took an
instant dislike to one another. She thought he was cold and intimidating and
far too self- important. He dismissed her as just a pretty woman travelling in
the Tsar’s wake and treated her with complete indifference.
Some four years later, the pair met again at the Dutch
Ambassador’s party at Aix-La-Chappelle. Sitting next to each other they found
they had much in common – they both
hated Napoleon. Their notorious liaison
began a few days later when Dorothea entered the Prince’s apartment incognito.
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| Prince of Metternich-Winneburg-Beilstein; (1773 – 1859) |
In Metternich Dorothea had found her equal, a man who could
satisfy her physically, emotionally and intellectually. She wrote, “Good God!
My love, I know how to rejoice in so few things, do you understand what makes
me feel true happiness, it is you, only you! My Clement, if you cease to love
me what will become of me? ... My dear
friend promise to love me as much as I love you; our lives are pledged in this
promise.”
In Dorothea, Metternich had met the woman of his dreams; she
could match his intellect and his passion. He wrote, “My happiness today is
you. Your soul is full of common sense your heart is full of warmth ... You are
as a woman what I am as a man.”
Their heated, clandestine affair soon succumbed to the
requirements state; they met occasionally but corresponded frequently. Like
many illicit lovers, they were tortured by their separation and the knowledge
they could never be together.
Dorothea was well aware of Metternich's reputation as a
libertine seducer but she continued the relationship for eight years until she
heard he had thrown her over for a younger woman. Desolate, she broke off their
relationship in 1826. By the end references to Metternich in her letters were cold
and spiteful and it seems time did not heal her broken heart. She had nothing
good to say about him or his third wife when she saw him in Brighton in 1849
describing him as "slow and tedious" and his wife as "stout and
well-mannered."
She ended her days in Paris as the ‘wife’ of the French
politician Guizot. It was said that although
she was a widow she refused to marry Guizot because it would mean giving
up her title ‘Serene Highness’ something the proud and regal woman was never
going to do. Like her former lover, she was ancien
regime through and through.
Dorothea died peacefully at her home in Paris, aged 71, in January
1857. She is a recurring minor figure in many historical novels, notably those
of Georgette Heyer. Heyer portrays her as a haughty, formidable, and
unapproachable leader of society, but in The
Grand Sophy she is described as "clever and amusing", and there
is a passing reference in that book to her role in political intrigues.
Metternich died in Vienna two years later aged 86 the last guardian of the ancien regime, which had long since
passed into history.
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| Princess Dorothea von Lieven (1785 – 1857) |
Sources:
Dorothea Lieven: A Russian Princess in London and Paris, 1785-1857
By Judith Lissauer Cromwell
The Congress of Vienna: Power and Politics After Napoleon By
Brian E. Vick
1815: The Roads to Waterloo By Gregor Dallas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klemens_von_Metternich
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