Yelizaveta Alekseyevna in later centuries known as Tarakanova or Tarakanoff, was a pretender to the Russian throne. She styled herself, among other names, Knyaginya Vladimirskaya (Princess of Vladimir

Vladimir

Vladimir is a city and the administrative center of Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the Klyazma River, to the east of Moscow along the M7 motorway. Population:...

), princess Elisabeth Alexeievna, Fräulein Frank, and Madame Trémouille. Tarakanova (tarakan is the Russian word for cockroach

Cockroach

Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...

) is a name only later entertainment (literature, theater, filmography, pictures) gave to her, apparently on the basis of how she lived her last months and died. In her own time, she was not known by that name.

Life

Tarakanova claimed to be the daughter of Aleksey Grigorievich Razumovsky and Elizabeth of Russia, reared in St. Petersburg. Even her place of birth, however, is not certain, and her real name is not known. She is known to have traveled to several cities in Western Europe; she became a mistress of Philipp Ferdinand of Limburg Stirum

Philipp Ferdinand of Limburg Stirum

Philipp Ferdinand von Limburg Stirum , Count of Limburg, lord of Styrum, was the fourth reigning count from the branch Limburg-Styrum-Styrum. He is known for his very extravagant and fastuous lifestyle, which caused his bankrupcy and for having been the lover of princess Tarakanova.-Life:Philipp...

 and lived off his money in the hope that the count would marry her.

She was eventually arrested in Livorno

Livorno

Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...

, Tuscany

Grand Duchy of Tuscany

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was a central Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Duchy of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence...

  by Aleksei Grigoryevich Orlov, who had been sent by Empress Catherine II

Catherine II of Russia

Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...

 to retrieve her. Orlov-Tsesmensky seduced her, then lured her aboard a Russian ship, arrested her, and brought her to Russia in February of 1775. She was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress

Peter and Paul Fortress

The Peter and Paul Fortress is the original citadel of St. Petersburg, Russia, founded by Peter the Great in 1703 and built to Domenico Trezzini's designs from 1706-1740.-History:...

, where she died of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 that December. She was buried in Novospassky Monastery

Novospassky Monastery

Novospassky Monastery is one of the fortified monasteries surrounding Moscow from south-east.It was the first monastery to be founded in Moscow in the early 14th century. The Saviour Church was its original katholikon...

, next to other non-reigning Romanovs.

A popular theory postulates that her death was faked and she was secretly forced to take the veil under the name Dosiphea. This mysterious nun was recorded as living in Ivanovsky Convent

Ivanovsky Convent

Ivanovsky Convent is a large stauropegic Russian Orthodox convent in downtown Moscow, inside the Boulevard Ring, to the west of Kitai-gorod, in the district formerly known as Kulishki. It is the main shrine of St. John the Baptist in the Russian capital.The monastery was first documented in 1604...

 from 1785 until her death in 1810.

Films

• A play written by Ippolit Shpazhinsky was the basis for the 1910 Russian film Knyazhna Tarakanova (Княжна Тараканова) with V. Mikulina in the role of this pretender.
• In 1950, a joint UK/Italian movie titled "Shadow Of The Eagle" was produced about the seduction mission by Aleksei Orlov of Princess Tarakanova, with Valentina Cortese portraying this Elizaveta and Richard Greene in the role of Count Orlov. Elizaveta Alexeievna is painted as a real princess who is a threat to Catherine the Great both politically and in royal lineage, not a pretender to the throne of Russia. The story portrays Orlov as a much more sympathetic character and betrayer to Catherine the Great, in that he allies himself to Elizaveta body and soul while claiming false allegiance to Catherine. The events in the movie follow history authentically until the meeting of Princess Tarakanova and Orlov takes place and the ending which alters actual real-life events, in that Orlov releases Elizaveta from prison in Russia after a daring raid and they live happily ever after, so this movie becomes a wildly fictional tale.
• In 1990 an award winning Soviet film production titled "The Royal Hunt" was released based on a play by Leonid Zorin of the same title. It told the story of the life and adventures around Europe of Princess Tarakanova and the operation by Aleksei Orlov to trick and capture her.

Sources

• Simon Segal Montefiore, Potemkin