Catherine Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (''née'' Yekaterina Semyonovna Vorontsova; russian: Екатерина Семёновна Воронцова; 24 October 1784 – 27 March 1856), was a Russian noblewoman who married the Earl of Pembroke. She was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, the daughter of Count

Semyon Vorontsov Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov (or Woronzow, russian: Семён Романович Воронцо́в; 26 June 17449 July 1832) was a Russian diplomat from the aristocratic Russian Vorontsov family, whose siblings included Alexander Vorontso ...

(sometimes spelt

Woronzow Vorontsov (russian: Воронцо́в), also Woroncow and de Woroncow-Wojtkowicz,is the name of a Russian noble family whose members attained the dignity of Counts of the Holy Roman Empire in 1744 and became Princes of the Russian Empire in ...

), the Russian ambassador in Britain from 1785. She was the only sister of Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, Viceroy of New Russia and Caucasus (1782–1856).Woronzow
Humphrys genealogy, accessed April 4, 2012 She was also a niece of

Princess Dashkova Yekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova (russian: Екатери́на Рома́новна Воронцо́ва) (28 March, 1743 – 15 January, 1810) This source reports that Prince Dashkov died in 1761. was an influential noblewoman, a major figure o ...

, a friend of Catherine the Great and a conspirator in the ''coup d'état'' that deposed

Tsar Peter III Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...

and put his wife on the throne. In 1808, she married lieutenant general

George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke General George Augustus Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke and 8th Earl of Montgomery (10 September 1759 – 26 October 1827) was an English peer, army officer, and politician. Early life He was born Lord Herbert at the family home, Wilton House ...

as his second wife and became Countess of Pembroke, the

châtelain Châtelain (from la, castellanus, derived from ''castellum''; pertaining to a castle, fortress. Middle English: ''castellan'' from Anglo-Norman: ''castellain'' and Old French: ''castelain'') was originally the French title for the keeper of a ...

e of

Wilton House Wilton House is an English country house at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire, which has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years. It was built on the site of the medieval Wilton Abbey. Following the dissolution ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

. One source describes her as a linguist and musician. Her letters show her to have been a shrewd observer of European politics.

Children

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pembroke, Catherine Herbert, Countess of 1784 births 1856 deaths Ladies-in-waiting from the Russian Empire Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

English countesses Wives of knights Nobility from Saint Petersburg