Princess Maria Mikhailovna Golitzyna (; 1834–1910) was a Russian noble, courtier and philanthropist. She served as ''

Ober-Hofmeisterin Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ) or Chief Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ; ) is or was the title of the senior lady-in-waiting in the courts of Austria, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Imperial Russia, and the German princely and royal courts. Chief c ...

'' (Chief Court Mistress) to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia from 1894 until 1910.

Life

She was the daughter of general lieutenant Michail Vasiljevitj Pashkov and Maria Baranova Trofimovna. In 1857, she married prince Vladimir Dmitrievich Golitsyn (1815-1888). She had one child,

Maria Vladimirovna Golitsyna Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

(1860-1933), who at one point served as

maid of honour A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts. Tudors and Stuarts Traditi ...

. Golitzyna was made a dame of the

Order of Saint Catherine The Imperial Order of Saint Catherine () was an award of Imperial Russia. Instituted on 24 November 1714 by Peter the Great on the occasion of his marriage to Catherine I of Russia. For the majority of the time of Imperial Russia, it was the onl ...

in 1879. She served as deputy chair of the prestigious Patriotic Society in 1896-1910. Maria Golitzyna is described by contemporaries as an imposing character and as an extreme reactionary conservative, opponent to all forms of liberal reforms of the autocratic monarchy. In 1894 she was appointed to the post of senior lady-in-waiting to the new empress, with the responsibility of all the female employees of the empress' court, which had been selected by Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. According to general A. A. Mosolov, no one was better suited to supervise the ladies-in-waiting: "it would be hard to find a lady better suited than the princess Golitsyna to personify the high rank of mistress of the robes... She had a well developed feeling for anything not belonging to etiquette."

Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden Sophie Freiin von Buxhoeveden (; – November 26, 1956), also known as Baroness Sophie Buxdoeveden, was a Russian lady-in-waiting of Baltic German descent in service to Empress Alexandra of Russia. She was the author of three memoirs about the ...

described her: :"Princess Marie Mikhailovna Galitzin, was a wonderful type of old Russia, belonging by birth and marriage to the greatest families of the country. She was a grande dame of the old school, and even her outward appearance was typical of a bygone age. ..Princess Galitzin, notwithstanding her overawing manner - she struck terror into the hearts of all the debutantes, at whom she glared through her horn glasses-was kind and straightforward. She was courteous in spite of her brusque manner, but was no diplomat and could not do much to help the young Empress, to whom she became deeply attached. Although the Empress was rather afraid of her to begin with, she afterwards loved her dearly. When Princess Galitzin died in 1910 the Empress felt her loss greatly, and said to Princess E. N. Obolensky : "J'ai perdu la plus grande amie que famis en Russie. Meme dans toute la famille, personne ne m' était aussi proche."Sophie Buxhoeveden, The life and tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna, empress of Russia, a biography by Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden; with an introduction by J. C. Squire, 1928 She carried all the children of the last empress to their baptism. She was succeeded in her court office by Elizaveta Alekseevna Narishkina (1838-1928).

References

* Е. А. Нарышкина. Мои воспоминания. Под властью трех царей. — М.: Новое литературное обозрение, 2014. — 688 с. * А. А. Мосолов. При дворе последнего императора.— СПб., 1992.— С. 200. {{DEFAULTSORT:Golitzyna, Maria Ladies-in-waiting from the Russian Empire 1834 births 1910 deaths Nobility from the Russian Empire Court of Nicholas II of Russia Maria Mikhailovna Recipients of the Order of Saint Catherine