Catherine Dolgorukova
mistress and morganatic wife of Tsar Alexander II
Princess Catherine Dolgorukova (Russian: Екатери́на Миха́йловна Долгору́кова, romanized: Yekaterína Mikháyilovna Dolgorúkova; 14 November [O.S. 2 November] 1847 – 15 February 1922) was a Russian aristocrat and the daughter of Prince Michael Dolgorukov and his wife, Vera Vishnevskaya.
Catherine was a long-time mistress of Tsar Alexander II and later, as his morganatic wife, was given the title of Princess Yurievskaya (Russian: Светлéйшая княги́ня Ю́рьевская).
Alexander and Catherine already had three children when they formed a morganatic marriage on 18 July [O.S. 6 July] 1880, after the death of the Emperor's wife, Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, on 3 June [O.S. 22 May] 1880. A fourth child had died in infancy. Catherine became a widow with the assassination of Alexander II on 13 March [O.S. 1 March] 1881 by members of Narodnaya Volya.
Background
Catherine was the elder daughter of Prince Michael Mikhailovich Dolgorukov (1816–1865) and his wife, Vera Gavrilovna Vishnevskaya (1820–1867). She had one younger sister, Princess Marie Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, Countess von Berg (1849–1907). Catherine was a direct descendant of Anastasia Romanova (d. 1655), the wife of Prince Boris Mikhailovich Lykov-Obolensky (d. 1648), one of the Seven Boyars of 1610. Anastasia was the daughter of Nikita Romanovich (Russian: Никита Романович; born c. 1522 – 23 April 1586), also known as Nikita Romanovich Zakharyin-Yuriev, who was a prominent boyar of the Tsardom of Russia. His grandson, Tsar Michael I (r. 1613–1645), founded the Romanov dynasty of Russian tsars.
“Catherine Dolgorukova” enters the record as mistress and morganatic wife of Tsar Alexander II. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Catherine, Dolgorukova and mistress can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q242892. The first chronological checks are 1847, 1922, 1880 and 1881.
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