Katerina Botsari

Katerina "Rosa" Botsari (; 1818/18201872) was a Greek courtier. She was member of the Souliot Botsaris family. The daughter of Markos Botsaris, she was in the service of Queen Amalia of Greece as well as an admired young woman throughout the European courts; she was immortalised for the 'Gallery of Beauties' of Ludwig I of Bavaria in Stieler's 1841 painting. A damask rose species bred in 1856 was named Rosa Botsaris after her. In 1845, she married prince and general George Caradja.

Biography

Born in 1818 or in 1820 in Ioannina, then a regional capital in the Ottoman Empire. She was the daughter of Markos Botsaris, a chieftain and hero of the Greek Revolution. When the Greek Revolution broke out, Ekaterini was in Ioannina. She and other women were captured by the authorities and transferred to a distant land of the Ottoman Empire, within its European territories. During her time in captivity, she was put under the protection of upper class Ottoman women. In fact, it seems that one of them tried to adopt her. In the end, however, after the prisoner exchange, Ekaterini returned to her family and later she went to the newly created Greek state.

After the marriage of the newly elected king Otto in 1836, a household was formed for his spouse Queen Amalia, and Katerina Botsari was appointed to the post of lady-in-waiting. She was one of few Greek courtiers in the court of Otto and Amalia, which was mostly composed of Germans before 1843.

As lady-in-waiting, she accompanied Amalia to her official visits in the royal courts of various European countries. In 1844, she was honored by the king of Bavaria, Ludwig I, with a . Furthermore, during her stay in Bavaria, she won the admiration of the public, not only for her beauty, but also for being the daughter of the famous fighter Markos Botsaris. At the same time, she had her portrait made by the German painter Joseph Karl Stieler. The portrait now resides at the Gallery of Beauties, in Nymphenburg Palace, in Munich.

She left her service of court in 1844 when she married, and was replaced as lady-in-waiting by Fotini Mavromichali.

Ekaterini married general Prince Georgios Caradja (1802–1882), and together they had four children, two of which died at a young age.