Yekaterina Sheremeteva

Countess Yekaterina Pavlovna Sheremeteva (, née Princess Vyazemskaya (княжна Вяземская): 2 September 1849 – 24 January 1929) was a maid of honour, state lady, and founder of the natural history museum in , and the .

Early life Princess Yekaterina Pavlovna was born on 20 September 1849, She was also fond of drawing.

Marriage and Children Princess Yekaterina Pavlovna Vyazemskaya married Count Sergei Dmitritevich Sheremetev in the church of Ostankino on 30 June 1868. Sheremetev was the son of Count Dmitri Nikolaevich Sheremetev and Countess Anna Sergeevna née Sheremetva. The marriage would produce nine children:

Dmitri (1869 - 1943), married Countess Irina Illarionovna Vorontsova-Sashkova (1872 - 1959) Pavel (1871 - 1943), married Princess Praskovya Vasilyevna Obolenskaya in 1921 Boris (1873 - 1946 or 1952), married Baroness Marie-Louise-Margarita von Goebl (1880-1941) Anna (1873 - 1943), married Alexander Petrovich Saburov (1870-1919), in 1894 Peter (1876 - 1914), married Elena Borisovna Meyendorff (1881-1966) in 1900 Sergei (1878 - 1942) Maria (1880 - 1945), married Count Alexander Vasilyevich Gudovich (1869-1919) in 1900 Yekaterina (born and died 1880) Vasili (1882 - 1883)

Social Activities In 1895, on the Mikhailovsky estate near Moscow, Yekaterina created a natural history museum. Fedor Vladimirovich Buchholz noted:

In 1898, Yekaterina Pavlovna and her husband bought the Ostafyevo estate from her brother Pyotr Pavlovich Vyazemsky (1754 - 1931) where they established a museum for Pushkin. In 1911 and 1913 they erected monuments in the estate park to Karamzin, Vyazemsky, Pushkin, and Zhukovsky.

Later life Memoirist Tatyana Alexandrovna Aksova-Sievers met the Countess in 1904 and described her as such: "Countess Yekaterina Pavlovna was over fifty years old at that time, and she already dressed 'like an old woman'. I always saw her in a suit of English cut, the colour of which changed depending on the occasion. Her impeccably beautiful features, tall, dense, somewhat stooped figure and calm manner without any affection gave the impression of nobility and simplicity. From conversations with Sukhareva, it was possible to understand that Yekaterina Pavlovna's role in the family was passive and that her will in most cases was suppressed by the stormy and despotic temper of her husband." The post-revolutionary years became the most difficult in the life of Countess Sheremetva both of her sons-in-law were arrested in 1919 and soon shot. Many other relatives and family friends were also arrested. In December 1918 her husband died, afterwards, Yekaterina was forced to live with the family of her son Pavel, who was appointed head of the Ostafyevo museum and estate.

Countess Yekaterina Pavlovna Sheremeteva died on 24 January 1929 and was buried near the walls of the Holy Trinity Church in Ostafyevo.