Yekaterina Ribeaupierre

Countess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Ribopierre (nee Potemkina; 1788-1872) was the wife of diplomat and chief chamberlain Alexander Ivanovich Ribeaupierre, and a cavalry lady of the Order of Saint Catherine and State Lady of the court, and recipient of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa. Biography She was born on 15 (26) June 1788 to Lieutenant General Mikhail Sergeevich Potemkin (1744-1791) and Tatiana Vasilievna Engelhardt (1767-1841) who was a niece of Grigory Potemkin. She was named after her godmother Catherine the Great. Not long after her birth, her father died, and her mother remarried Nikolai Yusupov in 1793. Ekaterina was brought up with her brothers by their mother in their palace on 54 English Embankment, Saint Petersburg. She became acquainted with Alexander Ivanovich Ribopierre (1781-1865) at a young age. Alexander was the son of the Swiss Jean Ribeaupierre. The couple fell for each other, though Ekaterina's mother wished for a more advantageous marriage for her daughter and did not consent to the union; at one point Nikita Volkonsky was considered for a husband. The couple aroused sympathy from others, Ekaterina's cousins, Prince Golitsyn and Count Branicki intervened on her behalf. Eventually the couple were married on 29 September 1809 in Saint Isaac's Cathedral. The marriage proved to be a happy one.