Afrosinya

She became the concubine of Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia, son and heir of Peter the Great and fled with him on 26 September 1716 from his father.

She was captured with her brother, Ivan, and sold as serfs to Prince Nikifor Kondrat'evich Viazemskii, former tutor of Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia.

[1] According to Massie, he fell in love with Afrosinya in his friend Viazemskii's house, and he gifted her to him; she was fifteen or sixteen at the time.

[4] He based this account on an allegation by a contemporary, who stated that in 1717 Afrosinya testified that the Tsarevich had 'forced her to comply with his Will with a Knife drawn, and threatening [sic] her with Death'.

[1] She has been viewed with contempt for her ethnicity; a contemporary letter expresses the perplexion of Russians that the Tsarevitch could love 'such a mean Finn-woman', and multiple 19th century accounts of their relationship, as well as the fictional versions based on them, characterised her as 'bestial' or 'goatish', 'of the slightly bestial type of her race'.

[1] Many accounts depicted her as the archetypal 'self-seeking Whore', opposed to Alexei's wife, the 'self-sacrificing Madonna', especially as Charlotte died soon after Afrosinya's arrival, on 2 November 1715, from a postpartum infection.

[6] In order not to arouse Afrosinya's suspicion, as she knew that the Emperor would not tolerate her, she was told that she would travel until Riga, then return to Saint Petersburg.

Charles wrote to King George I of Great Britain that he considered Peter capable of murdering his heir.

[10] Count Tolstoi made a promise that they would be allowed to marry and live in peace, which the Emperor confirmed in writing.

[citation needed] The couple separated in Bologna, as Afrosinya travelled at a slower pace due to her pregnancy.

[5] Little Father, Tsarevich Aleksei Petrovich, my love, I wish you long life for deigning to remember me: by God's grace I am in good health.

Alexei was increasingly desperate for her, and knelt before the Empress Catherine, his step-mother, on 14 April 1718, begging that she speed Afrosinya's arrival.

[citation needed] Afrosinya was shown the instruments of torture upon her arrival to prison, and she produced letters from Alexei to various prominent people, asking their protection from Peter.

She was made to confront Alexei[1] in front of Peter, where she testified that the Tsarevitch planned a coup, and wanted to flee to the Pope, but that she stopped him.