Duchess Therese had had an affair with the Bavarian diplomat while her husband Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, was in Paris for several years at the invitation of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Her mother's husband, Karl Alexander Fürst von Thurn und Taxis (1770–1827), was invited by Napoleon for his new projects, and lived in Paris for years.

Finally, on 1 August 1823, the Grand Duke of Hesse gave the fifteen-year-old Amalie Stargard permission to carry the surname "von Lerchenfeld", but without rights to use the coat of arms or be listed in the family tree, which was the price for her extramarital birth.

In 1822, the fifteen-year-old beauty Amalie Stargard met young Fyodor Tyutchev, supernumerary attaché of the Russian diplomatic mission, who arrived from Saint Petersburg.

Tyutchev's poem Tears or Slyozy (Russian: Люблю, друзья, ласкать очами …) coincides with one of their dates, and was most likely dedicated to Amalie.

The letters and diaries of Count Maximilian Joseph von Lerchenfeld illuminate Tyutchev's first years as a diplomat in Munich (1822–26), giving details of his frustrated love affair for Amalie, nearly involving a duel with his colleague (on 19 January 1825).

Gagarin wrote down several poems and gave them to read to Alexander Pushkin, publisher of Sovremennik, the most influential literary magazine in Russia.

In Imperial Russia, where Orthodoxy was the state religion, this action would be punished by years of katorga (the secret was revealed only after death of Benckendorff).

Baron von Krüdener was appointed Ambassador and Plenipotentiary Minister at the Court of the King of Sweden and Norway, but Amalie pretended to be ill and stayed in Saint Petersburg.

Amalie finally found love, peace and happiness with Count Nikolay Adlerberg, whom she married officially in 1855.

Taking into consideration the circumstances, Countess Adlerberg decided to avoid bureaucratic formalities and on 31 December 1854 opened an asylum for fourteen orphans with her own money.

As a Catholic, Countess Adlerberg helped to establish the Roman Catholic parish and their cathedral in Helsinki, a project earlier decisively contributed by countess Leopoldina von Berg, née di Cicogna di Mozzone, the Italian wife of previous governor-general, field marshal Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg.

In 1881, after the assassination of Alexander II of Russia, Count and Countess Adlerberg moved for permanent residence to Munich, Germany.