Mary Hamilton
Mary Hamilton, also known as Maria Gamentova (died March 14, 1719), was a Russian courtier and lady-in-waiting who was known for being a lover of Peter the Great. As well as being Tsar Peter's lover and a personal assistant to Catherine I, Hamilton was also a murderer who was executed after Peter discovered that she had killed her own child shortly after giving birth and gotten two illegal abortions.
Biography edit
Hamilton was a descendant of Scottish immigrant Thomas Hamilton, whose family arrived in Russia in the 1500s. Around 1713 she joined the court of Russian empress Catherine I as one of Catherine's ladies-in-waiting. Her beauty soon caught the eye of Catherine's husband Peter, and the two of them began an affair. Despite sleeping with Catherine's husband Hamilton was not reprimanded by Catherine who was known to treat her husband's many mistresses with kindness. Hamilton eventually fell out of favour with Peter, although their affair continued.
As well as her affair with Peter, Hamilton also had a relationship with Peter's aide-de-camp Ivan Orlov. When this relationship came to an end, Hamilton began stealing items from Catherine to give as gifts to Orlov in an attempt to win him back. She became pregnant on at least three occasions; it's unknown if the father was Orlov or Peter. The first two pregnancies were aborted using medicine taken from the palace doctors. Hamilton was not so lucky with her third pregnancy, which she concealed by wearing wide crinolines. After giving birth in either 1716 or 1717, knowing that having a child outside of wedlock would ruin her reputation, Hamilton drowned the baby in an outhouse. The infant's body was discovered but Hamilton's crime went unsolved for a couple of years.
Having seemingly got away with the murder, Hamilton was eventually exposed when an enraged Peter questioned Orlov about a missing document. Orlov believed that the Tsar was angry with him because of his relationship with Mary and confessed, also telling Peter about Hamilton having illegally aborted her pregnancies. Peter remembered the discovery of the dead baby and became suspicious. Hamilton was arrested, and confessed under torture that she illegally aborted her first two pregnancies, killed her child and stole from the empress. She was also accused of spreading false rumors about Catherine. However, Hamilton refused to incriminate Orlov in any of her crimes.
On March 14, 1719, Hamilton was executed by beheading. Peter had reportedly wanted to spare her life but refused to "break the laws of God" by pardoning her. It has been claimed that Hamilton's head was later preserved and survived until the reign of Catherine the Great.