He was the favorite of the future empress. An ardent lover brought him to exile, and then for a long time tried to apologize for having stopped loving.
The love of a young girl of royal blood played a cruel joke with our hero. It is hard to imagine that the case ended with the creation of a family. No one was afraid that he would try on the crown. It was just that his beloved had too many ill-wishers.
Childhood
The noble family of the Shubins was ancient and famous. Her finest hour came after Mikhail Romanov's accession to the throne. The next century was a period of decline. Yakov Shubin and his wife lived in the family estate in the Vladimir province. He had an ordinary biography, he did not shine with any talents. In 1707, his wife pleased him with her son, who was named Alexei.
The boy could not count on a rich inheritance, but his origin could open the doors for him to the highest offices of the empire. The father hoped that this child would contribute to the return of the former glory to the aristocratic family. He was personally involved in the upbringing and education of the heir. Alyosha grew up mobile and healthy, so it was decided that he would make a career in the military. Tsar Peter granted the brave fighters and commanders high titles and generous gifts. In 1721 the teenager was sent to St. Petersburg.
Acquaintance with the yard
Alyosha was enlisted as a soldier in the Semenovsky Guards Regiment. The boy mastered the art of war on a par with peers of lower origin. He had to earn the rank of non-commissioned officer, and then ensign, with his own strength and knowledge. The emperor wanted to see the future elite of his army in the younger generation, demanded a high level of training from the guards.
Good fellows from the elite military units were often sent to carry out patrols at the royal palace. Shubin was distinguished by his tall stature, stately figure and attractive appearance, therefore he had an honorable mission more often than his more ordinary-looking fellow soldiers. Once he was on guard, and Peter's daughter Elizabeth was walking by. The girl was 2 years younger than Leshka, but she already liked to feel like a princess and a commander. She noticed a handsome man on guard.
Start
After the death of Peter the Great, everything changed. The widow Catherine I preferred to waggle rather than drill the troops, Peter II followed in her footsteps. Guardsmen often became drinking companions of negligent rulers. Tsesarevna was distinguished by exquisite tastes among this bedlam. She did not succumb to the temptation of the green serpent, she became a victim of Cupid. The girl imagined herself as an officer and put in her batman-lover Ivan Buturlin. Soon she got tired of this fun.
Elizabeth was passionate about hunting. During one of her outings into nature, her motorcade ended up in the vicinity of the city of Vladimir. Alexei Shubin grew up here, so he arranged a real excursion through the local forests for the heiress of the throne. She appreciated the cheerful and gallant gentleman. Passion flared up between them.
Favorite
The couple did not hide their relationship. Lisa appointed her chosen one as orderly. Alexei hinted to her that it was safer to hide her personal life from the courtyard, but the damsel only laughed. Her feeling was so strong that it inspired creativity. The freedom-loving person dedicated poetry to the young man. Shubin received tender lines and was afraid that the messenger had already introduced them to someone else.
Rumors spread that the princess's romantic passion gave birth to two illegitimate children. The composition quickly gained popularity and reached foreign ambassadors. This was the work of Prince Alexander Dolgorukov, who did not sympathize with Elizabeth. The girl did not refute the gossip. She was afraid that Anna Ioannovna, who led the country in 1730, would try to marry her off. A stain on your reputation could save you from unwanted marriage.
Mockery
The spiteful Anna was not going to make her niece happy. She envied her relative's beauty and wanted to make her unhappy. The Empress, known for her treachery, ordered the arrest of Alexei Shubin. The young man was taken to Revel and imprisoned in a fortress. They demanded that he confess to organizing a conspiracy against his benefactor and her relatives.
Our hero at the trial refuted all the slander, the prosecution was confused in the testimony, there were no witnesses. The sentence was not read to the unfortunate man. It was not freedom that awaited the prisoner, but exile. By order of the tsarina, he was sent to Siberia, and then to Kamchatka. where they were forcibly married to a local resident. Anna Ioannovna enjoyed the suffering of her niece and rejoiced in her rich sadistic imagination.
Return
In 1741, Elizaveta Petrovna appeared in the barracks of the Preobrazhensky and ordered the soldiers to go with her to the palace, to return power to the lawful heiress, which she was. After the coronation, she immediately ordered to find Alexei Shubin, whose bitter fate she did not forget for a minute. This was only possible in 1743. When the sufferer was informed that henceforth he was free, he rushed like an arrow towards his sweetheart.
In St. Petersburg, Shubin was expected to receive the rank of Major General of the Life Guards Semenovsky Regiment and land in the Nizhny Novgorod and Yaroslavl provinces. Empress Alexei soon understood the reason for such generosity - she was in love with another. Feelings could not stand the test of separation, the new chosen one of Elizabeth was Alexei Razumovsky. The rejected lover could not bear such a blow. He immediately resigned and left for his estate, where he died in 1766.
