Mary Hamilton

Who was Mary Hamilton?

Mary Hamilton or Maria Danilovna Gamentova, was the lady in waiting of Empress Catherine I of Russia and a royal mistress of Tsar Peter the Great of Russia. She was executed for abortion, infanticide, and theft and slander of Empress Catherine. She is pointed out as one of the possible inspirations for the song Mary Hamilton.

Mary Hamilton was a member of the Scottish family Hamilton, who had emigrated to Russia by Thomas Hamilton during the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and was likely the daughter of William Hamilton and the cousin of Evdokiya Grigorievna Hamilton. She became lady in waiting to Empress Catherine in 1713, aroused attention with her beauty and love life and became the lover of Tsar Peter. She also had a lover, Ivan Mikhailovich Orlov. When Orlov betrayed her with Peter's other lover, Avdotya Chernysheva, she tried to win him back by bestowing him with gifts stolen from Catherine. She had an abortion in 1715 by taking a medicine for constipation, and gave a secret birth in 1717, after which she drowned the baby. In 1717, Orlov was interrogated about some missing documents of Peter's. He confessed his relationship with Hamilton and pointed her out for abortion. Avdotya Chernysheva accused Hamilton of spreading the rumour that Catherine ate wax to keep her skin pale, and when Catherine had Hamilton's room searched, several stolen objects belonging to Catherine were found there. Hamilton and Orlov were both arrested and imprisoned in the Fortress of Saint Petersburg. Mary Hamilton confessed to theft and to killing her newborn infant, but refused to testify against Orlov despite torture.