Pyotr Kleinmichel


Count Pyotr Andreevich Kleinmichel, also known by German name Peter von Kleinmichel, was Minister of Transport of Imperial Russia.
He fought at the Battle of Leipzig and the Battle of Borodino. In March 1814, Alexander I was concerned for the safety of his brothers Nicholas and Constantine, who were involved in the occupation of Paris. He dispatched Kleinmichel to warn them and advise them to return to Basel. After succeeding in this, Kleinmichel was made Aide-de-Camp to the Tsar. The event also brought him to the attention of the future Tsar Nicholas I
He was responsible for building the Saint Petersburg–Moscow Railway and for restoring the Winter Palace after the 1837 fire. It was rumored that Nicholas I promoted his career because Kleinmichel adopted the Emperor's illegitimate children as his own. His first wife divorced him, citing his sexual dysfunction.

Family

Kleinmichel was married twice, first in 1816 to Varvara Kokoshkina, the granddaughter of the business magnate Alexei Turchaninov. They divorced, according to rumours, because of his impotence.
In 1832 Kleinmichel married Kleopatra Petrovna Ilyinskaya, the relative of Varvara Nelidova. She died of tuberculosis in Paris, and was buried in St. Petersburg. She was known in the society as the woman who adopted Nicholas I's illegitimate children. They had eight children.