the Courts and cabinets for thirty or forty years"; she "knew all the secret annals of diplomacy", wrote a French diplomat. Lord Palmerston, despite their friendship, seems to have resented her interference, writing that "a busy woman must do harm because she can do no good." She acquired a reputation as a Tsarist secret agent. Princess Lieven's politically-focused correspondence with luminaries across Europe has become primary source material for students of the period. Parts of the Princess's diary, her correspondence with Lords Aberdeen and Grey, with François Guizot, with Prince Metternich, and her letters from London to her brother Count Alexander von Benckendorff (head of the Russian secret police from 1826 to 1844) have been published. The British Library holds a vast trove of unpublished material, and several Continental archives have a scattering of unpublished correspondence. "She is a stateswoman", said the Austrian ambassador to France, "and a great lady in all the vicissitudes of life". In fiction She is a recurring minor figure in many historical novels about the period, notably those of Georgette Heyer. Heyer generally portrays her as a haughty, formidable and unapproachable leader of society, but in The Grand Sophy she is described as "clever and amusing", and there is a passing reference in that book to her role as a political intriguer. See also Christopher Lieven Dominic Lieven Elena Lieven Anatol Lieven References External links The noble family of Lieven Alexander von Benckendorff Konstantin von Benkendorff "Dorothea Lieven: A Russian Princess in London and Paris, 1785–1857" (McFarland, 2007) . By Judith Lissauer Cromwell Lieven, Daria Khristoforovna. Letters of Dorothea, Princess Lieven, during her Residence in London, 1812–1834. 2001: Adamant Media Corporation. Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (location of original portrait drawing by Sir Thomas Lawrence) Tate Gallery , London (direct link to original portrait painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence) Brief biography review Princess Lieven's page on Wellington's site Baltic nobility genealogy handbook Katharina Alexandra Dorothea von Benckendorff 1785 births 1857 deaths Nobility from Riga People from the Governorate of Livonia Baltic German people from the Russian Empire Lieven family Nobility from the Russian Empire Countesses Ladies-in-waiting from the Russian Empire Salon holders from the Russian Empire Expatriates from the Russian Empire in the United Kingdom