Ribas, is remembered as the founder of Odessa (which was founded on the exact location of the Ottoman settlement Khadjibey). Zubov's character was capricious and unstable. He patronized Suvorov and Denis Fonvizin, and yet he is thought to have instigated the persecution of Alexander Radishchev and Nikolay Novikov. To the heir apparent, Tsarevich Paul, he paid no respect. Unsurprisingly, Catherine's death all but brought him to the verge of madness. For ten days, he concealed himself in the house of his sister Olga. On the 11th day, he was visited by Emperor Paul who drank to his health and wished him "as many years of prosperity as there are drops in this beaker". Nevertheless, he was stripped of his estates, relieved of all his posts and was strongly advised to go abroad. Later life During Paul's reign, Zubov traveled in Europe, where he was shown as a curiosity. In Teplitz, he fell in love with the Countess de la Roche-Aymon, then proposed to the Princess of Courland but was refused. Following one obscure duel, in which he refused to take part and which resulted in his aide's killing Chevalier de Saxe, son of Prince Francis Xavier of Saxony and cousin of Louis XVI, Zubov withdrew to his Rastrelliesque Rundale Palace in Courland, formerly the seat of the Biron ducal dynasty. He ended his days living in seclusion. His young widow, Thekla Walentinowicz (1801-1873), a local landowner's daughter, remarried Count Andrei Shuvalov (1802-1873), thus bringing the vast Zubov estates into the Shuvalov family. References External links Politicians of the Russian Empire Russian princes 1767 births 1822 deaths Princes of the Holy Roman Empire Lovers of Catherine the Great Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) Russian royal favourites Platon