A. R. Vorontsov). In 1796 Sheremetev was made a senator, and in March he moved to St. Petersburg to Catherine II's court. On November 6, 1796 Catherine died and the throne was inherited by Paul I who gave Sheremetev the title of marshal. Sheremetev's life proceeded in St.Petersburg, Pavlovsk, Gatchina; he was engaged in theatre much less. Because of the incurable illness of Zhemchugova, who was now his wife, the Count closed the theatre in Ostankino, and on November 6, 1801 he secretly married her, having first found in an archive the facts testifying to her "origin" from the Polish noble clan of Kovalev. The marriage was made public only after Zhemchugova's death (on February 23, 1803). Sheremetev sent a letter to the tsar, informing him about his marriage with a woman "whose origin incontestably had a noble beginning" and about the birth of his son and heir. Sheremetev died six years later, in 1809. In his will he gave instructions for a very simple funeral, in a simple board coffin, with the money intended for a funeral distributed instead to the poor and monasteries. Ancestry External links Douglas Smith, The Pearl: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in Catherine the Great's Russia 1751 births 1809 deaths Nikolai Burials at Lazarevskoe Cemetery (Saint Petersburg) Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)