A native of St. Petersburg (view map), Dashkova was born in 1743 into the wealthy and respectful Vorontsov family. She grew up in the household of her uncle, the Imperial chancellor, M.I. Vorontsov, where she obtained an exceptionally high-quality education with emphasis on foreign languages:
At the age of fifteen, young Ekaterina married Prince Mikhail I. Dashkov, a descendant of one of the highest noble families in Russia, and acquired the “princess” title. The Dashkovs were closely tied to their cultural heritage and compelled Ekaterina, who preferred conversing in French, to learn proper Russian. As a result, Dashkova promoted the importance of the Russian language throughout the rest of her life.
Precocious Dashkova read extensively and with a zest. Among her favorites were the works of
The love for books turned the princess into a dedicated collector, so much that at the end of the eighteen century her personal library of some nine hundred books became “one of greatest private collections in Russia.” ¹
¹ A. Woronzoff-Dashkoff. “Princess E.R. Dashkova’s Moscow Library” The Salvonic and East European Review 72 (1994) : 60.
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