Maria Solovieff was born in 1922 ro Maria Rasputin and Boris Soloviev. Rasputin was a circus performer as well as the daughter of Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin wrote three memoirs detailing her father’s life until his murder. Rasputin’s father was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who gained influence in historical Imperial Russia by befriending the family of Nicholas II, the last Russian Emperor. In her memoirs, Maria painted a saintly picture of her father. She believed that the negative stories about him were based on the misinterpretation of facts by his enemies.
Maria Solovieff had a difficult upbringing that you’ll learn about in this article.
Maria Solovieff Bio
Maria was the daughter of Maria Rasputin and her husband, Boris Soloviev, born in Baden, Austria, on 13 March 1922. Her mother lived in Berlin with her grandfather’s former bookkeeper. Her family then moved to Montmarte, Paris, where her father worked different jobs in a soap factory, as a night porter, carwasher, and for the Waterman Pen Country. Maria’s father, Boris, died of tuberculosis in July 1926. Her mother was forced to work as a cabaret dancer to make ends meet. She took more dancing lessons to support her two daughters.
In 1946, Maria married Gideon Walrave Boissevain, born in 1897 and died in 1985. They married in Paris. Gideon was a minister in Greece, Chile, Israel, and the Dutch ambassador to Cuba. Maria and Gideon had one child, Serge Boissevain, and two grandchildren named, Katia and Ambre Boissevain. Maria died in 1976.
Maria Solovieff’s Parents
Maria’s mother was born Matryona Grigorievna Rasputina on 27 March 1898 and lived through 27 September 1977. She was born in the Siberian village of Pokrovskoye, Tobolsk, Governorate. She moved to Kazan in 1910 and later moved to St. Petersburg, where she changed her first name for the sake of her social aspirations. Her father brought Maria and her little sister to the city to become little ladies, but they got rejected. In October 1913, the sisters attended Steblin-Kamensky private preparatory school.
Maria’s father is quite a historical force in the history of former Imperial Russia during the reign of its last Emperor. He acted as a healer for the imperial couple’s son, who had hemophilia. His ways made some people see him as a mystic, prophet, and visionary. Rasputin was assassinated by a gang of conservative noblemen who didn’t like his influence over Alexandra and Nicholas.
Maria and Boris started their relationship on a low. According to Boris’ diary, he was not interested in Maria as he was attracted to other women with more attractive bodies. Maria also wrote in her diary that she didn’t like him despite her father telling her to love him. The couple would escape with stolen Romanov jewelry to Vladivostok for a year. They were blessed with two daughters: Tatyana and Maria.
Maria became a circus dancer, and she suffered emotionally when facing actors who impersonated her father and his murderers. Maria gained U.S. citizenship in 1946. She worked odd jobs to sustain herself in the last years of her life.
Wrapping Up
Maria’s mother taught her grandchildren the art of giving selflessly and praised her father as a simple man with a big heart and spiritual power.
