Alexandra Smirnova

Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova (Russian: Александра Осиповна Смирнова, née Rosset, known also as Smirnova-Rosset, Смирнова-Россет; March 6, 1809 in Odessa, Russian Empire – June 7, 1882 in Paris, France) was a Russian Imperial court lady-in-waiting who served first widow Empress Maria Fyodorovna, then, after her death in 1828, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. Alexandra Rosset (who in 1832 married Russian diplomat Nikolai Smirnov), was an elitist Saint Petersburg salon hostess and a friend of Alexander Pushkin, Vasily Zhukovsky, Pyotr Vyazemsky, Nikolai Gogol and Mikhail Lermontov. She is best remembered for her memoirs, unusually frank, occasionally caustic, and, as it was argued decades later, not necessarily accurate.[1][2]

Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova
Portrait by Pyotr Sokolov, 1835
Born	Александра Осиповна Россет (1809-03-06)March 6, 1809 Odessa, Russian Empire
Died	June 7, 1882(1882-06-07) (aged 73) Paris, France
Occupation	Russian lady-in-waiting memoirist
Spouse(s)	Nikolai Smirnov