Konstantin von Benckendorff
Konstantin von Benckendorff (, Konstantin Khristoforovich Benkendorf; 31 January 1785 – 6 August 1828) was a Baltic German general and diplomat. Life and career Konstantin von Benckendorff was born into Russia's distinctive Baltic nobility to a Baltic German family in Saint Petersburg, son of General Baron (12 January 1749, Fredrikshamn - 10 June 1823, Kolga), who served as the military governor of Livonia, and wife Baroness Anna Juliane Charlotte Schilling von Canstatt (31 July 1744, Thalheim - 11 March 1797, Riga), who held a high position at the Romanov Court as senior lady-in-waiting and best friend of Empress Maria Fyodorovna, and paternal grandson of Johann Michael von Benckendorff and wife Sophie von Löwenstern. His brother Alexander von Benckendorff (1783–1844) was also a general and statesman, and his sister Dorothea von Lieven was a political force famous at London, St. Petersburg, and Paris. His other sister Maria von Benckendorff (14 February 1784 - 16 November 1841) married Ivan Georgievich Sevitsch. Trained as a diplomat, he joined the army to take part in the concluding stages of the Napoleonic Wars, specifically in the taking of Kassel, Fulda, Hanau, Reims, and Soissons. After the war, Benckendorff returned to diplomacy. Five years later, he