Semyon Zorich

Semyon Zorich or Simon Gavrilovitj Zoritj (1745–1799) was a Serbian noble and a Russian officer and favorite, lover of Empress Catherine the Great from 1777 to 1778.

He was an officer at the Russian court, known for his time as a prisoner of the Turks, when he was presented to Catherine by Potemkin and, after having been tested by Praskovja Bruce and doctor Rogerson, became the lover of the monarch. In 1777, during his tenure as lover, the aide-de-champ's of the favorite was organized as the stand-ins of the favorite. He was described as very temperamental. When Potemkin presented Catherine to a replacement in 1778, he threatened to kill his replacement, challenge Potemkin to a duel and argued with Catherine.

References

Marie Tetzlaff (In Swedish) : Katarina den Stora (Catherine the Great) (1997)

Mistresses and minions of Russian Emperors and Empresses

1700–1762

Anna Mons · Willem Mons · Avdotya Chernysheva · Mary Hamilton · Maria Cantemir · Catherine Dolgorukova · Ernst Johann von Biron · Aleksey Razumovsky · Ivan Shuvalov · Elizaveta Vorontsova

1762–1796

Grigory Orlov (1762–72) · Alexander Vasilchikov (1772–74) · Grigory Potemkin (1774–76) · Pyotr Zavadovsky (1776–77) · Semyon Zorich (1777–78) · Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov (1778–80) · Alexander Lanskoy (1780–84) · Alexander Yermolov (1784–85) · Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov (1785–89) · Platon Zubov (1789–96)

1796–1917

Anna Lopukhina · Maria Naryshkina · Varvara Nelidova · Catherine Dolgorukova · Mathilde Kschessinska · Natalia Brasova

Persondata
Name	Zorich, Semyon
Alternative names
Short description	Officer at the Russian court
Date of birth	1745
Place of birth
Date of death	1799
Place of death