Prince Pyotr Vladimirovich Dolgorukov (December 27, 1816,
O.S. January 8, 1817 - August 6, O.S. August 18, 1868)
was a Russian historian and journalist known for his genealogical research and
as a critic of the Imperial Russian government. His father was the general
Vladimir Petrovich Dolgorukov.
Dolgorukov was known for his anti-government publications. He moved to Paris in 1859 and refused to return to Russia.
As a result, he was deprived by the authorities of all titles and property, and declared a permanent exile. After Dolgorukov's death, his archives were acquired by the Russian government.
Dolgorukov was believed to have been the author of the anonymous letters that precipitated Alexander Pushkin's fatal duel. The question of Dolgorukov's responsibility for circulating the "Order of the Cuckold" was raised in the Russian-language press several times. The anonymous letters and other documents relating to the duel were first published in Polar Star (Poliarnaia zvezda) in 1861; the accusation of Dolgorukov first appeared in print in 1863; and the accusation was repeated in the journal Russian Archive (Russkii arkhiv) in 1872. Although scholars have recently cast doubt on Dolgorukov's involvement, in the 1870s he was widely believed to have sent the letters and thus to have played a role in Pushkin's death. As Stella Abramovich has pointed out, Dolgorukov's homosexuality served as the psychological basis reinforcing suspicions of his guilt, since it seemed to unite him in a kind of conspiratorial union with Pushkin's killer Georges D'Anthes and his probable lover Baron Heeckeren.
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