Helene Dolgoruki or Elena Pavlovna Dolgorukaya (Russian: Елена Павловна Долгорукая), married name Fadeeva (Russian: Фадеева) (1789–1860), was a Russian noblewoman who was the grandmother of both Sergei Witte and Madame Blavatsky. She took an interest in botany, collected and illustrated plants, coins, spoke several European languages, and corresponded with many scholars of the period including Alexander Humboldt, and Roderick Murchison.
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Birth and marriage
Helene was the daughter of Prince Paul Vassilyevich Dolgorukov (1755–1837) and Henrietta Adolfovna de Bandre du Plessis (d. 1812).
In 1813 she married Andrei Mikhailovich Fadeyev (1789–1867) and the family resided near the village of Rzhishchevo, in the Province of Kiev, where the estate of the Dolgorukovs was located.
Helene's eldest daughter Helena Fadeyev married in 1830 the Russian nobleman Peter von Hahn, then a Captain of Horse Artillery in the Russian Army, who was more than twice her age. Soon after the wedding, the Captain received orders to join his regiment for service in the notably ruthless campaign to put down the Polish insurrection of 1831.