Marie von Flotow (Nyborg, Denmark, 18 Augusti 1817 - 1909, Vitebsk, Russia) was a Russian courtier, the lady's maid and influential favorite of the Russian empress Maria Feodorovna.
Marie von Flotow was born in Denmark to the German nobleman Peter von Gerschau and Karoline Henriette Schmidt. She married Bernhard Friedrich von Flotow.
She served for a period in the household of Louise of Hesse-Kassel, before she was employed in the household of Louise's daughter Princess Dagmar, who married the future tsar Alexander III of Russia in 1866 and became empress in 1881.
Marie von Flotow was technically a lady's maid,Hall, Coryne, Little Mother of Russia: A Biography of Empress Marie Feodorovna, ISBN 978-0-8419-1421-6 with the responsibility of her jewels and wardrobe and the payment of her bills.Hall, Coryne, Little Mother of Russia: A Biography of Empress Marie Feodorovna, In addition to her formal position, however, she was also the confidante of Marie Feodorovna, which gave her a great deal of influence at the imperial court and gave her a position of "paramount influence". She kept this position also after Maria Feodorovna became a widow.
The influence of Marie von Flotow during the reign of tsar Nicholas II is described by Aleksandr Mosolov Methuen (where she is incorrectly referred to as a lady-in-waiting):
References
Sources Hall, Coryne, Little Mother of Russia: A Biography of Empress Marie Feodorovna, Russian Court Memoirs, 1914-16, with some account of court, social and political life in Petrograd before and since the war Aleksandr Mosolov Methuen; At the court of the last tsar: being the memoirs of A. A. Mossolov, head of the court chancellery, 1900-1916