Catherine Opalińska

Catherine Opalińska

Countess Catherine Opalińska (Polish: Katarzyna Opalińska; 13 October 1680 – 19 March 1747), was by birth member of House of Opaliński, Queen consort and Grand Duchess consort of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth twice and Duchess consort of Lorraine through her marriage with Stanisław I of Poland and Lithuania. Born into the Polish aristocratic family of Opaliński, Catherine married Stanisłaus Leszczyński in 1698 and six years later he was elected as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, due to the support of Charles XII of Sweden where she repaid this favour by favouring Swedish people at court. In 1708 Catherine was sent to Stettin due to the increasingly unstable political environment and a year later her husband was deposed due to the loss of Swedish dominance in the Commonwealth; and she and her family were exiled to Sweden and were welcomed by the dowager queen, Hedwig and they became popular members of high society. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Catherine Opalińska has received more than 121,206 page views. Her biography is available in 27 different languages on Wikipedia. Catherine Opalińska is the 231st most popular companion (down from 217th in 2019), the 186th most popular biography from Poland (down from 169th in 2019) and the 3rd most popular Polish Companion.

Catherine Opalińska is most famous for her work with the Polish Underground during World War II. She helped smuggle people out of Poland and into Russia, among other things.