| Rallou Karatza | |
|---|---|
 Princess Rallou in her old age (black-and-white photograph of an unsigned portrait painting) | |
| Consort to the Great Ban of Oltenia | |
| Reign | 1812 – June 1813 |
| Born | 1799 Istanbul, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 16 April 1870 (aged 70–71) Thonberg, Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony |
| Spouse | Georgios Argyropoulos |
| Issue |
|
| House | Karatzas (Caradja) |
| Father | John Caradja |
| Mother | Eleni Skanavi |
| Religion | Greek Orthodox |
| Occupation | Translator, theatrical promoter, actress |
Rallou Karatza-Argyropoulos (also rendered as Karatzis, Caradja and Karadja; Greek: Ραλλού Καρατζά Αργυροπούλου [raˈlu karaˈdza]; Romanian: Ralu Caragea Arghiropol [raˈlu karaˈdʒe̯a], commonly Domnița Ralu, "Lady Ralu"; Turkish: Ralu Karaca Argiropolis; 1799 – 16 April 1870) was a Phanariote Greek actress, theater director, and dramaturge, also noted as a participant in the Greek War of Independence. She was the second daughter of John Caradja, the Prince of Wallachia (reigned 1812–1818), and thus a prominent member of the Caradja family. She was also the wife of John's trusted courtier Georgios Argyropoulos, which also made her titular consort to the Great Banship of Oltenia in 1812–1813. While still a teenager, she was an arbiter of fashion and a promoter of Westernization, as well as, allegedly, a serial seducer. In 1816 or 1818, Rallou convinced her father to finance her artistic projects, and founded the first court theater, at Cișmeaua Roșie of Bucharest. This project, also involving figures such as Costache Aristia and Iordache Slătineanu, made her a participant in the Modern Greek Enlightenment, and supposedly the first Greek-language director. Her pivotal role in both Modern Greek and Romanian theater is widely acknowledged, clashing with the more controversial aspects of her youth—including her endorsement of her father's corruption and her own acts of despotism, such as a sartorial ban on the color white.
A subject of the Ottoman Empire, Rallou was won over by Greek nationalism, to the point of advocating emancipation from Ottoman rule. Her activity at the theater reflected her sympathy for, and possible initiation by, the Filiki Eteria. Her and her father's cultivation of the Eterists was abruptly ended in late 1818, when the threat of an Ottoman backlash forced the Caradjas out of Wallachia. They lived abroad in Restoration-era Switzerland, and later in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany; while in exile, Rallou networked with Philhellenes (including Mary Shelley), and supported Republican Greece. From 1830, she and other Caradajas resided in the newly proclaimed Greek state, and then in its successor kingdom, where Prince John died in 1844. To Wallachians, she remained an absentee landlady, quarreling with her tenants, nominally including all citizens of Ploiești.
Heading cultural clubs alongside her sister Roxani Soutzos and her friend Aristia, Princess Karatza penned Greek translations from Madame de Lambert and John Gillies. She followed her husband into the Kingdom of Saxony, dying there at the age of 70 or 71. She was by then consecrated as a literary character, in works by Panagiotis Soutsos and Nicolae Filimon. Romanian literature continued to focus on her life as a feminist precursor or a generally exotic figure, with her personality explored in novels by Bucura Dumbravă, Mateiu Caragiale, and Petru Manoliu. Episodes of her biography were also fictionalized in the 1970s with a children's play by Alexandru Mitru and two films by Dinu Cocea.