Terrible Tsarinas

“According to the will of Her Majesty, the late Empress,” Makarov

read in a solemn voice, “a new emperor has been chosen, in the per-

son of an heir 6 to the throne: His Highness the Grand Duke Peter

Alexeyevich.” Listening to this proclamation, Menshikov exulted

internally. His success was a miracle. Not only was his daughter

virtually empress of Russia, but the Supreme Privy Council, which

would exercise the role of regent until the majority of Peter II

(who was as yet just 12 years old), was still entirely in his hands,

as Serene Prince. That left him a good five years to bring the

country to heel. He had no adversaries anymore; only subjects.

Apparently, it was no longer necessary to be a Romanov in order

to rule.

Ready to make any necessary compromise with the new

power, Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein promised to keep

quiet provided that, the moment Peter II reached the fateful age of

17, Anna and Elizabeth would receive two million rubles to be di-

vided, as compensation. Moreover, Menshikov, who was having a

good day, assured him that he would make every effort to support

Charles Frederick’s claims, as he was still stuck on the idea of re-

trieving his hereditary lands and would even like — why not? —

to exercise his rights to the crown of Sweden. It was clear, now,

< 30 >

Catherine’s Reign: A Flash of Flamboyance

to the Duke of Holstein, that his presence in St. Petersburg was

only a step on the road toward the conquest of Stockholm — as

though, in his eyes, the throne of the late King Charles XII was

more prestigious than that of the one who had defeated him, the

late Peter the Great.

This raging ambition was no surprise to Menshikov. Wasn’t

it due to a similar eagerness that he himself had arrived at a posi-

tion that had been beyond his dreams back when he was only one

of the tsar’s companions in battles, banquets and beds? Where

would he stop, in his rise to honors and fortune? At the moment

when his future son-in-law was being proclaimed sovereign auto-

crat of all the Russias, under the name of Peter II, he began to

think that his own reign might perhaps be just beginning.

< 31 >

Terrible Tsarinas

Footnotes

1. Cited in Waliszewski: L’Héritage de Pierre le Grand [The Heritage of Peter

the Great].

2. Hermann: Geschichte des Russichen Staats, quoted by Waliszewski, op. cit.

3. The duke of Bourbon succeeded Duke Philippe of Orleans as Regent,

after the latter’s death in 1723.

4. Reported by Hermann, op. cit., and quoted by Waliszewski op. cit.

5. Remarks quoted by Daria Olivier: Elizabeth I, Impératrice de Russie.

6. Author’s emphasis.

< 32 >

III

MACHINATIONS AROUND THE THRONE

Among all those who could have laid claim to the throne, the

one who was least well-prepared for this frightening honor was

the one who had just been given it. None of the candidates to suc-

ceed Catherine I had had a childhood so bereft of affection and

guidance as the new tsar, Peter II. He never knew his mother,

Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who died bringing him

into the world, and he was only three years old when his father,

the Tsarevich Alexis, succumbed under torture. Doubly or-

phaned, he was raised by governesses who were nothing but vul-

gar maidservants in the palace and by German and Hungarian tu-

tors of little knowledge and little heart. He soon turned inward

and exhibited, as soon as he reached the age of reason, a proud,

aggressive and cynical nature. Always inclined to find fault and to

rebel, the only person for whom he felt any tenderness was his

sister Natalya, who was fourteen months older than he; he appre-

ciated her vivacious temperament.

Out of atavism, no doubt, and in spite of his youth, he liked

to get drunk and enjoyed the basest of jokes; he was astonished

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Terrible Tsarinas

that the young lady enjoyed reading, serious conversations and

studying foreign languages. She spoke German and French as flu-

ently as Russian. What was she doing with all that twaddle?

Wasn’t it the role of a woman, by the age of 15 or 16, to enjoy her-

self, entertain others and seduce every worthy man who passes

by? Peter teased her about her excessive application and she tried

to discipline him by cajoling him with a softness to which he was

not accustomed. What a pity that she was not prettier! But

maybe it was better that way? What lessons might he not have

given in to if, in addition to her sparkling spirit, she had had a de-

sirable physique? Just as she was, she helped him to bear with his

situation as a false sovereign whom everyone honored and whom

nobody obeyed. Since his advent, Menshikov had relegated him

to the rank of imperial figurehead. True, to mark his supremacy,

he had arranged that at state dinners Menshikov should be seated

to his left, whereas Natalya was to his right; and certainly, it was

he who, installed upon a throne between his two aunts, Anna and