Terrible Tsarinas

Elizabeth, chaired the meetings of the Supreme Privy Council;

true, he was soon to marry Menshikov’s daughter, and Menshi-

kov, once he became his father-in-law, would no doubt hand over

the reins of power. But at present the young Peter was aware that

he was only the shadow of an emperor, a caricature of Peter the

Great, a masquerade-Majesty subjected to the will of the producer

of the brilliant Russian spectacle. No matter what he was doing,

Peter had to give in to the wishes of Menshikov, who had foreseen

all and arranged all in his own way.

This omnipotent character had a palace located in the heart

of St. Petersburg, situated in a superb park on Vasilievsky Island.

While he waited for a bridge to be constructed for his personal

use, Menshikov crossed the Neva in a rowing galley, the interior

of which was hung with green velvet. Disembarking on the oppo-

site bank, he would ride in a carriage with a gilded cab, embla-

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Machinations around the Throne

zoned on the doors and the pediment with a princely crown. This

masterpiece of craftsmanship and comfort, this heavenly chariot,

was drawn by six horses harnessed in purple velvet, embroidered

in gold and silver. Many heralds preceded Menshikov’s every

move about town. Two pages on horseback followed, two gentle-

men of the court bounced along at the carriage doors, and six dra-

goons closed the parade and chased away the curious.1 Nobody

else in the capital surrounded his activities with such magnifi-

cence.

Peter suffered in silence from this ostentation that was put-

ting the true tsar more in the shade with every passing day, so

that even the people apparently no longer thought of him. To cap

it all off, Menshikov waited until the emperor had taken his oath

before the Guard to announce that, from now on, as a security

measure, His Majesty would reside not at the Winter Palace but

in his own palace, on Vasilievsky Island. Everyone was stunned to

see the tsar thus placed “under the bell,” but no one spoke up to

protest. The principal opponents, Tolstoy, Devier and Golovkin,

already had been exiled by the new master of Russia.

Having installed Peter — superbly, it is true — in his own

residence, Menshikov kept close watch over the company he kept.

The barricades that he placed at the doors of the imperial apart-

ments were insuperable. Only the tsar’s aunts, Anna and Eliza-

beth, his sister Natalya and a few trusted friends were allowed to

visit him. Among the latter were the vice-chancellor Andrei

Ivanovich Ostermann, the engineer and general Burkhard Chris-

toph von Münnich (master of so many great works), Count Rein-

hold Loewenwolde (a former lover of Catherine I and paid agent

of the duchess of Courland), the Scottish General Lascy (who was

working for Russia and managed to stay out of trouble during the

disorder that came on the heels of the empress’s death), and fi-

nally and inevitably, the incorrigible Duke Charles Frederick of

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Terrible Tsarinas

Holstein, still haunted by the idea of returning Schleswig to the

family holdings. Menshikov had indoctrinated them, and bribed

them to prepare his future son-in-law to be an emperor only in

name and to give up the conduct of affairs to him, definitively.

Entrusting to them the education of this unreasonable and impul-

sive teenager, all he asked of them was to engender in him a taste

for appearances rather than a taste for actions. For Menshikov,

the ideal son-in-law would be a paragon of nullity and good man-

ners. What did it matter if he were an ignoramus, if he had no

concept of politics, as long as he knew how to conduct himself in

the salon? Orders were given to His Majesty’s entourage to keep

him informed on matters superficially, but absolutely not in-

depth. However, while the majority of the mentors chosen by

Menshikov acceded to this instruction, the most cunning and

most wily among the group had already begun to throw a wrench

into the works.

Menshikov thought he had won the day; but meanwhile, the

Westphalian Ostermann was gathering around him those who

were most aggravated by the new dictator’s vanity and arrogance.

For a long time, they had observed Peter’s mute hostility towards

his virtual father-in-law, and they secretly supported their sover-

eign’s cause. They were soon joined in their conspiracy by Peter’s

sister Natalya and by the two aunts, Anna and Elizabeth. When

the instigators of this little tribal conspiracy urged him to join

them, Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein also acknowledged that

he would fight for the emancipation of Peter II, especially if that

might be accompanied by a recognition of his own rights to

Schleswig and — of course — to Sweden. Coincidentally, Eliza-

beth had just become engaged to another descendant of Holstein,

Charles Augustus, first cousin of Charles Frederick, a candidate

for the throne of Courland and bishop of Lübeck. This circum-

stance could only reinforce the Holstein clan’s determination to

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Machinations around the Throne