Terrible Tsarinas

of tundra, forests and marshes. The winter is so severe there that

the cold, they say, kills birds in full flight and shatters the win-

dowpanes of the houses. Such misery, after so much wealth and

honor, was not enough to undermine Menshikov’s fortitude. His

wife, Daria, died of exhaustion along the way. His daughters

wept over their lost dreams of love and grandeur, forever gone,

and he himself regretted having lived through so much woe.

However, an irrepressible instinct of self-preservation impelled

him to keep his head during this adversity. Accustomed as he was

to preening in palaces, he labored with his hands, as a simple

workman, to put together an izba for himself and his family. The

neighbors, informed of his “crimes” against the emperor, shunned

him and even threatened him with violence. One day a hostile

crowd gathered, shouting insults and throwing stones at him and

his daughters in the street; he shouted back, “If you’re going to

throw stones, only throw them at me! Spare the women!”8 Never-

theless, after a few months of these daily affronts, he did begin to

deteriorate; finally, he gave up the fight. An attack of apoplexy

carried off the colossus in November 1729. One month later, his

elder daughter Maria, the tsar’s little fiancée, followed him to the

grave.9

Indifferent to the fate of those whose demise he had precipi-

tated, Peter II went his merry way, continuing his pleasure-filled

< 49 >

Terrible Tsarinas

and chaotic existence. Not having to account to him for any of

their decisions, the Dolgorukys, Golitsyns and the clever Oster-

mann utilized the opportunity to impose their will at every occa-

sion. However, they were still wary of Elizabeth’s influence over

her nephew. She alone, they believed, might be able to neutralize

the power that the darling Ivan Dolgoruky was gaining over His

Majesty, which was so essential to their cause. The best means of

disarming her, obviously, would be to marry her off at once. But to

whom? Thoughts turned once again to Count Maurice of Saxony.

But Elizabeth didn’t care a fig about him. Her charming cranium

held no thoughts beyond the next romp. Sure of her power over

men, she threw herself at one after another for casual idylls and

liaisons. After seducing Alexander Buturlin, she went after Ivan

Dolgoruky, the Tsar’s designated “sweetie.” Was she excited by

the idea of charming a partner whose homosexual preferences

were well-known? Her sister, Anna Petrovna, retired in Holstein,

had just brought a son10 into the world, whereas Elizabeth, at the

age of 19, was still unmarried; she was far more concerned, how-

ever, with weaving her nefarious intrigue with the darling Ivan.

She was stimulated by the adventure, as if she were trying to

prove the superiority of her sex in all forms of perversity in love.

Probably she thought it less banal, and thus more interesting, to

take a man from another man than to steal him from a woman.

During the festivities held in Kiel by Anna Petrovna and the

Grand Duke Charles Frederick to celebrate the birth of their

child, the tsar opened the ball with Elizabeth. After dancing with

her gallantly, under the charmed gaze of the assembly, he with-

drew to the next room, according to his custom, with his drinking

buddies. Having knocked back a few glasses, he noted that Ivan,

his usual companion at such events, was not at his side. Sur-

prised, he walked back and saw him dancing, breathlessly, in the

middle of the ballroom with Elizabeth. She looked so excited, face

< 50 >

Machinations around the Throne

to face with this cavalier who was devouring her with his eyes,

that Peter lost his temper and went back to get drunk. But which

one was he really jealous over? Ivan or Elizabeth?

Aunt and nephew were only reconciled after Easter. Forsak-

ing Dolgoruky for once, Peter took Elizabeth along on an ex-

tended shooting party. The expedition was expected to last sev-

eral months. A 500-person retinue accompanied the couple.

Wild fowl as well as large game were the quarries. When the

time came to track a wolf, a fox or a bear, valets in silver-trimmed

green livery did the job. They would attack the animal with rifles

and spears, under the interested eyes of the Masters. After a pe-

rusal of the hunting spectacle, a banquet would be held in the

open air, followed by a visit to the merchants who came from far

and wide to display their fabrics, embroideries, miraculous oint-

ments and costume jewelry.

A piece of alarming news caught Peter and Elizabeth by sur-

prise in the midst of all this revelry: Natalya, Peter’s sister, took

sick; she was spitting blood. Was she going to die? But no, she

recovered; instead, Elizabeth’s sister in Kiel, Anna Petrovna,

Duchess of Holstein, gave her close relatives more serious concern.

She had caught cold while watching the fireworks during her

churching. Pneumonia, the doctors declared; and in a few days,

she was gone. The poor thing was only 20 years old; and she left

an orphaned son, Charles Ulrich, just two weeks old. Everyone