Terrible Tsarinas

and simple joys of the countryside. What could be pleasanter

than playing in the country with palaces and flocks of servants in

the background? Every day they went to collect nuts, pick flow-

ers, and hunt for mushrooms, speaking with a paternal kindness

to the serfs on the estate, taking an interest in the health of the

animals grazing in the meadows or ruminating in the cattle sheds.

While Ostermann quizzed the spies whom he had sent to Is-

mailovo, keeping tabs on the progress of Simon Naryshkin and

Elizabeth’s bucolic love affair, the Dolgorukys in Gorenky contin-

ued to cherish, in spite of some alarms, the idea of a marriage be-

tween Katya and the tsar.

To cover all the bases, they thought it would be appropriate

not only to wed Tsar Peter II to Catherine Dolgoruky, but for

good measure to marry his aunt Elizabeth to Ivan Dolgoruky, as

well. However, now the latest tidings held that the idiotic Eliza-

beth was infatuated with Naryshkin. Such an unexpected crush

was liable to upset the entire plan. This would have to be

stamped out at once! Going for broke, the Dolgorukys threatened

to have Elizabeth locked up in a convent for misconduct if she

insisted on preferring Naryshkin over Dolgoruky. But the young

woman had the blood of Peter the Great in her veins, and in a flash

of pride, she refused to obey. The Dolgorukys, however, had all

the connections. The principal apparatuses of the State did their

bidding, and Naryshkin received an order from the Supreme Privy

Council to set out immediately on a foreign mission. He would be

kept abroad for as long as necessary for Elizabeth to forget about

< 54 >

Machinations around the Throne

him.

Frustrated once more in love, she wept, raged and pondered

how to take her revenge. However, she quickly recognized that

she was impotent to fight against the machinations of the High

Council. And she could not even count on Peter to defend her in-

terests anymore: he was far too absorbed by his own sentimental

problems to deal with those of his aunt. According to the gossip,

he had almost repudiated Katya when he learned that she had had

clandestine meetings with another aspirant, a certain Count

Millesimo, an attaché at the German embassy in Russia. Fright-

ened by the consequences of such a break-up, and under pressure

to keep the tsar from balking, the Dolgorukys arranged for a dis-

creet tête-à-tête between Katya and Peter, in a hunting lodge,

hoping for a reconciliation. And that very evening, showing up

just at the moment of the first caresses, the girl’s father declared

the family’s honor to have been outraged and he demanded formal

reparations. The strangest thing is that this crude subterfuge bore

fruit. It is impossible to know whether the “culprit” thus sur-

prised in flagrante delicto by an indignant pater familias finally gave in

to his feelings for Katya, to fear of scandal, or simply to laziness.

In any event, on Catherine’s birthday, October 22, 1729, the

Dolgorukys revealed to their guests that the girl had just been

promised in marriage to the Tsar. On November 19, the Supreme

Privy Council received the official announcement of the engage-

ment and, on the 30th, a religious ceremony was held in Moscow

at Lefortovo Palace, where Peter generally stayed during his brief

stops in that city. The old tsarina Eudoxia agreed to come out of

retirement to bless the young couple. All the dignitaries of the

empire, all the foreign ambassadors were present in the room,

awaiting the arrival of the bride-elect. Her brother Ivan, Peter’s

former favorite, went to escort her from Golovin Palace, where she

was staying with her mother. The procession traversed the city,

< 55 >

Terrible Tsarinas

cheered by a crowd of good people who, looking on such youth

and such magnificence, thought they beheld the happy conclusion

of a fairytale. At the entrance to the Lefortovo Palace, the crown

surmounting the roof of the coach in which the bride was riding

struck the lintel of the gateway and crashed resoundingly to the

pavement. Superstitious onlookers saw this incident as a bad

omen.

But Katya did not stumble. Crossing the threshold of the

ceremonial hall, she stood perfectly straight. Bishop Feofan Pro-

kopovich invited her to come forward with Peter. The couple

took their places under a silver and gold canopy held aloft by two

generals. After the rings were exchanged, artillery salutes and

pealing bells preceded a long stream of congratulations. Accord-

ing to protocol, the Tsarevna Elizabeth Petrovna stepped forward

and, trying to forget that she was the daughter of Peter the Great,

kissed the hand of a “subject” named Catherine Dolgoruky. A bit

later, it was Peter II’s turn to swallow his spite, for the Count de

Millesimo, having approached Catherine, was bowing down be-

fore her. She was just about to extend her hand to him. Peter

would have liked to prevent that gesture of courtesy, which he

considered out of place. But she moved too quickly, and sponta-