Terrible Tsarinas

Terrible Tsarinas

asking his opinion. He put up with her and tried to stay away

from her during the day — and especially at night. She, for her

part, feared that Poniatowski, the child’s natural father, would be

dispatched to the end of the world by the tsarina. At her request,

Alexis Bestuzhev interceded with Her Majesty to persuade her to

delay Poniatowski’s “new assignment” (to Poland) until the birth

of the child. He managed to convince her; and Catherine, relaxed,

prepared for the event.

Significant contractions gripped her during the night of De-

cember 18, 1758. Alerted by her groans, the grand duke was first at

her bedside. He was dressed in a Prussian uniform, with boots

and sword, spurs at the heels and a commander’s sash across his

chest. Staggering and mumbling, he declared in a wine-soaked

voice that he had come with his regiment to defend his legitimate

wife against the enemies of the fatherland. He quickly departed,

not wishing to have the Empress discover him in such a state, and

went off to ferment in his alcohol. Her Majesty arrived soon after,

just in time to see her daughter-in-law delivered by the midwife.

Taking the baby in her arms, she examined it like a connoisseur.

It was a girl. Too bad — they would have to make do. This was

not the end of the world, since the succession was ensured by lit-

tle Paul. Catherine, seeking to sweeten up her mother-in-law,

proposed naming her daughter Elizabeth. But Her Majesty was in

no humor for flattery. She said that she preferred to name the

child the child Anna, after her elder sister and the grand duke’s

mother. Then, having had the baby baptized, she savagely took it

away, as she had done four years earlier with the brother of this

useless infant.

Having gotten past this family episode, Elizabeth devoted

herself to settling the Apraxin affair. The Field Marshal, discred-

ited and dismissed after his incomprehensible reversal vis-à-vis

the Prussian army that he had just conquered, was struck by a

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Her Majesty and Their Imperial Highnesses

severe attack of “apoplexy” just at the conclusion of his first inter-

rogation. Before dying, and while denying his culpability, he ad-

mitted having corresponded with the grand duchess, Catherine.

However, Elizabeth had formally forbidden her daughter-in-law

from writing to anyone without informing those who were

charged with keeping watch over her; this was, therefore, an un-

forgivable crime of rebellion.

Those close to the tsarina stoked her suspicions against the

grand duchess, Chancellor Alexis Bestuzhev and even Stanislaw

Poniatowski, who were all suspected of intelligence on behalf of

Prussia. Vice Chancellor Vorontsov, whose niece was the grand

duke’s mistress and who, for a long time, had dreamed of replac-

ing Bestuzhev, singled out Catherine — he blamed her for all of

Russia’s diplomatic and military misfortunes. He constantly at-

tacked the Shuvalov brothers (whose nephew Ivan was Eliza-

beth’s favorite). Even the ambassador of Austria, Count Ester-

hazy, and the ambassador of France, the Marquis de l’Hôpital,

supported the denigration campaign against Alexis Bestuzhev.

How could the tsarina fail to be impressed by such eager denun-

ciations? After having listened to this concert of reproaches,

Elizabeth made her decision.

One day in February 1759, while Bestuzhev was attending a

ministerial briefing, he was accosted and arrested without expla-

nation. During a searching of his residence, investigators discov-

ered some letters from the grand duchess and Stanislaw Ponia-

towski. Nothing compromising, certainly; however, in this cli-

mate of obscure revenge, the pettiest evidence was sufficient for

settling scores. Of course, in every country, anyone who meddles

in high politics runs the risk of being cast down as quickly as he

may have risen to the top. But, among the so-called civilized na-

tions, the risks are limited to a reprimand, dismissal or early re-

tirement; in Russia, the land of disproportion, culprits could be

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Terrible Tsarinas

condemned to ruin, to exile, torture, even death. Catherine, as

soon as she felt the chill air of repression tickling the nape of her

neck, burned all her old letters, rough drafts, personal notes, and

lists of accounts. She hoped that Bestuzhev had taken the same

precautions.

In fact, while the Empress condemned her former chancellor,

she also wished that he could get away with nothing more than a

serious fright and the loss of some privileges. Was this excess of

forgiveness due to her age and fatigue, or to the memories of a life

of struggle and vice? She decided that this man, who had worked

at her side for so long, merited a half-hearted punishment rather

than a crushing conviction. Once more, she would be lauded as

“the Lenient.” Her moderate action against Bestuzhev was all the

more meritorious since the other members of the “Anglo-Prussian

plot” appeared to have no excuse at all. She maintained a stony