To one degree or another, members of his family influenced the behavior of the young king and the formation of his character. It so happened that these were exclusively women - his aunt Tsarevna Elizaveta Petrovna, sister Natalya and, to a lesser extent, grandmother Evdokia Fedorovna.

Among the named persons, the name of Elizaveta Petrovna should be especially highlighted. The relationship between aunt and nephew deserves attention not so much from the point of view of its historical significance, but from the everyday and moral side, clearly illustrating the atmosphere that existed at the court of that time. Elizaveta Petrovna did not try to restrain her nephew from either wild adventures or a passion for hunting. Moreover, she was quite satisfied with her nephew’s carefree life, filled with pleasures and entertainment of all kinds: this life fully corresponded to her own tastes. If we call a spade a spade, then the princess, who was six years older than her nephew, became his mistress. Moreover, it was not she who seduced the king, but on the contrary, he fell in love with her and began to pursue her - and achieved it! - from her reciprocity.

By that time, the capricious twelve-year-old boy had already learned the delights of communicating with the weaker sex. In general, it must be said that Peter was physically developed beyond his years. Tall and well-built, he looked much older than his age.

The French diplomat Lavi shared his first impressions of the appearance of the future emperor. In 1719, when Peter was only four years old, he wrote in his report: this is “one of the most handsome princes you can meet; he has extreme good looks, extraordinary liveliness and shows a passion for the art of war that is rare in such young years.”

The Prussian envoy Mardefeld also captured the appearance of the Grand Duke - however, from hearsay. In 1725, he reported on the “wonderful and remarkable external qualities” of young Pyotr Alekseevich.

“He was very handsome and extremely tall for his age,” the Spanish ambassador de Liria informed his court in 1728–1729. Other observers noted only Peter's height. Magnan wrote in December 1728: “... we must honestly admit that he is so tall and his figure is so developed, as if he were now 16 or 18 years old, although he is only 14 years old.” He was echoed by the English diplomat C. Rondo in November 1729: “He is very tall and strong for his age.”

The boy fell victim to his aunt’s extraordinary external attractiveness. It was difficult not to fall in love with Elizabeth - all her contemporaries, including foreign ambassadors, unanimously noted her rare beauty. She is “extremely beautiful,” noted the Prussian ambassador Mardefeld in 1722. A year later, the Spanish Ambassador de Liria reported to his court about the “extraordinary beauty” of the princess: “Her physical beauty is a miracle, her grace is indescribable.” And a few years later: “She is such a beauty that I have never seen. Her complexion is amazing, her eyes are fiery, her mouth is perfect, her neck is the whitest. She is tall and extremely lively. He dances well and rides without the slightest fear.”

It is unknown whether Peter knew that at one time Empress Catherine I, on the advice of Osterman, discussed the possibility of uniting him with his aunt in marriage. The initiators of this plan intended to extinguish in this way the rivalry in the empress’s circle between two “parties”, one of which was oriented towards Elizabeth, and the other towards the Grand Duke.

In a note submitted to Catherine, Osterman convinced the Empress that close kinship does not contradict marriage: “In the beginning, at the creation of the world, sisters and brothers encroached, and only through this the human race became united, therefore, such a marriage between close relatives is by no means common natural and divine facts.” It’s disgusting when God himself used it as a means to spread peace.” Osterman saw the main advantage of his project in the fact that its implementation would save the country from strife between “parties.” In his opinion, this marriage was supposed to provide peace to the country and the throne and eliminate the possibility of upheaval; in addition, the well-being of Elizabeth herself would be ensured.

However, Osterman's tempting project was decisively contrary to church canons. Magnan, in a dispatch dated November 27, 1726, reported a request to the Synod whether a marriage between an aunt and a nephew was permissible, to which the answer was received that this was equally prohibited by both “divine and human laws.” The negative answer, however, did not satisfy the court. Special commissioners with a petition for permission to marry were sent to Constantinople and Alexandria, to the local Greek patriarchs.

When it became clear that hopes for a positive response from the patriarchs had become ephemeral, Catherine began looking for other suitors for her daughter. From among those who wanted to claim Elizabeth's hand and heart, the Empress chose the cousin of the Duke of Holstein (the wife of her eldest daughter Anna), Bishop Charles of Lub.

At the same time, the court ignored the new warning of the Synod - that, according to the dogmas of the Orthodox Church, the marriage of “two cousins ​​with two sisters cannot be allowed.” The chances of celebrating the wedding were great.

The groom arrived in St. Petersburg, was treated kindly by the empress, and was awarded the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. The future mother-in-law graced with her presence the ball arranged by the groom, which lasted until seven in the morning. In December 1726, Karl turned to the Empress with a letter, translated into Russian in a ponderous style, in which he expressed his desire to marry Elizaveta Petrovna: “... For my part, I did not know how, in the light of greater happiness, I wished that I too would be honored to be could be from your Imperial Majesty the second Holstein son in your imperial high surname... Just as I cannot leave your Imperial Majesty with this most humbly asking for your high mercy to show me, the highly mentioned princess, your daughter, her imperial highness to me as my lawful wife by the highest mercy of the mother to allow and bestow.” This was followed by the commitment: “that throughout my entire life I will be ready to joyfully give for your Imperial Majesty, the imperial family and for the interests of the Russian state and the last drop of blood.”

As a rule, no one took feelings and mutual affection into account when concluding such marriages. But in this case, Elizaveta Petrovna was inflamed with the most tender love for the groom. A marriage contract had already been drawn up, but then the unexpected happened - the groom died suddenly of smallpox.

The bride sincerely mourned the loss. The death of her betrothed son-in-law seriously upset her mother.

Catherine wanted to have an heir at all costs. Hopes for offspring from the frail Duke of Holstein were weak - more than a year had passed since the wedding, and Catherine’s eldest daughter Anna showed no signs of pregnancy. A delay in Elizabeth’s marriage was also fraught with the threat of losing offspring - by the age of eighteen, her daughter was somewhat overweight for her years, and, according to the ideas of that time, further delay in marriage threatened to make her incapable of bearing children.

In May 1727, after the death of Empress Catherine, Elizaveta Petrovna was left an orphan. Left to her own devices, deprived of parental care, she indulged in revelry and turned out to be indiscriminate in her choice of admirers. It was in the summer of 1727 that Peter II became infatuated with his aunt.

The first information on this matter can be gleaned from Lefort’s dispatch dated July 14: “The Tsar shows a lot of affection for the Grand Duchess Elizabeth, which gives rise to a dispute between him and his sister.” On August 19 of the same year, another diplomat, Mardefeld, reported: “Elizabeth Petrovna enjoys the deep respect of the emperor, for he has become so accustomed to her pleasant communication that he almost cannot be without her. This respect, naturally, should increase, for this Grand Duchess possesses, in addition to extreme beauty, such spiritual qualities that make her admirers of all.”

Peter Alekseevich received the opportunity to communicate with the crown princess during Menshikov’s illness, when the supervision over him by the prince himself and his family weakened, and the emperor was able to leave the palace of his Serene Highness and meet with persons who were not related to his creation.

Cheerful and relaxed, the crown princess captivated her nephew not only with her feminine charms, but with her very way of life. She loved to dance, loved hunting, horse riding - Peter also liked all this. Unlike Menshikov, Elizaveta did not come to him with moral teachings, did not try to limit his will, force him to do business. This character trait of the princess was noticed by the Duke de Liria. “Princess Elizabeth thinks of nothing but pleasure, and does not dare to speak to the Tsar about anything,” he wrote in June 1728.

On September 9, 1727, on the eve of Menshikov’s arrest, the Prussian ambassador Mardefeld reported to his government: “The Emperor in Peterhof has distinguished Grand Duchess Elizaveta Petrovna to such an extent that he is beginning to be inseparable from her.” On November 8 of the same year, Magnan reported not about affection, but about the real passion of twelve-year-old Peter: “The Tsar’s passion for Princess Elizabeth could not be drowned out, as previously thought, on the contrary, it has reached the point that it is now causing the ministry very great concern. The king gave himself up to his inclination so much with his desire that many seem to be at a loss as to how to prevent the consequences of such a passion, and although this young sovereign is only twelve years old, nevertheless Osterman noted that there was a great risk in leaving him alone with Princess Elizabeth.”

The Supreme Privy Council even decided that one of the council members would alternately accompany the king. However, the role of spies was not to the liking of Golovkin and Apraksin. They told Peter their intention to leave the court “if he does not soon change his attitude towards Princess Elizabeth.”

The threat did not cool Peter’s passion at all, as follows from the ambassadors’ dispatches in the next year, 1728.

On January 10, de Liria wrote: “The king trusts most of all Princess Elizabeth, his aunt; I think that his disposition towards her has the whole character of love.” Two months later, in another dispatch, he confirmed his observation: “Love for Princess Elizabeth, his aunt - a love that he declares openly, which the Grand Duchess does not like, who, however, behaves with the greatest prudence and caution.” The same on May 10: “Princess Elizabeth accompanies the Tsar on his hunt, leaving her two foreign servants and taking with her only one Russian lady and two Russian maids.”

The French diplomat Magnan also knew that the relationship between aunt and nephew was by no means platonic. In October 1727, in a report to his government, he described “a kind of passion” that the Tsar had for his aunt: this passion “arised from the constant habit of seeing the princess, but the day before the day it was decided that the princess should leave the royal palace and settle in another side of the river." The measures taken did not help, and ten days later Magnan was convinced: the king’s passion for Elizabeth could not be drowned out, as previously thought; on the contrary, it had reached the point that it was now causing really great concern.

The peak of Peter's love affairs with Elizabeth occurred in the first half of 1728. In January of this year, the nephew expressed his attitude towards his aunt with a generous gift, granting her an estate that brought in an income of 30 thousand rubles a year.

In July, a cooling set in, which did not go unnoticed by foreign diplomats. On August 16, de Liria informed the Madrid court: “The Tsar is already less interested in Princess Elizabeth, his aunt: he does not express the same attention to her and enters her room less often.”

Magnan is more detailed. In a report dated September 13, he wrote: “The Tsar, apparently, now treats Princess Elizabeth very coldly.” The ambassador explained the ensuing coldness “not so much by the considerations of the local young sovereign about the personal behavior of this princess, but by his attention to his favorite Prince Dolgorukov, to whom, as they say, this princess was not indifferent.” But, most importantly, the tsar was informed about the “rapprochement” of Princess Elizabeth “with one grenadier,” which went, “as some believe, must have gone too far.” Unfortunately, the grenadier fell ill. “Several weeks ago,” continues Magnan, “the crown princess went on foot on a pilgrimage to a monastery, 60 miles from here, and the only motivation for such a journey was the desire to ask this grenadier for healing from an illness...” The princess was accompanied by her new favorite Buturlin. According to the “main Russian nobles,” Magnan summed up his observations, Elizabeth’s position at court “should deprive the friends and supporters of this princess of any hope that they could place on her credit from the tsar.”

The Tsar was stubbornly set up against his aunt by the Dolgoruky princes. Naturally, this was explained not by their concern for the morality of the young monarch, but by completely different considerations, namely the ardent desire of the head of the clan, Prince Alexei Grigorievich and his son Ivan, to marry Peter to Catherine Dolgoruky. Elizaveta Petrovna’s behavior gave the Dolgorukys good trump cards for this.

The Spanish Ambassador de Liria, the same one who so admired her appearance, constantly wrote about Elizabeth’s immoral behavior in his reports. It is unlikely that the morals of the Madrid court were distinguished by chastity, but the promiscuity of the young beauty aroused more and more indignation in the Spaniard.

On November 15, he wrote: “Princess Elizabeth, after the Tsar, will now be the closest successor to the crown, and her ambition is to be feared in every way. Therefore, they think either to marry her off, or to destroy her by imprisoning her in a monastery after the death of the king. She convinces of the necessity of the latter every day with her bad behavior, and if she doesn’t behave better in the future, she will end up being locked up in a monastery.” Further negative assessments increase. November 29: “...Her physical beauty is a miracle, her grace is indescribable, but she is deceitful, immoral and extremely ambitious.” February 21, 1729: “Princess Elizabeth does the same (indulges in pleasures and pleasures. - N.P.) with such publicity that it comes to shamelessness, that the time is not far when they will deal with her somehow decisively.” March 14: “Princess Elizabeth’s behavior is getting worse and worse every day: she does things without shame that make even the least modest people blush.”

However, even the aunt’s depraved behavior did not extinguish the emperor’s passion for her. It is significant that during the ceremonies of Peter’s engagements to both Maria Menshikova and Ekaterina Dolgoruka, contemporaries noted the Tsar’s obvious indifference to his future spouses. This can be considered as indirect evidence that the groom’s head was filled with thoughts about a completely different woman, namely the hotly desired aunt.

In December 1728, that is, at a time when there was a cooling in relations between Peter and Elizabeth, the emperor’s mentor A. I. Osterman stated “that he was afraid that the king would fall in love with Elizabeth again.” Obviously, there were grounds for these fears. In order to prevent the resumption of the seemingly extinct passion, the nobles decided to expel the crown princess from Russia. To this end, intensive negotiations began between the Russian and Polish courts about the extradition of Elizabeth Petrovna in marriage to Moritz of Saxony. However, these negotiations were suddenly interrupted - presumably by order of the emperor.

Elizaveta Petrovna was so confident in the power of her charms and her nephew’s affection for her that she allowed herself to do very risky things. And we're not just talking about her relationships with other men. She, for example, was absent from the celebration of the anniversary of the emperor's coronation. According to Magnan, which, however, turned out to be erroneous, at court “they look at this circumstance as the threshold of a storm threatening this princess.” The storm, however, did not occur.

De Liria tells about the celebration of Elizabeth Petrovna’s birthday, which took place on December 29. The emperor promised to attend it, but he left to hunt bears. “Princess Elizabeth,” says de Liria, “felt endlessly offended by the jealous care with which the Dolgoruks were trying to remove the king from her. And everyone knows that this jealousy of theirs is even disgusting to the monarch himself, who, despite everything they force him to do, still retains constant love for the princess.”

In the same dispatch, de Liria reported on the touching meeting of the emperor with the crown princess: “I am also assured that one night the king was on a date with Princess Elizabeth, and both of them cried for a long time, after which the monarch allegedly told his aunt to be patient, that things will change. All this together with the coldness that the tsar shows to his bride (Ekaterina Dolgoruky. - N.P.), makes me think there's a thunderstorm brewing in the air."

Let us repeat once again: there is absolutely no reason to talk about the beneficial influence of Elizabeth Petrovna on the emperor. On the contrary, she, like her nephew, was impressed by an idle, carefree life filled only with pleasures. It is not clear that the crown princess, who turned twenty in 1729, showed any interest in politics, palace intrigue, or overly used her proximity to the emperor for personal gain.

Peter's relationship with his sister Natalya Alekseevna appears in a completely different light. She was 15 months older than her brother, but such significant differences can be seen in their characters and behavior, as if they had different parents or they grew up and were brought up in dissimilar conditions. Peter was a capricious, careless and headstrong teenager, while his sister was a reasonable, sensible and balanced girl beyond her age.

However, such contrasts cannot be considered a rare occurrence. Dissimilar natures include, for example, the daughters of Peter the Great, Anna and Elizabeth. Both were also brought up in the same conditions, but it is well known how different they turned out to be when they reached adulthood. Anna Petrovna was only a year older than her sister, but her curiosity gave rise to a craving for self-education - she was distinguished by her erudition, serious perception of her surroundings, and prudence, while her younger sister Elizaveta limited herself to what she acquired in her childhood and, spoiled by everyone’s attention to her, was extremely attractive appearance, distinguished by frivolity, an indomitable craving for pleasure and enjoyment. (She, it seems, had not read a single book in her entire life, since she considered reading to be harmful to health - her older sister, in her opinion, died at the age of twenty because she undermined her health by reading books.)

Historians have no information about Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna’s interest in reading books or about her education. Her name began to appear in dispatches from foreign ambassadors in 1727, when her brother was proclaimed emperor. Moreover, most of the reports describe the state of her health, and only a few noted her actions and virtues.

Lefort reported on June 12, 1727: “One cannot stop looking at the prudent behavior of the Grand Duchess. She is Minerva (patron of crafts and arts. - N.P.) for the king." Natalya Alekseevna condemned both her brother’s passion for aunt Elizaveta Petrovna and his passion for hunting. But, as Lefort noted in December of the same year, both the Grand Duchess and Osterman, acting in concert with her, “lost all meaning with their exhortations. The Grand Duchess is often upset by the actions of the Tsar, who follows only the excellent rules of the Dolgorukys.”

The Duke of Liria also noticed the virtues of the king's sister. “I can assure you,” the ambassador shared his impressions with the Madrid court, “this is (the death of the Grand Duchess. - N.P.) There will be an irreplaceable loss for Russia: her intelligence, prudence, nobility, and finally, all the qualities of her soul are beyond all praise. Foreigners are losing their patroness in her, and especially Osterman, in whom she always had the greatest confidence.” It is easy to see that de Liria generally gave the most flattering reviews of the Grand Duchess. However, it is obvious that the Spanish ambassador greatly exaggerated the virtues of the thirteen-year-old girl.

In April 1728, the Prussian ambassador Mardefeld gave a review of the Grand Duchess that was close to Lefort’s assessment: “Many say that she, as a reasonable and far-sighted person, takes to heart all the deviations from the proper upbringing of her brother, that this is the main thing.” the cause of her illness."

The most detailed information about the efforts of the Grand Duchess to open his brother’s eyes to the disastrous consequences for him of close contacts with Ivan Dolgoruky was provided by K. Rondo: “The princess in the most ardent terms presented to her brother the bad consequences that should be expected for himself and for the entire Russian people if he and will continue to follow the advice of young Dolgoruky, who supports and initiates all kinds of debauchery. She added that she was also sick from the grief she was experiencing, seeing how His Majesty, neglecting his work, gave himself up to revelry.” After the death of Natalya Alekseevna, on December 3, 1728, the English ambassador K. Rondo reported that the brother, “in order to console the dying woman, promised to fulfill her wish, but with the death of the princess he changed his word, and the prince (Dolgoruky. – N.P.) now in mercy more than ever.”

It should be noted that diplomats overestimated the degree of influence of the Grand Duchess on her brother. It was significant under Menshikov, when the boy sought advice from her, as from an older sister and the person closest to him. But after Peter was conquered by two passions: hunting and infatuation with his aunt, both of them (these passions) overshadowed the influence of his sister, relegating her to the background. Now the advice and admonitions of the Grand Duchess were either accepted only for show or completely ignored. Peter began to avoid meetings with his sister so as not to listen to her next lecture. Osterman, who knows better than anyone else about the true relationship between brother and sister, spoke about this. Thus, in a conversation with Lefort, Andrei Ivanovich directly stated that the Grand Duchess had little influence on his brother.

The disappearance of close relationships between brother and sister is evidenced by Peter’s behavior on the eve of his sister’s death. This behavior does not characterize the emperor from the best side. Before her death, Natalya Alekseevna wanted to say goodbye to her brother, but he was hunting. I had to send five couriers to him one after another.

But the foreign diplomats were not mistaken about the sympathy that the emperor’s sister had for them. It was in her that they saw their protector. And therefore, with especially close attention, they monitored the state of health of the Grand Duchess: all foreign ambassadors considered it necessary to inform their courts about how her illness progressed and how the hope for her recovery was gradually fading.

Using extracts from dispatches, it is possible to compile a chronology of the course of the Grand Duchess’s illness.

April 8, 1728. Mardefeld: “Natalya Alekseevna is unwell, and she spends most of her time in bed.”

26 July. De Liria: July 23 is the birthday of the Grand Duchess. She got out of bed on purpose to attend the dinner, “even though she was so weak that she could barely stand on her feet. All the doctors think that she has pulmonary consumption and I am afraid that she will live a few more weeks, although she will be given the remedy that I recommended, namely, woman’s milk.”

26 July. Lefort: “The Grand Duchess still has traces of her former illness, namely a consumptive cough and thinness, which makes one fear for her. Here are traces of the unhealthy placement in the Kremlin and the walks that she was forced to take to please her brother.”

August 9. De Liria: “The Grand Duchess is feeling much better since the new doctor is treating her.”

August 23. De Liria: “The Grand Duchess’s health is improving. Yesterday I had the honor of being with her the successor of the daughter of one of the controllers at His Majesty’s table.”

August, 26th. K. Rondo: “Tsarevna Natalya Alekseevna was very sick in Moscow, she was losing two pounds of blood.”

15th of November. De Liria: “... the Grand Duchess is in a desperate situation, why did His Majesty return to the city now... The Grand Duchess is dying, and her loss is irreplaceable: in my life I have not seen a more perfect princess.”

29th of November. De Liria: “Since the time the Grand Duchess began taking human milk, her health has not improved: there is no hope of recovery.”

Natalya Alekseevna died on November 22 (December 3, new style) 1728. This was truly a huge loss for Peter II, for in his sister he had a person who sincerely loved him and wished him well. But Peter himself did not seem to understand this.

The archive preserves the text of the “court order regarding the funeral ceremony of Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna.” From this document it is clear that the funeral of the Grand Duchess should have been distinguished by pomp and solemnity. The emperor himself took part in them.

The ceremony was supposed to involve two equestrians: one walked in front of the procession, the other brought up the rear. The main part of the procession was opened by 36 trumpeters and three timpanists. They were followed by the pages of the Grand Duchess, led by the chamberlain. Next, the coffin was carried in a sleigh. The horses were covered with black blankets, and the sleighs were covered with black velvet. The coffin was followed by 48 footmen in mourning attire with torches, of which 34 accompanied the coffin, and 16 accompanied the emperor.

The listed participants in the ceremony were recruited from the staff of the Grand Duchess. They were followed by 13 carriages drawn by trains, in which marshals, gentlemen and gofdames sat. Behind these carriages rode ladies, also in carriages; their number is not specified.

Three chamberlains carried the train behind the emperor. Each was accompanied by two guides.

The day before the funeral, all taverns had to be notified of the ban on selling vodka on the day of the funeral.

The burial of the Grand Duchess was accompanied by an incident testifying to the vitality of the traditions of localism, abolished back in 1682. Despite the presence of the emperor, many did not show up for the funeral. As K. Rondeau explained, “... great disputes arose over the places in the procession and its location, the dignitaries could not agree among themselves.” “Most of the people avoided attending the funeral,” reported Magnan, “the king did not like their behavior so much that he, as they say, even threatened to remember some of them.”

Another close relative of his, his grandmother Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, tried to influence the emperor.

The first wife of Peter the Great experienced all the cruelty of the morals of that time. She was forcibly tonsured into a monastery by her husband, because for Peter this was the only possible way to dissolve a marriage with a woman he did not love. The young, strong, healthy beauty took a new name - Elena and had to bury herself alive in a monastic cell. In total, she spent about three decades in different monasteries.

At first she was kept in the Suzdal Intercession Monastery. In 1718, however, she was involved in the investigation into the case of Tsarevich Alexei, during which it was discovered that the former queen did not comply with the rules of monastic behavior and even entered into an intimate relationship with captain Stepan Glebov. Letters written by her addressed to the captain were found. Glebov was brutally executed - he was impaled, and the harlot was sent to Staraya Ladoga, where she was kept under stricter supervision. Then from Staraya Ladoga nun Elena was transferred to the Shlisselburg fortress, where in September 1725 the chamber cadet Berchholtz had a chance to catch a glimpse of her. “Having examined the internal layout of the fortress, we approached a large wooden tower,” he wrote, “in which Tsarina Evdokia Fedorovna is kept. I don’t know whether it was intentionally or unintentionally that she walked around the yard. Seeing us, she bowed and spoke loudly, but her words could not be heard due to the distance.”

The accession of her grandson to the throne immediately changed her position. Evdokia Fedorovna was given back her freedom. The former queen chose the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow as her place of residence.

The court was in St. Petersburg, and from Shlisselburg, where she was kept, the capital was, as they say, a stone's throw away. However, Menshikov ordered to take the former queen to Moscow, without bringing her to St. Petersburg - he feared that the embittered Evdokia would take revenge on the surviving culprits of the death of her son Tsarevich Alexei and the tightening of her detention in the monastery, and among these culprits, undoubtedly, was and himself. And indeed, the nun queen had the most unquenchable hatred for Menshikov. As the Prussian ambassador Baron G. von Mardefeld testified, the queen in general “was always considered a proud and vindictive person.”

Fears, however, turned out to be in vain: Evdokia Fedorovna’s best years were behind her, her health was lost. In the carriage heading to Moscow sat an old woman whose only desire was to spend the rest of her days calmly, without shocks or participation in intrigues, content with the position of the emperor’s grandmother and refusing to interfere in government affairs.

It should immediately be noted that there is a peculiarity in the relationship between the grandmother and her grandson and granddaughter - it is unlikely that they could have tender and warm family feelings for each other. Peter and Natalya grew up far from their grandmother, did not experience her affection and caring, and until then their grandmother did not even suspect their existence. Moreover, she was much more interested in establishing contacts with her grandson and granddaughter, from whom she expected a variety of and, above all, material benefits: the return of the title of queen, the restoration of prestige. Peter did not seek his grandmother’s company and did not need her participation in his destiny.

However, external decency had to be maintained, and they required a meeting of relatives.

Having learned about the fall of Menshikov, on September 21, 1727, the grandmother sent her grandson a letter with the following content: “Most powerful Emperor, most kind grandson! Although for a long time my desire was not only to congratulate Your Majesty on the assumption of the throne, but more than to see you, but until now my happiness was not granted, since Prince Menshikov, not allowing Your Majesty to see you, sent me on guard to Moscow. And now I have been notified that for my opposition to your Majesty I have been excommunicated from you; And so I take the liberty to write to you and congratulate you. Moreover, I ask: if Your Majesty is soon to be in Moscow, would you please order me to come to you, so that in the heat of my blood I can see you and your sister, my dear grandson, before my death. I ask you not to leave me, but order me to notify you what your permission will be.”

But even having freed himself from Menshikov’s tutelage, the tsar did not long to meet his grandmother. He was well aware of her hatred for the children of Peter the Great from his second marriage, and in particular for the princess Elizabeth Petrovna, with whom he was passionately in love. In addition, in her very first letters, the grandmother began to pester her grandson with various kinds of petitions and requests, the fulfillment of which distracted the young king from activities that brought him pleasure.

In her desire to see her grandson and granddaughter as quickly as possible, the queen showed considerable verbal ingenuity. “Give me, my joy, to see myself in my such unbearable sorrows,” for example, she wrote, “how you were born, you did not let me hear about you, rather than see you”; or: “I ask this most of all: let me see you and make you happy, such dear treasures”; “And most of all, I wish that I can see you soon due to my natural ardor for you”; I “from such joy will forget all my future sorrows as soon as I see you”; “I hear about your most kind health, but I don’t see you, and that’s my great sadness”; “...so that I may see you in all prosperity, and I also ask you and pray to our Almighty Creator that this will happen in a short time, and I truly do not have faith to see you.”

The grandson answered his grandmother less often - of course, under the dictation of mentor Osterman. He also wrote about his ardent desire to see her, showed concern for her material well-being and even asked “how I can show my service and love,” but stubbornly resisted her arrival in St. Petersburg. On September 30, in the tone of his grandmother’s messages, Peter answered: “I myself would like nothing more than to see you, dearest Empress Grandmother, and I hope that with God’s help this will happen before this winter.” In the next letter, sent on October 5, the grandson clarified the circumstances of the future meeting: he himself “intends to come to Moscow for his coronation.”

This uncertainty did not suit the former queen at all. She continued to pester her grandson with pleas for a quicker meeting and, of course, in the Northern capital - the grandmother was eager to show herself to the capital's elite and be curious about what the creation of her late husband, whom she hated, was.

Osterman not only wrote letters to his grandmother on behalf of his royal pupil, but also entered into correspondence with her himself. Having never done anything without tangible benefit, the baron, in this case, hoped to benefit from contacts with the queen. The fact is that it was at this time that the conflict between him and the emperor’s favorite Ivan Dolgoruky escalated to the extreme. The threat of dismissal from his position as a teacher hung over Andrei Ivanovich, and he sought support wherever he could find it, including from the queen, whom he had never seen and had no idea about whose potential to be useful to him.

Osterman sent his first letter to Evdokia Fedorovna on September 27, 1727, that is, with the same courier who was carrying his grandson’s letter. In it, he assured her of “my most loyal fidelity” both to his imperial majesty and in matters “that belong to your majesty.” In another letter to the queen, he promised “to his imperial majesty, my most gracious sovereign, without any of my particular whims and passions, to show my direct and faithful services, so your majesty will deign to be most mercifully trustworthy in my most faithful devotion to your majesty’s high person.”

He also involved his wife in correspondence with the queen, who also convinced Evdokia Fedorovna: “... my husband serves and will serve his imperial majesty and your majesty.”

In this case, Andrei Ivanovich miscalculated - in fact, it turned out that the queen was deprived of the opportunity to help him, although she promised “as much as my strength will be, I will always be willing to help you.” However, as is clear from the reports of foreign diplomats, the tsarina did not have enough “strength” left - they were only enough to return from exile the survivors convicted in the case of her son Tsarevich Alexei and return the property confiscated from them to their Lopukhin relatives. True, in this regard she acted very decisively. “The old queen has secured the return of property rights to everyone belonging to her house...” reported Magnan, “this is being carried out with such precision that it leads almost to despair many noble persons, who were awarded this property mostly in gratitude for their services.” Obviously, in this matter, Evdokia Feodorovna relied on the full support of the tsar.

But personal relationships did not work out. “To this day, sincere relations still cannot be established between the grandmother and the emperor and both grand duchesses,” G. von Mardefeld reported on February 19, 1728. “The old queen still lives in the monastery, where she occupies three small rooms, or rather cells. The Emperor and the Grand Duchesses made her only one ceremonial visit, which she did not like at all, and she also did not achieve the desired goal by dressing in old Moscow attire and forcing all visitors to approach her hand.”

A personal meeting between the grandmother and grandson took place shortly before the coronation of Peter II. Its only description, and a very meager one, comes from the pen of the Spanish Ambassador de Liria. “On Monday, March 1, 1728 (new style. - N.P.),“The king’s grandmother came to the palace to see his royal majesty,” he reported. “She had the patience to sit with him for a very long time.” In order not to allow her to talk about business, for all this time he invited Princess Elizabeth to be with him, so that she would be a hindrance for him. But she still told him a lot about his behavior, as I was assured, she advised him to marry, even if it was a foreigner, which would still be better than leading this life that he was leading at the present time. These lectures or frankness on the part of the grandmother not only give me hope that His Tsar’s Majesty will hasten to return to St. Petersburg in order to get rid of the grandmother, but also confirms my opinion that in no case will she have influence on the affairs of government.”

Magnan confirmed de Liria's guess. Reproaches to his grandson “regarding his connections with Princess Elizabeth and intercession for some of his ministers” irritated the young king. Dissatisfaction with the grandmother’s behavior intensified in connection with the episode with the anonymous letter in defense of the exiled Menshikov. During the search, they found out that the confessor of the queen-grandmother received “a thousand efimki for bringing Menshikov into the queen’s favor.” “Here, apparently, they are dissatisfied with the old queen,” reported Magnan, “because she kept silent about the message made to her by her confessor.”

Magnan reported another detail in the queen’s behavior that caused her grandson’s dissatisfaction: “The terrible hatred attributed to the old queen towards both daughters born from the late king’s second marriage to his wife led to the assumption that she would not hesitate to arrange for Princess Elizabeth to be forced to was to join a monastery." “Some are even of the opinion,” he added, “that her revenge will go even further, and she will try to ensure that this second marriage of Peter I is declared invalid, as concluded during the life of his first wife.” Let us remember that the emperor at that time was burning with a burning passion for Elizabeth, and the grandmother’s intention to hide her in a monastery deeply hurt his feelings. Magnan wrote that the queen’s credit fell after she made a suggestion to the king regarding Princess Elizabeth Petrovna.

The Prussian ambassador Mardefeld may have been right when he wrote about the old queen’s secret dream of “playing the role of a ruler.” However, such a role was clearly beyond her strength. The queen, Mardefeld wrote, “does not possess the slightest qualities necessary for this”; moreover, she was “completely dulled by thirty years of strict imprisonment.” She did not even have enough strength to participate in court intrigues.

Evdokia Feodorovna’s poor health was also noted by de Liria: on May 7, 1728, she was “struck by an apoplexy in the church, which, however, did not have fatal consequences” - ten days later she recovered. Lefort reported on August 1, 1729: “The Tsar’s grandmother feels weak and unhealthy from water fever. Her condition worsens due to the water appearing outside. They say she is in a dangerous position."

The grandson, judging by de Liria’s observation, had no desire to meet his grandmother often: Peter “although he reveres his elderly grandmother, he saw her only once precisely because he did not want to give her a reason to talk about management. The Grand Duchess also saw her only once, and then she took Princess Elizabeth with her in order to have her support if she spoke about political and other matters that would not contribute to the mutual pleasure of the meeting.”

So, Evdokia Fedorovna, although she enjoyed external honor, remained in virtual isolation. As a consolation, the grandson could benefit her with material benefits - in February 1728, he assigned her an annual boarding allowance of 60 thousand rubles, ordering her to prepare a special room at the palace with a special staff, as well as luxurious servants: five carriages with five trains, 40 riding horses, a butler , two sleeping bags, two grooms, as well as a cook and cooks, “as much as is appropriate.” He also granted the grandmother two villages that previously belonged to Menshikov: Rozhdestvenskoye and Ivanovskoye with two thousand households.

Apparently, Evdokia Fedorovna resigned herself to the role of an outside observer of what was happening. In February 1728, Mardefeld informed the Prussian court: “Grandmother has declared that she will lead a private life.” She died in 1731, outliving both her granddaughter and grandson.

Both of these deaths made a very painful impression on her. Having learned about the serious illness of Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna, she left her chambers, which she did infrequently, and visited her. The queen “found her so bad,” wrote Magnan, “that she considered it necessary, without any delay, to perform dying church rites on her.”

After the death of Tsar Peter Alekseevich, when the queen approached the coffin with his body, she completely lost consciousness.

05.12.09

The girl will not die, but she will sleep

Epitaph on the grave.

In the midst of the Great Northern War of 1700-1721, 15 days before the glorious first victory of the Russian fleet over the Swedes at Cape Gangut under the command of Tsar Peter I Alekseevich (1682-1725) and the subsequent occupation of all Finland by the Russian army, in the Royal City of St. Petersburg from the 24-year-old Tsarevich and Grand Duke Alexei Petrovich (1690-1718) and Princess Charlotte Christina Sophia von Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel July 12 (25), 1714 on the feast of the Three-Handed Icon of the Mother of God ( VIII c.) the first-born was born - the Crowned daughter Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna (1714-1728). The Grand Duchess received her name in honor of the beloved aunt of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich Tsarevna Natalya Alekseevna (1673-1716), the eldest Crowned daughter of Tsar Alexy I Mikhailovich (1629-1676) from the second Sovereign Union with Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina (1651-1694).

It was a long-awaited event for the Royal House after the marriage performed by the August Couple in the city of Torgau in the Electorate of Saxony on October 14 (27), 1711. And the background to the acquaintance of the Highly Named Ones was as follows.

The sovereign's chosen one of the Tsarevich.

Already in 1707, the German Baron Heinrich Huyssen (d. 1740), sent abroad on diplomatic missions, proposed Princess of the Ducal House of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Charlotte Christina Sophia as a wife to Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, to which the Sovereign expressed his Highest consent.

During his trip to the capital of the Electorate of Saxony, Dresden in 1709, undertaken with the aim of teaching German and French languages, geometry, fortification and “political affairs”, together with the Count, the future Knight of St. Andrew and the actual Privy Councilor Alexander Gavrilovich Golovkin (1688– 1760) (son of Chancellor and Knight of St. Andrew Gabriel Ivanovich Golovkin (1660-1734) and Prince Yuri Yuryevich Trubetskoy (1668-1739)In the spring of 1710, the Tsarevich saw the Princess in the city of Schlakenberg.

Tallest in Olya Sovereign Parent of Sovereign Peter I Alekseevich, that the Most August son and heir would marry only a foreign Princess, was unshakable: the Tsar presented only a choice to the only High-born son.

Tsarevich Alexei liked Princess Charlotte Christina Sophia von Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel more than others, and therefore at the beginning of 1711 he announced to the August Father that he was ready to get married.

This is what he wrote about this to his confessor Jacob Ignatiev: " I know of your Shrine, the aforementioned courier came with the following: there is a Prince of Wolfenbeetel here, he lives near Saxony, and he has a daughter, a maiden, and he is a relative of the Polish King, who also owns Saxony, Augustus(Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and St. Andrew's Knight Augustus II “Strong” von Wettin (1670-1733) - approx. A.R.) , and that girl lives here in Saxony, with the Queen, or with a relative, and they had been wooing me for a long time with that Princess, however, it was not very revealed to me from the Father, and I saw her, and this became known to the Father, and He wrote to me today how she seemed to me and whether it was my will to marry her; and I already know that He doesn’t want to marry me to a Russian, but to someone from here, the one I want. And I wrote that when His will is that I should be married to a foreigner, and I will agree with His will, so that I can be married to the above-mentioned Princess, whom I have already seen, and it seemed to me that she is a kind person, and I don’t have a better person here than her. find. I ask you, perhaps, to pray, if it is the will of God, that he do this, and if not, so that he destroys my hope in him, everything he wants, so he does, and write down how your heart feels about this matter".

In response, the Tsarevich’s spiritual father wrote to him, “Is it possible to convert her to Orthodoxy?” The prince answered: " Against your writing about my own business, it is very impossible to force that person to accept our faith, but perhaps after that, when she comes to our region and considers it herself, maybe she can compose something, and before that it is very impossible for this to take place"Relying on the will of God in this matter, the confessor blessed the Tsarevich to marry Princess Charlotte Christina Sophia von Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel..

April 19 (May 2), 1711 Tsar Peter I Alekseevich approved the draft agreement, according to which the Princess was allowed to remain with her Evangelical Lutheran confession, but their most august children should only be of the Greek Orthodox faith, in order for them to be Sovereign heirs to the All-Russian throne. The princess received 50,000 rubles annually from the Tsar, in addition, she was supposed to receive 25,000 rubles at a time upon marriage. With these articles, the Sovereign sent the Tsarevich to the Duchy of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, where the heir was supposed to have humiliating negotiations with the August relatives of the bride about the points specified in the agreement - whether they would agree to reduce the amount of annual favor to the Princess.

The Tsarevich wrote to the August Father about these negotiations: " According to Your Decree, Sovereign, I earnestly asked for money to give my bride a daily dacha, so that it would be forty thousand, and they did not deign to this and asked for more; only I tried as best I could and could not bring them to take less than 50,000, and I, according to Your Decree in the same letter, if they did not want forty thousand, allowed up to fifty, I persuaded them to do this with great difficulty , so that they take 50,000, and are happy with this, and I wrote this number in an empty place in the treatise; and what will happen after my death, she does not want to live in our state, to give a smaller dacha, they really did not want this and asked for it to be equal to the dacha after my death, both in Moscow and when leaving our state, about which I tried a lot so that they wouldn’t ask for so much, and, however, I could not do it, and according to Your Decree (if they were stubborn for this, write an even dacha) and in the treatise I wrote an even dacha and, having done this, I signed it, and they too with my own hands exchanged, and so with the help of God they completed it. I couldn’t find the ring here, so I sent it to Dresden and other places.".

Throughout the summer of 1711, the Tsarevich lived with the relatives of his Crowned Bride.

Meanwhile, upon returning from the Prut campaign, Tsar Peter I Alekseevich went to the city of Karlsbad on the waters, where he wished to celebrate the wedding of his only August son, but then changed his mind and appointed the Saxon city of Torgau for this.

August Union.

The sacred marriage took place on the day of celebration in Russia of the Yakhromskaya Icon of the Mother of God ( XV ) October 14 (27), 1711, and Sovereign Peter I Alekseevich informed the Senate about this in the following letter: " Gentlemen Senate! We announce to you that today the marriage of My son took place here, in Torgau, in the house of the Queen of Poland, at which there were quite a few noble people in the marriage. Thank God that this happily happened. The house of the Princes of Wolfenbietheel, our matchmakers, a fair".

Tsar Peter was present at the celebration I Alekseevich, as well as the King of Poland, Elector of Saxony Augustus II "Strong" von Wettin (1670-1733).

According to Sovereign Peter I Alekseevich, this Dynastic Union was supposed to strengthen relations with the German Emperor and the heir to the English throne, since in the same year the August husband of the native Sovereign sister of the High-born bride of the Tsarevich Princess Charlotte Christina Sophia von Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel became Charles Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation VI von Habsburg (1700-1740), and a close relative of the Crowned Sisters, Elector of Hanover, Georg Ludwig von Hanover (1660-1727), succeeded three years later, in 1714, to the throne of Great Britain under the name of King George I von Hanover, thereby founding the Royal House of Hanover in Great Britain. Several Monarchs and Dukes from this Dynasty eventually also became knights of the highest Imperial Order of Russia - the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle.

The highest award.

On the same day of the second marriage in the House of Romanov with subjects of a foreign power - October 14 (27), 1711, the Sovereign personally granted the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle to the August Parent and Father of the Crowned Bride, 40-year-old Duke Ludwig Rudolf von Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1671-1735), the first Monarch Europe, who became related to the House of Romanov. On the same day, together with the Duke, the highest order of Russia was also accepted by the High-born groom - Tsarevich of All Russia Alexey Petrovich, becoming the first Sovereign heir of the Russian state - Knight of St. Andrew.

In 1713, Sovereign Peter I Alekseevich granted his Crowned daughter-in-law the title “ Crown Princess Grand Duchess Heiress».

Death of the crowned wife

Unfortunately, after living in Russia for about two years, on October 22 (November 4), 1715, on the Day of the Icon of the Mother of God of Kazan, Crown Princess Sophia Charlotte died of childbed fever at the age of 22.

This happened on the 10th day after the birth of her August 12 (25) 1715 son - Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich (1715-1730), the future Emperor of All-Russian Peter II , the last Sovereign descendant of the House of Romanov in the male line.

On January 7 (20), 1716, the ashes of the Crown Princess were solemnly buried under the bell tower of the Cathedral in the name of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the Reigning City of St. Petersburg.

Life is in disgrace.

Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna remained an unnoticed figure in the August Family for a long time. Only in 1719, after the death in the fourth year from the birth of April 25 (May 8), 1719, the fourth August son of Emperor Peter I Alekseevich and Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna (1684-1727) Grand Duchess, together with her younger Sovereign brother Peter Alekseevich, settled in the Imperial Winter Palace of the Reigning City of St. Petersburg and assigned them a staff of courtiers and servants.

However, the attitude towards the August granddaughter and grandson of the first Emperor of All Russia, especially from the second Crowned wife of his Martha Samuilovna Skavronskaya, in Holy Baptism of the Grand Duchess and future Empress Catherine I Alekseevna and her favorite Generalissimo of the Russian Imperial Army, His Serene Highness Prince and Knight of St. Andrew Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (1673-1729), was more than cool, especially after the death on September 27 (October 10), 1723, in the fourth year from the birth of the last fifth August son of Emperor Peter I Alekseevich and Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna.

Sudden rise.

Everything changed decisively on the seventh (20) of May 1727, when her youngest August brother, Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich, not without the help of His Serene Highness Prince A.D. Menshikov, according to the Will of Empress Catherine I Alekseevna was declared the Sovereign heir to the All-Russian throne.

At the same time, in the Will of the deceased on May 6 (19), 1727, the unnamed “Grand Duchess” was assigned by the Empress to the Crowned Heirs of the third line - between the younger Augustus brother and her stood the illegitimate Crowned daughters of Empress Catherine I Alekseevna and Emperor Peter I Alekseevich - Tsarevnas and Grand Duchesses Anna Petrovna (1708-1728) and Elizaveta Petrovna (1709-1761), who, as is known, were conceived and born before the Sacred Sacrament of the Wedding of the Sovereign parents, which took place only on February 19 (March 4), 1712.

Failed marriage.

Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna came to the attention of His Serene Highness and the gentleman. He, in particular, intended to marry her to his eldest son, Alexander Alexandrovich Menshikov (1714-1764), the future general-in-chief and chief chamberlain of the Supreme Court. But the plans of the Most Serene Prince were not destined to come true - soon the former orderly of the Emperor went on a convoy to the distant city of Berezov.

One of the reasons for the fall of the temporary worker was, as everyone knows, the public quarrel of Emperor Peter II Alekseevich with His Serene Highness Prince Menshikov because of 9,000 gold chervonets donated by the Sovereign to the Crowned Elder Sister.,

Portrait of the Grand Duchess.

Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna did not seem very beautiful to her contemporaries, but everyone recognized her natural kindness and reasonableness.

As the eldest Crowned Sister, she had some beneficial influence on Sovereign Peter II Alekseevich, but to the great regret of some and the undisguised joy of others, she died suddenly.

According to the review of the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain in Russia, Duke and Knight of St. Andrew, James Francis Fitz-James de Lyria and Xeric von Berwick (1696 - 1738), who personally knew the Grand Duchess, she was unattractive, although well-built; however, virtues replaced beauty in her. Friendly, attentive, generous, full of grace and meekness, she attracted everyone to her. She spoke French and German and loved reading.

Death and burial of the Grand Duchess.

The heart of the young Grand Duchess stopped from transient consumption in the capital city of Moscow November 22 (December 5), 1728 in the 15th year from birth, the day after the Twelfth Feast of the Entry into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos.

Before his death, Sovereign Peter II Alekseevich, who outlived the eldest Crowned and so beloved daughter by 13 months and 27 days, on January 18 (31), 1730, according to legend, in delirium, ordered the sleigh to be harnessed and go to the Crowned sister Natalya Alekseevna.

The Empress Grand Duchess was buried with due honors in the Ascension Cathedral of the Ascension Nunnery of the Moscow Kremlin. In the 1920s, the monastery and cathedral were destroyed by the Bolsheviks, and the graves of the Queens and Princesses were moved to the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

On the gravestone, unfortunately destroyed, but the recording was preserved according to the description XIX century, there was an epitaph: “The Blessed Empress Grand Duchess, the dear sister of the Most Sovereign Emperor Peter II, Natalia Alekseevna, lived a temporary infant life of fourteen years, by the will of God for a blessed and eternal life from the Nativity of the Firstborn from the dead in the summer of 1728 November on the 22nd day. The girl will not die, but she will sleep(Matthew, chapter 9). The light of my eyes, and that one is not with me, buried in this place.”

When her remains were transferred to the Archangel Cathedral in 1928, an illegal and blasphemous opening of the tomb was carried out. It turned out that Grand Duchess Natalya Alekseevna rested in a well-preserved glazed dress embroidered with gold, a brocade skirt gathered at the waist and silk knitted stockings, as well as a diadem and a star and the ribbon of the Imperial Order of St. Catherine.

Her coffin was upholstered in silver braid and trimmed with gold lace. To decorate her burial, the silverware of the disgraced His Serene Highness Prince and gentleman A.D. Menshikov was melted down.

Based on materials from the book: Sukhareva O.V. “Who was who in Russia from Peter I to Paul I” prepared by Alexander Rozhintsev .

Holy city of Murom.

Connected by many family threads with the royal houses that ruled Europe at that time.

Naturally, no one was interested in the feelings of the bride and groom, as, incidentally, this almost always happened in dynastic marriages.

Crown Princess Charlotte hoped that her marriage to the “barbaric Muscovite” would not take place. In a letter to her grandfather, Duke Anton-Ulrich, in mid-1709, she reported that his message made her happy, since “it gives me some opportunity to think that Moscow matchmaking may yet blow my mind.” But the princess’s hopes were not justified: the wedding took place in Torgau in October 1711 and amazed everyone with the splendor of the table and the nobility of the guests.

Two children of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich received the names “Natalia” and “Peter”. These were the names of Peter I himself and his beloved sister Princess Natalia Alekseevna. The boy turned out to be the full namesake of Peter I's grandfather. He was baptized by his grandfather and his sister Natalya. “So Peter II became a complete anthroponymic “copy” of Peter I.” It is noteworthy that 17 days after his birth, the emperor already had his own son, who was also named “Peter” (although it was not customary to name a child after a living ancestor in the direct line). However, in this way the emperor demonstrated the continuity from Peter the father to Peter the son, bypassing the namesake grandson. However, this “competitor” died in 1719.

Due to Alexei Petrovich’s hostile attitude to his father’s reforms, the Tsarevich, as if mocking his desire to have European-educated heirs, assigned two always drunk “mothers” from the German settlement to his son, who, in order to bother with Peter less, served him wine, from whom he fell asleep.

After the death of Tsarevich Alexei in 1718, Peter I turned his attention to his only grandson. He ordered the careless mothers to be driven away, and Menshikov ordered him to find teachers for him. Soon the clerk Semyon Marvin and the Carpathian Rusyn from Hungary I. A. Zeykan were assigned to the Grand Duke.

After some time, Peter I checked his grandson’s knowledge and became furious: he did not know how to communicate in Russian, he knew a little German and Latin, and much better - Tatar curses. The Emperor personally beat Marvin and Zeikan, but Pyotr Alekseevich never received more worthy mentors.

Removal from the throne

In the first three years of Peter's life, he was not considered as a future emperor, since Peter I had a son, Peter. However, he died in early childhood, which created a question of succession to the throne.

From birth, Pyotr Alekseevich was called the Grand Duke. Before this, the sons of kings were called princes; The birth of Peter was the first appearance of a grandson by a reigning sovereign since the introduction of the royal title (and the first in the history of the House of Romanov).

In February 1718, Alexei Petrovich, arrested abroad and brought to Russia, renounced succession to the throne in favor of Peter I’s young son from his second marriage to Catherine, Pyotr Petrovich, who was born a few days after his nephew Pyotr Alekseevich. In the summer of the same year, Tsarevich Alexei died in custody.

Thus, Pyotr Alekseevich, following his father, was removed from the throne.

Grandsons of Peter I Peter and Natalya in childhood, in the image of Apollo and Diana. Hood. Louis Caravaque, 1722

The nobility became interested in Pyotr Alekseevich in 1719, after three-year-old Pyotr Petrovich, officially recognized as the heir, died and the royal grandson remained the only male representative of the Romanov house, besides the sovereign. The transfer of the throne from grandfather to grandson was consistent with the tradition of monarchical houses (for example, shortly before this in France, after the death of Louis XIV in 1715, the throne passed to his young great-grandson Louis XV), but at that time contradicted the current principles of the law of Peter the Great's succession to the throne on the appointment of an heir to throne. Catherine I in her will named Elizabeth as heir to the throne in the event of the death of Peter II childless. During his grandfather's illness, Pyotr Alekseevich met Ivan Dolgorukov, his future favorite.

The child often visited the Dolgorukovs’ house, where the capital’s youth from ancient noble families gathered. There he met his aunt, Elizaveta Petrovna. This is how the party began to take shape, destined for Pyotr Alekseevich to become emperor. At meetings in the Dolgorukovs’ house, his rights to the throne of the Russian Empire were explained to him, and Pyotr Alekseevich vowed to crush his grandfather’s favorite, Menshikov, who led the opposition to the ancient boyar families.

However, supporters of the elevation of Peter Alekseevich to the throne had strong opposition. Quite definite fears for their lives and property arose among those comrades of Peter who signed the death warrant for his father. If the emperor had followed the custom and declared his grandson as heir - the son of the disgraced Alexei and the grandson of the conservative Evdokia Lopukhina - then this would have aroused the hopes of opponents of the reforms to return the old order.

The result of the reign of Peter II was the strengthening of the influence of the Supreme Privy Council, which included mainly old boyars (of the eight seats on the council, five belonged to the Dolgorukovs and Golitsyns). The council became so strong that it forced Anna Ioannovna, who became ruler after Peter, to sign the “Conditions”, which transferred full power to the Supreme Privy Council. In 1730, the “Conditions” were destroyed by Anna Ioannovna, and the boyar families again lost strength.

Peter II under Menshikov (1727)

Maria Menshikova, the first bride of Peter II. Hood. I. G. Tannauer

Menshikov led the fight against all those whom he considered dangerous in terms of succession to the throne. The daughter of Peter I, Anna Petrovna, was forced to leave Russia with her husband. Anna Ioannovna, daughter of Tsar John (Peter I's elder brother and co-ruler until 1696), was forbidden to come from Mitava to congratulate her nephew on his accession to the throne. Baron Shafirov, president of the Commerce Collegium, Menshikov’s longtime enemy, was sent to Arkhangelsk, allegedly “to set up a whaling company.”

Trying to strengthen his influence on the emperor, Menshikov moved him on May 17 to his home on Vasilyevsky Island.

Menshikov also did not come to meetings of the Council; papers were delivered to his house. By ruling as an autocratic ruler, the “semi-sovereign ruler” turned the rest of the nobility, as well as the sovereign himself, against himself.

In 1727, on the territory of the Menshikov estate, on the site where the house of the butler prince had previously been located, the construction of the palace of Peter II began. The butler's house was included in this palace as the southeastern wing. After the death of Peter II in 1730, construction was stopped. By this time, only the foundation and lower floor of the palace had been built. The building was completed in -1761 as part of the Stable Yard of the Land Noble Corps.

The fall of A. D. Menshikov

Gradually, the emperor began to cool towards Menshikov and his daughter. There were several reasons for this: on the one hand, the arrogance of Menshikov himself, on the other, the influence of Elizaveta Petrovna and the Dolgorukys. On Natalya Alekseevna’s name day, August 26, Peter treated Maria rather dismissively. Menshikov reprimanded Peter, to which he remarked: “I love her in my heart, but affection is unnecessary; Menshikov knows that I have no intention of getting married before the age of 25.” As a result of this disagreement, Peter ordered the Supreme Privy Council to transport all his belongings from the Menshikov Palace to the Peterhof Palace and make an order that government money should not be given to anyone without a decree signed personally by the emperor.

According to E.V. Anisimov, it was not the young emperor who came up with decrees about moving the court from Vasilievsky Island, about disobeying Menshikov’s orders, about his house arrest, about replacing the commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress, who was loyal to the Generalissimo. In the series of imperial decrees signed by Peter II at the beginning of September 1727, the experienced hand of Peter’s educator, Andrei Ivanovich Osterman, is clearly visible. However, it would be a mistake to assume that the time of Menshikov was replaced by the time of Osterman: the tsar’s new favorite, Prince Ivan Alekseevich Dolgorukov, came to the fore.

After the fall of Menshikov, Evdokia Lopukhina began to call herself a queen and on September 21 she wrote to her grandson:

Most powerful Emperor, dearest grandson! Although for a long time my desire was not only to congratulate Your Majesty on the assumption of the throne, but more than to see you, but due to my misfortune I was not granted this date, because Prince Menshikov, not allowing Your Majesty to see you, sent me on guard to Moscow. And now I have been notified that for my opposition to your Majesty I have been excommunicated from you; and so I take the courage to write to you and congratulate you. Moreover, I ask, if Your Majesty does not deign to be in Moscow soon, that I be commanded to be with you, so that in the heat of my blood I can see you and your sister, my dear grandson, before my death.

— Evdokia Lopukhina, letter to Peter II

Thus, the emperor’s grandmother urged him to come to Moscow, but the nobility was afraid that if Peter came to Moscow, Lopukhina would be released and become a ruler. Despite this, at the end of 1727 preparations began to move the court to Moscow for the upcoming coronation, modeled on the Russian tsars.

At the beginning of January, the emperor and his court left St. Petersburg, but on the way Peter fell ill and was forced to spend two weeks in Tver. For some time, Peter stopped near Moscow to prepare for the ceremonial entry. It took place on February 4, 1728.

Peter II under the princes Dolgorukov (1728-1730)

Peter II's stay in Moscow began with his royal wedding

This was the first coronation of an emperor in Russia, which in many ways set the pattern for future ones. According to the latest information, a special crown was made for the young sovereign. Like all subsequent emperors, Peter II (according to a specially drawn up certificate in the Supreme Privy Council) at the coronation received communion at the altar, not reaching the throne, according to the rank of clergy (from the chalice); Archbishop Feofan Prokopovich of Novgorod gave him the cup with the Holy Gifts.

On November 22, 1728, the emperor’s 14-year-old elder sister Natalya Alekseevna, whom he loved very much and who, according to contemporaries, had a beneficial influence on him, died in Moscow.

After moving to Moscow, the Dolgorukovs received great power: on February 3, 1728, princes Vasily Lukich and Alexey Grigorievich Dolgorukovs were appointed members of the Supreme Privy Council; On February 11, the young prince Ivan Alekseevich was made chief chamberlain.

The fall of Menshikov brought Peter closer to Anna Petrovna. At the end of February 1728, a message arrived in Moscow that Anna Petrovna had given birth to a son, Peter (the future Peter III). A ball was held on this occasion. The messenger who announced the birth of Peter was given 300 ducats, and Feofan Prokopovich sent the Duke of Holstein, Anna Petrovna’s husband, a long congratulatory letter, in which he praised the newborn in every possible way and humiliated Menshikov.

After Peter’s arrival in Moscow, he met with his grandmother, Evdokia. This meeting is described touchingly by many historians. But the emperor treated his grandmother rather dismissively, despite the fact that she loved her grandson very much.

Domestic policy

During the Moscow period of his life, Peter II mainly had fun, leaving state affairs to the princes Dolgorukov. The Dolgorukovs themselves, and especially Ivan Alekseevich, spoke with indignation about the emperor’s constant amusements, but, nevertheless, did not interfere with him or force him to engage in state affairs. According to the historian Solovyov, foreign envoys reported the state of affairs in Russia as follows:

When Peter returned home, he developed a fever caused by smallpox. Fearing the death of his patron, Ivan Dolgorukov decided to save the situation of his relatives and elevate his sister to the throne. He took extreme measures by forging the emperor's will. Dolgorukov knew how to copy Peter’s handwriting, which amused him as a child. After the death of Peter, the Supreme Privy Council did not accept the idea of ​​Ivan Dolgoruky. The heir had to be from the house of Romanov.

They coincided in many areas - in particular, in relation to counteracting Moritz of Saxony, he concluded an agreement according to which the borders remained the same and trade was established between the powers in Peter's conquests: Sweden threatened that it would not recognize Peter II as emperor if Russia did not return Vyborg to Sweden. However, later the Swedes, having learned that the army and navy in Russia were still in combat-ready condition, abandoned these demands. Despite this, relations remained tense: in Sweden many regretted that Menshikov was exiled, and, in addition, an invasion of Russia by Sweden and Turkey with the support of England and France was being prepared. However, relations soon changed, and Russia's main enemy, Count Horn, began to swear loyalty to the emperor. At the end of Peter's reign, King Frederick I of Sweden himself tried to enter into an alliance with Russia.

Personality of Peter II

Peter II was distinguished by laziness, did not like to study, but he loved entertainment and at the same time was very wayward. Historian Nikolai Kostomarov gives a historical anecdote from his life:

He was only 12 years old, but he already felt that he was born an autocratic monarch, and at the first opportunity presented himself, he showed consciousness of his royal origin over Menshikov himself. St. Petersburg masons presented the young sovereign with a gift of 9,000 chervonets. The Emperor sent this money as a gift to his sister, Grand Duchess Natalya, but Menshikov, meeting a servant walking with the money, took the money from him and said: “The Emperor is too young and does not know how to use money.” The next morning, having learned from his sister that she had not received the money, Peter asked the courtier about it, who announced that Menshikov had taken the money from him. The Emperor ordered to call Prince Menshikov and shouted angrily:

“How dare you stop my courtier from carrying out my order?”

“Our treasury is depleted,” said Menshikov, “the state is in need, and I intend to give this money a more useful purpose; however, if Your Majesty wishes, I will not only return this money, but will give you a whole million of my money.

“I am the emperor,” said Peter, stamping his foot, “you must obey me.”

According to many, Peter was far from intellectual work and interests, did not know how to behave decently in society, was capricious and insolent to those around him. The reason for this, perhaps, was not so much the inherited bad character as the upbringing, which, as the grandson of the emperor, Peter received rather mediocre.

According to diplomats, he was very headstrong, cunning and somewhat cruel:

The monarch speaks to everyone in the tone of a ruler and does whatever he wants. He does not tolerate bickering, he is constantly busy running around; all the gentlemen surrounding him are extremely tired.

The king is similar to his grandfather in that he stands his ground, does not tolerate objections and does what he wants.

— Lefort, Saxon ambassador to Russia

Previously, it was possible to counteract all this, but now it is impossible to even think about it, because the sovereign knows his unlimited power and does not want to correct himself. He acts solely at his own discretion, following only the advice of his favorites.

— Hohenholtz, Austrian Ambassador to Russia

One cannot help but be surprised at the sovereign’s ability to hide his thoughts; his art of pretending is remarkable. Last week he dined twice with Osterman, whom he at the same time mocked in the company of the Dolgorukys. He hides his thoughts in front of Osterman: he tells him the opposite of what Dolgoruky assured... The art of pretending is the prevailing character trait of the emperor.

— Count Vratislav, Austrian Ambassador to Russia

Although it is difficult to say anything decisive about the character of the 14-year-old sovereign, one can guess that he will be quick-tempered, decisive and cruel.

Pedigree of Peter II Alekseevich

Anna wrote to her sister from Kiel: “My dear Empress! I inform your Highness that, thank God, I came here in good health with the Duke, and it is very good to live here, because the people are very kind to me; only not a single day goes by that I don’t cry for you, my dear sister: I don’t know how you can live there. I ask you, dear sister, that you deign to write to me more often about the health of Your Highness.”

What should I write? Life was meager. It was believed that Elizabeth had her own court. Since 1724, Alexander Shuvalov was one of her pages. And the chamberlain was Semyon Grigorievich Naryshkin, a worthy and faithful man (let’s not forget that Elizabeth’s grandmother was Naryshkina). A handsome and generally clever man, Buturlin Alexander Borisovich (by the way, a holder of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, awarded by Father Peter I) was listed as her chamberlain at court. And the doctor was his own, smart and reliable Lestok. Under his father, he fell into disgrace and was exiled to Kazan, but after the death of his husband, Empress Catherine returned him and assigned him to her daughter’s court. But life is dull, nothing, they give little money for maintenance, and Elizabeth is used to living generously.

Peter II was eleven years old. Catherine did not appoint a guardian for him, entrusting the duties of guardianship to the Supreme Council. It was unanimously accepted that the boy emperor came of age at 16 years old. Menshikov was very active. He declared himself a generalissimo and stood at the head of the Russian army. He was truly omnipotent. Under the guise of guardianship, he took the emperor to his palace on Vasilievsky Island and betrothed him to his daughter Maria. Now Peter lived under constant surveillance. Menshikov did not let him leave him even one step.

But the young sovereign did not tolerate this for long. He had a decisive and willful character. He did not like to study, but he was a great lover of games, and most of all he loved hunting. Few people are committed to science at the age of eleven; it was impossible to predict what they would be like in adulthood. He lost his parents in infancy, spent his childhood under someone else's care and was truly attached only to his sister Natalya Alekseevna. She was only a year older than her brother, but already had her own court with the chamberlain, Prince Alexei Petrovich Dolgoruky. The prince's son, Ivan Dolgoruky, became very close with the young tsar and played a fatal role in his life.

Menshikov entrusted the education of the young tsar to Vice-Chancellor Osterman, whom he trusted infinitely. But in vain. Osterman was a smart politician, an excellent intriguer and a very cautious person. He set a goal for himself and walked towards it carefully, slowly, and always achieved his goal. Osterman was tired of living under Menshikov’s heel, so he set a goal for himself. He decided, with the help of Peter II, to overthrow the temporary worker from his pedestal and carry out his earlier plan - to marry Peter to his aunt Elizabeth.

Menshikov's constant guardianship was a burden to Peter II. As soon as he realized his importance, he immediately asked himself the question: by what right does the temporary worker dispose of everything and keep him in a cage? When Tsarevich Alexei was executed in 1718, Peter II was only a year old. We don’t know who and when told the boy about the torment and death of his father, but at the age of twelve he was aware of a lot. He had reason to hate his imaginary benefactor.

And suddenly Menshikov fell ill, seriously and for a long time. Documents mention hemoptysis and fever. He was so bad that he was about to die. It was here that Peter slipped out of the palace on Vasilyevsky Island. A young company formed spontaneously: the Tsar himself, his sister Natalya, nicknamed “Minerva” for her intelligence and restraint, Ivan Dolgoruky, as well as pages and gentlemen. The soul of the whole company was Elizabeth, the nickname “Venus” suited her very well.

CM. Solovyov writes: “Elizabeth Petrovna was 17 years old; she caught everyone's gaze with her slenderness, round, extremely pretty face, blue eyes, and beautiful complexion; cheerful, lively, carefree, which distinguished her from her serious sister Anna Petrovna, Elizaveta was the soul of a young society that wanted to have fun; there was no end to the laughter when Elizabeth began to introduce someone, which she was an expert at; It also went to people close to him, for example, to the husband of his elder sister, the Duke of Holstein. It is not known whether three heavy blows - the death of the mother, the death of the groom and the departure of the sister - cast a shadow over Elizabeth's cheerful being for a long time; at least we see her as a companion of Peter II on his joyful walks and meet the news of his strong affection for her.”

Yes, Peter fell in love with his aunt. Twelve years old, by our standards, is sixth grade, but in the 18th century they grew up early. Peter fell in love, and Osterman helped him a lot with this. The latter had a wonderful relationship with Natalya Alekseevna: Andrei Ivanovich is kind, smart, and generous. Natalya knew how to persuade her brother, saying that if you listen to someone and trust someone, then this person is Osterman.

Menshikov recovered and wished to return the power that had slipped away, but that was not the case. He did not recognize the king. Disagreements have happened before, and all because of such a trifle as money. Did the temporary worker need to think about this? A workshop of St. Petersburg masons presented Peter II with 9,000 rubles. Peter accepted them and sent them to his sister. On the way, Menshikov intercepted the courier and took the money. The Tsar demanded, indeed demanded, an explanation. “You, Your Majesty, are still too young and do not know how to handle money, and the treasury is empty, I will find a better use for this money.” Peter flared up: “How dare you disobey my orders?” Menshikov was literally dumbfounded by such determination; he did not expect anything like this. He should have learned his lesson, but an incident similar to the previous one was repeated, and again money, and again sister Natalya, and an even more severe reprimand from Peter. Feeling the strength of the sovereign, they began to turn to him with requests, and now Peter was resolving the dispute in army affairs. Finally the phrase was thrown: “Either I am the emperor, or he!” There was no turning back.

Menshikov’s “dominion” under the young tsar lasted four months, and then arrest, confiscation of property, exile, Berezov, death. The reason for this was, of course, the intrigues of Osterman and the Dolgoruky clan, who had their own plans for Peter, but Menshikov cannot absolve himself of his guilt. He swung too decisively, lost his vigilance and completely did not take into account the character of his charge.

Elizabeth also took an indirect part in the fall of the illustrious prince. Peter was in love with her, and another wife was forced on him. The Tsar did not like Maria Menshikova. Hearing that Menshikov was complaining that he was not paying any attention to the bride, Peter said: “Isn’t it enough that I love her in my heart; caresses are unnecessary; As for the wedding, Menshikov knows that I do not intend to get married before 25 years.”

On September 3, 1727, Menshikov organized a great celebration in Oranienbaum on the occasion of the consecration of the church. It was very important for him that Peter be there. Relations with the emperor became extremely strained. Menshikov inundated Peter with written and oral requests - if only he would appear at the celebration, showing by this that everything was getting better. Peter did not come, citing the fact that Menshikov forgot to invite Elizabeth to the celebration.

Menshikov was not lazy and the next day or so galloped to Peterhof, where Elizabeth’s name day was to be celebrated. He hoped to see and talk with Peter, but he was already getting ready to hunt. Sister Natalya, having learned about Menshikov’s arrival, jumped out the window and hurried after her brother - just to avoid meeting the temporary worker. Menshikov went so far as to complain to Elizabeth, this frivolous girl whom he did not even take into account, about Peter’s ingratitude. He did everything for the emperor, and this one, and that one... On September 8, Menshikov was arrested. History, as they say, has turned the page.

The fall of Menshikov was accepted by everyone with delight. They talked about his terrible abuses, about arbitrariness, about theft, moreover, this temporary worker “stretched out his hands to the crown.” A regrouping took place at court and several parties were formed. None of the nobles “stretched out their hands to the crown,” but everyone longed to gain a profitable place, and title, and power, and it seemed that the current time was very conducive to this, just show up and be persistent.

At the end of 1728, the court went to Moscow. Formally, we were going to the coronation, and it never occurred to anyone that life in the old capital would drag on for years. In Moscow, the Dolgorukies immediately perked up. Prince Alexei, the chamberlain at the court of Natalya Alekseevna, begged for a position as the Tsar's assistant tutor; now he had the opportunity to see Peter very often, and therefore influence him. Son Ivan Alekseevich received the rank of chief chamberlain and the Order of St. Andrew, he was already openly called Peter’s favorite.

Elizabeth is still in great favor with the emperor. With her assistance, a new person appeared at his court - Count Buturlin Alexander Borisovich. He was treated kindly by Peter II, promoted to general and appointed ensign in the cavalry corps. They said that Buturlin would reconcile all parties at court. And there were many parties. Peter's arrival in Moscow was perceived by many as a rejection of the policies of Peter the Great and a return to antiquity. The old capital perceived the executed father of the emperor, Alexei, as a martyr, and now pinned great hopes on his son.

In Moscow, Peter met his grandmother Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina - she lived in the Novodevichy Convent, although she was not tonsured. Much was expected from this meeting; it could determine the future policy of the state. But the meeting between the royal grandson and grandmother turned out to be cold; Peter was afraid of further moralizing. In addition to his sister Natalya, he took Elizaveta with him to the meeting, immediately emphasizing that he was quite friendly with his aunt and would not tolerate unnecessary conversations. At that moment, the crown princess was both his friend and adviser. But soon everything changed.

Many people wanted to push Elizabeth away from the emperor. Sister Natalya was desperately jealous of her brother. She was very ill, doctors found that she had consumption, but other rumors circulated at court. The Spanish envoy to the Russian court, Duke de Liria, who left very valuable “Notes,” writes: “But consumption was not the cause of her illness, and only one doctor could cure her, namely her brother. Upon his accession to the throne, His Majesty had such confidence in his sister that he did everything for her and could not remain without her for a minute. They lived in the greatest harmony, and the Grand Duchess gave amazing advice to her brother, although she was only one year older than him. Little by little, however, the king became attached to his aunt, Princess Elizabeth, and his favorite and other courtiers, who did not like the Grand Duchess because she respected Osterman and favored foreigners, tried in every possible way to praise the princess, who did not love her niece, and they did so that after six months the king no longer spoke to her about any matters and, therefore, no longer had any confidence in her.”

Who are these people “who did not love the Grand Duchess”? In Moscow, Peter II again found himself “in captivity.” If in St. Petersburg this captivity was the house on Vasilievsky Island, then in Moscow this place became the Gorenki estate. Menshikov protected the tsar from foreign influence with orders and force, but now the favorite Ivan Dolgoruky, his father Alexei Grigorievich and their entire clan surrounded him with such love that they could strangle him in their arms, which, by the way, they succeeded. Considering their own benefit everywhere, the Dolgorukys acted very smartly and carefully. Favorite Ivan, handsome, cheerful, immoral and tireless in amorous affairs, became the Tsar's closest and irreplaceable friend. Alexey Grigorievich Dolgoruky was always ready to fulfill any whim of the boy-tsar, emphasizing at the same time that he was a loyal subject and could not contradict him in anything. But Peter still did not want to study, state affairs interested him little, he loved hunting, which turned into an endless journey and short rests (or maybe orgies) in Gorenki.

There was a person who summarized the statistics of state hunting. During nearly two years of Peter's stay in Moscow, 243 days were devoted to hunting. A huge departure of five hundred carriages - nobles, servants, huntsmen, cooks - followed the king. During the day they chased hares and foxes through the forests and valleys with dogs, and in the evening they set up camp and had a large feast.

Elizabeth loved hunting, she also rode horseback around the province, but life did not promise her anything good. A month after we moved to Moscow, a message arrived from Kiel - a son was born to our beloved sister Anna Petrovna. Vivat, vivat, hurray! Fireworks, cannon fire, a ball, Elizabeth shone at it. But already in May, bitter news came from Holstein about the death of her sister. In Kiel, the birth of the heir was also widely celebrated, and there were also fireworks. Anna admired him, standing at the open window. It was cold, damp, the courtiers begged her to close the window, but the duchess only laughed: we Russians don’t care! But she caught a bad cold, then a fever began, followed by death.

Here again there was talk about Elizabeth's marriage. Foreign princes applied for her hand, even the old Duke Ferdinand of Courland decided to try his luck. Elizabeth refused everyone. We decided to look for the groom at home. One of the observant nobles rendered a verdict: Ivan Dolgoruky is clearly in love with Elizabeth, why not marry them? Ivan may have dragged himself after the beautiful Elizabeth, but this is not yet a reason to get married. And these conversations could only begin with the consent of Peter II. Apparently, they hoped to obtain this consent, because the king had already begun to cool off towards his aunt. Then the question of Elizabeth’s marriage naturally disappeared. Elizaveta moved away from the court and lived mostly in Pokrovskoye, sometimes going to Izmailovo to visit her sister Ekaterina Ivanovna. Catherine of Mecklenburg had little interest in state affairs - she did housework, embroidered church clothes and parsuns. And then suddenly Elizabeth moved to Alexandrovskaya Sloboda, the former possession of her mother, and lived there, enjoying complete freedom. The most harmful rumors circulated about her reputation in Moscow.

De Liria writes: “September 16th is Princess Elizabeth’s name day. Her Highness invited us to her palace at 4 pm for dinner and dancing. The Tsar did not arrive until just before dinner, and as soon as it was over, he left without waiting for the ball, which I opened with the Grand Duchess. Never before had he so clearly shown his displeasure towards the princess, which made her very annoyed, but she, as if not noticing this, showed a cheerful appearance all night.”

Meanwhile, Natalya Alekseevna was living out her last days. The doctors decided to resort to a last resort - they gave her breast milk. For a moment this helped, but then she got worse and died in November 1728. The cabinet decided that this was a sign: now it would certainly be possible to persuade the emperor to return to St. Petersburg and get down to business. The Tsar was present at his deathbed, he was very sad, but then he took off again. The Dolgorukys grabbed him by the arms and took him to Gorenki. What better way to dispel sorrow than hunting?

It's time to explain the reason for Peter's cooling towards his aunt. Waliszewski writes that Elizabeth “missed her chance to become empress.” Now she missed it, then this “chance” fell into her hands. And in general, what can we talk about if she was in love - at twenty years old this is the most important thing in the world. The object of her love was the chamberlain of her court, and now also the tsar’s favorite, Alexander Buturlin. I’ll tell you especially about this man; it’s not for nothing that a large article is dedicated to him in the Brockhaus and Efron encyclopedia.

So, 1729. In March, on the day of the king’s accession to the throne, there was a congress to the court to kiss the hand. Orders and awards were distributed there, followed by a ball and dinner. Elizabeth was not at the convention or at the ball. De Liria writes that she said she was sick, but recovered the next day, about which there was a lot of talk.

And in Moscow they were already openly talking about Alexei Dolgorukov’s intention to marry the Tsar to his eldest daughter Catherine. She was a beauty, brown eyes, black hair, blood and milk. Catherine was older than Peter, she already had a beloved Count Melekzino, the Austrian ambassador. Peter was not in love with his bride, but he could not refuse her marriage. It was under Menshikov that he could allow himself to stamp his foot, and the Dolgorukys tied his hands with their “love.” They tortured Peter with endless hunting, drunkenness, gluttony and an unhealthy lifestyle. And he was tired of hunting, tired of being a toy in the wrong hands. He was quite tired of the Dolgorukies, but the shackles were too strong. It was especially difficult to realize that Peter forged them for himself. Everything was arranged in such a way that the sovereign himself chose his bride. They had arranged a meeting in private in advance, and now, according to all divine and human laws, he was obliged to marry her.

On November 30, 1729, the betrothal took place in the Lefortovo Palace. Princess Elizabeth, among other relatives, attended the ceremony. After the engagement, Peter seemed to come to his senses, met with Osterman - apparently, asked for advice. While Osterman could not cope with the Dolgorukys, he did not impose himself as an adviser, he had no time for that - he was sick. Once Peter secretly saw Elizabeth. There is information that the Dolgorukys, fearing the influence of the crown princess, already had a plan to exile her to a monastery.

A few preliminary words about Andrei Ivanovich Osterman, a German from Bochum. He had been in Russian service since 1703, and later actually stood at the head of Russian foreign and domestic policy. Osterman was a magnificent and cunning politician; it was not for nothing that he outlived so many sovereigns. At a dangerous moment, he fell ill: colic, gout, and bad teeth, at worst, were used. As soon as the political horizon became clear, the sufferer immediately felt better and began to fulfill his duties. Using this weather vane, the yard often guessed which way the wind was blowing: since Osterman got sick, then don’t stick your nose out either. At court Osterman had the nickname “Oracle”.

The wedding was scheduled for January 19, 1730, but it was not destined to take place. Exhausted, devastated, tired, the boy-king caught a cold and fell ill; the cold was followed by smallpox - the scourge of that time. Osterman was present at his bedside all the time, the king raved about his name. Here is his last phrase (these “last phrases” are always exciting): “Harness the sleigh! I’m going to my sister!” The death of Peter II fell precisely on January 19, 1730.

Russian emperors: stories of life and death

BOY IN AN IMPERIAL CROWN

Pages of the short life and rapid death of the Russian Emperor Peter II

“God was pleased to call me to the throne at a young age. My first concern will be to gain the glory of a good sovereign. I want to rule God-fearingly and fairly. I want to provide protection to the poor, relieve all those who suffer, listen to the innocently persecuted... and, following the example of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, Don't let anyone leave with a sad face." Peter II (from a letter to sister Natalya, written the day after his elevation to the throne and a speech delivered at a meeting of the Supreme Privy Council on June 21, 1727) “The Russian throne is protected by the church and the Russian people. Under their protection we hope to live and reign calmly and happily. I have two strong patrons: God in heaven and a sword at my hip!” Peter II (from a speech delivered to the people in Novgorod on the way from St. Petersburg to Moscow)

Unknown artist. Miniature Presumably the artist A.P. Antropov

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Note on the death of the Empress Catherine Alekseevna and on the accession to the Throne of the Sovereign Emperor Peter II Alekseevich (abbreviated)

(This note is in the 8th part of the Collection of Journals and Printed Calendars, stored in the Main Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (No. -27, pp. 320-322).

1727, May 6th day, at 9 o’clock in the afternoon, by the will of God, Most Blessed One. The most powerful, Great Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna, Autocrat of All Russia, from this time of her life passed into eternal bliss...

IN 7th day, in the morning at 8 o'clock, all the Ministers, Senators, Generals, and the Holy Governing Synod and other noble military and civil gathered to His Serene Highness the Reich Marshal, General Feltmarshal Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, in his apartments in the Winter Palace and in At 9 o'clock everyone went to the large hall, where they deigned to be: Their Highnesses the Grand Duke, Empresses Tsesarevna Anna and Elisavet Petrovna, His Royal Highness the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. And besides, the Actual Civil Councilor Vasily Stepanov read the testament of Her Imperial Majesty, signed by Her Majesty in her own hand, with which Her Majesty deigned to honor His Highness Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich as Heir to the Russian Empire of the Throne. And then all the above-mentioned persons took the oath of allegiance to His Imperial Majesty, in the same hall, and congratulated His Majesty. And as all the noble persons took the oath, then His Majesty with all those noble persons deigned to go out in front of the Winter House to the regiments of the Guard, which were then placed around His Majesty the House in parade, which at the same time announced that His Highness was honored by the Emperor of the Russian Empire and on the repose of Her Majesty.

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The fate of this boy, Pyotr Alekseevich Romanov, could hardly have turned out happily - there was a lot of sadness in it from the moment of his birth. It was as if he was doomed to an early death, because he disturbed everyone: his father, grandfather, and nannies. His ascension to the throne can be considered not so much as a favorable accident, but as a move from above, from the highest pedestal, hastening his death...

Peter II (hereinafter I will call him “Peter” without the imperial prefix II) was born on October 12, 1715 in St. Petersburg from the marriage (10/14/1711, Saxon city of Torgau) of Alexei Petrovich, son of Peter I, and Sophia-Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel - sisters of the wife of the Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke Charles VI of Austria. By this time, the family already had one child - daughter Natalya (born July 12, 1714).

Based on the available evidence, the marriage of Alexei Petrovich to the daughter of Duke Ludwig Rudolf of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was not a purely dynastic marriage: Alexei was infatuated with her and asked his father to facilitate his marriage. Sofia-Charlotte was not delighted with this match, but resigned herself to the will of her father and high relative. Subsequently, the relationship between the spouses was far from rosy, the reason for which was Alexei Petrovich’s passion for alcohol and connections with other women.

On the fourth day after the birth of her son, the Crown Princess felt unwell: abdominal pain appeared, followed by fever and delirium. On the night of October 22, Charlotte died. Modern researchers believe that the cause of her death was acute appendicitis, complicated by peritonitis.

In the summer of 1714, shortly before the birth of his daughter, the prince left his wife and went to Carlsbad for treatment. It was there that he met Efrosinya Fedorova, the serf of his teacher Nikifor Vyazemsky, a “Chukhonka” by birth. Later, Vyazemsky gave it to his student. For a long time, Alexey did not send any news about himself and returned to St. Petersburg only in December 1714, and soon began to openly cohabit with Euphrosyne, whom he intended to marry. At the end of 1716, he fled with her to Vienna, hoping for the support of Emperor Charles VI, a relative of his late wife (on January 31, 1718, he was returned to Russia, and on June 26, 1718, he was either executed or died in one of the casemates of the Peter and Paul Fortress , unable to withstand the torture).

So, at the age of one year, Peter actually lost his father. The whole history of the relationship between Alexei Petrovich and Efrosinya Fedorova is well covered in literature, and I touched on it only with the purpose of showing how “strong” Alexei’s attachment to his wife and children was (he was much more worried about his future child with Efrosinya, whose fate , by the way, is unknown).

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In the available literature, I was unable to find a firm indication of whether and who was selected for the role of wet nurse for the newborn Peter. I would venture to suggest that his mother, even before the birth of the child, was preoccupied with this issue. But history, apparently, did not preserve the name of the nurse. At the same time, it is reliably known that Crown Princess Charlotte left Peter and Catherine under the supervision of a German woman, Chamberlain Roo, who acted as their nanny. After the death of his wife, Tsarevich Alexei assigned two more “mothers” from the German settlement of “poor condition” to Peter. One of them was the widow of his tailor, the other was the widow of the innkeeper. These were illiterate women who, taking advantage of the complete lack of control on the part of the father, so that the child would sleep soundly and would not interfere with their business, gave him wine to drink. Thus, even in infancy, the foundations were laid for the young emperor’s passion for intoxicating liqueurs, mead, etc., which could not but affect his health. But his heredity for alcoholism through his grandfather, Peter the Great, and father was unfavorable. The future practice of frequent feasts confirmed this.

The boy’s immediate environment was far from the level of education he had to deal with the problems of organizing his healthy lifestyle. Peter I, who came to visit his grandson after the death of his son, found the child neglected and unable to even speak his native language. Angry, he drove away the “mothers” and instructed A.D. Menshikov to select teachers for the baby. One of them, from 1718, was a certain Semyon Afanasyevich Mavrin, a page of Catherine, wife of Peter I. “Probably, his duties were limited to education, because the former page did not have knowledge.” Another teacher was the dance master Norman, who had previously served in the navy, and told the child sea stories - this was considered to teach him seamanship. Only in 1722 did Peter I appoint Ivan Alekseevich Zeikin (according to another transcription Zeiker, or Zeykan), a Carpathian Rusyn from Hungary, as a teacher to Peter (the young prince was seven years old), who had previously served as a teacher in the house of Alexander Lvovich Naryshkin, the king’s nephew, and who undertook to teach the prince history, geography, mathematics and Latin. “After some time, Peter I checked his grandson’s knowledge and became furious: he still could not explain himself in Russian, knew a little German and Latin, and much better - Tatar curses. The Emperor personally beat Mavrin and Zeykan, but Peter was more worthy mentors Alekseevich never received it." Both “teachers” retained their positions under Peter until 1727, teaching him, at the very least, to read, write and basic Latin.

During the exacerbation of his sovereign grandfather's illness (kidney stone disease), which ultimately led to his death, Pyotr Alekseevich met (summer, 1724) Ivan Dolgoruky, who soon became his friend. He was then a little over nine years old, and his new friend was sixteen (!). From that time on, Peter began to often visit the Dolgoruky house, where the capital’s youth from ancient noble families gathered; sometimes his aunt, his father’s half-sister, Elizaveta Petrovna, also appeared there.

The lifestyle of this “golden youth” (feasts, hunting, free love) became a model that in no way could be considered positive for a boy, especially one deprived of proper adult care.

After placing the imperial crown (May 7, 1727) on the head of 11.5-year-old Peter, and not without the help of His Serene Highness Prince Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, Baron Andrei Ivanovich Osterman was the last to be assigned to him as an educator and teacher. Osterman took as his assistants Academician Goldbach, a young scientist with great abilities, and Archbishop Feofan Prokopovich - to teach the sovereign the Law of God. The secular education program developed by Osterman consisted of eleven paragraphs and included the study of foreign languages, including Latin, history, the science of government, civil law, the rights and duties of the supreme and zemstvo authorities, the doctrine of alliances, ambassadorial law, and war. and the world, about the art of war, as well as (without delving into lofty matters) mathematics, cosmography, natural history, etc. This program also included activities aimed at strengthening the health of the young emperor (horse riding, dancing, playing in the fresh air, working on vegetable garden, etc.). A wonderful project, if not for one thing: it’s late. Menshikov and his teaching team were exactly eleven years late. Peter has already tasted freedom, the sweet feeling of command, the poison of an easy life, which quickly corrupts weak natures.

4

But the expectations were different. “Contemporaries who saw this child said with one voice that he was of a gentle disposition, a kind heart, just like his mother, who, although German, was a holy woman of life! And what extraordinary love and tender friendship he has for his sister... lovely “What a boy!.. They said about the young sovereign that he was very kind and loved justice.” Christopher Hermann von Manstein: "By all accounts he had a good heart." Svetlana Marlinskaya: “Most of all [in character] he was like his mother, Princess Charlotte of Wolfenbüttel: he meekly endured all the vicissitudes of life, obediently called the then all-powerful Menshikov “father” and diligently studied with his new mentor, Vice-Chancellor Andrei Osterman.”

Peter and his sister Natalya in childhood
in the form of Apollo and Diana. Lum Caravac, 1722

“It’s fun with Baron Andrei Ivanovich: he’s so kind; it’s fun with his sister; it’s fun with the princes Dolgorukov: good people are only worried about how to please, how to have fun... The Emperor was practically not involved in state affairs, devoting all his time to entertainment ", especially hunting with dogs and falcons, baiting bears and fist fights. He became addicted to alcohol early on. Osterman's attempts to persuade him to continue his education were unsuccessful." N.I. Kostomarov: “Peter the Second had fun for fun only... He, like his grandfather, surrounded himself with noble youths from ten to fifteen years of age, but everything was limited to childish games... [At an older age] Tsar began to turn nights into days, scoured God knows where with his favorite, returned at dawn and went to bed at seven o’clock in the morning, did not get enough sleep and remained in a bad mood all day... They have already said that friendship with his favorite brought Peter to such amusements, which were unusual for his adolescence: Prince Dolgorukov brought him a date with a girl who had previously served with Menshikov and was then with Tsarevna Elizabeth (Lefort, Sat. I. Obshch., III, 513)... They said that he was already showing an inclination to drunkenness, and it seemed quite natural and hereditary."

“Despite some similarities with his grandfather, the tsar, unlike Peter I, did not want to study... With the help of Ivan Dolgorukov, who, according to contemporaries, was distinguished by his recklessness and dissolute lifestyle, Peter spent a lot of time at various kinds of parties, playing cards , in the company of girls of easy virtue, he became addicted to alcohol early." Svetlana Marlinskaya: “Peter the Second achieved physical development early, and his favorite friend Ivan Dolgoruky tried to introduce him to accessible and primitive pleasures. The favorite pastime of the emperor and his companion was raids on the city estates of the Moscow boyars, where serf girls became their victims.”

I run the risk of being accused of repeating the same evidence, but I do this deliberately so that the reader gets a clear idea of ​​Peter’s lifestyle, which, even if I wanted to, could not be called healthy.

6

Based on literature data (N. Kostomarov, S. Solovyov, etc.), I compiled a calendar of Peter’s classes in 1729. This is what happened:

February: spent his days in Gorenki (the Dolgoruky estate), and this included hunting and feasting.

March: went hunting for a long time.

April: continued to hunt.

May June: still engaged in hunting; started a hunting expedition to the city of Rostov.

In September accompanied by the Dolgorukys, he left Moscow with 620 dogs and returned only at the beginning of November.

From the Notes of the Duke de Liria-Berwick: “04/04/1729 The Tsar returned to Moscow... At that time there were many sick people in Moscow, and in every house three-quarters of its inhabitants were in bed, so the doctors began to fear that the disease was not raging "Is there a contagious disease in the city? When autopsying the bodies of those who died, especially suddenly, it turned out that the disease was not malignant... On April 18, the Tsar had a febrile attack with a cold cough, but three days of calm returned him to health." I. Kostomarov also writes that at the indicated time an epidemic of some disease was raging in Moscow. Von Manstein: “The illness that befell the emperor in August (1729 - V.P.) alarmed the entire state. They feared for his life, because the fever into which he fell was very strong.”

“...at 1 hour 25 minutes after midnight the Tsar breathed his last” (de Liria);

"...about three o'clock in the morning he died" (Lady Rondo).

So, according to various testimonies, the young emperor died on January 19, 1730, in the range from a quarter past twelve to approximately three o'clock in the morning. His last words were: “Harness the sleigh, Vanya, I’m going to my sister.” He was 14 years, 3 months and 7 days...

9

The completely unexpected death of Peter II caused, as happens in such cases, gossip, speculation, and suspicion. Prince P.V. Dolgorukov: “The people were amazed.” Natalya Dolgorukaya: “... although I knew that the sovereign was sick and very sick, I had great hope in God that He would not leave us orphans. However, to know, we were worthy of it.”

“Foreigners who were in Moscow at that time attributed the cause of the illness of the youth emperor to the severe frost that occurred during the Epiphany parade on January 6, 1730” (D.S. Dmitriev). Lady Rondo wrote from Moscow to her London friend: “... in [my] life I do not remember a colder day.” The contagiousness of smallpox was already well known at that time. It can be assumed that the hypothermia of the teenage emperor was considered by his contemporaries as the reason for his inability to resist the disease. I have already indicated above that Peter became infected with smallpox 8-12 days before the appearance of its first symptoms. But it is likely that hypothermia contributed to its more severe course.

It is curious that in one of Lady Rondo’s letters to her homeland one can find the following phrase: “ First the reason[the emperor's ailments] were considered to be the effect of the cold, but after several repeated complaints his doctor was called, who said that the emperor should go to bed, as he was very ill... The next day... the emperor developed smallpox." Note “First, the reason...” (these words are highlighted in italics above by me): doctors already realized then that it was not the “exposure to cold” that was the issue—it was infection with smallpox...

Contemporaries also associated the unexpected deterioration in the general condition of the already “recovering” emperor with hypothermia. The act of Peter, who, feeling better, decided to ventilate the room in which he was located, appears as a reliable fact in Russian historiography. This happened on the fifteenth of January: “On the same day... I walked up to the open window. The illness resumed.” "... opened the window at the time when smallpox began to pour out." “The draft from the window finished him off,” emphasizes V. Pikul.

20. Paintings of the royal hunt, hand-signed by Emperor Peter II, in January 1729 / Communication. G.V. Esipov // Russian Archive, 1869. - Issue. 10. - St. Petersburg, 1675-1681.

21. S. M. Solovyov. Chapter two. The reign of Emperor Peter II Alekseevich // History of Russia from ancient times. - T. 19

22. M. V. Supotnitsky. Purely biological murder of Peter II. A forgotten version of the conspiracy to change power in Russia in 1730. Nezavisimaya Gazeta. 2006. No. 25 (February 8)

- Russian emperors: stories of life and death. Table of contents