Stories. The Last of the Romanovs

Portrait of Peter II, 1730s. / Johann Wedekind /

The male line of the Romanov family ended with the grandson of Peter the Great, who began to be soldered in his cradle.

Child of high diplomacy

In addition to the great emperors and empresses, there were also figures in Russian history whose stay on the throne left an extremely small mark on history and was practically forgotten by their descendants.

Against the backdrop of the era of great reforms Peter the Great the reign of his grandson and namesake looks like a complete misunderstanding, a strange quirk of fate. However, to a certain extent, Peter I himself is to blame for this quirk.

The grandson of Peter the Great suffered an unenviable fate from birth. His father and mother, son of Peter I Tsarevich Alexei And German Princess Sophia-Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, did not have loving feelings for each other. Moreover, Sofia-Charlotte hoped to the last to avoid marriage with a “Muscovite”, but her hopes were not justified.

The marriage of this couple was the result of high diplomacy and agreements between Peter I, the Polish King Augustus II and the Austrian Emperor Charles VI.

Europe of the 18th century was not surprised by dynastic marriages, and therefore Sophia-Charlotte, resigned to her fate, did what she was supposed to do - she began to give birth to princesses and princes for her husband. Born in the summer of 1714 Natalya Alekseevna, and on October 12, 1715 - Petr Alekseevich, grandson and full namesake of the emperor.

The young Tsarevich’s mother died ten days after the birth of her son, and by the age of three, Peter Alekseevich remained an orphan - his father, Tsarevich Alexei, was sentenced to death by Peter the Great for treason.

Wine and curses for the Grand Duke

However, his own father, who perished in the dungeons of his grandfather, managed to negatively influence the boy. Not experiencing warm feelings for a child from an unloved woman, Alexey Petrovich assigned two women who abused alcohol to his son as nannies. The nannies solved the problem of the baby’s whims simply - they gave him wine to drink so that he would fall asleep faster. Thus began the soldering of the future emperor, which continued for the rest of his life.

Portrait of Peter II, 1720s.

Peter the Great initially did not consider his grandson as the heir to the throne: in the same 1715, less than three weeks after the birth of Peter Alekseevich, Petr Petrovich, son of the emperor. It was to him that Peter I intended to transfer the throne. But the boy was sickly, weak, and died in 1719.

Thus, after the death of his father and brother, Peter Alekseevich remained the only heir to the emperor in the male line. From birth, he bore the official title “Grand Duke” - starting with him, such an official name displaces the previously accepted “prince” from the Russian tradition. Although in colloquial rather than official speech, the princes survived until the very end of the monarchy in Russia.

Peter the Great, having lost his son, began to pay more attention to his grandson, but still did not follow him too closely. Somehow, having decided to test his knowledge, he discovered the complete inadequacy of the teachers assigned to him - the boy did not know how to communicate in Russian, he knew a little German and Latin, and much better - Tatar curses.

The emperor, who was not above assault, beat up the teachers, but, oddly enough, the situation did not change - Pyotr Alekseevich’s education was conducted extremely poorly.

The grandson of Peter I was in love with his daughter

In 1722, by Decree on Succession to the Throne, Peter the Great determined that the emperor himself had the right to appoint an heir. After this decree, Pyotr Alekseevich’s position as an heir began to shake.

But in 1725, Peter the Great died without leaving a will. A fierce struggle for the throne broke out between various factions, but in the end Prince Menshikov enthroned the wife of Peter the Great, Catherine I.

Her reign was short-lived, two years. At the end of it, the Empress designated Peter Alekseevich as the heir, indicating that if he had no male descendants, his heir in turn would become Elizaveta Petrovna, daughter of Peter I.

In 1727, 11-year-old Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich became Emperor Peter II. There is a desperate struggle between political parties for influence over him, one of which is made up of representatives of ancient boyar families, the other - associates of Peter the Great.

Peter II himself does not interfere in political passions - he spends time in the circle of “golden youth”, where he falls under the influence of the Dolgorukov princes, one of whom, Ivan, becomes his favorite.

In this cheerful circle, the 11-year-old emperor is drunk, introduced to debauchery, taken hunting - entertainment that is not suitable for Pyotr Alekseevich’s age takes the place of his studies.

Perhaps only two people maintained a sincere and warm relationship with him - his own sister Natalya Alekseevna and dear aunt Elizaveta Petrovna. “Auntie” was 17 years old by that time.

young Tsarevna Elizaveta Petrovna, 1720s.

/portrait of I. Nikitin/

The young emperor, however, felt not kindred, but loving feelings for Elizabeth, even intending to marry her, which led the courtiers into confusion.

Fight for the Emperor

However, the wishes of Peter II were fulfilled only when they did not run counter to the intentions of those who influenced him. To the Almighty Menshikov managed to push competitors away from the emperor, and he began to prepare his wedding with one of his daughters - Maria. With this marriage, the Most Serene Prince hoped to further strengthen his own power. However, his enemies did not sleep, and, taking advantage of Menshikov’s illness, which lasted several weeks, they managed to turn Peter II against the prince.

Maria Menshikova - the first bride of Peter II /I.G. Tannauer 1727-1728/

In September 1727, Menshikov was accused of treason and embezzlement, and he and his family were exiled to Berezov. Maria Menshikova, the former bride of Peter II, also went there.

But this was not a victory for the young emperor, but for the Dolgorukovs, who soon also controlled Peter II, just as Menshikov had controlled him before.

At the end of February 1728, the official coronation of Peter II took place in Moscow. Under the influence of the Dolgorukovs, the emperor intended to return the capital to Moscow. The Dolgorukovs received the most important government posts, thereby achieving enormous power.

In November 1728, Peter II suffered another blow - the 14-year-old girl died Natalya Alekseevna, one of the few who could still restrain the emperor, who was devoting more and more time to entertainment rather than to study and state affairs.

After the death of his sister, Peter II spent more and more time on feasts and hunting pleasures.

Engagement

State affairs were left to chance, foreign ambassadors wrote that Russia now most resembles a ship that goes at the will of the wind and waves, with a drunken or sleeping crew on board.

Some government dignitaries, who were concerned not only with filling their own wallets, expressed indignation that the emperor did not pay due attention to state affairs, but their voices had no influence on what was happening.

Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukaya. 1798

The Dolgorukovs decided to implement the “Menshikov plan” - to marry a representative of their family, a 17-year-old princess, to Peter II Ekaterina Dolgorukova. On November 30, 1729, their engagement took place. The wedding was scheduled for January 19, 1730.

The Dolgorukovs, continuing to take the emperor to feasts and hunting, celebrated their victory. Meanwhile, the discontent of other representatives of the nobility was brewing against them, as earlier against Menshikov. At the very beginning of January 1730, the emperor’s educator tried to persuade Peter II to abandon his marriage to Ekaterina Dolgorukova and reconsider his attitude towards this family. Andrey Ivanovich Osterman and Elizaveta Petrovna. Whether they succeeded in sowing doubts in the soul of Peter II is unknown. In any case, he did not officially express his intentions to abandon the marriage.

“I’ll go to my sister Natalia!”

On January 6, 1730, in a very severe frost, Peter II, together with Field Marshal Minich and Osterman hosted a parade dedicated to the blessing of water on the Moscow River. Returning to the palace, he rode standing on the back of his bride's sleigh.

A few hours later, the emperor developed a high fever in the palace. The doctors who examined Peter II made a terrible diagnosis for that time - smallpox.

The body of the 14-year-old monarch was by that time seriously undermined by endless drinking bouts and other “adult” entertainment. The young emperor's condition deteriorated rapidly.

The Dolgorukovs made a desperate attempt to save the situation by persuading Peter II to sign a will in favor of his bride, but the emperor fell into unconsciousness.

Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova, second bride of Peter II

The decline lasted about two weeks. On the night of January 19, 1730, on the eve of the scheduled wedding, Peter II woke up and said: “Pawn the horses. I’ll go to my sister Natalia,” forgetting that she had already died. He died minutes later, leaving no descendants or designated heir.
The last of the Russian rulers, Peter II, was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. On his tombstone there is an epitaph:

"The pious and autocratic sovereign Pyotr Twine Emperor of the All -Russian. Born in the summer of October 1715, 12, the ancestral possession of the receiver 1727 7 Maia, crowned and anointed on 1728 of February 25 days. Great blessings of his subjects in a briefly reassuring, by the vengeance of God to the Eternal Kingdom of 173030303030330 Ianuaria 18. The joy of our hearts has crumbled, our face has turned into weeping, the crown has fallen from our head, woe to us for having sinned.”

Along with the death of Peter II, the Romanov family was extinguished.

tombstone of Peter II

(Dolgorukaya) - the bride of Peter II, was the daughter of Prince. Alexei Grigorievich and Princess Praskovya Yuryevna, born. Khilkova. Born in 1712 in the village. Gorenki. She received her education under the influence of her gifted grandfather, Prince. Gregory, ambassador to the Polish court; She was distinguished by a secularism that was rare among Russian girls at that time and was extremely pretty. At the end of the twenties, she was arranged to marry the secretary of the Austrian embassy, Count Milesin, but soon refused him and became the bride of her namesake, Prince. Yuri Yuryevich Dolgorukov. However, this marriage did not take place: when the Menshikovs were exiled to Berezov and the Dolgorukovs became omnipotent at court, they decided to arrange the marriage of Princess Catherine with the young Emperor Peter II himself, and therefore Prince. Yuri was also refused. The princess's brother, Prince, undertook to persuade the emperor. Ivan Alekseevich, who enjoyed the unlimited trust and affection of Peter II. The young emperor, with all his spinelessness, was reluctant, but agreed to meet the princess and for this purpose he went in September 1729 to the village. Gorenki under the pretext of hunting. The beauty of the princess and the friendly influence of the Dolgorukovs took their toll: after staying in Gorenki for several weeks, Peter II personally proposed marriage to Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna and, having secured her consent, declared her his bride. On November 19, the sovereign and the Dolgorukov family returned to Moscow. The entire court was assembled and Osterman was ordered to solemnly proclaim the upcoming marriage; at the same time, Princess Catherine was ordered to be titled: “Her Highness the Sovereign Bride.” On November 30, the betrothal took place in the most magnificent surroundings; the wedding was scheduled for January 19, 1730. Amusements and celebrations began, at which the Dolgorukovs received almost royal honors. But on January 6, the young emperor, already feeling somewhat unwell, caught a severe cold during the blessing of water on the river and fell ill on the same day: it turned out that smallpox, which had already begun in him, had caught a cold and the disease had become extremely acute. The doctors' art was powerless; thirteen days later, on the very day when the announced wedding was supposed to take place, Peter II died.

When Anna Ioannovna ascended the throne and the Dolgorukovs were convicted of intending to belittle the autocracy, Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna, along with her father and brothers and sisters, was exiled to Berezov, where she was imprisoned separately from other family members in prison. In 1739, when a second trial of the Dolgorukov case took place and four of them were executed, Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna was transferred to the Tomsk Nativity Monastery, where she was imprisoned but not tonsured. Upon the accession of Elizabeth Petrovna to the throne, it was ordered that all the Dolgorukovs, “wherever anyone happens to be,” be immediately released and returned. Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna was demanded to come to St. Petersburg, taken to court, and the Empress herself married her to Lieutenant General Count Alexander Romanovich Bruce (1745). She died that same year.

Bantysh-Kamensky: Dictionary of memorable people of the Russian land. - Letters from Lady Rondo, translated by Shubinsky. - Duke de Liria: Letters to Spain about Russia, translated by Kustodiev. - Weidemeyer: Review of the most important incidents in Russia since the death of Peter V. - Book. Shcherbatov: About the damage to morals in Russia. - Mikhnevich: Historical essays. In addition, see bibliogr. to Art. "The Dolgorukov family of princes."

(Polovtsov)

Dolgorukova, Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna

betrothed bride imp. Peter II; R. 1711, † 1745, supr. gen. gr. Bruce.

(Polovtsov)

. 2009 .

See what “Dolgorukova, Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna” is in other dictionaries:

Dolgorukova (Ekaterina Alekseevna, 1712 1745) princess, daughter of Prince Alexei Grigorievich. She was brought up together with her brother Ivan in Warsaw, in the house of her grandfather Grigory Fedorovich. Obeying her father’s orders, Princess Catherine agreed to go out... ... Biographical Dictionary

Do not confuse with Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova (Princess Yuryevskaya), who was the wife of Emperor Alexander II Ekaterina Dolgorukaya. Ekaterina Alekseevn ... Wikipedia

Do not confuse with Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova (Princess Yuryevskaya), who was the wife of Emperor Alexander II Ekaterina Dolgorukaya. Engraving, 1730 Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova (1712 1747) princess, daughter of Prince Alexei Grigorievich Dolgorukov, ... ... Wikipedia

- (1712 1745) princess, daughter of Prince Alexei Grigorievich D. (see Dolgorukovs). She was brought up together with her brother Ivan in Warsaw in the house of her grandfather Grigory Fedorovich. Obeying her father’s orders, Princess Catherine agreed to marry... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

- (1712 1745) princess, daughter of prince. Alexey Grigorievich (see corresponding article). She was brought up together with her brother Ivan in Warsaw in the house of her grandfather Grigory Fedorovich. Obeying her father's orders, Princess Catherine agreed to marry the emperor... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron

- (nee Princess Dolgorukova), translator. from French, p. July 13, 1747, † May 31, 1791 (Polovtsov) ... Large biographical encyclopedia

Dolgorukova, Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna(Dolgorukaya) - the bride of Peter II, was the daughter of Prince. Alexei Grigorievich and Princess Praskovya Yuryevna, born. Khilkova. Born in 1712 in the village. Gorenki. She received her education under the influence of her gifted grandfather, Prince. Gregory, ambassador to the Polish court; She was distinguished by a secularism that was rare among Russian girls at that time and was extremely pretty. At the end of the twenties, she was arranged to marry the secretary of the Austrian embassy, Count Milesin, but soon refused him and became the bride of her namesake, Prince. Yuri Yuryevich Dolgorukov. However, this marriage did not take place: when the Menshikovs were exiled to Berezov and the Dolgorukovs became omnipotent at court, they decided to arrange the marriage of Princess Catherine with the young Emperor Peter II himself, and therefore Prince. Yuri was also refused. The princess's brother, Prince, undertook to persuade the emperor. Ivan Alekseevich, who enjoyed the unlimited trust and affection of Peter II. The young emperor, with all his spinelessness, was reluctant, but agreed to meet the princess and for this purpose he went in September 1729 to the village. Gorenki under the pretext of hunting. The beauty of the princess and the friendly influence of the Dolgorukovs took their toll: after staying in Gorenki for several weeks, Peter II personally proposed marriage to Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna and, having secured her consent, declared her his bride. On November 19, the sovereign and the Dolgorukov family returned to Moscow. The entire court was assembled and Osterman was ordered to solemnly proclaim the upcoming marriage; at the same time, Princess Catherine was ordered to be titled: “Her Highness the Sovereign Bride.” On November 30, the betrothal took place in the most magnificent surroundings; the wedding was scheduled for January 19, 1730. Amusements and celebrations began, at which the Dolgorukovs received almost royal honors. But on January 6, the young emperor, already feeling somewhat unwell, caught a severe cold during the blessing of water on the river and fell ill on the same day: it turned out that smallpox, which had already begun in him, had caught a cold and the disease had become extremely acute. The doctors' art was powerless; thirteen days later, on the very day when the announced wedding was supposed to take place, Peter II died.

On the picture: Peter II and Ekaterina Dolgorukova- “The Empress Bride” Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna

The failed wedding of Peter II and Ekaterina Dolgorukova

The story of this failed wedding is as follows.

The grandson of Peter the Great, Peter Alekseevich (son of the executed) was proclaimed Russian Emperor in May 1727, at the age of eleven, under the condition of a kind of regency carried out by the Supreme Privy Council until the autocrat reached the age of 16. After this, a serious struggle for “influence” broke out in the council. Its first victim was the all-powerful temporary worker Alexander Menshikov. He managed to betroth Peter II to his daughter Maria, but that was all - in the fall of 1727, the engagement was broken, and Menshikov himself, deprived of titles, awards and property, and his family went into Siberian exile, to Berezov.

He was replaced by the Dolgorukovs - father and son Alexey Grigorievich and Ivan Alekseevich. Their influence on the teenage emperor, according to many historians, turned out to be extremely negative - Peter, who was already lazy and did not like to study, in the company of the Dolgorukovs, indulged in carousing and entertainment, the main of which was hunting.

In 1728, he and the court moved to Moscow, thereby defiantly abandoning the behests of his great grandfather, and in the fall of 1729, in Gorenki, the Dolgorukov estate, near Moscow, he met the sister of his favorite Ivan Alekseevich, Ekaterina. Already in November, their engagement was announced, the wedding was scheduled for January 19, 1730, ordering that until then Dolgorukova be called “Her Highness the Sovereign Bride.”

Of course, the main role in arranging this engagement was played by father and son Dolgorukov. Ekaterina Alekseevna herself, who was brought up in her grandfather’s house in Warsaw, received a good education, was distinguished by her beauty, was three years older than the tsar, and, moreover, loved - mutually! - a completely different person, that is, she could not wish for this sudden marriage. But the family insisted on him, dreaming of taking the reins of the country into their own hands, and the girl submitted.

However, Dololrukov’s aspirations were not destined to come true. At the beginning of January 1730, Peter II caught a bad cold, doctors discovered smallpox, and on the very appointed day of the wedding the emperor died.

In 1727, after the death of Catherine I, the grandson of Peter I, Peter II, became Russian emperor. At this moment he was only 12 years old. This is not surprising; history has known younger monarchs, but the situation of Peter II was aggravated by the fact that by this time he had practically no close relatives left, with the exception of his young sister Natalya and young aunt Elizabeth. Strictly speaking, no one prepared this boy to govern the state; they even practically did not engage in his upbringing. Moreover, everyone around him welcomed and encouraged the lonely teenager’s desire to seem like an adult and have friends. All this resulted in numerous feasts, hunts and other not at all childish entertainment.
The young Russian Emperor Peter II had two brides during his short life. The first to dance was Maria Aleksandrovna Menshikova, the daughter of Peter I’s closest ally. After the death of Catherine I, a will was left in which Peter was named heir to the Russian throne and spoke of his marriage to Alexander Menshikov’s daughter Maria. Thus, Alexander Danilovich tried to keep state power in his hands. But these plans were not destined to come true. The courtiers plotted against Menshikov and very soon he and his family were stripped of all titles, their property was confiscated, and the Most Serene Prince and his children found themselves in exile in the distant Siberian town of Berezovo. On the way to the place of exile, Menshikov’s wife Daria Mikhailovna died.
In Berezovo, the Menshikovs were placed in a prison - a state prison converted from a closed monastery. The Menshikov family lived very friendly. The eldest daughter Maria took on all the responsibilities in the kitchen, the youngest daughter Alexandra monitored the condition of the clothes, each was helped by a special peasant woman. Thanks to the efforts of an unknown well-wisher, the Menshikovs acquired a bull, four cows and various birds, were able to build a vegetable garden on their own and provided themselves with vegetables.
The former royal bride and her sister were fond of needlework; brocade priestly vestments with the stars of St. were kept in the Berezovsky Resurrection Cathedral for a long time. Andrei on the shoulders, according to legend, sewn by the Menshikov princesses. The Menshikovs' exile in Berezovo lasted until 1730. By this time, only Menshikov’s son Alexander and youngest daughter Alexandra were alive. Upon his return from Siberia, Alexander Alexandrovich Menshikov was returned almost all the property confiscated from his father.
After the fall of Menshikov, the place of the royal bride was taken by Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, but she also failed to become the new empress. Just before the wedding, Peter II caught a cold while hunting, contracted smallpox and died on the very day on which his wedding was scheduled. The Dolgoruky family took all possible measures to maintain state power in Russia in their hands. They drew up a false will in which Peter II transferred power to his “empress-bride,” but no matter how hard the Dolgoruky princes tried, they were unable to obtain the signature of the dying Peter on this will. Subsequently, this fact turned out to be one of the most devastating accusations brought against the Dolgorukys.
With the death of the young emperor in Russia, the question of succession to the throne arose again. During this period, there was not a single male representative in the Romanov dynasty. At that time, two daughters of Peter I’s half-brother Ivan and two daughters of Peter himself claimed the Russian throne, but the latter were born before the official marriage between their parents. The Supreme Privy Council decided to place the daughter of Tsar Ivan, the Dowager Duchess Anna of Courland, on the throne.
In 1730, state power in Russia passed to Anna Ioannovna. One of the conditions for her accession was a serious restriction on her rights put forward by the Privy Council. At the beginning, Anna Ioannovna agreed to all the demands of the council, but immediately after the coronation she renounced all previous agreements, and members of the Privy Council were subjected to repression. This number also included the family of the second royal bride, Catherine Dolgorukaya. They were accused of “insulting Her Majesty” and “destroying the health of Peter II,” embezzlement and other sins. As a result, 16 members of this family were sent into Siberian exile.
By coincidence, the Dolgoruky family replaced the Menshikov family in Berezovo, who were pardoned by the new ruler. True, Alexander Danilovich himself and his daughter Maria had already died by that time. After some time, a local official fell in love with Ekaterina Dolgorukaya, but received a harsh refusal. The rejected admirer wrote a denunciation and a new political process began against the Dolgorukys. As a result, they were accused of treason and given more severe punishment.
The former royal bride was exiled to the Tomsk Convent of the Nativity of Christ, where on December 22, 1740 she was forcibly tonsured as a nun. It must be said that this monastery eked out a miserable existence, there were only seven old nuns in it and they fed in the place with the former princess's alms from the townspeople, since the monastery had no other means of subsistence. According to instructions from above, the regime of Catherine’s detention in the monastery was very strict. She could not be alone in the room; there was always a sentry outside her door; for walks, she sometimes climbed the monastery bell tower, this was the only permitted entertainment.
In 1741, Elizabeth ascended to the Russian throne. On January 10, 1742, the abbot of the Tomsk Alekseevsky Monastery, Archimandrite Lavrenty, received a royal decree to remove the monastic vow from Catherine Dolgoruky. Upon returning to St. Petersburg, Ekaterina Dolgorukaya married Count Bruce. But the hardships of Siberian exile were not in vain for this woman’s health, and two years later she died at the age of thirty-three.