by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

They were known collectively as OTMA – the group nickname they made up for themselves from the first letter of each sister’s name in the order of their births. Five and a half years apart from the oldest to the youngest, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia were the four eldest of the five children of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Alexandra Feodorovna). Their younger brother Alexei was the heir to the Russian throne. The five children were great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Their mother was the daughter of Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Alice of the United Kingdom. It was through the descent from Queen Victoria that hemophilia came into the Russian Imperial Family. Alexei inherited hemophilia through his mother and we know from the DNA analysis of the family’s remains, that Anastasia was also a carrier.

The four sisters shared the same patronymic – Nikolaevna – their second name derived from the father’s first name Nicholas, meaning daughter of Nicholas. They shared the same title – Velikaia Knazhna (in Russian: Великая Княжна) meaning Grand Princess, commonly translated into English as Grand Duchess. It was the title of daughters and male-line granddaughters of Emperors of Russia and wives of Grand Dukes of Russia.

The four sisters had a close relationship – they grew up together, shared experiences together, and died together – so this article will be a collective biography, after some information about each sister.

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia

Olga was a big baby, 10 pounds/4.5 kg, and caused her mother some trouble during delivery. She was born on November 15, 1895, at Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, located just south of St. Petersburg, Russia, where Alexander Palace and the larger Catherine Palace, the two summer palaces, are located. Olga was christened eleven days after her birth, on her parents’ first wedding anniversary, at the church in the Catherine Palace, with her paternal grandmother Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Princess Dagmar of Denmark) and her paternal great-uncle Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich as her godparents.

In September 1896, Olga traveled with her parents to Balmoral Castle in Scotland to visit her great-grandmother Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Olga was the closest with her sister Tatiana, born in 1897. The two sisters were dressed alike, shared a room, and were known as “The Big Pair.” Olga was kind and sympathetic. She felt deeply about people’s misfortunes and always tried to help. Olga liked to read more than her sisters and also wrote poetry. Pierre Gilliard, the French tutor of Olga and her sisters, noted that Olga learned her lessons better and faster than her sisters but she could become lazy when things were too easy. Her mother’s friend Anna Vyrubova recalled that Olga had a hot temper and struggled to keep it under control.

Because Olga reached her teens before World War I, there was talk about a marriage for her. The most serious talk was about a marriage between Olga and Prince Carol of Romania (the future King Carol II), the son of King Ferdinand I of Romania and Queen Marie, born a British princess and a first cousin of Olga’s mother. During a visit in 1914 to Romania, Olga did not like Carol, while Carol’s mother Queen Marie was unimpressed with Olga. Edward, Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII) and Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia (the future King Alexander I of Yugoslavia) were also mentioned as potential husbands. Olga wanted to marry a Russian and remain in her own country. When World War I started, any marriage talk was postponed.

Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia

Tatiana was born June 10, 1897, at Peterhof Palace near St. Petersburg. Like her older sister Olga, she was named after a character in Alexander Pushkin’s classic Russian novel Eugene Onegin.  Tatiana was christened on June 20, 1897, at the Peterhof Palace church. Her godparents were her paternal grandmother Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Princess Dagmar of Denmark), her great-great-uncle and a son of Nicholas I, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich, and her paternal aunt Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna

Tatiana, like her sister Olga, was a good student but worked harder and was more dedicated. She had a great talent for sewing, embroidery, and crocheting. Tatiana was practical, had a natural talent for leadership, and so she was nicknamed “The Governess” by her sisters. She was closer to her mother than any of her sisters and was considered by many to be Empress Alexandra’s favorite daughter. Therefore, Tatiana was the one sent as the sisters’ representative when they wanted something from their parents.

In 1914, Tatiana, while nursing in a hospital, met an injured army officer, Dmitri Yakovlevich Malama, who was later appointed an equerry to the court at Tsarskoye Selo. A romance developed between the two and Malama presented Tatiana with a French bulldog named Ortipo. When the dog died, Malama gave Tatiana another dog which was taken into captivity and was killed along with the family. Apparently, Tatiana’s mother approved of Malama. She wrote in a letter to her husband Nicholas II about Malama: “I must admit that he would be an excellent son-in-law – why are foreign princes different from him?” World War I stopped any further development of the relationship. After the Bolsheviks came to power, Malama joined the White Army and was killed in 1919 in Ukraine while commanding a unit of the White Army in the civil war against the Bolsheviks.

In January 1914, the Serbian Prime Minister delivered a letter from King Peter I of Serbia to Nicholas II, in which King Peter expressed his desire for his son Alexander to marry Tatiana. This is the same Alexander (see above) who was also mentioned as a possible husband for Olga. Nicholas II invited Peter I and his son Alexander to Russia where Tatiana and Alexander met. However, the marriage negotiations ended with the outbreak of World War I. Tatiana and Alexander wrote letters to each other until her death. When Alexander learned about the murder of Tatiana, he was extremely distraught.

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia

Maria was born at Peterhof Palace near St. Petersburg on June 26, 1899. The pregnancy had been difficult for Empress Alexandra and she spent the last months in a wheelchair. During the birth, there were fears for the lives of both the mother and the baby. Maria was christened at the church in Peterhof Palace on July 10, 1899, with a large group of godparents: her paternal grandmother Empress Maria Feodorovna, her paternal uncle Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, her paternal second cousin once removed Prince George of Greece (son of King George I of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia), her maternal aunt Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (born Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, wife of Nicholas II’ uncle Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich), her great-great-aunt by marriage Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna (born Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg, wife of Grand Duke Konstantine Nikolaevich), and her maternal great-uncle Prince Heinrich of Hesse and by Rhine.

Maria was closest to her younger sister Anastasia and the two sisters were called “The Little Pair.” The two younger sisters shared a room, often wore variations of the same dress, and spent much of their time together. Anastasia was enthusiastic and energetic and often dominated Maria who felt she had to apologize for Anastasia’s antics. Her sisters often took advantage of her kindheartedness. As more or less, the middle child, Maria sometimes felt insecure and left out by her older sisters and feared she was not loved as much as the other children.

Taking after her paternal grandfather Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, Maria was strong and broad-boned and had problems with being overweight which worried her mother. The sisters’ English teacher Charles Sydney Gibbes remarked that Maria was surprisingly strong, and sometimes, for the sake of joking, she easily lifted him from the floor. Maria was not interested in schoolwork but had a talent for drawing and sketching.

Maria enjoyed flirting with the young soldiers she encountered at the palace and on family holidays. She particularly loved children and said she would love nothing more than to marry a Russian soldier and have twenty children. When an engagement between Olga and Crown Prince Carol of Romania did not materialize, Carol asked for Maria’s hand but her parents refused because they considered Maria too young.

Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg, a maternal uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh) was a son of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna’s eldest sister Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. In his childhood, Lord Mountbatten was close to his aunt Alexandra’s children, his first cousins. At a very young age, he began a “lifelong love affair” with Maria and kept a framed photo of her by his bed until he, like his Romanov first cousins, was also violently murdered. He wrote about Maria: “I was mad about her, and determined to marry her. You could not imagine anyone more beautiful than she was!”

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia

Anastasia was born on June 18, 1901, at Peterhof Palace near St. Petersburg. She was named in honor of Princess Anastasia of Montenegro, a close friend of Anastasia’s mother, who married twice, both times to two grandsons of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. There was, once again, disappointment that Empress Alexandra had not given birth to a boy. In 1797, Paul I, Emperor of All Russia proclaimed a new succession law that stated that the eldest son of the emperor shall inherit the throne followed by other dynasts according to primogeniture in the male line. The throne could only pass to a female and through the female-line upon the extinction of all legitimately-born male dynasts.

The energetic and fearless Anastasia liked to play tricks, had a great acting talent, and enjoyed mimicking other people. “She undoubtedly held the record for punishable deeds in her family, for in naughtiness she was a true genius”, said Gleb Botkin, son of the court physician Yevgeny Botkin, who died with the family at Yekaterinburg.

Anastasia received an education from tutors and studied French, English, German, history, geography, religion, science, grammar, mathematics, drawing, dancing, and music. While she was intelligent, Anastasia did not like the strict structure of her education. Her English teacher Charles Sydney Gibbes recalled that Anastasia once tried to bribe him to raise her grade with a bouquet of flowers. After he refused, she attempted to do the same thing with her Russian teacher.

Anastasia had a close relationship with her younger brother Alexei. If he did not feel well because of his hemophilia, Anastasia was the one who was able to distract him from his pain and cheer him up.

Family Life

Nicholas, Alexandra, and their five children lived mostly at Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, a short distance from St. Petersburg, where they occupied only a part of the several dozen rooms. Sometimes they moved to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, even though it was very large and very cold, and Tatiana and Anastasia were often sick there. The children spoke English with their mother, Russian with their father, German with their mother’s relatives, and also learned French.

In the middle of June, the family went on trips on the Imperial yacht Standart, usually sailing through the Finnish skerries, small rocky islands, too small for human habitation. During the summer, the family would spend some time at Livadia Palace in the Crimea on the Black Sea. There the family bathed in the warm sea, built sandcastles, and sometimes went into the city to ride or walk through the streets and visit shops. They could never have such freedom in St. Petersburg where their appearance would create a big commotion.

Family life was intentionally not as luxurious as we would imagine. Nicholas and Alexandra were afraid that wealth would spoil their children’s character. The four sisters got up at eight in the morning and took a cold bath. The two elder sisters shared a room as did the two younger sisters. The sisters slept on folding army cots, labeled by the owner’s name, under thick blue blankets decorated with the owner’s monogram. The tradition of sleeping on folding army cots was started by Catherine the Great for her grandsons. The army cots could easily be moved closer to the heat in winter, closer to open windows in the summer, next to the Christmas tree, or in the brother’s room. The walls of their rooms were decorated with icons and photographs.

Last Years

Having had four daughters, Empress Alexandra felt great pressure to provide an heir. Finally, in 1904, she gave birth to a son, Alexei. However, it would soon become apparent that she was a carrier of hemophilia, and her young son was a sufferer. This would cause great pain to Alexandra, and great measures were taken to protect him from harm and to hide the illness from the Russian people. When it eventually became public knowledge, it led to more dislike for Alexandra, with many Russian people blaming her for the heir’s illness. See Unofficial Royalty: Hemophilia in Queen Victoria’s Descendants.

After working with many physicians to help Alexei, Empress Alexandra turned to mystics and faith healers. This led to her close, and disastrous, relationship with Grigori Rasputin. Several times he appeared to have brought Alexei back from the brink of death, further cementing Alexandra’s reliance. There were many rumors about Rasputin’s relationship with Alexandra and her children. Rasputin’s friendship with the children was evident in some of the messages he sent to them. While Rasputin’s visits to the children were, by all accounts, completely innocent, the family was scandalized. To many historians and experts, the Imperial Family’s relationship with Rasputin would contribute greatly to the fall of the Russian monarchy. For more information see Unofficial Royalty: Murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin.

The reign of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia would see the first Russian Constitution in 1906 which established a parliament of sorts, however, his reign also saw a steady decline in his popularity and support. Nicholas’ decision to fully mobilize the Russian troops in 1914 led to Russia’s entry into World War I. By 1917, his authority had diminished, and on March 15, 1917, he was forced from the throne. Nicholas formally abdicated for himself and his son, making his younger brother Michael the new Emperor. However, Michael refused to accept until the Russian people could decide on continuing the monarchy or establishing a republic. This never happened.

Nicholas returned to the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo where he and his family were held in protective custody. A few months later, in August, the family was moved to the city of Tobolsk, where they lived in the Governor’s Mansion under heavy guard. Their final move, in April 1918, was to Yekaterinburg where they were housed in the Ipatiev House, known as the “house of special purpose.” It was here, in the early hours of July 17, 1918, that Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, Alexei, the family doctor Dr. Yevgeny Botkin, the maid Anna Demidova, the cook Ivan Kharitonov, and the footman Alexei Trupp were killed by the Bolsheviks who had come to power during the Russian Revolution. Their bodies were initially thrown down a mine, but fearing discovery, they were mutilated and hastily buried beneath some tracks. For more information, see

• Unofficial Royalty: July 17, 1918 – Execution by Firing Squad of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and His Family

Discovery of Remains and Burial

In 1934, Yakov Yurovsky, the commandant of the Ipatiev House, produced an account of the execution and disposal of the bodies. His account later matched the remains of nine bodies found north of Yekaterinburg in 1991. In 1994, when the bodies of the Romanovs were exhumed, two were missing – one daughter, either Maria or Anastasia, and Alexei. The remains of the nine bodies recovered were confirmed as those of the three servants, Dr. Botkin, Nicholas, Alexandra, and three of their daughters. The remains of Olga and Tatiana were identified based on the expected skeletal structure of young women of their age. The remains of the third daughter were either Maria or Anastasia.

The family and their servants were canonized as new martyrs in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia in 1981, and as passion bearers in the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. Formal burial of Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, Dr. Botkin, and the three servants took place on July 17, 1998, the 80th anniversary of their deaths, in the St. Catherine Chapel at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. Boris Yeltsin, President of Russia, many Romanov family members, and family members of Dr. Botkin and the servants attended the ceremony. Prince Michael of Kent represented his first cousin Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Three of his grandparents were first cousins of Nicholas II.

Until 2009, it was not entirely clear whether the remains of Maria or Anastasia were missing. On August 24, 2007, a Russian team of archaeologists announced that they had found the remains of Alexei and his missing sister in July 2007. In 2009, DNA and skeletal analysis identified the remains found in 2007 as Alexei and his sister Maria. In addition, it determined that the royal hemophilia was the rare, severe form of hemophilia, known as Hemophilia B or Christmas disease. The results showed that Alexei had Hemophilia B and that his mother Empress Alexandra and his sister Grand Duchess Anastasia were carriers of the disease. The remains of Alexei and Maria have not yet been buried. The Russian Orthodox Church has questioned whether the remains are authentic and blocked the burial.

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Works Cited

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by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Born on July 6, 1796, at Gatchina Palace in Gatchina, Russia, Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia (Nikolay Pavlovich) was the third of the four sons and the ninth of the ten children of Paul I, Emperor of All Russia and his second wife Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg (Empress Maria Feodorovna). Because he had two, much older brothers, Nicholas was not expected to become Emperor.

Nicholas had seven older siblings and one younger sibling. Only one of his siblings did not survive childhood.

• Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia (1777 – 1825), married Luise of Baden (Elizabeth Alexeievna), had two daughters who both died in childhood
• Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich (1779 – 1831), married (1) Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Anna Feodorovna), no children, marriage annulled (2) Joanna Grudzińska, no children, a morganatic marriage that cost Constantine the crown
• Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna (1783 – 1801), married Archduke Joseph of Austria, Count Palatine of Hungary, had one daughter who died at birth, Alexandra died of childbirth complications a week later
• Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (1784 – 1803), married Friedrich Ludwig, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, had two children
• Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1786 – 1859), married Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, had four children including Augusta who married Wilhelm I, German Emperor, King of Prussia
• Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna (1788 – 1819), married (1) Georg of Oldenburg, had two sons (2) King Wilhelm I of Württemberg, had two daughters including Sophie who married King Willem III of the Netherlands
• Grand Duchess Olga Pavlovna (1792 – 1795), died in early childhood
• Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna (1795 – 1865), married King Willem II of the Netherlands, had five children including King Willem III of the Netherlands
• Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich (1798 – 1849), married Charlotte of Württemberg (Elena Pavlovna), had five children

Four months after his birth, Nicholas’ grandmother Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia died and his father succeeded her as Emperor. His grandmother had taken away Nicholas’ two older brothers Alexander and Constantine to raise them in her apartments. Now Nicholas’ parents would be able to oversee his upbringing. For the first seven years of his life, Nicholas was under the care of his governess, the Russian noble Countess Charlotte Karlovna Lieven. Countess Lieven had previously been entrusted with the education of Nicholas’ sisters but with the death of his grandmother, the countess would also be responsible for Nicholas and his younger brother Michael. When Nicholas was four years old, Matvey Ivanovich Lamsdorf, an army general, was appointed as his tutor. General Lamsdorf stayed with Nicholas for seventeen years.

Nicholas’ father Emperor Paul planned to adopt policies that annoyed the the nonility. A conspiracy was formed to depose Paul. On the night of March 23, 1801, the conspirators charged into Paul’s bedroom, forced him to abdicate, and then strangled and trampled him to death. Paul was succeeded by his 23-year-old son Alexander I who did not punish the conspirators. Nicholas was only four-year-old and yet he vividly recalled that day for the rest of his life.

Since Nicholas’ widowed mother Maria Feodorovna had been entrusted by her husband with the upbringing and care of their two younger sons Nicholas and Michael, Alexander I abstained from any influence on the upbringing of his younger brothers. Maria Feodorovna’s greatest concern regarding Nicholas was his enthusiasm for the military, an influence from his father Paul. Nicholas only excelled in his military studies, particularly military engineering and fortification. Later in life, Nicholas was horrified by his ignorance and attempted to rectify the gaps in his education.

In the autumn of 1814, Nicholas and his younger brother Michael visited Berlin, then in the Kingdom of Prussia. There he met Princess Charlotte of Prussia, the eldest daughter of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. It was love at first sight. In November 1815, arrangements were made for nineteen-year-old Nicholas to marry seventeen-year-old Charlotte to strengthen the alliance between Russia and Prussia. Nicholas’ brother Alexander I had no surviving children but Nicholas was not expected to inherit the Russian throne as his elder brother Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich was the heir. Charlotte was glad that she would not be the empress and would be able to live away from palace intrigues.

Charlotte arrived in Russia in June 1817. She converted to Russian Orthodoxy on July 6, 1817, and took the name Alexandra Feodorovna. The next day, she was officially engaged to Nicholas and was created a Grand Duchess of Russia. The wedding was held on Alexandra Feodorovna’s 19th birthday, July 13, 1817, at the Grand Church of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Alexandra and Nicholas had seven children who would revive the Romanov dynasty:

• Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia (1818 – 1881), married (1) Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Maria Alexandrovna), had six children including Alexander III and Maria Alexandrovna who married Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, son of Queen Victoria; (2) Princess Catherine Dolgorukov, morganatic marriage, had four children
• Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna (1819 – 1876), married (1) Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, had seven children; (2) Count Grigori Stroganov, morganatic marriage, had two children
• Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (1822 – 1892), married 1846, Karl, King of Württemberg, no children
• Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna (1825 – 1844), married Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel, had one son who died shortly after birth along with Alexandra
• Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaevich (1827 – 1892), married Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg (Alexandra Iosifovna), had six children including Olga Constantinivna who married King George I of Greece
• Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich (1831 – 1891), married Alexandra of Oldenburg (Alexandra Petrovna), had two children
• Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich (1832 – 1909), married Cecilie of Baden (Olga Feodorovna); had seven children including Alexander Mikhailovich who married Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, daughter of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia; three of Michael’s sons were killed by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution

Because Nicholas’ eldest brother Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia had no surviving children, the second brother Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich was the heir to the throne. Constantine had married Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in 1796. Juliane was very unhappy in the marriage, and separated from Constantine in 1799. She went back to her homeland permanently in 1801. In 1814, Constantine tried to reconcile with Juliana but was firmly rebuffed. In 1815, Constantine started a relationship with Polish noble Joanna Grudzińska, Princess of Łowicz. Finally, in 1820, after 19 years of separation, Constantine and Juliana’s marriage was officially annulled by Alexander I. Two months later, Grand Duke Constantine morganatically married Joanna Grudzińska. However, for Alexander I  to approve the marriage, Constantine was required to forfeit his rights to the Russian throne in favor of his younger brother Nicholas. The decision was kept secret and known only to a very few people in St. Petersburg.

When Alexander I told Alexandra and Nicholas that they were to be Emperor and Empress, they were taken aback. Nicholas wrote, describing his feelings, “My wife and I remained in a position which I can liken only to the sensation that would strike a man if he were going calmly along a comfortable road sown with flowers and with marvelous scenery on all sides when, suddenly, an abyss yawns wide beneath his feet, and an irresistible force draws him into it, without allowing him to step back or turn aside.”

On December 1, 1825, 47-year-old Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia died from typhus, not in St. Petersburg, but in Taganrog, Russia. Because of his wife’s health issues, Alexander and Elizabeth Alexeievna had been living in a warmer climate, in the city of Taganrog, Russia by the Sea of Azov, 1155 miles/1,858 km from St. Petersburg. The secrecy of the decision to replace Constantine with Nicholas as heir to the throne backfired. Only three men, apart from Alexander himself, were aware of his decision, and none of them was present in the Winter Palace when the news of Alexander’s death reached Saint Petersburg on December 9, 1825.

Military governor Mikhail Miloradovich persuaded the hesitant Nicholas to pledge allegiance to Constantine, who then lived in Warsaw as the Viceroy of Poland. The State Council agreed with Miloradovich and all the troops stationed in Saint Petersburg recognized Constantine as their Emperor. Constantine repeated his rejection of the throne and blessed Nicholas as the Emperor. However, Constantine refused to come to Saint Petersburg, leaving the dangerous task of resolving the crisis to Nicholas.

Evidence of a revolt (called the Decembrist Revolt) that would involve Russian army officers leading soldiers in revolt against Nicholas becoming Emperor, forced Nicholas to act. On December 26, 1825, Nicholas proclaimed himself Emperor of All Russia. By noon, the government and most of the troops of Saint Petersburg pledged allegiance to Nicholas. However, the Decembrists incited three thousand soldiers in support of Constantine and took a stand on Senate Square in St. Petersburg.  The battle in Senate Square cost over 1,200 lives, crushed the revolt, and resulted in 29-year-old Nicholas becoming the undisputed Emperor of All Russia and Alexandra Feodorovna becoming Empress. Alexandra and Nicholas were crowned at the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin on September 3, 1826.

Nicholas ruled the Russian Empire in an authoritative and reactionary manner for 29 years. Among the events of Nicholas I’s reign were:

• The establishment of an authoritarian regime
• The abolition of serfdom was rejected
• A variety of repressive provisions against Jews were issued
• Censorship statute forbidding the printing of anything with a political background
• The Russification of various nationalities accompanied by attempts to convert Protestants and Catholics to Russian Orthodoxy occurred
• Development of industry which led to an increase in the growth of cities
• Russo-Persian War
• Russo-Turkish War
• Uprising in Poland
• Opening of the first railway in Russia from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoye Selo
• Peasant reforms
• Financial reform
• Russian troops suppressed the Hungarian uprising
• Completion of the construction of the St. Petersburg-Moscow Railway
• Opening of the State Hermitage Museum
• Crimean War

Although Nicholas had mistresses and illegitimate children, his love for Alexandra continued. When part of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in 1837 caught on fire, Nicholas ordered that a small box with letters Alexandra had written him during their engagement be saved. Alexandra’s health had always been frail and she suffered several minor heart attacks. Nicholas had a villa built for Alexandra in the Crimea where the climate was warmer but because of the Crimean War, Alexandra only stayed there once. In 1854, Alexandra was very ill and close to death but she survived.

The next year, Nicholas caught a chill, refused medical treatment, and developed pneumonia. Knowing he was dying, Nicholas retained his composure and said goodbye to his children and grandchildren. He blessed them and reminded them that they should remain friendly with each other. In the early afternoon of March 2, 1855, Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia died at age 58 at the Winter Palace.  He was buried at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. His eldest son succeeded him as Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia. Alexandra Feodorovna survived her husband by five years and was buried next to him.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Romanov Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Tsardom of Russia/Russian Empire Index
• Romanov Births, Marriages and Deaths
• Romanov Burial Sites
• Romanovs Killed During the Russian Revolution
• Romanovs Who Survived the Russian Revolution

Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. (2018). Nikolaus I. (Russland). [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolaus_I._(Russland) [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Nicholas I of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_I_of_Russia [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].
• Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1981). The Romanovs: Autocrats of  All the Russias. New York, NY.: Doubleday
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Николай I. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B9_I [Accessed 30 Jan. 2018].

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

The eldest of the ten children of Paul I, Emperor of All Russia and his second wife Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg (Empress Maria Feodorovna), Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia (Alexander Pavlovich) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia on December 23, 1777. He was named Alexander by his grandmother Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia in honor of Alexander Nevsky, a famous 13th-century ruling prince from the Rurik dynasty who is a saint in the Russian Orthodox religion. Three months after his birth, Empress Catherine took the infant Alexander to live in her own apartments so she could raise him, apparently forgetting the pain she felt when Elizabeth I, Empress of All Russia took away her own son Paul so she could raise him. In 1779, when Paul and Maria Feodorovna had a second son, Empress Catherine named him Constantine after the Roman emperor of the fourth century,  Constantine the Great.  Constantine joined his brother Alexander in their grandmother’s apartments.

Alexander had nine younger siblings:

• Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich (1779 – 1831), married (1) Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Anna Feodorovna), no children, marriage annulled (2) Joanna Grudzińska, no children, a morganatic marriage that cost Constantine the crown
• Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna (1783 – 1801), married Archduke Joseph of Austria, Count Palatine of Hungary, had one daughter who died at birth, Alexandra died of childbirth complications a week later
• Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (1784 – 1803), married Friedrich Ludwig, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, had two children
• Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1786 – 1859), married Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, had four children including Augusta who married Wilhelm I, German Emperor, King of Prussia
• Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna (1788 – 1819), married (1) Georg of Oldenburg, had two sons (2) King Wilhelm I of Württemberg, had two daughters including Sophie who married King Willem III of the Netherlands
• Grand Duchess Olga Pavlovna (1792 – 1795), died in early childhood
• Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna (1795 – 1865), married King Willem II of the Netherlands, had five children including King Willem III of the Netherlands
• Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia (1796 – 1855), married Charlotte of Prussia (Alexandra Feodorovna), had ten children including Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia
• Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich (1798 – 1849), married Charlotte of Württemberg (Elena Pavlovna), had five children

Alexander began his education at the age of six under the tutelage of General Nikolai Ivanovich Saltykov. Within a few years, Frédéric-César de La Harpe from Switzerland became Alexander’s tutor with Saltykov becoming his military tutor. La Harpe exposed Alexander to the principles of the humanity of the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau while Saltykov taught him the traditions of the Russian aristocracy. From his father Paul, who had weekly visits with his son, Alexander developed a passion for all things military. By the time he was fourteen, Alexander was quite tall and developing a fascination with women. His grandmother Catherine the Great decided it was time to find him a bride.

Looking over a list of eligible princesses, Catherine the Great was favorably impressed by Louise of Baden, who was 12 years old at the time and a daughter of Karl Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Baden and Amelia Frederica of Hesse-Darmstadt.  Louise, along with her younger sister Frederica (who eventually married King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden), went to St. Petersburg, Russia in the fall of 1792. Empress Catherine was enchanted with the young princess and Louise was attracted to the tall, handsome Alexander. Louise stayed in Russia so that she could learn the Russian language and convert to Russian Orthodoxy. She exchanged her birth name for Elizabeth Alexeievna and became a Grand Duchess of Russia. The couple was formally betrothed in May 1793 and the wedding occurred on September 28, 1793. The bride was fourteen and the groom was fifteen.  Catherine the Great had the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo built for Alexander and Elizabeth Alexeievna on the occasion of their marriage.

Alexander and Elizabeth Alexeievna had two daughters who both died in early childhood.

• Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna (1799 – 1800)
• Grand Duchess Elizabeth Alexandrovna (1806 – 1808)

Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia never considered inviting her son Paul to share her power in governing Russia. Once Alexander was born, it appeared that Catherine had found a more suitable heir. It is possible that Catherine intended to bypass Paul and name her grandson Alexander as her successor but she never got the chance. On November 4, 1796, Catherine suffered a stroke. Despite all attempts to revive her, she fell into a coma from which she never recovered. Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia died on November 6, 1796, and Paul was now Emperor of All Russia.

During the reign of Emperor Paul, Alexander and Elizabeth Alexeievna’s marriage started to falter. Alexander started a long-term affair with Maria Antonovna Naryshkina in 1799 and Elizabeth Alexeievna sought affection with her husband’s friend Prince Adam Czartoryski, a Polish noble. In 1799, Elizabeth Alexeievna gave birth to a daughter Maria Alexandrovna, who had dark eyes and dark hair like Prince Adam Czartoryski, unlike the blond hair and blue eyes of both Alexander and Elizabeth Alexeievna. Sadly, the child died when she was 13 months old.

As Emperor, Alexander’s father Paul agreed with the practices of autocracy and tried to prevent liberal ideas in the Russian Empire. He did not tolerate freedom of thought or resistance against autocracy. Because he overly taxed the nobility and limited their rights, the Russian nobles, by increasing numbers, were against him. Paul’s reign was becoming increasingly despotic. Eventually, the nobility reached their breaking point. As early as the end of 1797, rumors began swirling of a coup d’état being prepared by the nobility. It is probable that Alexander knew of the coup d’état plans.

Afraid of intrigues and assassination plots, Paul disliked the Winter Palace where he never felt safe so he had the fortified Mikhailovsky Castle built in Saint Petersburg. In February 1801, Paul and his family moved into Mikhailovsky Castle. On the night of March 23, 1801, only forty days after moving into the castle, a group of conspirators charged into Paul’s bedroom, forced him to abdicate, and then strangled and trampled him to death. Alexander, who probably knew about the coup but not the murder plot, succeeded as Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia at the age of 23.

When Alexander was informed about the murder of his father, he sobbed. One of the conspirators told Alexander, “Time to grow up! Go and rule!” Alexander went out on the palace balcony to show himself to the troops and said: “My father died of apoplexy. I will be like my grandmother.” None of the conspirators of the coup d’état that resulted in the murder of Emperor Paul were punished. On the first day of his reign, Alexander freed 12,000 prisoners who had been sentenced by his father to prison or exile without a trial. Within a month, Alexander began restoring freedoms that his father revoked. Alexander and Elizabeth Alexeievna were crowned on September 15, 1801, at the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin.

After Alexander became Emperor, his marriage was one in name only. Both Alexander and Elizabeth Alexeievna fulfilled their duties as Emperor and Empress. However, Alexander continued his long-term affair with Maria Antonovna Naryshkina and Elizabeth Alexeievna continued her affair with  Prince Adam Czartoryski.  This affair lasted until Elizabeth Alexeievna began a new affair with Captain Alexis Okhotnikov.  In 1806, Elizabeth Alexeievna gave birth to another daughter, Elizabeth Alexandrovna, who died of an infection when she was 17 months old.  Rumors circulated that Elizabeth Alexandrovna was really the daughter of Alexis Okhotnikov.  In 1807, Alexis Okhotnikov was killed and suspicions arose that either Emperor Alexander I or his brother Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich had ordered him killed. Although the death of Elizabeth Alexandrovna brought Alexander and Elizabeth Alexeievna temporarily closer, they had no more children.  Besides, Maria Maryshkina, Alexander had several mistresses and, according to some estimates, could have had up to eleven illegitimate children.

Accomplishments of the reign of Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia include:

• Formation of an advisory privy council
• Replacing Peter the Great’s old government departments with eight ministries: foreign affairs, military ground forces, naval forces, internal affairs, finance, justice, commerce, education
• Establishment of the State Council of the Russian Empire, the highest legislative body of the Russian Empire in 1810-1906. Members were appointed and dismissed by the emperor.
• Financial reform
• Reorganization of educational institutions and free education at the lower levels
• Establishment of military settlements – the system of organizing troops combining military service with the employment of productive labor, primarily, agricultural

The most important military event during Alexander’s reign was the Napoleonic Wars, a series of major conflicts (1803 – 1815) pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against various coalitions of European powers. At first, it seemed that Alexander and Russia might come to terms with Napoleon and France but when Alexander’s former tutor Frédéric-César de La Harpe came back from a trip to France and presented Alexander with his Reflections on the True Nature of the Consul for Life about Napoleon’s tyranny, Alexander changed his mind. Russia fought with the coalition against Napoleon and France.

In 1812, Napoleon’s army invaded Russia, called the Patriotic War of 1812 in Russia. Napoleon hoped to force Alexander to stop trading with British merchants in an effort to pressure the United Kingdom to sue for peace. The French forces eventually were repelled by the brutal Russian winter and retreated to the borders of Russia, pursued by the Russian army. The Patriotic War of 1812 ended with the almost complete destruction of the French army and it was the motivation for composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, written in 1882 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Russia’s defense against Napoleon’s invading army in 1812. Napoleon’s eventual downfall left Alexander as one of the most powerful rulers in Europe. Alexander was one of the leaders at the Congress of Vienna (September 1814 – June 1815), which established a new European order.

In 1819, Alexander was named as a godfather to the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and granddaughter of King George III of the United Kingdom. The little princess’ paternal uncle Prince Frederick, Duke of York, stood proxy for Emperor Alexander at the christening. The princess was given the names Alexandrina, in honor of Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia, and Victoria, in honor of her mother. She was called Drina as a child but history knows her as Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Toward the end of his life, Alexander became very involved in religious mysticism, ended his long-term affair, and somewhat reconciled with his wife. By 1825, Elizabeth Alexeievna’s health was suffering due to lung problems and the doctors recommended getting away from the harsh climate of St. Petersburg. Alexander and Elizabeth Alexeievna relocated to the city of Taganrog, Russia by the Sea of Azov where they stayed in a modest house. In November 1825, Alexander returned to Taganrog after visiting Crimea. He had a cold, which developed into typhus. On December 1, 1825, 47-year-old Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia died in Elizabeth Alexeievna’s arms in their home in Taganrog.

Elizabeth Alexeievna survived him by five months. While traveling back to St. Petersburg for her husband’s funeral, she felt so sick that had to stop at Belev in Tula Province, Russia. On the morning of May 16, 1826, Elizabeth Alexeievna’s maid went to check on her and found her dead in bed of heart failure at the age of 47. Elizabeth Alexeievna and her husband were buried at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Romanov Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Tsardom of Russia/Russian Empire Index
• Romanov Births, Marriages and Deaths
• Romanov Burial Sites
• Romanovs Killed During the Russian Revolution
• Romanovs Who Survived the Russian Revolution

Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. (2018). Alexander I. (Russland). [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_I._(Russland) [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Alexander I of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_I_of_Russia [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018].
• Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1981). The Romanovs: Autocrats of  All the Russias. New York, NY.: Doubleday
• Massie, R. (2016). Catherine the Great. London: Head of Zeus.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Александр I. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80_I [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018].

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Paul I, Emperor of All Russia (Pavel Petrovich) was born on October 1, 1754, at the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth in St. Petersburg, Russia. As the son of Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeievna (born Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, later Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia), Paul was recognized by Catherine’s husband Grand Duke Peter Feodorovich (born Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp, later Peter III, Emperor of All Russia) as his son. Peter and Catherine’s marriage was not a happy one. Peter took a mistress and Catherine had many lovers. It is possible that Paul’s father was Sergei Vasilievich Saltykov. At a later date, Catherine claimed that Peter was not Paul’s father and that their marriage was never consummated. If this is true, then all subsequent Romanovs were not genetically Romanovs.

Including Paul, Catherine gave birth to three children during her marriage to Peter and to a possible four others after Peter’s death.

Catherine’s other children born during her marriage to Peter:

• Anna Petrovna (1757 – 1759), died in early childhood, recognized as Peter’s daughter but she probably was the daughter of Stanisław August Poniatowski
• Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky (1762 – 1813), son of Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, Catherine’s lover who helped overthrow her husband Peter III

Taken from his mother immediately after birth, Paul spent the first eight years of his life at the court of his great-aunt Elizabeth I, Empress of All Russia. Elizabeth was the daughter of Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia and the younger sister of Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna, Peter III’s mother who died shortly after his birth. The unmarried and childless Empress Elizabeth named her nephew Peter as her heir when he was ten-years-old. However, Peter grew up to be boastful, cruel, and selfish and there are suspicions that Empress Elizabeth intended to replace him as her heir with Paul.

Empress Elizabeth controlled all aspects of Paul’s life, starting with naming him. Catherine and Peter were only allowed weekly visits. When he was four-years-old, Paul got his first tutor, Russian diplomat Feodor Dmitrievich Behteev, who began to teach Paul basic math and to read in Russian and French. Behteev used a method that combined fun with teaching and quickly taught Paul to read and count with the help of toy soldiers and a folding fortress. When Paul was six-years-old, Bekhteev was replaced with a governor, Russian diplomat Nikita Ivanovich Panin, who was responsible for Paul’s education. Panin outlined a wide range of subjects that he believed Paul needed to understand and arranged for Paul’s tutors.

Empress Elizabeth died in 1762 and was succeeded by her nephew as Peter III, Emperor of All Russia. However, the reign of Peter III lasted only six months. Paul’s mother engineered a coup that not only deposed her husband but also got him killed by her supporters. In the summer of 1762, Paul’s mother began her 34-year-reign as Catherine II, Empress of All Russia, known in history as Catherine the Great.

When Catherine was finally able to retrieve her eight-year-old son after the death of Empress Elizabeth, it was too late to repair their relationship. Paul’s early isolation from his mother created a distance between them which would only be reinforced by later events. As Paul reached adolescence, he became more convinced that the deposed Peter III was his father. He asked people about Peter III’s death and why Catherine had succeeded to the throne instead of him. He heard rumors that Alexei Orlov, the brother of his mother’s lover Grigory Orlov, was responsible for Peter III’s death. The Orlov brothers had been very active in deposing Peter III. The true circumstances of PeterIII’s death are unclear but it is possible that Alexei Orlov murdered him. Another story is that Peter III had been killed in a drunken brawl with one of his jailers. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to see why Paul was suspicious of his mother and resented her.

• Unofficial Royalty: Assassination of Peter III, Emperor of All Russia

In 1773, Empress Catherine began the search for a bride for her 18-year-old son and heir Paul. Catherine the Great asked Friedrich II (the Great) of Prussia for recommendations and his thoughts immediately turned to the three unmarried daughters of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Countess Karoline of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken: Amalie, Wilhelmine, and Luise. The three sisters went to St. Petersburg with their mother and it did not take Paul long to choose Wilhelmine. Wilhelmine converted to Russian Orthodoxy, took the name Natalia Alexeievna and was created a Grand Duchess of Russia. On September 29, 1773, 17-year-old Natalia Alexeievna and 19-year-old Paul Petrovich were married at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in St. Petersburg which stood on the site where the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan now stands. Empress Catherine was happy to hear that after two-plus years of marriage, Natalia Alexeievna was pregnant with a possible heir. She went into labor on April 10, 1776, but sadly on April 15, 1776, 19-year-old Natalia and her baby boy died after six days of agonizing labor.

Through the machinations of Catherine the Great and Friedrich the Great of Prussia, another marriage was quickly arranged for Paul. The bride was to be Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg, the eldest daughter of Friedrich II Eugen, Duke of Württemberg and Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt. The 16-year-old Sophia Dorothea was pleased with the prospect of becoming Empress of All Russia. She arrived in Russia in August 1776 and converted to Russian Orthodoxy the next month, receiving the name Maria Feodorovna. The next day Maria was formally betrothed to Paul and was created a Grand Duchess of Russia. On October 7, 1776, less than six months after the death of Paul’s first wife, 17-year-old Maria Feodorovna and 22-year-old Paul Petrovich were married in St. Petersburg. The couple had a happy marriage for many years.

Maria Feodorovna and Paul had ten children including two Emperors of All Russia. Only one of their children did not survive childhood.

• Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia (1777 – 1825), married Luise of Baden (Elizabeth Alexeievna), had two daughters who both died in childhood
• Grand Duke Konstantine Pavlovich (1779 – 1831), married (1) Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Anna Feodorovna), no children, marriage annulled (2) Joanna Grudzińska, no children, a morganatic marriage that cost Constantine the crown
• Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna (1783 – 1801), married Archduke Joseph of Austria, Count Palatine of Hungary, had one daughter who died at birth, Alexandra died of childbirth complications a week later
• Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (1784 – 1803), married Friedrich Ludwig, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, had two children
• Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1786 – 1859), married Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, had four children including Augusta who married Wilhelm I, German Emperor, King of Prussia
• Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna (1788 – 1819), married (1) Georg of Oldenburg, had two sons (2) King Wilhelm I of Württemberg, had two daughters including Sophie who married King Willem III of the Netherlands
• Grand Duchess Olga Pavlovna (1792 – 1795), died in early childhood
• Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna (1795 – 1865), married King Willem II of the Netherlands, had five children including King Willem III of the Netherlands
• Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia (1796 – 1855), married Charlotte of Prussia (Alexandra Feodorovna), had ten children including Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia
• Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich (1798 – 1849), married Charlotte of Württemberg (Elena Pavlovna), had five children

At first, Maria Feodorovna and Catherine had a good relationship but the situation deteriorated when Maria’s first child was born in 1777. Just as Empress Elizabeth had done to her, Catherine the Great took away Maria’s firstborn child Alexander to raise him without interference from his parents. When a second son, Constantine, was born in 1779, Catherine also took him away. Maria and Paul were allowed to visit their sons only once a week. As their reward for producing an heir to the throne, Maria and Paul were given Pavlovsk Palace near Tsarkoye Selo. Maria and Paul’s remaining children were allowed to stay with them, however, the couple had a great feeling of animosity toward Catherine. When their eldest daughter Alexandra was born, Catherine presented the couple with Gatchina Palace near St. Petersburg which had been built for Count Grigori Grigoryevich Orlov, who had been a favorite of Catherine.

Empress Catherine never considered inviting her son Paul to share her power in governing Russia. Once Paul’s son Alexander (the future Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia) was born, it appeared that Catherine had found a more suitable heir. It is possible that Catherine intended to bypass Paul and name her grandson Alexander as her successor but she never got the chance. On November 4, 1796, Catherine suffered a stroke. Despite all attempts to revive her, she fell into a coma from which she never recovered. Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia died on November 6, 1796, at the age of 67, after a reign of 34 years. Paul was now Emperor of All Russia.

Now as the Emperor of All Russia, Paul sought revenge for the deposed and disgraced his father Peter III and for the coup of his mother Catherine II. Upon his death in 1762, Peter III was buried without any honors at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg. Immediately after the death of Catherine II, Paul ordered the remains of Catherine’s husband, the deposed and murdered Peter III, Emperor of All Russia, transferred first to the church in the Winter Palace and then to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, the burial site of the Romanovs. 60-year-old Alexei Orlov, who had played a role in deposing Peter III and possibly also in his death, was made to walk in the funeral cortege, holding the Imperial Crown as he walked in front of Peter’s coffin. Peter III was reburied in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg at the same time as the burial of his wife Catherine II. Peter III had never been crowned so at the time of his reburial, Paul I personally performed the ritual of coronation on his father’s remains.

On the day of his coronation, Paul further sought revenge by negating the succession decree issued by Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia in 1722, which stated that the reigning emperor may appoint a successor during his lifetime and that anyone may be named as his heir. Paul personally read out the new Act of Succession of April 5, 1797, also known as the Pauline Laws. The new succession act substituted a strict order of succession by proclaiming that the eldest son of the emperor shall inherit the throne followed by other dynasts according to primogeniture in the male-line. The throne could only pass to a female and through the female line if there were no legitimately-born male dynasts. This succession law remained in effect until the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917.

Ironically, Paul I, Emperor of All Russia suffered a fate similar to Peter III. Paul’s reign lasted five years, ending with his assassination by conspirators. As Emperor, Paul agreed with the practices of autocracy and tried to prevent liberal ideas in the Russian Empire. He did not tolerate freedom of thought or resistance against the autocracy. Because he overly taxed the nobility and limited their rights, the Russian nobles, by increasing numbers, were against him. Paul’s reign was becoming increasingly despotic. Eventually, the nobility reached their breaking point. As early as the end of 1797, rumors began swirling of a coup d’état being planned by the nobility. It is probable that Paul’s son and heir Alexander knew of the coup d’état plans and that Paul’s wife Maria Feodorovna knew about the existence of plans.

Afraid of intrigues and assassination plots, Paul disliked the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg where he never felt safe. He ordered his birthplace, the dilapidated Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth in St. Petersburg to be demolished and replaced with a new fortified residence, the Mikhailovsky Castle. In February 1801, Paul and his family moved into the Mikhailovsky Castle. On the night of March 23, 1801, only forty days after moving into the castle, a group of conspirators charged into Paul’s bedroom, forced him to abdicate, and then strangled and trampled him to death. Paul’s eldest son, who probably knew about the coup but not the murder plot, succeeded as Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia. Paul I, Emperor of All Russia was buried at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

• Unofficial Royalty: Assassination of Paul I, Emperor of All Russia

Romanov Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Tsardom of Russia/Russian Empire Index
• Romanov Births, Marriages and Deaths
• Romanov Burial Sites
• Romanovs Killed During the Russian Revolution
• Romanovs Who Survived the Russian Revolution

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Paul I of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_I_of_Russia [Accessed 25 Jan. 2018].
• Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1981). The Romanovs: Autocrats of  All the Russias. New York, NY.: Doubleday
• Massie, R. (2016). Catherine the Great. London: Head of Zeus.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Павел I. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BB_I [Accessed 25 Jan. 2018].

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Peter III, Emperor of All Russia (Pyotr Feodorovich) had the shortest reign of all the Romanov rulers – just six months. Originally Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp, he was born February 21, 1728, at Kiel Castle in Kiel, then in the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp, now in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. His father was Karl Friedrich, reigning Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. His mother was Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia, the elder of the two surviving daughters of Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia and his second wife, born Marta Helena Skowrońska, the daughter of an ethnic Polish peasant, renamed Catherine (Ekaterina) Alexeievna, and later the successor to her husband Peter the Great as Catherine I, Empress of All Russia. Peter was his parents’ only child. His mother died at the age of 20, three months after his birth.

Peter’s father never married again and his son was left in the care of the Holstein household guards who put sergeant’s stripes on Peter’s sleeve and let him drill with them. Peter lacked a serious education and any training in governing. Knowing nothing else but what the guards taught him, Peter became passionate about military drilling. In 1739, Peter’s father died, and at the age of eleven, he became Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.

In 1742, Peter’s life dramatically changed when his unmarried maternal aunt, his mother’s younger sister, Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia, declared him her heir and brought him to St. Petersburg, Russia. His arrival in Russia was of great interest to the nobility who were anxious to see the grandson of Peter the Great. However, Jacob von Stäehlin who had been appointed to be his tutor noted that Peter appeared very pale, weak, and skinny. His aunt Elizabeth had a similar reaction – she was struck by his ignorance, his skinny, sickly appearance, and his unhealthy complexion.

Within weeks of his arrival in St. Petersburg, Peter traveled with Empress Elizabeth to Moscow for her coronation. He was in a specially arranged place of honor near Empress Elizabeth during her coronation at the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin on May 6, 1742. After the coronation, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the Preobrazhensky Guards and colonel of the First Life Guards Regiment. Every day, he dressed in the uniform of the Preobrazhensky Guards and received monthly reports regarding the two regiments.

His tutor Jacob von Stäehlin, who considered Peter capable but lazy, was not having much success with his pupil. It appeared to his tutor that Peter had not been taught anything in Holstein except some French which greatly surprised and concerned Empress Elizabeth. Stäehlin simplified instruction for Peter using books with pictures, mathematical models, and coins and medals when teaching Peter Russian history. Twice a week, Stäehlin read newspapers to Peter and explained the history of European states while showing him their location on a globe. Peter often could not sit still and when he walked back and forth around the room, Stäehlin joined him and attempted to occupy him with a useful conversation. Peter much preferred playing with tin soldiers, hunting, and playing the violin.

Isaak Pavlovich Veselovsky, a diplomat who had taught Elizabeth and Peter’s mother French, was charged with teaching Peter the Russian language. Peter was instructed in the Russian Orthodox religion by Archbishop Simeon Feodorovich Theodorsky. On November 17, 1742, Peter converted from Lutheranism to Russian Orthodoxy, was given the name Peter Feodorovich, the title Grand Duke, and was officially named the heir to the Russian throne.

In 1743, Jacob von Stäehlin had more success with Peter’s education. By the end of the year, Peter knew the main points of Russian history and geography and knew all the Russian rulers from Rurik who ruled in the 800s to Peter the Great. Once at the dinner table, Peter corrected a Russian Field Marshal during a discussion concerning ancient Russian history. Empress Elizabeth cried with joy and on the next day gave orders to officially thank Peter’s tutor Jacob von Stäehlin.

It was important to Empress Elizabeth that Peter marry so that the Romanov dynasty would be continued. Elizabeth arranged for Peter to marry his second cousin, Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst (later Catherine II the Great), daughter of Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst and Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp. Sophie converted to Russian Orthodoxy, took the name Ekaterina (Catherine) Alexeievna, and married Peter on August 21, 1745, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan in St. Petersburg.

After their wedding, Peter and Catherine were granted the possession of two palaces, Oranienbaum near St. Petersburg and Lyubertsy near Moscow. Jacob von Stäehlin was dismissed from his duties as tutor and Peter’s education was entrusted to the Russian General, Prince Vassili Anikititch Repnin. Peter was able to influence Repnin to ignore anything educational so that Peter could continuously engage in military games and drilling. Empress Elizabeth was much displeased with this and replaced Repnin with Nikolai Naumovich Choglokov who kept much better, but not complete, control of Peter.

Peter and Catherine’s marriage was not happy but Catherine gave birth to one son, the future Emperor Paul, and one daughter Anna Petrovna, who died in early childhood. Both children were taken by Empress Elizabeth to her apartments immediately after their births to be raised by her. Peter took Elizabeth Romanovna Vorontsova as his mistress and Catherine had affairs with Sergei Saltykov, Grigory Orlov, Alexander Vasilchikov, Grigory Potemkin, and Stanisław August Poniatowski. Later, Catherine claimed that Peter was not the father of her son and successor Paul, and that they had never consummated their marriage.

Children born during the marriage of Peter and Catherine:

• Paul I, Emperor of All Russia (1754 – 1801), married (1) Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt (Natalia Alexeievna), died in childbirth, no issue (2) Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg (Maria Feodorovna), had issue including Emperor Alexander I, Emperor Nicholas I, Anna Pavlovna, Queen of the Netherlands; it is possible that Paul’s father was Sergei Vasilievich Saltykov, if this is true, then all subsequent Romanovs were not genetically Romanovs
• Anna Petrovna (1757 – 1759), died in early childhood, probably the daughter of Stanisław August Poniatowski
• Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky (1762 – 1813), son of Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, Catherine’s lover who helped overthrow her husband Peter III

In 1754, General Christian von Brockdorff arrived from Holstein (Peter was still Duke of Holstein-Gottorp) and became the Chamberlain of Peter’s court at Oranienbaum Palace. Brockdorff encouraged Peter’s militaristic habits and his communication with Friedrich II (the Great), King of Prussia. Soon after Brockdorff’s arrival, a detachment of Holstein soldiers arrived. By 1758, the number of Holstein soldiers had risen to about 1,500. Peter and Brockdorff spent most of their time with the Holstein soldiers doing military exercises and maneuvers. Peter had a fortress built for his Holstein troops at Oranienbaum called Peterstadt Fortress.

Peter never attempted to gain more knowledge about Russia, its people, and its history. He neglected Russian customs, behaved inappropriately during church services, and did not observe fasts and other rites. He spoke Russian poorly and infrequently. Empress Elizabeth did not allow Peter to participate in government affairs. Peter openly criticized the activities of the government, and during the Seven Years’ War publicly expressed sympathy for Friedrich II (the Great), King of Prussia.

Meanwhile, Peter’s wife Catherine became friends with Princess Ekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova, the sister of Peter’s mistress, who introduced Catherine to several powerful political groups that opposed her husband Peter. Peter’s temperament became quite unbearable for those who resided in the palace. Catherine spent much time in her own private boudoir to hide away from Peter’s abrasive personality.

Empress Elizabeth was often ill and reluctant to show herself in public because of her ill health. In 1757, she suffered a stroke at a well-attended church service, and then her health situation became well-known. A particularly difficult problem for her was the succession. She was childless and the Romanov dynasty had been extinct in the male line since the death of Peter II in 1730. Elizabeth did not love her nephew Peter and his political views did not suit her because he admired her enemy Friedrich II (the Great), King of Prussia. The sicker Elizabeth became, the more the courtiers turned away from her and tried to please the heir to the throne.

On January 3, 1762, Elizabeth had a massive stroke and the doctors agreed she would not recover. Peter, Catherine, and others close to her gathered around her bed in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Elizabeth, alert and clear-headed, showed no signs of wishing to change the succession. She asked Peter to look after little Paul, who she dearly loved. Peter quickly promised to do so, knowing that Elizabeth could change the succession with a single word. On January 5, 1762, Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia died at the age of 52 and her nephew became Peter III, Emperor of All Russia.

As the death of Empress Elizabeth was announced to the court, the room was filled with moans and weeping. Peter was unpopular and few were looking forward to his reign. Later that day, when high government officials and military officers gathered to take the oath of allegiance to the new emperor, Peter insisted that they wear bright colorful clothing. After the oath, Peter gave a gala banquet for over a hundred guests. During the religious ceremonies for the lying-in-state of the deceased empress, Peter, according to Princess Dashkova “made faces, acted the buffoon and imitated poor old ladies.” Peter did little to win the support of Empress Elizabeth’s friends and courtiers.

Peter’s foreign policy also did little to win supporters. At the time of Elizabeth’s death, Russia was on the verge of defeating Prussia in the Seven Years’ War. Instead, because Friedrich I (the Great), King of Prussia was his idol, Peter withdrew Russian troops from Berlin and marched against the Austrians, Russia’s ally. As Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Peter planned war against Denmark to restore parts of Schleswig to his Duchy. This war would bring no benefit to Russia and even the Prussian king advised Peter against taking this action. The Danish war was planned for June but never happened.

The last straw for Peter may have been how he treated the Russian army. Peter abolished “the guard within the guard”, a group within the Preobrazhensky Regiment, created by Empress Elizabeth as her personal guard in remembrance of their support in the coup which brought her to the throne. He replaced “the guard within the guard” with his own Holstein guard and often spoke about their superiority over the Russian army.

Meanwhile, Catherine’s position deteriorated along with the position of three groups – the clergy, senior statesmen, and the Imperial Guard, the Preobrazhensky Regiment. Peter began to think about divorcing Catherine and marrying his mistress. Wisely, Catherine quietly aligned herself with the three groups. She remained calm and dignified even when Peter grossly insulted her in public. The devotion of the Preobrazhensky Regiment to Catherine was never in doubt because her lover Grigory Orlov and his four brothers were all members of the Guard.

A conspiracy to overthrow Peter was planned and centered around the five Orlov brothers. On July 9, 1762 (June 29 in Old Style, the feast day of St. Peter and Paul), at Peterhof, a celebration of Peter’s name day was planned. It was no coincidence that the conspirators chose this time for their attack. The day before, Peter was to travel from Oranienbaum to Peterhof. The brothers Alexei Orlov and Grigory Orlov made preparations during the weeks before the planned celebration. With threats and bribes of vodka and money, the brothers set up the guards against Peter.

Peter was late leaving Oranienbaum due to a hangover and his daily habit of reviewing his Holstein troops. He was to meet Catherine at Peterhof but she was not there when he arrived. Eventually, Peter and the few advisers he had with him began to suspect what was happening. Peter sent members of his entourage to St. Petersburg to find out what was happening but none returned. Eventually, he learned that Catherine had proclaimed herself Empress and that senior government officials, the clergy, and all the Guards supported her. Peter ordered his Holstein guards to take up defensive positions at Peterhof. They did so but were afraid to tell Peter they had no cannonballs to fire. Peter thought about fleeing but was told no horses were available because his entourage had all arrived in carriages. Learning that Catherine and the Guards were approaching Peterhof, Peter made a desperate decision to sail Kronstadt, a fortress on an island. Upon arrival, Peter was refused admittance because all those in the fortress had sworn allegiance to Catherine. Peter rejected the advice of his advisors to go to the Prussian army and returned to Oranienbaum.

Peter and his Holstein guards were behind the gates at Oranienbaum and Alexei Orlov and his men had surrounded Oranienbaum. Peter sent a message that he would renounce the throne if he, his mistress Elizabeth Romanovna Vorontsova,  and his favorite Russian general would be allowed to go to Holstein. Catherine sent Grigori Orlov and a Russian general to Oranienbaum insisting that Peter write a formal announcement of abdication in his own handwriting. Orlov was to deal with the abdication and the general was to lure Peter out of Oranienbaum and back to Peterhof to prevent any bloodshed. Orlov rode back to Peterhof with the signed abdication announcement and the general convinced Peter to go to Peterhof and beg Catherine for mercy. Upon arrival at Peterhof, Peter was arrested and taken by Alexei Orlov to Ropsha, a country estate outside of St. Petersburg.

Catherine had to deal with the same dilemma that Empress Elizabeth had to deal with regarding Ivan VI who she had deposed – keeping a former emperor around was a threat to her throne. Catherine intended to send Peter to Shlisselburg Fortress where Ivan VI had been imprisoned for more than twenty years. However, Catherine did not have to live with a living deposed emperor for long. The true circumstances of Peter’s death at the age of 34 on July 17, 1762, are unclear. It is possible that Peter was murdered by Alexei Orlov. Another story is that Peter had been killed in a drunken brawl with one of his jailers. At the time, the official cause was “an acute attack of colic during one of his frequent bouts with hemorrhoids.” It is doubtful that Catherine played any role in Peter’s death.

• Unofficial Royalty: Assassination of Peter III, Emperor of All Russia

On July 19, 1762, Peter was buried without honors in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg. In 1796, immediately after the death of Catherine II, on the orders of her son and successor Paul I, Peter’s remains were transferred first to the Grand Church of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, and then to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, the burial site of the Romanovs. 60-year-old Alexei Orlov was made to walk in the funeral cortege, holding the Imperial Crown as he walked in front of the coffin. Peter III was reburied in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg at the same time as the burial of his wife Catherine II. Peter III had never been crowned so at the time of his reburial, Paul I personally performed the ritual of coronation of his father’s remains.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Romanov Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Tsardom of Russia/Russian Empire Index
• Romanov Births, Marriages and Deaths
• Romanov Burial Sites
• Romanovs Killed During the Russian Revolution
• Romanovs Who Survived the Russian Revolution

Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. (2018). Peter III. (Russland). [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III._(Russland) [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Peter III of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_III_of_Russia [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018].
• Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1981). The Romanovs: Autocrats of  All the Russias. New York, NY.: Doubleday
• Massie, R. (2016). Catherine the Great. London: Head of Zeus.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Пётр III. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D1%91%D1%82%D1%80_III [Accessed 10 Jan. 2018].

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Elizabeth I, Empress of All Russia (Elizaveta Petrovna) was the only one of Peter the Great’s fifteen children to reign over Russia. Born on December 29, 1709, at Kolomenskoye near Moscow, Russia, she was the third daughter and the fifth of the twelve children of Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia and his second wife Catherine (Ekaterina) Alexeievna, born Marta Helena Skowrońska, the daughter of an ethnic Polish peasant, later Catherine I, Empress of All Russia.

Elizabeth had eleven siblings, all of whom died in childhood except Anna:

• Pyotr Petrovich born 1704, died in infancy
• Pavel Petrovich born 1705, died in infancy
• Catherine Petrovna (1706 – 1708)
• Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna (1708 – 1728), married Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, had one son Carl Peter Ulrich, the future Peter III, Emperor of All Russia, Anna died of childbirth complications
• Maria Petrovna of Russia (1713–1715)
• Margarita Petrovna (1714 – 1715)
• Pyotr Petrovich (1715 – 1719)
• Pavel Petrovich (born and died 1717)
• Grand Duchess Natalia Petrovna (1718 – 1725), died from the measles a month after her father’s death
• Pyotr Petrovich (born and died 1723)
• Pavel Petrovich (born and died 1724)

Elizabeth had two half-siblings from Peter the Great’s first marriage to Eudoxia Feodorovna Lopukhina:

• Alexei Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia (1690 – 1718), married Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg, had two children: Grand Duchess Natalya Alexeievna and Peter II, Emperor of All Russia; both children died in their teens and Charlotte Christine died of childbirth complications a few days after the birth of her son
• Alexander Petrovich (1691 – 1692)

Although no official record exists, Elizabeth’s parents, Peter the Great and Catherine, secretly married between October 23 and December 1, 1707, in St. Petersburg. They married officially on February 19, 1712, at St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. Their daughters Anna and Elizabeth were the bridal attendants and were legitimized on the same day as the wedding.

Elizabeth’s early years were spent at her birthplace, Kolomenskoye near Moscow. Her parents were mostly absent, so Elizabeth and her older sister Anna were under the care of Russian and Finnish nannies. Later, Anna, Elizabeth, and their younger sister Natalia were placed in the household of Praskovia Feodorovna Saltykova, the widow of Ivan V, Tsar of All Russia (older half-brother of Peter) and the mother of Anna I, Empress of All Russia. While living in the household of Praskovia Feodorovna, Elizabeth developed the strict fasting, constant prayer, and pilgrimages which became part of her normal routine.

When she was eight years old, Elizabeth’s formal education started. Peter the Great employed foreign tutors to teach his children but Elizabeth and her two sisters remained highly uneducated, mainly learning foreign languages in order to be prepared for life at a foreign court. The idea of a Russian-French marriage for one of his daughters first came to Peter the Great when he visited Paris in 1717.  In 1721, negotiations began for a marriage between the future King Louis XV of France and Elizabeth. However, the marriage negotiations were unsuccessful because of religious issues, Elizabeth’s birth before her parents’ marriage, and her mother’s humble origin.

On February 8, 1725, Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia died at the age of 52 without naming a successor. A coup arranged by Peter’s best friend Prince Alexander Menshikov proclaimed Elizabeth’s mother Catherine the ruler of Russia. During the two-year-reign of Catherine I, Empress of All Russia, the real power was held by Menshikov and members of the Supreme Privy Council.

Prior to his death, Peter had arranged, in 1724, the betrothal of his daughters Anna and Elizabeth to two cousins from the German Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp. Anna Petrovna married Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp on May 21, 1725, at Trinity Cathedral in St Petersburg, Russia. Three years later, Anna would die as a result of childbirth complications giving birth to her only son Carl Peter Ulrich, the future Peter III, Emperor of All Russia.

Elizabeth was due to marry Karl Friedrich’s first cousin Karl August of Holstein-Gottorp but he died on May 31, 1727, before the wedding could be held. Tragically, Elizabeth’s mother Catherine I, Empress of All Russia had died on May 17, 1727, at the age of 43, just two weeks before Elizabeth’s fiancé died. Catherine I had named Peter Alexeievich, the only grandson of Peter the Great and the son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, as her heir. In 1718, Alexei Petrovich, who was the heir to the Russian throne, was suspected of plotting to overthrow his father Peter the Great. Alexei was tried, confessed under torture, convicted, and sentenced to be executed. The sentence could be carried out only with the emperor’s signed authorization, but Alexei died in prison because his father hesitated in making the decision. Alexei’s death most likely resulted from injuries suffered during his torture.

The eleven-year-old Peter Alexeievich succeeded to the throne as Peter II, Emperor of All Russia. Two and a half years later, Peter II died from smallpox. After the death of Peter II, there were five possible candidates for the throne, four adult females and one two-year-old male: the three surviving daughters of Peter the Great’s half-brother Ivan V who were all in their 30s: Ekaterina Ivanovna, Anna Ivanovna, and Praskovia Ivanovna, the only surviving child of Peter the Great and Catherine I: 20-year-old Elizabeth Petrovna, and Peter the Great’s grandson: two-year-old Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp, son of Anna Petrovna, who died due to childbirth complications. The Supreme Privy Council selected Anna Ivanovna, the daughter of Ivan V, to be the new Empress of All Russia.

Empress Anna had been married in 1710, was widowed in 1711, and had not married again. Elizabeth’s marriage prospects had dried up. There was no love lost between the cousins Elizabeth Petrovna and Empress Anna. Five years into her reign, Empress Anna announced that the throne would be inherited in the male line of her niece, born Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the daughter of Empress Anna’s sister Ekaterina Ivanovna and Karl Leopold, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. This was an attempt to secure the future of the Russian throne for the descendants of Ivan V, Tsar of All Russia instead of the descendants of his half-brother Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia – namely Elizabeth Petrovna and her nephew Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp, her sister’s son.

The German-born granddaughter of Ivan V, Tsar of All Russia, Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, converted to Russian Orthodoxy and was given the title and name Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna. In 1739, Anna Leopoldovna married Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and the next year, the couple had a son, Ivan Antonovich. Empress Anna adopted the infant Ivan Antonovich and proclaimed him heir to the Russian throne. Within several weeks, Empress Anna was dead at the age of 48 and Russia had an infant ruler, Ivan VI, Emperor of All Russia.

During the ten-year reign of her cousin Anna, Elizabeth had been gathering support in the background. After the infant Ivan became Emperor, a conspiracy soon arose with the aim of obtaining the Russian throne for Elizabeth Petrovna, the only surviving child of Peter the Great. A coup took place during the night of December 5-6, 1741 with financial support from France and military support from the Preobrazhensky Regiment. Elizabeth Petrovna arrived at the regiment’s headquarters wearing armor over her dress asking, “Who do you want to serve, me, your natural sovereign, or those who have stolen my inheritance?” The Preobrazhensky Regiment marched to the Winter Palace and arrested the infant Emperor Ivan VI and his parents. It was a daring coup and succeeded without bloodshed. The new 32-year-old Empress of All Russia, Elizabeth Petrovna, vowed that she would not sign a single death sentence, a promise which she kept throughout her 20-year-reign.

Now that she had the throne, Elizabeth had a problem. A living Emperor, a great-grandson of her father’s half-brother Ivan V, and his mother, a granddaughter of Ivan V, remained in St. Petersburg. They were both threats to her throne. Even though 15-month-old Ivan did not know he had been Emperor, his image was on coins used throughout Russia and prayers had been said for him in all Russian churches. Elizabeth originally planned to send Ivan, his mother Anna Leopoldovna, his father Anton Ulrich, and his sister Catherine Antonovna somewhere in Europe so she sent them to Riga (now in Latvia) as the first stage of their journey. However, once the family arrived in Riga, Elizabeth had second thoughts – perhaps it would be a better idea to keep her young, dangerous prisoner under guard in Russia.

Ivan was separated forever from his parents and his sister and classified as a secret state prisoner. He spent the next 23 years imprisoned before being murdered during the reign of Catherine II (the Great). Ivan’s parents spent the rest of their lives imprisoned and with the exception of his sister Catherine, all of his other three siblings were born while their parents were imprisoned. His four siblings remained imprisoned until 1780 when, in their 30s, they were released into the custody of their maternal aunt Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Queen Dowager of Denmark.

The coronation of Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia was held on May 6, 1742. At the Assumption Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, Elizabeth crowned herself, which no Russian ruler had dared to do. On November 18, 1742, Empress Elizabeth named Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp, the 14-year-old son of her sister Anna Petrovna, her successor. Elizabeth’s nephew converted to Russian Orthodoxy and was given the name and title Grand Duke Peter Feodorovich. It was important to Elizabeth that Peter marry so that the Romanov dynasty could be continued. Elizabeth arranged for Peter to marry his second cousin, Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, later Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia. Sophie converted to Russian Orthodoxy, took the name Ekaterina (Catherine) Alexeievna, and married Peter on August 21, 1745. The marriage was not a happy one but Catherine did have one son, the future Paul, Emperor of All Russia, and one daughter Anna Petrovna who died in early childhood. Both children were taken by Empress Elizabeth to her apartments immediately after their births to be raised by her. Catherine took numerous lovers as did Peter. She later claimed that Paul was not fathered by Peter and that they had never consummated the marriage.

Elizabeth’s first concern was to address the Russo-Swedish War.  The Treaty of Åbo was negotiated in August 1743. Sweden had to relinquish a few smaller territories to Russia and Russia agreed to evacuate its army from Finland on the condition that Adolf Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp – the uncle of Elizabeth’s heir apparent and the brother of her dead fiancé – was named as the heir to the throne of Sweden. However, relatively soon after her rise to power, Elisabeth lost interest in government business and often left the affairs of government to her advisers.

Empress Elizabeth never married but she did have a long-term relationship with and was possibly morganatically married to Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky, born Alexei Rozum to a Ukrainian-born Cossack. Originally a shepherd, Razumovsky had a beautiful voice and sang in the choir at the village church. In 1731, one of Empress Anna’s courtiers passed through Razumovsky’s village, heard him sing, and brought him back to St. Petersburg where he was renamed Alexei Grigoriev and joined the choir at the palace chapel. He eventually became Elizabeth’s favorite and played a role in the coup deposing Ivan VI. After the coup, Razumovsky was appointed as Chamberlain with the rank of Lieutenant-General. In 1744, Razumovsky was made a Count of Russia and in 1756 he received the rank of Field Marshal. Razumovsky’s apartments adjoined Elizabeth’s apartments and he had constant access to her.

Elizabeth was responsible for having three of the most important Romanov palaces – the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, and Peterhof near St. Petersburg – renovated and refurbished. Elizabeth’s court was very lavish and her reign is remembered as a period of luxury and excess. Elizabeth set the tone and was a trendsetter. After her death, it was discovered that her wardrobe included 15,000 dresses and several thousand pairs of shoes. The court regularly held balls and masquerades, including the so-called “metamorphosis,” when women dressed up in men’s clothes and men wore women’s clothes. Only at the end of life, because of illness and obesity, did Elizabeth withdraw from court entertainment.

As she grew older, Elizabeth relished loneliness, slept through the day, and was awake at night, often praying on her knees for hours in front of her icons. She thought of abdication and had the Smolny Resurrection Monastery built in St Petersburg, where she wanted to retire as a nun. Elizabeth was often ill and was reluctant to show herself in public because of her ill health. In 1757, she suffered a stroke at a well-attended church service in Tsarskoye Selo and then her health situation became well known.

A particularly difficult problem for her was the succession. She was childless and the Romanov dynasty had been extinct in the male line since the death of Peter II in 1730. Elizabeth’s nephew Peter Feodorovich, who she had appointed as her successor, was often ill. Elizabeth did not love her nephew and his political views did not suit her because he was an admirer of her enemy Friedrich II (the Great), King of Prussia. The sicker Elizabeth became, the more the courtiers turned away from her and tried to please the heir to the throne.

On January 3, 1762, Elizabeth had a massive stroke and the doctors agreed she would not recover. Peter, Catherine, and others close to her gathered around her bed in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Elizabeth, alert and clear-headed, showed no signs of wishing to change the succession. She asked Peter to look after little Paul, who she dearly loved. Peter quickly promised to do so, knowing that Elizabeth could change the succession with a single word. On January 5, 1762, Elizabeth asked her priest to read the Orthodox prayer for the dying. She blessed everyone in the room and asked each one for forgiveness. At about 4 PM, Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia died at the age of 52 at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. She is buried at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg next to her mother, who is buried next to her father.

The reign of Peter III, Emperor of All Russia lasted only six months. He was deposed by his wife, born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, who reigned as Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Romanov Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Tsardom of Russia/Russian Empire Index
• Romanov Births, Marriages and Deaths
• Romanov Burial Sites
• Romanovs Killed During the Russian Revolution
• Romanovs Who Survived the Russian Revolution

Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. (2018). Elisabeth (Russland). [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_(Russland) [Accessed 5 Jan. 2018].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Elizabeth of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Russia [Accessed 5 Jan. 2018].
• Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1981). The Romanovs: Autocrats of  All the Russias. New York, NY.: Doubleday
• Massie, R. (2016). Catherine the Great. London: Head of Zeus.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Елизавета Петровна. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%95%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0 [Accessed 5 Jan. 2018].