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.

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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].