The libertine emperor. What did the reign of the grandson of Peter I remember. What happened to the children of Peter the Great How many daughters did Peter have 1

Despite big problems with his sons, the reformer tsar provided Russia with emperors until 1917

Peter the Great had two official wives and countless mistresses. But after his death, there were no obvious heirs to the throne, and the era of palace coups began ..

Unloved wife and objectionable son

His first wife Evdokia Lopukhin Peter did not love. The bride, brought up according to the traditions of Domostroy, was the personification of old Moscow, hated by the young tsar.

Evdokia for Peter was chosen by his mother Natalya Kirillovna. In this way, she wanted to settle down the 16-year-old tsar, who often visited the German Quarter, became addicted to wine there and became carried away Anna Mons, the daughter of a local wine merchant, or a goldsmith. Peter did not object, he got married, but a month later he again left for Lake Plesheyevo, closer to Mons.

On February 18, 1690, a year after the wedding, Peter and Evdokia had their first child. The boy was named Alexey. He was considered the official heir to the throne. The second son of Evdokia and Peter, who was born in the autumn of 1691, died five months later. The existence of a third son, Pavel Petrovich, many historians question whether he most likely died during childbirth or in the first days of life.

In 1694 Peter's mother Natalya Kirillovna died. Soon after that, the tsar completely stopped paying attention to his wife, left for Arkhangelsk and did not even write letters to Evdokia. All this time, he continued to live with the love of youth, Anna Mons. The king and his first wife had no more children.

The first years of the life of the only heir to the throne were brought up by his grandmother - Natalya Kirillovna. At the age of six, they began to teach Alexei to read and write, but the tsarevich's teachers did not differ in special intelligence, the child often raised his hand to them.

Alexei lost his mother when he was eight years old - Peter forcibly sent Evdokia to a monastery. After that, the king gave his son to be raised by his sister Natalia.

Peter remembered the heir when he was 9 years old. He tried to involve his son in state affairs, even gave instructions. When Alexei turned 14, he began to take him on military campaigns. But the prince did not show much interest in the affairs of the country. The only heir of the reformer was more like his mother than the king wanted - he loved the old days and secretly hated all the transformations of his father.

To make Alexey look more like a European, they found him an overseas bride. In the autumn of 1711, a magnificent wedding took place between the 21-year-old heir to the Russian throne and the 17-year-old German princess Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, in Russia they began to call her Natalya Petrovna.

The Queen of the Convoy

In 1704, Peter broke off relations with Anna Mons, convicted of treason. By this moment, the place in his heart had already begun to take so timely presented to the king by the prince Menshikov Marta Skavronskaya, a former maid. Marta, taken prisoner during the capture of the Swedish fortress, became first the mistress, and then the wife of the king CatherineI.

Even before the official wedding, Catherine gave birth to four children to Peter - two boys, Paul And Peter died shortly after giving birth, daughters Anna And Elizabeth in the future played a decisive role in the fate of the Russian throne.

The official wedding of Peter and Catherine took place in 1712. Over the next three years, Catherine gave birth to two already "legitimate" daughters, but both died in infancy. On November 9, 1715, another contender for the throne was born - Tsarevich Petr Petrovich.

Died under unclear circumstances

When Catherine gave birth to the long-awaited boy to Peter, the position of her son from his first marriage was shaken. By this time, the heir to the throne, Alexei Petrovich, had two children from the German princess - the eldest Natalia and junior Peter(future emperor) PeterII, last Romanov in a straight male line). But shortly after giving birth, Alexei's wife died. On the day of the funeral, the wife gave the prince a letter from his father. In it, Peter threatened to deprive his son of the throne.

Peter's opponents took advantage of the quarrel between father and son - they advised Alexei to flee to Austria. The prince obeyed, and by doing so he ruined himself.

The fugitive was found, returned to Russia and sent to his father for trial. After interrogations and severe torture, Alexei named the names of those who helped him escape the country. And he admitted that he went on the run because he was afraid for his life. Alexei understood that he was an objectionable heir, and was afraid that his father, together with his wife Catherine, would decide to get rid of him.

The prince was placed in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The court sentenced the traitor to death. But 28-year-old Aleksey did not live to see his execution - he was found dead in a cell. The official cause of death is apoplexy. But historians are still arguing about what actually happened.

Empress Elizabeth

Outwardly, Peter tried to remain calm and behaved as usual. After the death of Alexei, mourning was not declared; the anniversary of the victory near Poltava was widely celebrated in the country. But in letters to relatives, Peter admitted that it was hard for him.

Less than a year after the death of Alexei, Tsarevich Peter, who was considered at that time the heir to the throne, died. The boy was just over three years old. He never learned to walk or talk. Peter the Great had high hopes for his son, but they did not come true.

The sovereign had no other sons. The baby who was born shortly after Pyotr Petrovich Paul died in the first days of life. By the beginning of 1725, the last year of Peter's life, only three of his daughters from Catherine survived: Anna and Elizabeth, who were born before the official wedding, and the youngest, the last child of Catherine and Peter - Natalia.

Natalya did not long survive her father - the girl died of measles at the age of six and a half years, on March 15, 1725. Then the emperor Peter was not yet buried, the coffins of the father and his daughter were placed in the same hall.

Natalia's older sister, Elizabeth, was prepared from childhood for marriage with one of the heirs to the French throne. But bourbons Peter was politely refused. An incredible beauty, according to contemporaries, Elizabeth never officially married. As a result of the palace coup in 1741, the 31-year-old daughter of Peter I ascended the throne. She ruled until her death in January 1762.

Peter, but not that

Anna, after the death of her father, married the duke Karl Friedrich Holstein-Gottorp. This marriage was organized by Peter during his lifetime, under the terms of the marriage contract, Anna and Karl renounced their claims to the Russian throne, but their children had the right to do so.

In 1728 Anna gave birth to a son Carl Peter Ulrich and died shortly after giving birth, she was 20 years old. Anna's son, the grandson of Peter I, claimed two thrones at once - Russian and Swedish. In 1762 he was already under the name PeterIII at the behest of his aunt Elizaveta Petrovna, he went to Russia.

Thus, the direct descendants of Peter's daughter Anna ruled Russia from 1762 until 1917.

Reference: PeterIII, again by the will of Elizabeth, married a German princess, baptized in Catherine II . She was succeeded by her son Paul I , then - the son of Paul Alexander I . After the childless Alexander, his brother ruled Nicholas I . After the throne ascended the son of Nicholas Alexander II , then ruled by his son Alexander III , and the last Russian emperor was the son of AlexanderIII Nicholas I I .

The eldest daughter of Emperor Peter I Anna Petrovna was born out of wedlock on January 27, 1708 in the city of St. Petersburg. Her mother was the daughter of a Livonian peasant, Marta Skavronskaya. Officially, Peter married Catherine (this name was adopted in baptism by Marta) on February 19, 1712, after returning from the Prussian campaign.

Only 12 years later, in 1724, Peter crowned his wife as empress. Catherine bore him eleven children, most of whom died. Only Anna and her younger sister, Elizabeth, survived.

Eldest daughter

In childhood, girls were surrounded by nannies, jesters and dwarfs, later governesses were assigned to the princesses. Anna learned to read and write early, studied foreign languages ​​persistently. The French teacher initiated the princesses into the subtleties of etiquette and taught them to dance.

Anna went to her father, and therefore was a tall, slender brunette with black eyes. According to eyewitnesses, the princess was modest, imperturbable, smart, economical, a little shy and very inquisitive.

Peter I doted on his eldest daughter, but for politicians, children have always been a geopolitical argument in a big game. Therefore, from an early age, the emperor began to look for a good match for his daughter. First, Peter's choice fell on the King of France, Louis XV: the princess even learned French and learned how to dance a minuet, but Louis was not satisfied with Anna's illegitimate origin.

Then Peter found a new fiancé - Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein. Obviously, Peter was attracted by the port in Kiel and the extensive connections of the Gottorp rulers who ruled Schleswig-Holstein. The groom's mother was Jadwiga Sophia, the eldest daughter of the Swedish king Charles XI, and her son, in principle, could ascend the Swedish throne.

Marriage arranged by father

With this marriage, Karl wanted to strengthen his position, return to big politics and return the lands of Schleswig, which had been occupied by Denmark by this time. Such an alliance caused a lot of gossip throughout Europe, because the duke's hope to return Schleswig could create a new military conflict.

Peter I arranged a marriage when Anna was thirteen. Charles and his entourage arrived in Russia, where he became the bridegroom of the princess. The future husband of the imperial daughter lived in the house of General Bruce. The chronicles write that the duke enjoyed the patronage of the royal spouses.

In 1724, Karl signed a marriage contract, according to which his wife remained Orthodox, his sons were brought up in Lutheranism, and his daughters in Orthodoxy. He and Anna forever renounced the Russian throne, but their sons could be declared heirs by Peter.

After the death of parents

Did Anna love her husband? Some historians say that the emperor, who adored his daughter, would not have given her for an unloved person. Others consider Karl narrow-minded and not particularly handsome, and write that Anna was simply following her father's will.

Soon Peter I died. There is a version that the emperor wanted to make his eldest daughter the heiress, but did not have time. Catherine I ascended the throne, who ruled for only two years after the death of her husband. According to her will, the throne passed to her grandson - the son of Tsarevich Alexei, Peter, who at that time was eleven years old. In the event of his death, Anna was to become Empress of Russia.

However, due to the intrigues of Menshikov, who for a short time became practically the ruler of the country, the position of Anna and her husband changed. The duke was taken out of the Privy Council, of which he was a member, and soon Menshikov made sure that the couple left the country and went to Holstein.

In Kiel, they were met by all the cream of society, but Anna was burdened by life away from her homeland. Her only entertainment was the correspondence with Elizabeth. The duke has changed a lot: in his homeland he began to revel, cheat on his wife and completely ceased to be interested in politics. Anna Petrovna, who was waiting for the heir, fell into anguish. The tone of her letters changed. She admitted: her husband travels "on comedies", and she often cries.

At the end of February 1728, twenty-year-old Anna was relieved of her burden by the heir. The boy was christened Peter Ulrich. Soon Anna Petrovna died, as they said, from "puerperal fever." There was nothing unusual in such a death then, and witnesses assured that the duke's wife caught a cold during the festive fireworks launched in honor of her son. Allegedly, she, having heard volleys, opened the window.

It was winter outside, the wind rushed into the room, the young woman was weakened by childbirth, and the result was tragic. However, in the writings of historians of the 19th century who studied Anna's letters, there are indications that the young woman died only on May 4, 1728 - two months after giving birth.

Whether she died of an illness or was eliminated as a contender for the crown is unknown. Anna really wanted to be laid to rest "near the father." Her body was brought to St. Petersburg by sea and buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Elizabeth was not at the ceremony. She mourned her sister in Moscow chambers.

Karl Ulrich died when he was only 39. He managed to establish the Order of St. Anna: a golden cross with a red pattern, a portrait of the saint herself and the letters AIPI (Anna, daughter of Emperor Peter I). In 1742, the order came to Russia, and the grandson of Anna Petrovna, Emperor Pavel, included it in the register.

Anna Petrovna, eldest daughter of Peter I

On February 7, 1708, the daughter of Peter the Great, Anna, was born - the eldest and most beloved. She lived only 20 years, but left a deep mark in Russian history.

Anna lived very little in the world: she was born on February 7 (according to the old style - January 27), 1708 in Moscow and died on May 15 (according to the old style - May 4), 1728 from transient consumption in German Kiel. However, the significance of the eldest daughter of Peter the Great for the dynastic history of Russia is enormous. Starting with her son Peter III, all the emperors of Russia were representatives of this - Holstein - branch of the Romanov dynasty: Peter the Third himself, Anna Petrovna's grandson Pavel I, all three Alexanders and two Nicholas.

"You can't imagine anything cuter than her"

Tsesarevna Anna Petrovna, whom Peter the Great loved more than all his other children, did not live a very happy life. Judging by the memoirs of contemporaries, already in her early childhood it was noticeable that she surpassed her brothers and sisters in intelligence and curiosity. And not only this. Gustav von Mardefeld, the Prussian minister, envoy to the Russian court, described the 16-year-old Anna as follows: “I don’t think that there is a princess in Europe at the present time who could compete with her in beauty ... Growth she is taller than usual, but her waist is ... elegant and graceful. When she is silent, you can read in her big beautiful eyes all the charm and grandeur of the soul. But when she speaks ... you can’t imagine anything nicer than her. "

He is echoed by the president of the Privy Council of the Duke of Holstein, Count Henning von Bassewitz: “Nothing could be more majestic than her posture and physiognomy, her gaze and smile were graceful and gentle ... All this was joined by a penetrating mind, genuine simplicity and good nature, generosity, indulgence, excellent education and excellent knowledge of languages ​​​​- Russian, French, German, Italian and Swedish.

At the age of seventeen, Anna was married to Duke Karl Friedrich von Holstein-Gottorf, a handsome man and a reveler. The wedding took place after the death of Peter the Great, but it was Peter who welcomed the duke, who spent several years in Russia, having arrived there at the invitation of the king: Charles was a pretender to the Swedish throne, and this allowed Peter to exert political pressure on the sworn northern enemy.

From Russia to Germany

But the Duke of Holstein also had his own interest: with the help of Russia, he wanted to regain rich Schleswig, which Denmark had taken from him under the Danish-Swedish treaty. Karl Friedrich was not rich, but the most influential monarchs of Europe could envy his origin and family ties. The Holstein-Gottorps belonged to the Oldenburg family - one of the most famous and well-born families (the Oldenburgs, by the way, still rule in Norway and Denmark today).

In general, the marriage of the eldest daughter of Peter the Great and the Duke of Holstein was beneficial for both parties. For Russia - also because Anna did not have to change her religion (the Protestant courts were very liberal in this respect). In addition, although Anna and her husband renounced all future claims to the Russian throne, their son, which was specifically stipulated in the secret article of the marriage contract, could become the heir to the throne. The only condition: the heir must be baptized in the Orthodox faith.

For some time after the wedding, Anna and the duke remained in Russia. But after Peter's death, the political situation in the country changed. In 1727, the then all-powerful Menshikov managed to force Anna and Karl Friedrich to leave for Germany. According to the well-known Russian historian Alexei Morokhin, Anna was accompanied, in addition to ladies-in-waiting and servants, by a priest with a deacon, eight choristers, 12 rowers and two brewers.

Farewell to the motherland was not very cheerful. And life in Kiel too. Anna Petrovna really missed her sister (the future Russian Empress Elizabeth) and suffered from her husband's inattention. Even in Russia, he spent his time with great pleasure in feasts and entertainment, and in Kiel he completely abandoned his wife. Anna complained to her sister that the duke "doesn't sit at home for a single day." Anna's mood could not be corrected even by the admiration of her subjects.

Heir to the throne

The Germans loved her very much and revered her. What was going on in Kiel when she gave birth to a boy! It was a real national holiday: they rang bells, fired from cannons... At the entrance to the palace, a real queue of people wishing to congratulate the happy parents lined up. Much more restrained was the birth of Karl Peter Ulrich perceived in St. Petersburg.

Tsar Peter III, at birth - Karl Peter Ulrich

Unfortunately, after giving birth, Anna Petrovna fell ill and never recovered. There is a legend that she caught a cold when she looked at the fireworks at the open window in honor of the birth of her son. On May 15 she died. The windy duke sincerely grieved for her. In the garden of the palace, he built a real memorial in honor of Anna. And ten years after her death, he established the Order of St. Anne - "for the eternal and indispensable glory and memory" of his wife. Later, under her grandson Paul I, this order became Russian, and one of the most prestigious.

And the boy, whom Anna Petrovna gave birth to and who, perhaps, was an indirect cause of her early death, later became the Russian emperor - Peter the Third. Elizaveta Petrovna ordered to bring her then 13-year-old nephew to St. Petersburg. Karl Peter Ulrich was baptized into Orthodoxy, began to learn the Russian language and was declared heir to the throne. And the ashes of his mother were transported to Russia even earlier and buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral - in the same place where the ashes of her great father rest.

See also:

golden service

This solid gold tea set was made in St. Petersburg in 1808 specifically to supplement the dowry of Grand Duchess Catherine, daughter of Paul I. She brought it to Württemberg. They did not drink tea from the service: it had a purely representative purpose.

House of Romanov and the Württemberg dynasty

Queen's shoes

Maria Feodorovna wore these shoes once in her life - in 1797, at the solemn coronation of her husband, Emperor Paul l and herself. They are made of the finest leather and silk and are perfectly preserved.

House of Romanov and the Württemberg dynasty

Childhood of kings

This miniature shows six children of Empress Maria Feodorovna. Among them are two future Russian tsars: Alexander I and Nicholas I. In total, Maria Feodorovna (nee Sophia Dorothea of ​​Württemberg) bore Emperor Paul I ten children.

House of Romanov and the Württemberg dynasty

homesickness

This is a fragment of the most famous pictorial portrait of Queen Olga - the daughter of Nicholas I, who married Charles of Württemberg. The portrait hung in her husband's office. Olga painted beautifully with watercolors, read a lot and wrote loving letters to her brothers, sisters and father in St. Petersburg. She missed Russia very much.

If we forget for a moment how the history of the Russian state developed, in what order the Russian monarchs inherited the throne, one can see behind the official annals ordinary human inclinations, affections and antipathies, those that led to the birth of future great monarchs or became the cause of disgrace and disgrace. death of promising pretenders to the throne. Peter I is known as the main Russian reformer and, in general, a figure of grandiose magnitude. Much less often he is described as a person who is fond of, easily started novels, and also children, whom Peter had either eleven or more - in a word, there is something to study in this part of the family tree of the Romanov family.

The first marriage of Peter and Tsarevich Alexei

There are two famous offspring of Peter I - this is Tsarevich Alexei, apparently killed at the behest of his father, and Tsarevich Elizabeth, who became Empress. But the list of the emperor's heirs was not limited to the two of them - however, few of Peter's children managed to survive infancy.

The first wife of the future emperor and reformer was Evdokia Lopukhina - for whom the young tsar at that time did not have any particularly warm feelings, over time, the wife generally began to burden Peter, eventually going to the monastery. During the marriage, she managed to give birth to the sons of Alexei and Alexander. The first grew up in the care of his mother and grandmother, talked a little with his father, but over time, the cooling became more and more - the reason was both resentment for the fate of the mother, and the fact that children began to be born from a new, beloved wife, and among them - and the future heir to the throne, who was supposed to get ahead of Alexei, whose right to the royal title was consecrated by centuries of tradition.
The second son of Evdokia Lopukhina from Peter was Alexander, who died at the age of seven months. Rumor attributed to the spouses another son, Paul, that he died either during childbirth, or immediately after them.

Second marriage and children from Catherine I

Since 1703, the emperor had a relationship with Marta Skavronskaya, who after baptism took the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. The first offspring of this couple were Peter and Paul, but the official chronicle begins the list with Catherine, who was born in 1707 and lived only a few months. The next in a series of daughters born to the future empress was Anna, the one who would continue the ruling branch of the Romanov dynasty. Anna died at the age of twenty, shortly after giving birth to Karl Peter Ulrich, the future Emperor Peter III.

Elizabeth, the third daughter of Peter, lived longer than all the official children of the emperor, it is interesting that she was distinguished by excellent physical data, while her brothers and sisters often could not survive the first months and years of life, died during childbirth or due to infections and insufficient hygiene .

Following Elizabeth, Natalya was born - nicknamed the eldest, so as not to be confused with her younger sister, also Natalya. By the way, these two relatives never met, the first died at the age of two, the second lived for seven, becoming the last child of Peter and Catherine. Before her, the couple also had Margarita (who lived for 1 year), Peter and Pavel, who died almost immediately after birth.
As for Pyotr Petrovich, this boy from his very birth began to be considered the heir to the Russian throne - despite the fact that Tsarevich Alexei already existed. The emperor was not particularly attached to his eldest son, and if for some time he looked at him as the successor of his work, it was only because of the absence of other sons.

It is known how the cool relationship between the father and the eldest son turned out - in 1718, the arrested Alexei died in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and little Peter became the official heir to the throne.
Actually, he received the name in honor of his father - to emphasize the continuity of power, to indicate the continuation of the policy of Peter I in the future, during the reign of the new emperor. But the little prince did not happen to become one: he died before he was four years old, in 1719, and the state found itself on the verge of a succession crisis.

True, the son of the murdered Alexei remained - also Peter, but he was a very undesirable figure, because his father had already been compromised by intrigues with Western rulers, and in Russia he was supported by ill-wishers of Peter I. The result of reflections on the future structure of power was a decree on succession to the throne, which was issued in 1722. According to this document, the monarch himself appointed his successor on the Russian throne.
It is assumed that it was his wife Catherine that Peter wanted to see take the throne, shortly before his death he crowned her empress and co-ruler - however, he did not manage to give the appropriate order to appoint her his successor. Despite this, it was she who occupied the throne after Peter I, and it is also known that Peter Alekseevich did manage to rule for several years under the name of Peter II.

Unrecognized children of Peter

Eleven children born in two official marriages - apparently not an exhaustive list, some researchers come to the conclusion that this is almost a third of all children born from Peter I. Because the emperor was famous for his rather hot temperament, every now and then he entered into a love affair with women of both noble families and simpler families. There is no official confirmation that children were actually born in these relations, Peter himself also did not recognize any of the illegitimate children (with the exception of those born to him and Catherine I before their official wedding in 1712).

But there were rumors - especially since the emperor often gave his mistresses in marriage without terminating relations with them - and therefore it is possible that some of the nobles born during the marriage were in fact the next Petrovichs and Petrovnas. There was such a rumor about Peter Rumyantsev-Zadunaisky, based, among other things, on his outward resemblance to Peter I.

Among the ladies who enjoyed the special favor of the emperor were Avdotya Rzhevskaya (married - Chernysheva), Peter's long love Anna Mons, Maria Hamilton, convicted and executed for infanticide, Maria Cantemir - the daughter of the Moldavian ruler Prince Dmitry Cantemir. She really was pregnant from the emperor - it was in 1722, and from the correspondence of those close to the court you can find out that in the event of the birth of an heir, Peter was even ready to divorce his wife in order to remarry Cantemir. But Mary could not bear the child.

The offspring of Peter is an interesting object for study, many questions have not yet been explained. For example, about why the rule was violated to call children the "traditional" names of the Romanov family - why Peter's daughters were baptized as Elizabeth and Margarita. The question remains open even about the number of children in the official marriages of the emperor - it is sometimes claimed that there was another Tsarevich Peter, by the way, this once provided food for the imagination of impostors - in 1732, a certain Larion Starodubtsev declared himself Peter Petrovich and pretender to the throne.

Since the beginning of the 18th century, royal daughters have been the most precious diplomatic "goods". They were required to serve two states at once: their homeland, which they should never forget, and the country that they were to rule. The book tells about the fate of the daughters of Peter the Great, Paul I, Nicholas I, Alexander II and Alexander III. For most of the "Romanov princesses" life's creed consisted in the fulfillment of one's duty and humility. They found happiness in serving their new country and abandoned homeland. Fewer were those who dared to rebel, love and build life according to their own desires. Through the prism of 13 individual women's stories, one can read the history of great Russia for two centuries. For a wide range of readers

A series: Window to history

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by the LitRes company.

Chapter 1. The first princesses: Anna and Elizabeth, daughters of Peter the Great

In childhood, they were inseparable - two lovely girls, dark-haired and blond. The older sister, a living portrait of her father in a girl's guise, died quite young in a foreign land, having managed to give birth to the future Emperor Peter III, whose reign was inglorious and ended tragically. The youngest went down in history as “brilliant Elizabeth”, “meek Elizabeth”, “merry Elizabeth” - Empress of All Rus' Elizabeth I.

Of the eleven children of Peter I and his beloved, and then the wife of Marta Skavronskaya, who became Ekaterina Alekseevna at baptism into Orthodoxy, only two survived to adolescence. Three little Pavels, two Peters, two Natalyas, Ekaterina and Margarita died in infancy, some in early childhood. A common occurrence for those times: death did not distinguish between the offspring of monarchs and peasant children. But the fact that in the royal family she spared only her daughters led to many strife and intrigues and to a large extent predetermined the fate of the Russian throne. (The half-brother of the girls Alexei, the son of Peter I from Evdokia Lopukhina, was, as we know, accused of high treason and died under circumstances that are still unclear in 1718.)

Anna and Elizabeth were born one after the other: January 27, 1708 and December 18, 1709. Not yet princesses, moreover, illegitimate. Peter married their mother only in February 1712. The wedding took place in the church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia - a simple wooden church for skippers, nothing like the majestic St. Isaac's Cathedral, erected a century and a half later. The ceremony itself was also very modest.

Behind the bride and groom, who went around the lectern, two tiny girls could hardly keep up. From now on, Annushka and Lizonka were considered, according to the old Russian custom, "married", that is, equated to children born in a legal marriage. But the question of the doubtfulness of their origin has surfaced more than once ...

After the wedding, as devoid of pomp as the wedding, the girls' lives have changed dramatically. They were given their own chambers in the palace, assigned to them individual cooks and other servants. The mother could now openly pamper her favorites, dress them up like dolls, and, without hesitation in means, write out dresses in the latest fashion, sewn by the most skilled European tailors.

At the assemblies introduced by Peter in 1718, the already grown-up royal daughters shone both figuratively and literally - their costumes were embroidered with gold and silver, and their headdresses were decorated with diamonds.

Portraits of girls were ordered to court artists. Several paintings by Louis Caravaque have survived, depicting Anna with Elizabeth and their younger brother and sister, who died early, Peter and Natalia, as young Greek deities.

Back in 1711, Peter gave Catherine the land on the southern bank of the mouth of the Neva, not far from the place where one of the decisive battles of the Northern War took place on May 6, 1703: Russian troops led by the Tsar and Alexander Menshikov captured the Swedish ships Gedan and Astrild . In memory of this victory, Peter ordered the creation of a beautiful landscape park, which still exists today. (Now Ekateringofsky Park is within walking distance of the Narvskaya metro station and the Narva Triumphal Gates.) And for each of the three most expensive women of his - to build a palace. Thus, both the mother and the young daughters had their own summer residences. Ekateringof, Annenhof and Elizavetgof were located nearby, and the hostesses whiled away their leisure time in one or another estate. Unfortunately, wooden palaces have not survived to this day.

The daughters of Peter the Great were significant pieces on the political chessboard. True, while remaining pawns.

Peter dearly loved both. And the prudent modest Anna, in whom he saw his likeness and, possibly, his future heiress (which we will talk about a little later). And the coquettish cheerful Elizabeth, in honor of whose birth he interrupted the celebrations on the occasion of the defeat of the Swedes near Poltava, exclaiming: “Let's postpone the celebration of the victory and hasten to congratulate my daughter on the coming into this world!”

However, let's not forget that as a result of cardinal reforms in Peter's policy, his daughters and their cousins, daughters of the late Tsar John, became the first Russian princesses who could count on a fate other than eternal girlhood in a monastery cell. Marriage, albeit by calculation, gave the girls at least some hope for happiness. As was customary among the royal fathers, when considering the future of girls, Peter cared less about their feelings than about state interests.

Anna and Elizabeth were prepared as wives for European kings and dukes - which means they were brought up in such a way that they would not lose face in front of Europe. You can’t say that their education was distinguished by versatility and systematicity, but it was strange at that time to wish for something else, given that it was about girls. The princesses were taught the basics of grammar, foreign languages, and dances. It's bad, but both knew how to write at the age of eight. They knew German, French, Italian and Swedish. Moreover, as we would now put it, from the “native speakers” of the language: Viscountess Latour-Lannoy, the German teacher Glick and her teacher Marianna Magnani. Swedish somehow learned by itself: among Peter's entourage there were many Swedes, and among the servants - representatives of the peoples of Ingria who spoke this language. Fine steps and pirouettes were shown to the girls by dance master Stefan Rambur.

The difference between the sisters became obvious very early: Anna showed much greater ability and diligence at the desk, Elizabeth knew no equal at assemblies and balls.

However, the girls were very friendly. This was facilitated by the fact that Tsar Peter often and for a long time left, his mother often accompanied her husband on diplomatic trips and military campaigns, and the brothers and sisters were too small, in addition, did not heal in the world.

Parents clearly hoped that the serious Annushka would have a positive effect on the frivolous Lizonka. Sometimes these hopes come true. Ekaterina Alekseevna wrote to her eldest daughter from afar, asking "for God to try to write well, to praise for it you can send you a present of diligence of your hotel, depending on it, and the little sister also tried to deserve a gift." And indeed, soon Elizabeth could already conduct correspondence on her own. “Lizetka, my friend, hello! her father greeted. “Thank you for your letters, God bless you in the joy of seeing you.”

As time went on, the girls grew up. And the need to find them worthy, and most importantly, useful spouses for Russia, from a distant perspective, turned into an urgent task. Moreover, they preferred to resolve such issues at the courts of monarchs ahead of time.

Peter seriously thought about the upcoming marriage of Elizabeth around 1717. The groom for the seven-year-old "bride" the father looked after was an enviable one - the same age as Lizonka Louis XV, who ascended the French throne for two years. For the sake of this union, Peter and Catherine were ready to take an unheard of step - to allow their daughter to accept Catholicism.

But Elizabeth didn't get to know if Paris was worth the Mass. Her father died before he even wooed his youngest daughter. The mother continued to have hopes for the French king until the marriage of Louis to Maria Leszczynska, daughter of the former King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Stanislav I, in September 1725.

The possibility of Elizabeth Petrovna's marriage to young Frenchmen of a lower rank was also discussed - Charles de Bourbon-Condé, Count of Charolais, and another Bourbon, Duke of Chartres, son of the regent under King Philip of Orleans.

As for the count, it is good that the negotiations did not end in anything, since in his mature years the last of Charolais was known as a dissolute and cruel man.

As for the duke... The regent, although he himself put forward the idea of ​​his son's marriage to the Russian princess, hesitated, arguing as follows: "... the bride has one drawback: her mother is a woman of dark origin, and this darkness cannot be dispelled by all the brilliance of the glory of the father of the bride."

Undoubtedly, the same consideration in the case of Louis XV was an argument "against", and much more weighty.

And when Peter died and a “woman of dark origin” took his place on the throne, the French completely lost interest in the Russian bride.

Anna's betrothed, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp Karl-Friedrich, appeared on the horizon around 1718.

The son of the elder sister of King Charles XII of Sweden, after the death of his uncle, he had all the rights to the throne, but he was pushed aside by the younger sister of King Ulrika-Eleanor. Peter, however, considered that the legitimate heir to the throne as a son-in-law was a solid trump card in the game with Sweden. The new relative was supposed to help him achieve favorable peace conditions in the protracted Northern War, gain influence on the politics of the Scandinavian countries, as well as access to the Baltic Sea in the Holstein city of Kiel.

For his part, with the help of his powerful son-in-law, the Holsteiner hoped to return the duchy of Schleswig, which belonged to him, taken by Denmark - and there, who knows, maybe he could get to the coveted Swedish crown.

Now, however, Peter himself hesitated for a long time, looking closely at the candidate. Either for strategic reasons, or doubting that the young man, who is not distinguished by either education, valor, or ingenuity, suits his beautiful and clever Anna.

However, on June 27, 1721, on the day of the celebration of the anniversary of the Battle of Poltava, Karl-Friedrich finally arrived in St. Petersburg. A few days before this, Friedrich-Wilhelm Berchholtz, a chamber junker from his retinue, arrived in the Russian capital. And it was he who first met the royal family.

The young man, impressionable, observant and possessing an undoubted literary gift, left his diaries to historians. Here is a record of his meeting with Peter's daughters in the Summer Garden:

“Our eyes immediately turned to the eldest princess, brunette and beautiful as an angel. Her complexion, hands and body are wonderfully good. She looks very much like a king and is rather tall for a woman. On the left side of the queen stood the second princess, blond and very delicate; her face, like that of the eldest, is extremely kind and pleasant. She is two years younger and shorter, but much livelier and fuller than the older one, who is a bit thin. This time they were dressed alike, but the youngest still had wings behind her; in the older one, they were recently cut off, but not yet taken off and only laced up. These wings are well made. The dresses of the princesses were without gold and silver, of beautiful two-tone matter, and their heads were set with precious stones and pearls, in the latest French fashion and with a grace that would have done honor to the best Parisian hairdresser.

One wants to give a charming genre scene a symbolic meaning, which in fact is not in it.

By that time, Anna was thirteen years old, Elizabeth was eleven. According to custom, girls from noble families wore wings on their backs, personifying angelic innocence, until they entered the age of girlhood. Nothing sinister in the fact that the eldest daughter of Peter was already considered an adult girl, of course, could not be.

But we, looking at this scene through the eyes of an enthusiastic chamber junker, know, unlike him, about the sad fate that awaits the young princess. And that’s why we can’t help but sigh: “An angel with clipped wings…”

The marriage of Karl-Friedrich lasted three years. The piquancy of his position lay in the fact that the duke did not even know whose groom he was, in fact, Anna or Elizabeth.

The tsar-father got off with vague excuses. It is unlikely that Peter really predicted Karl-Friedrich as his wife Elizabeth - after all, he hoped to marry her to France.

According to the memoirs of Berchholtz and another approximate duke, Holstein's first minister, Count Bassevich, Karl-Friedrich himself would have more willingly chosen the youngest of the princesses. Although both Tsar's daughters were pretty, Elizabeth, more lively, relaxed and, in modern terms, more sexy, from childhood surpassed her older sister in her ability to please people. Especially - to men.

However, Bassevich, who had a great influence on Karl-Friedrich, clearly preferred Anna. Subsequently, he wrote:

“Anna Petrovna resembled her august parent in face and character, but nature and upbringing softened everything in her. Nothing could be more majestic than her posture and physiognomy; nothing is more correct than the outlines of her face, and at the same time her look and smile were graceful and gentle. She had black hair and eyebrows, a complexion of dazzling whiteness, and a flush that was fresh and delicate, such as no artificiality can ever achieve; her eyes were of an indefinite color and distinguished by an unusual brilliance. All this was accompanied by a penetrating mind, genuine simplicity and good nature, generosity, indulgence, excellent education ... "

Ivan Nikitin. Portrait of Princess Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter I (before 1716)

The duke of Holstein tried to be even with his sisters, courting both of them, as befits decency, and at the same time showing touching signs of attention to their mother, still lovely Ekaterina Alekseevna. She said that she loved him like her own son.

It is difficult to say what the princesses thought about Karl-Friedrich. A guest in Russia was generously rewarded for the agonizing wait - they pampered and entertained in every possible way, invited to feasts, balls and masquerades. There were "friends" who quickly addicted the weak-willed duke to the bottle. There were rumors that the Holsteiner was "searching in the lower classes for hired love." It is unlikely that this could please teenage girls, especially the serious and shy Anna, despite Berchholz's assurances that she supposedly feels sincere and tender affection for his master. In addition, the duke was unsightly outwardly. In general, he was of little use in romantic heroes.

On August 30, 1721, an important event for the history of Russia took place - the Treaty of Nystadt was signed, which put an end to the war with Sweden. It lasted twenty-one years. Peter I said: “All students of science usually graduate at the age of seven, but our school was three times. However, thank God, it ended so well, as it is impossible to be better.

The international influence of Peter was strengthened, the territory of Russia was overgrown with Livonia, Estland, Ingria and other lands.

In honor of the long-awaited victory, the Senate and the Synod presented the tsar with the title of Emperor of All Russia. The country henceforth became known as the Russian Empire.

Both daughters of Peter were given the titles of crown princes.

But the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp had no reason to be happy - he did not receive either the title of heir to the throne, or Schleswig.

The uncertainty of his position at the Russian court was ended only on November 24, 1724, when his betrothal to Anna Petrovna nevertheless took place. The marriage contract provided for the refusal of the duke and his wife from claims to the Russian crown. However, Peter reserved the right to call on the Russian throne any of the sons of the couple of his choice.

“Now it was clear from everything that His Highness (as we all ardently desired) would get the incomparably beautiful Princess Anna. Thus, the uncertainty that had continued until now was resolved, on whom the lot would fall, on the eldest or on the second princess. Although nothing can be said against the beauty and attractiveness of Princess Elisabeth, nevertheless, for many reasons, we all leaned towards Princess Anna and sincerely wished that she would be our duchess, ”Berchholtz wrote in his diary with relief and joy.

Did Peter ever see in his eldest daughter the successor of his work? There are many supporters of this version. According to it, Peter, who did not want his grandson and namesake, the son of the rebellious Tsarevich Alexei, to ascend the throne, almost from childhood Anna had nurtured the idea of ​​appointing her as heiress, and looking for her husband, he chose a co-ruler for her, a prince consort according to the British model.

This was confidently discussed in Russian and French diplomatic circles when discussing the idea of ​​an alliance with the same Duke of Chartres, but with Anna Petrovna.

The same could be evidenced by the appearance of Peter's Decree on succession to the throne of 1722, which abolished the old procedure for the transfer of the throne through the male line according to seniority and gave the sovereign the right to appoint the heir himself.

However, Peter I always clearly stated that he intended to transfer the throne to his wife Catherine. And even suspecting his wife of treason, which cost her Peter's trust, and the head chamberlain Vilim Mons, he only hurried to betroth his eldest daughter. And by the aforementioned marriage contract, it would seem that he made it clear that he was counting on grandchildren from Anna, but not on herself.

But in January 1725, while dying, the emperor demanded writing materials and wrote: "Leave everything ...". The hand did not obey. Peter called Anna to him so that she would continue to write from dictation, but when the girl arrived, he could no longer speak.

Eyewitnesses had no doubt that Anna, at the behest of her father, had to continue the phrase with her own name. We will probably never know for sure.

Well, even this strong and determined man could hesitate when it came to the most important issues for him ...

The wedding, postponed due to the illness and death of Peter I (and his youngest daughter, little Natalya, who died a month after her father) and mourning, took place on May 21, 1725 in the Church of the Holy Trinity. The wedding was played for three days. There were cannon fire, and festivities, and fountains "that flowed with red and white wines."

And after the wedding, the young people moved to a three-story stone mansion, hired by Karl-Friedrich from Admiral General Apraksin. If Anna could read Dickens, she would call this mansion Bleak House. The gallant ladies' man was changed. He often did not spend the night at home, in St. Petersburg gossip about Karl-Friedrich and a certain "Moscow grisette" ...

Not only did marriage from the first days become a huge disappointment for Anna, she, along with her husband, became a victim of palace intrigues. His Serene Highness Prince Menshikov, the closest associate and old friend of Peter, helped Ekaterina Alekseevna ascend the throne after his death and clearly expected that the newly-made ruler would listen exclusively to his advice. But she unnecessarily, according to Menshikov, favored her beloved son-in-law Karl-Friedrich, insisting on his active participation in state affairs. The brightest did not need a competitor. In addition, the health of the queen began to deteriorate rapidly. And after her death, Anna Petrovna and her future children would become a serious threat to Tsarevich Peter Alekseevich, whom Menshikov wanted to marry his daughter.

Catherine I died on May 6, 1727. Before her death, she was in a hurry to arrange the future of Elizabeth - Karl-Friedrich's cousin Karl-August of Holstein-Gottorp arrived in St. Petersburg. This marriage of the Russian princess and the Holsteiner could have been successful - the bride and groom managed to fall in love with each other. But Karl-August contracted smallpox and died three weeks after the failed mother-in-law.

Both Menshikov and Anna's husband probably had a hand in the will drawn up just before the death of the Empress. According to the document, Tsarevich Alexei was appointed as the heir, as Menshikov wanted, but Anna and her descendants followed him, and then Elizabeth. Menshikov had to share the guardianship of the boy-tsar with both princesses, which was also not at all good for the prince.

Taking advantage of the confusion at court, Menshikov repaired large and small intrigues to the ducal couple, and in the end he simply “asked” Karl-Friedrich to get out to his homeland, but as soon as possible. What the duke and his wife did when they sailed from Petersburg on July 27.

His Serene Highness did not yet suspect that very soon the young tsar would get out of his control, deprive him of power, wealth, titles, all hopes and subject him to a shameful exile in Siberia.

The couple arrived in the port of Kiel on August 13. The meeting with a new life turned out to be just as joyless for Anna Petrovna as parting with the old was. The Holsteiners received the young duchess well, but the duke himself ... He paid even less attention to his beautiful wife than in Russia. Anna and Karl-Friedrich spent both days and nights each in their own half, they even dined separately. At first, Anna was not so bored. After all, she was the one about whom the French diplomat Lavi once wrote: "... the spitting image of the tsar-father ... and wants to know everything." The study of the local way of life and way of life was very interesting for her. But more and more often, the duchess complained in letters to her beloved sister Elizabeth about boredom, loneliness, and the infidelity of her husband, who did not particularly hide his amorous adventures.

On February 10, 1728, Anna gave birth to a son, Karl-Peter-Ulrich, the future Russian Emperor Peter III. The city magistrate presented the newborn with a silver cradle, upholstered on the inside with blue velvet. But, looking at the baby, cooing in a luxurious cradle, the mother was sad: "Poor baby, you were not born for joy." However, she was not destined to know how true her prophecy turned out to be.

The death of Anna Petrovna, Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, is described in different ways.

According to some reports, she caught a cold when she opened the window to admire the fireworks arranged in honor of the birth of the baby. Anna laughed at the alarmed ladies-in-waiting: “We Russians are not as pampered as you! ..” But she fell ill with a fever and died on the tenth day.

According to others, she died painfully for three months, not recovering from childbirth.

Peter's daughter asked to be buried "near the father." And her last wish was granted.

From Moscow, where Peter II moved with his court, none of the relatives and nobles came to the funeral in St. Petersburg. Even Elizabeth. True, she was very upset by the death of her sister: she cried and prayed, locking herself in her chambers for several days.

According to contemporaries, Karl-Friedrich also sincerely grieved, apparently realizing what a treasure he had lost. He never remarried and henceforth preferred solitude to companies and drinking parties. The duke died on the estate of Rolfshagen in 1739 at the age of forty. Shortly before his death, he wrote in his notes: "I was looking for peace and did not find it."

In 1735, the duke established the Order of St. Anna in memory of his young Russian wife. Over time, this award became Russian and was awarded until the 1917 revolution.

The future Empress Elizabeth Petrovna continued to lead an outwardly carefree life. She reveled in balls and hunting - and improved in the gift of charm. Even her own nephew, Peter II, was captivated by her (albeit not without the influence of the cunning courtier Osterman). But Peter was a teenager, and Elizabeth was an adult girl. As a gentleman, he did not interest her. And although the prospect of marriage between the two closest descendants of Peter the Great was seriously talked about, the relationship between aunt and nephew was limited to tender family friendship.

Unknown artist. Portrait of Princess Elizabeth Petrovna in her youth

This friendship cooled for a while when the boy-king, jealous of his aunt for the chamberlain Buturlin, who liked her, sent the latter to fight the Tatars in Ukraine. The nephew generally tried to ward off all men from Elizabeth - for example, he thwarted the project of her marriage with the Elector of Brandenburg and sent abroad another object of sympathy for the princess, Chief Chamberlain Naryshkin.

After the untimely death of the young emperor in 1730, Elizabeth, according to the will of Catherine I, was to become his successor. But the Supreme Privy Council, declaring the princess illegitimate, called Anna Ioannovna to reign.

Elizabeth was one of the first at court to swear allegiance to her cousin. And although there were often quarrels between the new empress and her relative, so beautiful and so dangerous, it seemed that the daughter of Peter I did not think about the throne at all and did not harbor any political ambitions.

Having made a palace coup on November 25, 1741, which elevated her to the throne, Elizaveta Petrovna clearly demonstrated how erroneous this opinion was.

Until her death, the "brilliant Elizabeth" did not forget her sister. Using the Decree of Succession mentioned above, she, as we know, made Anna's son Karl-Peter-Ulrich her heir.

The choice of a bride for the heir by Elizabeth was also influenced by the memory of the past - her late fiancé Karl-August was the uncle of Princess Fike, later known as Catherine II.

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The following excerpt from the book Romanov Princesses: Tsar's Daughters (M. V. Skuratovskaya, 2016) provided by our book partner -