Prince Baryatinsky. Baryatinsky, Prince Alexander Ivanovich. Less shooting, more money

Between the dates of their birth lies almost 200 years. But how similar the destinies are. Both girls almost became one queen, the other empress, almost gave birth new dynasty, but there were a little too many of these. But in fact, they were toys in the hands of their energetic, greedy, power-hungry relatives.
We will talk about Lady Jane Gray (bride of the English King Edward VI) and Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova (bride of the Russian Emperor Peter II).

Jane Gray
(Many portraits of her were painted at different times. Not all of them are authenticated; the film was shot in our time. Such a short life, and so much in the artistic heritage)

Jane Gray (12 October 1537 – 12 February 1554), known as Lady Jane Gray or Lady Jane Dudley (from 1553), was Queen of England from 10 July 1553 to 19 July 1553. Also known as the "queen for nine days". Executed on charges of seizing power on February 12, 1554.
Lady Jane Gray was born on 12 October 1537 in Bradgate, Leicestershire, to Henry Gray, Marquess of Dorset (later Duke of Suffolk) and Lady Frances Brandon, granddaughter of King Henry VII.
Given to be raised by the best mentors, Lady Jane from a young age amazed her contemporaries with her brilliant academic success. In addition, Jane was distinguished by her kindness, flexible disposition and religiosity. Jane was raised in the Protestant religion and everyone around her was hostile to Catholicism.
Looking at Miss Gray's success, her ambitious relatives had an idea - to marry the young King Edward VI to Jane. The prince had been friends with Lady Jane since childhood and had friendly feelings towards her.
However, Edward's health did not allow him to hope that he could live to see his marriage - the king was diagnosed with progressive tuberculosis. At the beginning of 1553, no one had any illusions about the king's condition. The weakened teenager was forced to sign the “Heritage Law.” According to him, Jane Gray, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, became queen.
Of course, Edward signed this law not only because of his affection for his childhood friend, Jane Gray. Members of the Privy Council, led by the regent John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, did not want Princess Mary, the elder sister of the dying king and an ardent Catholic, to come to power. This desire of the English government was actively supported by France, which was in a protracted conflict with Catholic Spain.

According to the new law, the daughters of Henry VIII - Princess Mary and her half-sister Princess Elizabeth were excluded from contenders for the throne, and Jane Gray was declared the heir. Under pressure from Northumberland, on June 21, 1553, the new order of succession was signed by all members of the Privy Council and more than a hundred aristocrats and bishops, including Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and William Cecil.
The announcement of Jane Gray as heir to the throne was a complete break with the English tradition of succession to the throne. According to a similar law signed by Henry VIII in 1544, Edward, in the absence of children, was succeeded by Mary, she by Elizabeth, and only then by the heirs of Frances Brandon and her sister Eleanor. By designating the children of Frances and Eleanor as heirs, rather than themselves, Henry VIII apparently hoped for male offspring. Therefore, the decision of Edward VI, having excluded the sisters and Frances Brandon herself from inheritance, and announced Jane Gray as his successor, was perceived in English society as illegal. Moreover, Northumberland's obvious interest in the coronation of Jane Gray gave rise to fears among the English aristocracy that real power would belong to Northumberland, who had already proven himself an authoritarian regent during the reign of Edward VI.
Even before the changes in the order of succession to the throne were announced, the Duke of Northumberland announced the marriage of his son Guilford to... the former bride of the dying king - Lady Jane. The wedding took place on May 21, 1553, that is, a month and a half before Edward's death. Thus, it was implied that Jane and Guildford's future son Dudley (grandson of the Duke of Northumberland) would become king of England.
On July 6, 1553, King Edward died.
On July 10, Queen Jane arrived at the Tower and, in accordance with custom, settled down there awaiting her coronation. The ceremony was carried out hastily, without any solemnity. The residents of London did not show any joy - they were sure that the true contender was Mary.

Lady Jane, a sixteen-year-old girl who was too far from her father-in-law's political games, did not even try to understand what was happening. She, of course, was aware that she had become just a pawn in the hands of the Dudley clan, but she could no longer do anything. True, when Northumberland announced to the queen that she was obliged to crown her husband, Guildford, Jane refused.
Northumberland, for all his foresight, did not count on Princess Mary escaping arrest and raising an army. In an official letter sent from Keninhall, Mary declared her rights to the throne. In addition, a significant part of the noblest aristocrats of England moved from London to Keninhall to join the army of Princess Mary's supporters. Towns and counties of England, one after another, declared Mary their queen.
The Duke of Northumberland stood at the head of the army, which was to defeat the army of the rebellious princess. However, when he approached Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk with his army of no more than 3,000 men, he found Mary's troops ten times his own force and, amid mass desertions, was forced to retreat and admit defeat.
London was also uneasy. One after another, members of the Privy Council, aristocrats, and court officials betrayed Queen Jane, going over to Mary's side. On July 19, 1553, members of the Privy Council appeared in the city square, where they proclaimed the eldest daughter of Henry VIII as Queen of England.
On August 3, Maria solemnly entered London. John Dudley and his sons were declared criminals of the state and arrested.
The court sentenced John Dudley to death by beheading. The sentence was carried out on August 22, 1553. Lady Jane, her husband Guildford Dudley and her father the Duke of Suffolk were imprisoned in the Tower and also sentenced to death. However, Maria I for a long time could not decide to sign the court verdict - she was aware that the sixteen-year-old girl and her young husband did not usurp power on their own, and in addition, she did not want to begin her reign with repression in England, divided between Catholics and Protestants.
Maria even pardoned Jane's father, however, already in next year he took part in the rebellion led by Thomas Wyeth. This was a new attempt to overthrow the “Catholic” government of Mary I and, possibly, enthrone Jane, who was languishing in the Tower. This determined the fate of the “nine-day queen”: she and her husband were beheaded in London on February 12, 1554. Eleven days later, her father, Lord Grey, was executed.

Jane bitterly mourned the fate of her unfortunate father, who, out of love for her, went to the chopping block. She knew Guilford only a few days before the wedding; she married out of obedience to her parents’ will and was never his wife in the full sense of the word.
Jane's relatives and advisers almost all gradually converted to the Catholic faith. Seven months after the nine-day reign ended, Mary decided to hand Jane over to the hands of the executioner.
The Queen summoned Father Feckenham and instructed him to pronounce Lady Jane a death sentence, using all efforts to save her soul.
He spoke to Jane about faith, about freedom, about holiness, but she was more familiar with all these issues than him, and meekly asked to be allowed to spend a few hours of her life in prayer.
Converting Jane to Catholicism in one day was impossible. To save her soul, it was necessary to postpone the execution scheduled for Friday - Feckenham insisted that the queen postpone the execution.

Jane was upset by the reprieve of death penalty given to her - she did not want to die, at seventeen no one wants to die, but she did not want the queen to give her an extra day of life in the hope of making her give up her faith. Jane greeted Feckenham very coldly.
Having learned about the disastrous result of her confessor’s second meeting with the prisoner, Maria did not become furious. She ordered the death warrant to be prepared and sent for Gray, who was imprisoned inland. Mary could not force Jane to renounce her faith and subjected her to severe mental torment: she ordered Guilford to be executed and his corpse carried past the windows of Jane's dungeon, she erected a scaffold for unfortunate Jane in view of her windows and forced Lord Gray to be present at the execution of her daughter, she forbade the pastor prepare Jane for death.
The priests whom Queen Mary sent to the Tower of London turned out to be Lady Jane's most cruel tormentors; they forcibly broke into her and did not leave her until her death.

Early in the morning, before dawn, the sound of hammers was heard under her windows: they were carpenters erecting the scaffold on which Lady Jane was to die. Looking into the garden, Jane saw a company of archers and spearmen, saw Guilford, who was being led to execution. She sat down by the window and began to calmly wait. An hour passed, a long hour, and then the sound of wheels on the pavement reached her ears. She knew that it was the cart containing Guilford's body, and she stood up to say goodbye to her husband.
A few minutes later Feckenham came for her. Both of her ladies-in-waiting were sobbing loudly and barely dragging their feet; Jane, all in black, with a prayer book in her hands, calmly walked out to the scaffold, walked along the lawn past the soldiers lined up in formation, climbed onto the scaffold and, turning to the crowd, quietly said: “Good people, I came here to die. There was a conspiracy against Her Majesty the Queen "a lawless deed; but it was not done for my sake; I did not want it. I solemnly testify that I am not guilty before God. And now, good people, in the last minutes of my life, do not leave me with your prayers."
She knelt down and asked Feckenham, the only clergyman whom Mary allowed to be present at Jane's execution: "May I say a psalm?" “Yes,” he muttered.
Then she said in a clear voice: “Have mercy on me, O Lord, according to the things of your mercy, according to the multitude of your compassions, cleanse me from my iniquities.” Having finished reading, she took off her gloves and scarf, gave them to the ladies-in-waiting, unbuttoned her dress and took off her veil. The executioner wanted to help her, but she calmly pushed him aside and blindfolded herself with a white handkerchief. Then he fell at her feet, begging her to forgive him for what he had to do. She whispered a few warm words of compassion to him and then said loudly: “Please, finish quickly!”
She knelt down in front of the block and began to search for it with her hands. The soldier standing next to her took her hands and put them where they should have been. Then she bowed her head on the block and said: “Lord, into your hands I commit my Spirit,” and died under the executioner’s axe.

Dolgorukova, Ekaterina Alekseevna
Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova (1712-1747) - princess, daughter of Prince Alexei Grigorievich Dolgorukov, bride of Emperor Peter II, failed empress of Russia.
Alexey Grigorievich Dolgorukov had an immeasurable thirst for power and ambitions that destroyed him and his entire family. Unable to become a confidant of Empress Catherine I, who completely relied on the omnipresent Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, Dolgorukov did everything to deepen his influence on the young Emperor Peter. Shamelessly taking advantage of the friendship of his son Ivan with Pyotr Alekseevich (very soon he became the favorite of the inexperienced young man), indulging his basest whims, not leaving him alone and in every possible way encouraging his selfless passion for hunting, Alexey Grigorievich managed not only to upset Peter’s engagement to Maria Menshikova, but also to achieve the overthrow of the all-powerful temporary worker.

Dolgorukova Ekaterina

Menshikov was deprived of all his wealth and ranks and exiled with his family to Berezov.
Having barely caught his breath after the victory, Dolgorukov decided to take the emperor into his own hands. Obeying her father's orders, Princess Catherine agreed to marry Emperor Peter, although she had a passionate love for the brother-in-law of the Austrian ambassador, Count Melissimo, and was mutually loved by him. However, the father firmly announced that he would never give her up for Melissimo, and it would be stupid to marry some Austrian if there was an opportunity to become the Empress of All Rus'. After all, a smart woman can twist this unbalanced boy any way she wants. In addition, there are rumors about his poor health... Who knows whether one day the hour will come when Catherine will become the empress and the ancestor of a new royal dynasty?
Alas, exorbitant vanity was a hereditary trait of this family. Catherine gave her word to participate in all her father’s plans. There were rumors that one day she agreed to remain alone for some time with the ardent and pleasure-hungry emperor, so Peter then had no choice but to propose. That is, the persistent Alexey Grigorievich forced him to do it...
And so on November 19, 1729, Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova was declared the bride of the fourteen-year-old emperor, and on the 30th the solemn betrothal took place, and she was given the title of “Her Highness the Bride.” The day after the engagement, she moved to live in the Golovinsky Palace, and Count Melissimo was sent abroad.

Peter II

Meanwhile, her beloved brother Ivan continued to lead an absent-minded and dissolute life. His only reasonable act at this time was his marriage to Natalya Borisovna Sheremeteva, which unfortunately ruined the life of this noble woman.
It seemed that the whole world was opening up to the lucky one! However, thunder struck from heaven: in January 1730, Catherine’s crowned groom suddenly fell ill and died of smallpox on the 18th. This was a true disaster for the power-hungry Dolgorukovs. But what opportunities opened up for new intrigues! When Peter II was in his death throes, Prince Alexei Grigorievich gathered all his relatives and proposed to draw up a forged will on behalf of the sovereign about appointing the empress-bride as successor to the throne. After much debate, they decided to write two copies of the spiritual;
Ivan Alekseevich should have tried to bring one of them to the emperor’s signature, and sign the other now under Peter’s hand, in case the latter was not able to sign the first copy himself. When both copies of the spiritual were compiled, Ivan Alekseevich signed very similarly on one under the hand of Peter. It was not possible to obtain the true signature: the emperor died without regaining consciousness. Ivan’s attempt to shout out the “empress bride” to the kingdom was unsuccessful: simply no one supported him.
After the death of Peter II, Princess Catherine returned to her parents’ house and, together with them, upon the accession of Empress Anna Ioannovna to the throne in April 1730, she was exiled to Berezov.
Oh no, the Empress knew nothing about the manipulation of the will. The reason for the exile was that Alexey Grigorievich was the only member of the Supreme Privy Council who cast a vote against the election of the Duchess of Courland to the throne!

Dolgorukov Ivan Alekseevich

In this one can see the mockery of fate: the Dolgorukovs with their whole family went to the very same Berezov, where the disgraced Menshikovs were exiled two years ago! There Alexei Grigorievich met his death, and Catherine served as the unwitting cause of new disasters for her family.
Dolgorukov began to make friends with the officers of the local garrison, with the local clergy and with the inhabitants of Berezovsky, and at the same time again became involved in a riotous life - albeit weak, but a semblance of the former. Among his friends was the Tobolsk customs clerk Tishin, who took a fancy to the beautiful “destroyed” empress-bride, Princess Catherine. Once, while drunk, he rudely expressed his desires to her. The offended princess complained to her brother's friend, Lieutenant Dmitry Ovtsyn, who was in love with her. Yes, and Catherine responded to his feelings. This was a completely different person than the pampered Melissimo or the quarrelsome boy Peter. Time and trials have changed the quarrelsome and vain young lady a lot. She learned to value loyalty and kindness above satisfied vanity!

Alexander Menshikov

Enraged, Ovtsyn brutally beat Tishin. In revenge, the clerk submitted a denunciation to the Siberian governor, the material for which was the careless expressions of Ivan Dolgorukov. The captain of the Siberian garrison, Ushakov, was sent to Berezov with a secret order to verify Tishin’s statement. When it was confirmed, Dolgorukov was taken to Tobolsk in 1738, along with his two brothers, Borovsky, Petrov, Ovtsyn and many other Berezovsky inhabitants, who disappeared into obscurity. During the investigation, Dolgorukov was kept in hand and leg shackles, chained to Wall. Morally and physically exhausted, he fell into a state close to insanity, was delirious in reality and even told what was not asked of him - the story of the creation of a forged spiritual will at the death of Peter II. This unexpected recognition led to a new case, to which the uncles of Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna were involved: Sergei and Ivan Grigorievich and Vasily Lukich. They were all executed; On November 8, 1739, handsome Ivan was wheeling around on the Skudelnichy field, a mile from Novgorod.

Anna Ioanovna

Knowing nothing about their fate, about the fate of Dmitry, Catherine was meanwhile transported to Novgorod and imprisoned in the Resurrection-Goritsky nunnery. Then she heard terrible rumors... She felt as if life had buried her in a grave for the second time, so she suffered the move to another monastery indifferently.
Catherine was kept in the strictest confinement, but at first, depressed by her loss, she hardly noticed it. And then the feeling self-esteem took over. For two years of imprisonment, no one not only saw her tears, but did not even hear a single word from the former “empress bride.” Her only reading was prayer books, the Bible and the Gospel. In the monastery courtyard, where she was sometimes released, she saw the sky and tree branches above the fence - nothing more. However, Mother Superior sometimes complained to trusted nuns: “She acts like she’s not imprisoned here, but we are all forced to serve her!”
Catherine's spiritual fortitude turned out to be amazing. When in 1741 Empress Elizabeth ordered her release and granted her the title of maid of honor, only restrained silence and spirituality of her features distinguished her beauty from her previous one. Ekaterina Dolgorukova could again shine at court, but she did not have the slightest desire for this.
And then, it seemed, fate took pity on the proud beauty. The forty-year-old handsome general-in-chief Alexander Romanovich Bruce fell passionately in love with her. Funny accidents do happen! Godson of Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, Bruce was married in his first marriage to Anastasia Dolgorukova, and in his second marriage to her relative Ekaterina. The wedding took place in 1745. However, Catherine’s words about fate digging a grave for her turned out to be prophetic this time. Shortly after the wedding, she died suddenly. Really, one might think that happiness turned out to be unbearable for this proud nature, accustomed to nothing but suffering!

Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich, born on October 12, 1715 in St. Petersburg, was the son of the heir to the throne Alexei (sentenced to death in 1718) and his wife Sophia-Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who died ten days after giving birth.

Parents of Peter II

The future heir to the throne, like his one year older sister Natalia, was not the fruit of love and family happiness. The marriage of Alexei and Charlotte was the result of diplomatic negotiations between Peter I, the Polish king Augustus II and the Austrian emperor Charles VI, and each of them wanted to benefit from the family union of the Romanov dynasty and the ancient German family of Welf, connected by many family ties with the royal families that then ruled in Europe houses.

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

Two children of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich received the names “Natalia” and “Peter”. These were the names of Peter I himself and his beloved sister Princess Natalia Alekseevna. The boy turned out to be the full namesake of Peter I's grandfather. He was baptized by his grandfather and his sister Natalya. “So Peter II became a complete anthroponymic “copy” of Peter I.”

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

It is noteworthy that 17 days after his birth, the emperor already had his own son, who was also named “Peter” (although it was not customary to name a child after a living ancestor in the direct line). In this way, the emperor demonstrated continuity from Peter the father to Peter the son, bypassing the namesake grandson. However, this “competitor” died in 1719

A little prince

Catherine I dies, and an 11-year-old boy becomes emperor. “He is one of the finest princes you can meet; he has extreme good looks and extraordinary liveliness,” the French diplomat Lavi writes about Peter.

Peter II Alekseevich is a Russian emperor, grandson of Peter I, son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and German Princess Sophia Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the last representative of the Romanov family in the direct male line.

The young sovereign promised to imitate the Roman Emperor Titus, who tried to act in such a way that no one left him with a sad face. Unfortunately, Peter did not keep this promise...

A web of intrigue from birth

Deprived of parental affection, Pyotr Alekseevich grew like grass in a meadow: they taught him “something and somehow” and practically did not educate him. In the meantime, Peter I died, the throne was taken by his widow, Empress Catherine I, and real power was in the hands of His Serene Highness Prince Alexander Menshikov.

Alexander Danilovich Menshikov. After the death of Peter I - the de facto ruler of Russia (1725-27), “first senator”, “first member of the Supreme Privy Council” (1726), under Peter the Second - generalissimo of the naval and ground forces.

The cunning schemer watched with alarm as the health and strength of Catherine I melted away, plunging into a crazy whirlwind of pleasures and entertainment. He needed to take care of the future. And Menshikov begins to court the heir to the throne - young Pyotr Alekseevich.

The child, yearning for affection, reached out to the “blessed one”; he even began to call “father” the man who signed the death warrant for his real father!

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

Trying to strengthen his influence on the emperor, Menshikov moved him on May 17 to his home on Vasilyevsky Island. On May 25, 11-year-old Peter II became engaged to 16-year-old Princess Maria, daughter of Menshikov. She received the title “Her Imperial Highness” and an annual allowance of 34 thousand rubles.

Although Peter was kind to her and her father, in his letters of that time he called her a “porcelain doll.”

Osterman

Menshikov was in a hurry to “strike while the iron is hot”: he transported the crowned youth to own house, the sovereign's bride Maria received the title of imperial highness. “His Serene Highness” sent some ill-wishers into exile, and bribed others with high positions.

The young sovereign, who completely trusted the “father,” resignedly signed any decree he drew up. But Menshikov made a big mistake with the Tsar’s tutor. He assigned to Peter the crafty German Osterman, who pretended to be a devoted supporter of the “most luminous.”

Count Heinrich Johann Friedrich Ostermann ( German Heinrich Johann Friedrich Ostermann), in Russia - Andrey Ivanovich.

In fact, Osterman hated the all-powerful temporary worker and, together with the princely Dolgoruky clan, prepared his downfall.

The cunning German was a good psychologist. Osterman's lessons fascinated Peter so much that the boy, as soon as he woke up early in the morning, almost ran to class. And the teacher gradually turned the young tsar against Menshikov.

Imperial Wrath

One day, his subjects presented the sovereign with a hefty sum. Peter ordered to send money to his lady love, Elizabeth. Having learned about this, Menshikov intercepted the messenger and unceremoniously pocketed the royal gift.

Portrait of young Elizaveta Petrovna. Louis Caravaque, 1720s.

Peter was furious, he called the prince “on the carpet” and gave a formal dressing down. “I’ll show you which of us is the emperor!” raged the young tsar, in whom the violent temper of his grandfather, Peter the Great, leapt up. The stunned Menshikov had to return the money to Elizabeth.

Changing favorite

In September, the prince organized a magnificent celebration at his estate. Peter promised to be there, but didn’t come. And then the annoyed Menshikov made a fatal mistake: during the service in the chapel, he demonstratively stood in the royal place. The prince’s “well-wishers,” of course, reported to Peter. This trick put an end to Menshikov’s dizzying career.

Menshikov's estate and the embassy palace next door - engraving by A. Zubov, 1715

In addition to this, in the summer of 1727 Menshikov fell ill. After five or six weeks, the body coped with the disease, but during the time that he was absent from the court, Menshikov’s opponents extracted the protocols of the interrogations of Tsarevich Alexei, the emperor’s father, in which Menshikov participated, and familiarized the sovereign with them.

On September 6, by order of the Supreme Privy Council, all the emperor's belongings were transferred from the Menshikov house to the Summer Palace. On September 7, Peter, upon his arrival from hunting in St. Petersburg, sent an announcement to the guards so that they would obey only his orders.

On September 8, 1727, Menshikov was arrested, based on the results of the work of the investigative commission of the Supreme Privy Council, without trial, he was accused of high treason, embezzlement of the treasury, and by decree of the 11-year-old boy Emperor Peter II, he was sent into exile.

V. I. Surikov. « Menshikov in Berezovo "(1883)

After the first exile to his estate - the fortress of Ranenburg (in the modern Lipetsk region), on charges of abuse and embezzlement, Menshikov was deprived of all positions, awards, property, titles and exiled with his family to the Siberian town of Berezov, Tobolsk province.

Menshikov's wife, the favorite of Peter I, Princess Daria Mikhailovna, died on the way (in 1728, 12 versts from Kazan). In Berezovo, Menshikov himself built himself a village house (along with 8 faithful servants) and a church. His statement from that period is known: “I started with a simple life, and I will end with a simple life.”

Later, a smallpox epidemic began in Siberia. He died on November 12, 1729, aged 56. The tsar’s new favorite was Ivan Dolgoruky, a spendthrift and reveler known throughout St. Petersburg.

Revelry

With the fall of Menshikov, Peter felt completely independent. He stopped studying and abandoned government affairs. According to the memoirs of a contemporary, “the only thing the emperor does is roam the streets all day and night with Princess Elizabeth, visiting chamberlain Ivan Dolgoruky, pages, cooks and God knows who else.” Dolgoruky accustomed the young sovereign to revelry and debauchery, distracting him from any serious activities.

Emperor Peter II and Tsarevna Elizaveta Petrovna go hunting. Hood. Valentin Serov, 1900

Peter's character also changed for the worse: the “little prince” became hot-tempered, capricious and irritable. Most of all, he fell in love with hunting, with a magnificent retinue he went into the forests and chased prey for weeks. And the state was “ruled” by the Dolgoruky clan, and under their “sensitive leadership” things in the country went worse and worse.

At the end of 1729, the presumptuous princes, in the words of the Spanish diplomat de Liria, “opened the second volume of Menshikov’s stupidity.” Repeating the mistake of the “most illustrious”, they decided to present Peter with their own “rose” - to marry Ekaterina Dolgoruky.

Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukova, second bride of Peter II. Unknown artist, 1729

Prince Ivan convinced Peter to announce the upcoming marriage. The Tsar reluctantly gave in to his favorite, but the courtiers noticed that at the betrothal ball Peter looked displeased and paid almost no attention to the bride. Catherine never became the wife of Peter II...

Hateful life

In December 1729, the Tsar became seriously ill, Elizabeth came to visit her nephew. The 14-year-old boy was sad and said that he was fed up with life and would soon die. The words turned out to be prophetic: on January 19, 1730, Peter II died of smallpox.

Peter II Alekseevich - Russian Emperor.

In Saint-Exupéry's fairy tale, the Little Prince finds himself on a planet full of wonderful roses. But their beauty seems cold and empty to him. “You are nothing like my rose,” he told them. - You are nothing yet. No one has tamed you, and you have not tamed anyone.”

The prince from the fairy tale was lucky - he had a Rose. But the Russian “little prince” never found his Rose among the many bright and lush flowers...

Dmitry Kazennov

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

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

Child of high diplomacy

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wine and curses for the Grand Duke

However, his own father, who perished in the dungeons of his grandfather, managed to negatively influence the boy. Without experiencing warm feelings to a child from an unloved woman, Alexey Petrovich assigned two women who abused alcohol to his son as nannies. The nannies solved the problem of the baby’s whims simply - they gave him wine to drink so that he would fall asleep faster. Thus began the soldering of the future emperor, which continued for the rest of his life.

Portrait of Peter II, 1720s.

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

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

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

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

The grandson of Peter I was in love with his daughter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

young Tsarevna Elizaveta Petrovna, 1720s.

/portrait of I. Nikitin/

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

Fight for the Emperor

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Engagement

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

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

Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukaya. 1798

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

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

“I’ll go to my sister Natalia!”

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

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

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

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

Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova, second bride of Peter II

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

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

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

tombstone of Peter II

Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova. Born in 1712 - died in 1747. Princess, bride of Emperor Peter II.

Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova was born in 1712.

Father - Alexey Grigorievich Dolgorukov (died in 1734 in Berezovo), Russian statesman, member of the Supreme Privy Council, senator, chamberlain, holder of the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called, cousin V.L. Dolgorukova.

Mother - Praskovya Yuryevna Khilkova.

Brother - Ivan Alekseevich Dolgorukov (1708-1739, executed in Novgorod), favorite of Emperor Peter II. Since 1730 he was married to Countess Natalya Borisovna Sheremeteva.

Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna was brought up together with her brother Ivan in Warsaw in the house of her grandfather Grigory Fedorovich.

Obeying her father's orders, Princess Catherine agreed to marry Emperor Peter II, while she had a passionate love for Count Millesimo of the del Caretto family (a relative of the Austrian ambassador Count Vratislav) and was mutually loved by him. On November 19, 1729, she was declared the bride of the fourteen-year-old emperor, and on November 30, her solemn betrothal took place, and she was given the title “Her Highness the Bride.”

On November 30, 1729, on the occasion of her engagement, Catherine was awarded the Order of St. Catherine, 1st degree, which she was deprived of after the fall of the family in 1730.

Ekaterina Dolgorukova

The day after the engagement, she moved to live in the Golovinsky Palace, and Count Millesimo was sent abroad. However, Catherine never became the wife of Peter II - two weeks before the wedding, in January 1730, Peter II fell ill and died.

The Dolgorukovs prepared a fake will in favor of the “empress bride”, but did not dare to present it, which, nevertheless, had a cruel impact on the fate of Prince Ivan Alekseevich.

After the death of Peter II, Princess Catherine returned to her parents’ house and, together with them, upon the accession of Empress Anna Ioannovna to the throne in April 1730, she was exiled to Berezov. According to some reports, Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukova gave birth to a stillborn daughter a few months after Peter’s death.

In 1740, she was transported to Tomsk and imprisoned in the Nativity Convent, where she was kept in the strictest confinement for almost a year. Empress Elizabeth ordered her release and granted her the title of maid of honor.

In 1745 she married Lieutenant General Count A.R. Bruce, but soon caught a cold and died. According to some information, she was buried in the fence of St. Andrew's Cathedral.

The image of Ekaterina Dolgorukova in the cinema:

1970 - Ballad about Bering and his friends (in the role of Ekaterina Dolgorukova - Valentina Egorenkova).

III. Countess Ekaterina Alekseevna Bruce, née Princess Dolgorukaya

(Second bride of Peter II)

The second bride of Emperor Peter II was just as unhappy as the first, Princess Marya Alexandrovna Menshikova, whose fate we became acquainted with in the previous essay.

Yes, Dolgoruky and in general were not lucky enough to have kinship with the sovereigns of the Russian land.

So, from the history of women ancient Rus' we already know that one of the Dolgorukys was the fifth - if historians are not mistaken - the very unhappy wife of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible.

The Terrible married Marya Dolgorukaya on November 11, 1573, and on the second day after the marriage, as we know, the life of the young queen ended: the king, having learned that his bride had not retained her virginity before marriage, ordered her to be “squeezed” into a rattletrap and driven on mad horses and overturn into the water.

A no less ill-fated fate, although it did not end so tragically, befell the second bride of the young Emperor Peter II, Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukaya, the sister of the emperor’s friend and favorite, the young nobleman Ivan Alekseevich Dolgoruky.

It is extremely interesting to follow the very course of the drama, in which one of the first persons, although against the will of those who acted, was Princess Dolgorukaya, who died precisely because she, like her great-grandmother Marya Dolgorukaya, was, as it were, forcibly introduced into the ensemble of persons, on the action of which the entire terrible historical drama was built.

We can follow the involuntary performance of Princess Dolgorukaya in this drama from the stories of the person who, before her eyes, began the first act and ended the last, when Princess Dolgorukaya disappeared from the eyes of the audience for a long time.

These stories are letters already known to us from Lady Rondo, the wife of the English resident at the Russian court during the reign of Empress Anna Ivanovna.

These letters are written to England, to a friend of the one who writes, and thus frankly convey all the current news of the day - this is why they are precious to us.

So, in her third letter, dated November 4, 1730, from Moscow, where the court had recently moved, and after it all the envoys, ministers and residents of foreign courts, Lady Rondo, by the way, writes with whom she knows, whoever happens to see what he sees, and adds that it happens to the wife of the Polish minister Lefort, where people of high society gather every evening, and, to her extreme chagrin, they come together mostly to play cards, and that people also take part in this game ladies.

“A few days ago,” continues Lady Rondo, “I met a young lady who does not play; but whether this comes from the same lack of understanding as mine, or from the fact that her heart is filled with tender passion, I cannot determine. This is a pretty person of eighteen years old, possessing meekness, kindness of heart, prudence and friendliness. She is the sister of Prince Dolgoruky's favorite. The brother of the German envoy is the object of her love. Everything is already settled, and they are only awaiting the completion of certain formalities necessary in this country, in order, I hope, to be happy. She seems very glad to be married outside her fatherland, shows a lot of courtesy to foreigners, loves her groom very much and is mutually loved by him.”

Here we're talking about, namely, about the second bride of the young emperor, Princess Catherine Dolgorukaya.

She, indeed, according to the testimony of all her contemporaries, was a rare beauty, but, contrary to Lady Rondo’s remark, she did not “possess” meekness, but, on the contrary, was “extremely proud.”

She, as we see, does not play cards, despite everyone’s passion for this game, which, in turn, if does not indicate the girl’s remarkable intelligence, then, in any case, speaks in favor of the independence of her character.

“The brother of the German envoy, the object of her love” is the brother-in-law of Count Bratislava, the Austrian envoy, the young Count Milissimo.

In the next letter to Lady Rondo, the circumstances of the life of the pretty Princess Dolgoruky change dramatically.

This is what she writes forty-six days after the letter we already know, also from Moscow, where the court continued to remain:

“The change that took place here after my last letter was amazing,” writes Lady Rondo on December 20, 1730: “the young monarch, believed to be inspired by his favorite, announced that he had decided to marry the pretty Princess Dolgorukaya, about whom I I told you in my last letter.

“What a cruel change for two persons whose hearts were completely given to each other!

“But in this country you can’t refuse.

“Two days ago at court there was a solemn announcement of the upcoming marriage, and the emperor and the princess, as they say here, were engaged.

“The next day the princess was taken to the house of a courtier, located near the palace (this is the Golovinsky palace), where she was to remain until the wedding day.

“All the persons of the highest circle were invited, and, having gathered, sat down on a bench in the large hall: on the one hand - state dignitaries and noble Russians, on the other - foreign ministers and noble foreigners. At the back of the hall there was a canopy and two chairs under it, and in front of the chairs a lectern on which lay the gospel. Many clergy stood on each side of the lectern.

“When everyone was seated, the emperor entered the hall and spoke to many people; the princess with her mother and sister were brought in an imperial carriage from the premises that had been allocated to her; ahead of the bride, her brother, the chief chamberlain, rode in a carriage, and many imperial carriages followed her. The brother escorted the princess to the door of the hall, where the royal groom met her and took her to one of the chairs, and sat down in the other.

“The beautiful victim (for I look upon her as such) was dressed in a robe of silver cloth, which hugged her waist tightly; hair combed into four braids, pulled back big amount diamonds fell down; a small crown was placed on the head; the long train of her dress was not worn. The princess looked modest, but thoughtful, and her face was pale.

“After sitting for a few minutes, they got up and went to the lectern; the emperor, announcing that he was taking the princess as his wife, exchanged rings with her and put his portrait on her right hand, after which the bride and groom kissed the gospel, and the Archbishop of Novgorod (Feofan Prokopovich) read a short prayer; then the emperor bowed to the princess. When they sat down again, the sovereign appointed gentlemen and ladies to the court of his bride and expressed the desire that they immediately enter into the performance of their duties.

“Then the kissing of the princess’s hand began; the groom held her right hand in his, giving it to everyone who came up to kiss it, since everyone was obliged to do this.

“Finally, to the great surprise of everyone, the unfortunate abandoned youth approached; Until then, she had been sitting with her eyes directed downwards, but then she quickly got up, snatched her hand from the emperor’s hands and gave it to her lover to kiss, while a thousand feelings were depicted on her face.

“Peter blushed, but the crowd of those present approached to fulfill their duty, and friends young man They found an opportunity to remove him from the hall, put him in a sleigh and take him out of the city as quickly as possible.

“This act was daring, extremely reckless and unexpected for her.

“The young sovereign opened a ball with the princess, which soon ended, as I believe, to her great pleasure, because all her calmness disappeared after a frivolous act and only fear and absent-mindedness were noticeable in her eyes.

“At the end of the ball, she was again taken to the same house, but in the emperor’s own carriage, on top of which was the imperial crown. The princess sat in it completely alone, accompanied by an escort.”

Contemporaries say that Princess Dolgorukaya decided to give her hand to Emperor Peter II only due to the urgent demands of her relatives.

For his part, the young emperor treated her coldly: he was also forced, against the desires of his heart, to agree to marry Princess Dolgoruky by her all-powerful relatives.

They also say that Count Milissimo, whom the princess passionately loved, the day after the emperor’s betrothal and after what was discovered when Count Milissimo kissed the hand of the royal bride, was sent abroad with an order from his ambassador and never returned to Russia. .

Lady Rondo, meanwhile, continues:

“But you will blame me for not sketching a portrait of the emperor for you. He is tall and very plump for his age, as he is only fifteen years old; he is white, but very tanned from hunting; His facial features are good, but his eyes are cloudy, and although he is young and handsome, there is nothing attractive or pleasant about him. His dress was light color, embroidered in silver.

“The young princess is now looked upon as an empress; I think, however, that if one could look into her heart, it would turn out that greatness cannot alleviate her suffering from hopeless love; in fact, only extreme cowardice is able to exchange love or friendship for dominion.”

Lady Rondo watches what is happening before her eyes and writes again in February 1731:

“When I wrote my last letter to you, everyone (that is, our circle) was preparing for a solemn wedding, scheduled for January 19th.

“On the 6th of the same month it happens here big celebration and a ceremony takes place called the blessing of water, established in memory of the baptism received by our Savior from St. John.

“Custom requires that the sovereign be at the head of the troops, which in this case line up on the ice. The poor, pretty bride was supposed to appear to the people on this day. She drove past my house, surrounded by a convoy and as luxurious a retinue as you could imagine. She sat completely alone in an open sleigh, dressed as on the day of her betrothal, and the emperor, following the custom of the country, stood behind her sleigh.

“I never remember a colder day in my life. I was afraid to go to dinner at the palace, where everyone had been invited and gathered to greet the young sovereign and future empress upon their return.

“They remained for four hours straight on the ice, among the troops.

“As soon as they entered the hall, the emperor began to complain of a headache. At first they thought that this was a consequence of the cold, but since he continued to complain, they sent for a doctor, who advised him to go to bed, finding him very unwell.

“This circumstance upset the entire meeting.

“The princess had a thoughtful look all day, which did not change on this occasion; she said goodbye to her acquaintances in the same way as she greeted them, that is, with serious friendliness, if I can put it that way.

“The next day the emperor developed smallpox, and on the 19th, lazy, appointed for the wedding, he died at about three o’clock in the morning.

“That night, I think, everyone was on their feet, at least it was with us, because, knowing in the evening all the danger of his position, no one could foresee the consequences of his death and the disputes that were to arise regarding the issue of succession to the throne.

“The next day, at about nine o’clock, the Dowager Duchess of Courland was declared empress.”

Then Lady Rondo goes straight to Princess Dolgorukaya, who has lost both her groom and her crown at once...

“Your good heart,” says the lady, “will grieve for a young lady who has been separated from him whom she loved, and is now deprived of even that insignificant reward which greatness seemed to promise her!

“I am assured that she bears her misfortune heroically and says that she mourns the general loss, as a member of the state, but, as a private person, rejoices at this death, which freed her from torture, which the most cruel monster and the most ingenious bloodthirstiness could not have invented. She is completely indifferent to her future fate, and thinks that if she has overcome her attachment, she can calmly endure all bodily suffering.

“The dignitary who visited her told me about his conversation with her.

“He found her completely abandoned by everyone, except only one maid and a footman who had served her since childhood. Since the dignitary was outraged by the situation he saw, she told him: “our country is little known to you...” And to what I have already told you, she added that her youth and innocence, as well as the well-known kindness of the one who inherited throne, make her hope that she will not be subjected to any public insult, and that poverty in private life means nothing to her, since her heart is occupied with the only subject with which her private life will be pleasant. Assuming that by the word “single subject” they might mean her first fiancé, she hastily added that she had forbidden her heart to think of him from the moment it became criminal, but that she meant her family, whose course of action, as she thinks they will blame her, and that she cannot overcome her natural affection, although she was sacrificed to circumstances that are now causing the death of her family.

“You,” concludes Lady Rondo, “whose judgment is always so fair, do not need such a spectacle to make you reflect on the insignificance of all the worldly vicissitudes, which remind us every hour of our lives that joys are fragile and fleeting, and that among all the sorrows of us It should be reassuring to think that everything in this world is short-lived.”

Finally, in the next letter, Lady Rondo, as if in passing and reluctantly, touches on the final act of the drama, more or less known to every Russian reader.

Here are her words, which, despite their brevity, do not lose their preciousness, as the testimony of a contemporary:

“They say that the court intends to go to St. Petersburg. If this trip takes place, then my business will force me to go there as well.

“You are very curious, but to satisfy you I can only say very little, because since I am in my present position I have not visited any public places.

“The entire Dolgoruky family, including the poor royal bride, was exiled to the very place where the children of Prince Menshikov are. Thus, both women, who one after the other were betrothed to the young king, can meet in exile.

“This event, it seems to me, can serve as a good plot for a tragedy. They say that Menshikov’s children are returning and will be delivered to the same guards who will escort the Dolgorukys into exile. If this news is true, then the action will be generous, because their father was the inexorable enemy of the real queen, whom he treated, both in word and in deed, very insultingly.

“You may be surprised by the exile of women and children; but here, when the head of a family falls out of favor, his entire family is persecuted and his estate is taken away. If in society they no longer meet those whom they are accustomed to seeing there, then no one inquires about them and only sometimes they say that they are ruined. If they have fallen out of favor, then they are not talked about at all. When, fortunately, their favor is returned, they are caressed as before, without mentioning the past.”

But we know more about this last act of the drama than Lady Rondo knew then.

The Dolgorukys, including first and foremost the favorite of the late emperor, Ivan Alekseevich Dolgoruky, accused of neglecting the health of the young sovereign, as those closest to him, were exiled to their remote Kasimov villages.

The second royal bride, Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukaya, also went into exile; Moreover, the sixteen-year-old wife of Ekaterina Alekseevna’s brother, the former favorite of Ivan Alekseevich, Natalya Borisovna Dolgorukaya, nee Countess Sheremetev, was also going into exile, about whose noble character and heroic determination to share her fate with the fate of the disgraced groom, and then her husband, will be said in a special essay.

From the Kasimov villages, all the Dolgorukys are exiled to Siberia, to Berezov, because they “disdained” the decree, which ordered them to live permanently not in the Kasimov estates, but in the Penza estates.

The Dolgorukys made excuses that no such decree was announced to them...

They travel through Tobolsk and surrender there under the supervision of a garrison officer, who, often appearing to his high-ranking prisoners, out of habit, with shoes on his bare feet, says to each of them “you,” as he is accustomed to say to every convict and warnak.

The curious details of this journey of the disgraced nobles from the Kasimov villages to Berezov were described by one of the exiles, from their own family, Princess Natalya Borisovna Dolgorukaya, and therefore we will say more about this subject in the biography of this last woman.

The life of the Dolgorukys in Berezovo was not good; but even more difficult trials awaited them ahead, the involuntary cause of which was, so to speak, the same dowager bride of the late Emperor Peter II, the ill-fated princess Ekaterina Alekseevna.

We said above that the one she loved, Count Milissimo, was expelled from Russia the day after her betrothal to the emperor and after the ceremony of kissing the hand of the royal bride, when the secret of her affection for the brother-in-law of Count Bratislava was revealed before the whole court.

Although, according to Lady Rondo, Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna let slip to her former dignitary, who visited her after the death of her fiancé-emperor, that “her heart is occupied with the only subject with which she would enjoy a solitary life,” that is, Count Milissimo, dear to her, however, time is also harsh. The Berezovs seem to have driven this “only object” out of her heart, and the melancholy and solitude of captivity forced the young heart to seek affection.

I wanted to live and I wanted to love; there was no foreseeable return to the past; the one she loved was, according to the Russian expression, far away, and youth was taking its toll.

But who to love in Berezovo?

A garrison officer who perhaps wears shoes on his bare feet? After all, there was no one else in Berezovo.

And the former royal bride, for whom the emperor stood at his heels during the Epiphany parade, really fell in love with the garrison officer.

This was officer Ovtsyn, who, presumably, did not look like the Tobolsk garrison officer, who actually walked in shoes on his bare feet.

An intimate friendship with Ovtsyn brought new grief to the girl and ended in tragic death for the male members of her family.

Encouraged by the princess's affection for Ovtsyn, the Tobolsk clerk Tishin, who often traveled to Berezov on business, decided to seek the favor of the former royal bride, but was rejected by her and insulted by Ovtsyn.

Wanting to take revenge on the girl and her lover, the rejected clerk composed a vile denunciation against the Dolgorukys, who were again arrested in Berezovo and taken to Russia.

The former royal bride, Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna, was also captured.

Biron ordered an investigation and trial of the accused, which ended in the terrible execution of four Dolgorukys in Novgorod in 1739.

The elder brother of Princess Catherine, the former favorite of Emperor Peter II, Prince Ivan Alekseevich, was quartered, and under the executioner’s ax he read the prayer “I thank you, Lord, for you have vouchsafed me to know you, Vladyka,” until his tongue froze at this praise along with a severed head.

The princess herself was exiled to Beloozero, to the Resurrection Goritsky nunnery, Tikhvin district.

This monastery stood in a harsh desert, no more beautiful than the deserts surrounding Berezov.

This was a long-standing, historical place of exile for the royal women of ancient Rus': in this monastery Euphrosyne, Princess Staritsky, the mother of the last appanage prince Vladimir Andreevich Staritsky, exiled there by Elena Glinskaya, once languished; The wife of Tsarevich Ivan, son of the Terrible, Praskovya Mikhailovna Solovaya, was exiled there and tonsured there; Ksenia Godunova also sat in exile there.

Princess Catherine Dolgorukaya was subjected to harsh imprisonment in this monastery.

In this monastery, at the entrance to the so-called “black courtyard”, where there were barns, a stable and a cowshed, there stood a small wooden house with small holes instead of windows; external door, bound with iron, was locked day and night with an internal and even an external padlock.

This hut was supposed to become a prison-cell for the former royal bride.

When Dolgorukaya was brought there, the abbess of the monastery was so afraid of the presence of this high well in her possession that for a long time she did not want to let any outsiders into the monastery, and did not even dare to let pilgrims into the monastery church, for fear that she might be accused of careless supervision behind the prisoner, and out of fear that no one would see the imprisoned princess.

But even in this wretched and harsh prison-cell behind two castles, Princess Dolgorukaya did not forget who she was, she did not forget that she had once been the Tsar’s bride.

One day, a nun-supervisor, according to monastery custom, swung at her for something with her huge rosary made of wooden beads, which served the old nuns instead of whips to teach younger sisters and novices.

– Respect the light even in the darkness! - Dolgorukaya said proudly: - I am a princess, and you are a servant!

The old woman was so embarrassed by the menacing appearance of the young well woman that she ran away, forgetting to even lock her prison.

In general, the former bride of Peter II did not forget her royal greatness, but only became embittered, and added royal inaccessibility to her innate princely pride.

When a general from the secret chancellery arrived from St. Petersburg and visited the exiled princess, she not only was not embarrassed in the presence of an important guest, but she even showed him “rudeness” - she did not stand up when he entered her cell and turned away from him.

The general, threatening her with batogs, left the monastery, ordering him to look even more strictly at the important well.

The frightened mother abbess ordered the rest of the window in the princess's prison cell to be boarded up, and she did not even order anyone to be allowed near this cell. One day two convent girls dared to look into the well internal lock the forbidden door - and for this they were punished with rods.

The princess spent three years under such a harsh monastic rule.

But then Empress Elizaveta Petrovna ascended the throne - and the dark cell of the former royal bride opened.

A courier arrived from St. Petersburg with the news of the prisoner’s release. The princess was granted maid of honor. Carriages and servants were sent for her. The princess kindly says goodbye to the monastery, promising not to forget it with her favors.

And I really haven’t forgotten. In 1744, she sent the Prologue to the monastery with the inscription on the sheets:

“Summer 1744, on the 10th day of March, this book Prologue, containing the lives of the saints, was given as a gift to the monastery of the Resurrection of Christ, the Goritsky nunnery, on Beloozero, in memory of her stay, by Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna Dolgorukaya.”

The Empress, remembering that the princess had lost two suitors - both Count Milissimo and Emperor Peter II, used all her efforts to marry her to a worthy man, and in 1745 she found one in Lieutenant General Count Alexander Romanovich Bruce, her native nephew of an associate of Peter the Great, field marshal, famous “sorcerer on the Sukharev Tower,” astronomer, alchemist, astrologer, author of the Bryusov planetary book (“Bryusov calendar”), etc.

Already an engaged bride, the princess went to Novgorod to say goodbye to the bodies of her executed brother and uncle, who were buried there in the Nativity Monastery, in the fields, “in wretched houses.”

Having said goodbye to the graves of her relatives before the wedding, according to Russian custom, she founded a church there in memory of those executed.

But a few months after the wedding, a cold fever brought her to the grave.

Royal greatness and pride did not leave her until her death. Dying, the former “empress bride” ordered all her dresses to be burned with her, so that even after her death no one would dare to wear the clothes that she wore.

From the book Kingdom of Women author Valishevsky Kazimir

Chapter 6 Tsar's tragedy. Catherine Dolgorukaya I. Betrothal of Peter II and Catherine Dolgorukaya. - In the Lefortovo Palace. – Writing on the wall. - Inappropriate meeting. - Count Millesimo. – Welcome speech by Vasily Dolgoruky. – Dolgorukye at the height of greatness. –

From the book St. Petersburg Women of the 18th Century author Pervushina Elena Vladimirovna

Ekaterina Alekseevna The reign of Empress Catherine I was neither long nor glorious. She spent most of it drinking with Nastasya Golitsyna. What was only a short and rare entertainment during Peter’s life became a necessity after his death. Apparently,

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Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukaya-Yuryevskaya (1847 - 1922) Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukaya-Yuryevskaya is a representative of an ancient princely family. She was born in Moscow. According to contemporaries, Catherine was not reputed to be an irresistible beauty, but she was distinguished by her nobility

From the book of the Dolgorukovs. Highest Russian nobility by Blake Sarah

Chapter 8. Catherine Dolgorukaya - almost an empress Catherine Dolgorukaya, the daughter of Alexei Grigorievich Dolgorukov, almost became the empress of all Rus' after the death of Peter II. However, no one particularly liked the Tsar - he went out drinking, spending all his days drunk

author Mordovtsev Daniil Lukich

VIII. Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna (Naryshkina). - Agafya Semyonovna Grushetskaya. – Marfa Matveevna Apraksina. - Princess Sofya Alekseevna. – Tsarevna Ekaterina Alekseevna Social and family status of Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna Naryshkina as the mother of the future