Terrible tsarinas

by Henri Troyat

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  One Anna after Another the minuet” in her childhood. Although she read very little, she appreciated the spirit of that nation that was supposed to be courageous, and at the same time, rebellious and frivolous. She surely could get over the fact that, in her early youth, she had been offered in marriage to Louis XV, before being offered (without any greater success), to the prince-bishop of Lubeck and finally to Peter II, who had died prematurely. The mirage of Versailles continued to dazzle her, despite the many disappointments in love that she had suffered. Those who admired her grace and her expansive exuberance, as she entered her thirtieth year, claimed that in spite of her plumpness she “made men hot,” that she her skirt was very light and that, in her vicinity, one had the sensation of being surrounded by French music. The Saxon agent Lefort wrote, with a mixture of respect and impertinence, “It seems that she was, indeed, born for France, as she likes only superficial glitter.”3 For his part, the English ambassador Edward Finch, while recognizing that the tsarevna was very spirited, judged her “too fat to conspire.”4 However, Elizabeth Petrovna’s penchant for the French refinements of fashion and culture did not keep her from reveling in Russian rusticity when it came to her nightly pleasures. Even before she held an official position at her niece’s court, she took as her lover a Ukrainian peasant who had been named cantor in the choir of the palace chapel: Alexis Razumovsky. His deep voice, athletic physique and crude ways were all the more appreciated in the bedroom, coming as they did after hours spent amid the affectations and the mincing ways of the salons. An avid consumer of simple carnal satisfactions and elegance as well, the princess expressed her true nature through this contradiction. A fullblooded man, Alexis Razumovsky had a weakness for drink, often for too much drink, and when he had had his fill he would sometimes raise his voice, utter coarse words, and toss about the furni«105»

  Terrible Tsarinas ture, while his mistress was a little bit frightened and very much amused by his vulgarity. Hearing about this “misalliance,” those fastidious advisers who were in close communication with the tsarevna recommended she conduct herself with prudence, or at least discretion, in order to avoid a damaging scandal. However, both the Shuvalovs (Alexander and Ivan), the chamberlain Mikhail Vorontsov and most of Elizabeth’s partisans had to admit that, in the barracks and on the street, the news of this liaison between the daughter of Peter the Great and a man of the people was greeted with indulgence and even good-naturedness - as if the folks “at the bottom” liked her all the more for not scorning one of their own.

  At the same time, in the palace, the Francophile party was getting cozier with Elizabeth. That rendered her suspicious to Ostermann who, as a declared champion of the Germanic cause in Russia, was unlikely to tolerate the least obstacle to his plans.

  When the British ambassador Edward Finch asked his opinion of the princess’s overt preferences in international relations, he peevishly retorted that, if she continued to exhibit such “ambiguous conduct,” she would be “locked up in a convent.” Reporting this conversation in one of his dispatches, the Englishman observed ironically: “That could be a dangerous expedient, for she is not at all suited to the life of a nun and she is extremely popular.”5 He was right. From one day to the next, dissatisfaction was escalating within the regiments of the Guard. The men secretly wondered what they were waiting for, in the palace, to drive out all the Germans who were lording it over the Russian. From the humblest of the gvardeitsy to the highest officers, they decried the injustice done to the daughter of Peter the Great, sole heiress of the Romanov line and lineage, by depriving her of the crown.

  Some dared to insinuate that the regent, her outsider of a husband Anthony Ulrich and her baby of a tsar were all usurpers. Contrast

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  One Anna after Another to that lot the luminous goodness of the matushka Elizabeth Petrovna, who, as they said, showed “the spark of Peter the Great.”

  Already, seditious cries could be heard in the city outskirts. In the depths of their barracks, the soldiers muttered among themselves, after an exhausting and pointless review, “Isn’t there anyone who can order us to take up our weapons in favor of the matushka?”6 Despite the frequency of these spontaneous demonstrations, the marquis de La Chetardie still hesitated to promise France’s moral support for a coup d’etat. But Lestocq, supported by Schwartz (a former German captain who had gone over into the service of Russia), decided that the moment had come to acquaint the army with the plot. However, at the same time, the Swedish minister Nolken let La Chetardie know that his government had given him a credit line of 100,000 ecus to help consolidate Anna Leopoldovna’s hold on power, or, “according to the circumstances,” to bolster the aspirations of the tsarevna Elizabeth Petrovna. It was his call. Put in an awkward position by a decision that was beyond his competence to make, Nolken relied on his French colleague for guidance. La Chetardie, a prudent man, was terrified by such a responsibility and, no more able to make up his mind than Nolken had been, answered evasively. On this subject, Paris urged him to go along with Sweden and to quietly support the cause of Elizabeth Petrovna.

  Having been brought up to date on these unexpected developments, it was Elizabeth’s turn to hesitate. Should she take the plunge? She could already see what would happen if she failed - she would be denounced, thrown into prison, have her head shaved, and end her days in a loneliness worse than death. La Chetardie shared a similar concern for himself and admitted that he no longer closed his eyes at night, and that at the least noise he would “run to the window, believing that all was lost.”7 And furthermore, he had already incurred the wrath of Ostermann, re«107»

  Terrible Tsarinas cently, following an alleged diplomatic faux pas; he had been invited not to set foot again in the Summer Palace until further orders. He took refuge in the villa that he had let at the gates of the capital, but he did not feel safe anywhere. He took to receiving Elizabeth’s emissaries on the sly, preferably at nightfall. He believed he had been politically excommunicated, for good; but, after a period of penitence, Ostermann authorized him to tender his letters of accreditation - provided that he presented them to the baby tsar in person. Once again admitted to the court, the ambassador took the opportunity to meet Elizabeth Petrovna and to murmur to her, during an aside, that France had great plans for her. Serene and smiling, she replied, “Being the daughter of Peter the Great, I believe I remain faithful to my father’s memory by placing my confidence in the friendship of France and in asking for its support in exercising my proper rights.”8 La Chetardie was careful not to reveal these subversive remarks, but the rumor of a conspiracy began to spread throughout the regent’s entourage. At once, Anna Leopoldovna’s supporters were aflame with vindicatory zeal. Anthony Ulrich, as her husband, and the count of Lynar, as her favorite, both warned her of the risk she was running. They urged her to increase the security at the gates of the imperial residence and to arrest the ambassador of France at once. Impassive, she shrugged off these rumors and refused to overreact. She doubted her informants’ reports; but her chief rival, Elizabeth, having heard of the suspicions that swirled around her undertaking, was alarmed and begged La Chetardie to take greater care. Bundles of compromising documents were burned and Elizabeth, out of prudence, left the capital. She found some early conspirators in friendly villas close to Peterhof.

  On August 13, 1741, Russia went to war with Sweden. The diplomats may have known the obscure reasons behind this conflict, but the people did not. All that was known, in the country«108»

  One Anna after Another side, was that on the grounds of some very convoluted questions of national prestige, borders, and the succession, thousands of men were going to die, far from home, at the hand of the enemy.

  But, for the moment, the imperial guard was not involved. And that was all.

  At the end of November 1741, Elizabeth sadly noted that a plot as adventurous as hers would go nowhere without solid financial backing. Called to the rescue, La Chetardie s
craped up what funds he could, and then called for the court of France to extend an additional advance of 15,000 ducats. As the French government persisted in turning a deaf ear, Lestocq prodded La Chetardie to take action, come what may, without waiting for Paris or Versailles to give him the go-ahead. Pressured, pushed, and with Lestocq twisting his arm, the ambassador went to the tsarevna and, painting a darker than necessary picture, asserted that according to the latest information the regent was preparing to have her thrown into a convent. Lestocq, who was there to back him up, confirmed without so much as raising a brow that she might be taken away and imprisoned any day. Such an eventuality was, indeed, precisely the nightmare that tormented Elizabeth. To convince her fully, Lestocq (who had some artistic talent) took a scrap of paper and made two sketches: in one, a sovereign was taking her throne, acclaimed by all the people, and in the other the same woman was taking the veil and walking, head bowed, toward a convent. He placed the two drawings under Elizabeth’s nose and barked: “Choose, Madam!”

  “Very well,” the tsarevna answered; “I leave it to you to determine the moment!”9 She did not say anything, but one could read her fear in her eyes. Without regard for her pallor and her quaking nerves, Lestocq and La Chetardie drew up a detailed list of all her adver«109»

  Terrible Tsarinas saries who would have to be arrested as soon as the victory was hers; at the top of the list, of course, was Ostermann. But there was also Ernst Munnich, son of the field marshal; Baron Mengden, father of Julie, so dear to the heart of the regent; Count Golovkin, Loewenwolde and some of their associates. However, they did not yet pronounce themselves on the fate that awaited, in the final analysis, the regent, her husband, her lover and her baby. Everything in its own time! To urge on the tsarevna, who was too timid for his liking, Lestocq affirmed that the soldiers of the Guard were ready to defend, through her, “the blood of Peter the Great.” At these words, she suddenly took heart and, galvanized, dazed, declared: “I will not betray that blood!”

  This secret, decisive meeting took place in great secrecy on November 22, 1741. The following day, a reception was held at the palace. Hiding her anxiety, Elizabeth presented herself at the court wearing a ceremonial gown calculated to pique all her rivals and a smile calculated to disarm the most malevolent spirits.

  Greeting the regent, she was apprehensive that she might hear some affront or an allusion to her friendships with gentlemen of not very suitable opinions, but Anna Leopoldovna seemed even more gracious than usual. She must have been too preoccupied with her love for the count of Lynar (who was away on a journey), and her fondness for Julie Mengden (whose wedding trousseau she was preparing), and the health of her son (whom she was coddling “like a good German mother,” as they said), to let herself get carried away with the endless rumors that were circulating about an alleged plot.

  However, taking another look at her aunt, the tsarevna, so beautiful and so serene, she recalled that in his last letter Lynar had warned her that La Chetardie and Lestocq were playing a double game and that, impelled by France and perhaps even by Sweden, they seemed to have in mind overthrowing her in favor of

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  One Anna after Another Elizabeth Petrovna. Suddenly shaken, Anna Leopoldovna decided to clear the air. Seeing that her aunt was seated nearby, playing cards with some of the courtiers, she walked over, drew her aside, and asked her to follow her to a private room. Once alone with her, she spelled out the accusation that she had so recently heard.

  Elizabeth was thunderstruck - she blenched, panicked, protested her innocence, swore that Anna had been misinformed, odiously misled - and threw herself at her niece’s feet, in tears.

  Anna, upset by Elizabeth’s apparent sincerity, burst into tears, herself. Thus, instead of clashing, the two women embraced each other in a mingling of sighs and promises of good feelings. By the end of the evening, they parted like two sisters who had been brought closer by a shared danger.

  But, as soon as the incident became known among their supporters, it took on the significance of a call to action. A few hours later, dining in a famous restaurant where oysters from Holland were sold as well as wigs from Paris, and which was moreover a meeting place for some of the best-informed men in the capital, Lestocq learned, via well-placed informers, that Ostermann had given orders for the Preobrazhensky Regiment (which was entirely behind the tsarevna) to move away from St. Petersburg. The pretext for this abrupt troop movement was the unexpected outbreak of war between Sweden and Russia; actually, it was as good a means as any other to deprive Elizabeth Petrovna of her surest allies in the event of a coup d’etat.

  The die was cast. They had better move quickly. Ignoring protocol, an impromptu meeting was held clandestinely, right in the palace, in the tsarevna’s apartments. The principal conspirators were all there, surrounding Elizabeth Petrovna, who was more dead than alive. At her side, Alexis Razumovsky gave his opinion on the question, for the first time. Summarizing the general opinion, he declared in his beautiful, deep voice, “If we drag

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  Terrible Tsarinas our feet now, we will only bring about a great misfortune. I feel it in my soul - we are on the verge of great chaos, destruction, perhaps even the ruin of the fatherland!” La Chetardie and Lestocq agreed, vociferously. There was no way out, now. Her back to the wall, Elizabeth Petrovna sighed and reluctantly acquiesced: “Alright, since if you push me to do it.” And, not even completing her sentence, she made vague gesture and left it to fate to decide the rest.

  Without a moment’s hesitation, now, Lestocq and La Chetardie assigned roles; Her Highness would have to go to the gvardeitsy in person to enlist them in her aid. And just then, a delegation of grenadiers from the Guard, led by Sergeant Grunstein, had just turned up at the Summer Palace to request an audience with the tsarevna: these men confirmed that they, too, had just received orders to leave for the Finnish border. In extremis, the insurrectionists were condemned to succeed. Every minute lost would decrease their chances. Faced with the most crucial decision in her life, Elizabeth withdrew to her own room.

  Before jumping into the breach, she knelt down before the icons and swore to revoke the death penalty all across Russia, should they succeed in their enterprise. In the next room her partisans, gathered around Alexis Razumovsky, fretted over these delays. She wasn’t going to change her mind again, was she? At the end of his patience, La Chetardie returned to his embassy.

  When Elizabeth reappeared, standing tall, radiant and proud, Armand Lestocq placed a cross of silver in her hands, pronounced a few more words of encouragement, draped around her neck the cord of the Order of Saint Catherine, and pushed her out the door. A sleigh was waiting. Elizabeth took her seat, with Lestocq; Razumovsky and Saltykov settled into a second sleigh, while Vorontsov and Shuvalov rode along on horseback. Behind them came Grunstein and ten grenadiers. The entire group set

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  One Anna after Another out, in the night, toward the barracks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment. They halted briefly in front of the French embassy, where Elizabeth sought to inform her “accomplice” La Chetardie that the denouement was at hand; but a secretary affirmed that His Excellence was not in. Understanding that this absence was essentially diplomatic, intended to clear the ambassador in case of failure, the tsarevna did not insist. She merely relayed the message, via an embassy attache, that she was “dashing to glory under the aegis of France.” And to her merit she affirmed, loud and clear, that the French government had just refused her the 2,000 rubles that she had asked for, as a last resort, from La Chetardie.

  Arriving at the barracks, the plotters ran into a sentinel whom no one had had time to forewarn; doing his duty, he pounded out an alarm on his drum. Quick as lightning, Lestocq slashed the drum with his sword, while Grunstein’s grenadiers hurried to inform their comrades of the patriotic act that was expected of them. The officers, who lodged in the city, nearby, were also alerted. Within minutes, several hundred men formed up, ready for action. Gathering he
r courage, Elizabeth stepped down from the sleigh and addressed them in a tone of affectionate command. She had prepared her speech well.

  “Do you recognize me? Do you know whose daughter I am?”

  “Da, matushka!” the soldiers answered in unison.

  “They plan to send me to a monastery. Will you follow me, to prevent that?”

  “We are ready, matushka! We will kill them all! “If you speak of killing, I must withdraw! I do not want anyone killed!”

  This magnanimous answer disconcerted the gvardeitsy. How could anyone ask them to fight, while sparing the enemy? Was the tsarevna less sure of her rights than they had thought? Understanding that she had disappointed them with her tolerance, she

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  Terrible Tsarinas held up the silver cross that she had received from Lestocq and exclaimed: “I swear to die for you! Swear to do as much for me, but without spilling any blood unnecessarily!” That was a promise the gvardeitsy could give without reserve. They swore their fealty in a thunder of enthusiasm and advanced, in turn, to kiss the cross that she held out to them like the priests do in church. Seeing that the final obstacle had just come down, Elizabeth embraced with her gaze the regiment lined up before her, its officers and its men, took a deep breath and declares in a prophetic voice: “Let us go forth and bring joy to our fatherland!” Then she mounted the sleigh once more and the horses sprang forward.