of tundra, forests and marshes. The winter is so severe there that
the cold, they say, kills birds in full flight and shatters the win-
dowpanes of the houses. Such misery, after so much wealth and
honor, was not enough to undermine Menshikov’s fortitude. His
wife, Daria, died of exhaustion along the way. His daughters
wept over their lost dreams of love and grandeur, forever gone,
and he himself regretted having lived through so much woe.
However, an irrepressible instinct of self-preservation impelled
him to keep his head during this adversity. Accustomed as he was
to preening in palaces, he labored with his hands, as a simple
workman, to put together an
neighbors, informed of his “crimes” against the emperor, shunned
him and even threatened him with violence. One day a hostile
crowd gathered, shouting insults and throwing stones at him and
his daughters in the street; he shouted back, “If you’re going to
throw stones, only throw them at me! Spare the women!”8 Never-
theless, after a few months of these daily affronts, he did begin to
deteriorate; finally, he gave up the fight. An attack of apoplexy
carried off the colossus in November 1729. One month later, his
elder daughter Maria, the tsar’s little fiancée, followed him to the
grave.9
Indifferent to the fate of those whose demise he had precipi-
tated, Peter II went his merry way, continuing his pleasure-filled
< 49 >
and chaotic existence. Not having to account to him for any of
their decisions, the Dolgorukys, Golitsyns and the clever Oster-
mann utilized the opportunity to impose their will at every occa-
sion. However, they were still wary of Elizabeth’s influence over
her nephew. She alone, they believed, might be able to neutralize
the power that the darling Ivan Dolgoruky was gaining over His
Majesty, which was so essential to their cause. The best means of
disarming her, obviously, would be to marry her off at once. But to
whom? Thoughts turned once again to Count Maurice of Saxony.
But Elizabeth didn’t care a fig about him. Her charming cranium
held no thoughts beyond the next romp. Sure of her power over
men, she threw herself at one after another for casual idylls and
liaisons. After seducing Alexander Buturlin, she went after Ivan
Dolgoruky, the Tsar’s designated “sweetie.” Was she excited by
the idea of charming a partner whose homosexual preferences
were well-known? Her sister, Anna Petrovna, retired in Holstein,
had just brought a son10 into the world, whereas Elizabeth, at the
age of 19, was still unmarried; she was far more concerned, how-
ever, with weaving her nefarious intrigue with the darling Ivan.
She was stimulated by the adventure, as if she were trying to
prove the superiority of her sex in all forms of perversity in love.
Probably she thought it less banal, and thus more interesting, to
take a man from another man than to steal him from a woman.
During the festivities held in Kiel by Anna Petrovna and the
Grand Duke Charles Frederick to celebrate the birth of their
child, the tsar opened the ball with Elizabeth. After dancing with
her gallantly, under the charmed gaze of the assembly, he with-
drew to the next room, according to his custom, with his drinking
buddies. Having knocked back a few glasses, he noted that Ivan,
his usual companion at such events, was not at his side. Sur-
prised, he walked back and saw him dancing, breathlessly, in the
middle of the ballroom with Elizabeth. She looked so excited, face
< 50 >
to face with this cavalier who was devouring her with his eyes,
that Peter lost his temper and went back to get drunk. But which
one was he really jealous over? Ivan or Elizabeth?
Aunt and nephew were only reconciled after Easter. Forsak-
ing Dolgoruky for once, Peter took Elizabeth along on an ex-
tended shooting party. The expedition was expected to last sev-
eral months. A 500-person retinue accompanied the couple.
Wild fowl as well as large game were the quarries. When the
time came to track a wolf, a fox or a bear, valets in silver-trimmed
green livery did the job. They would attack the animal with rifles
and spears, under the interested eyes of the Masters. After a pe-
rusal of the hunting spectacle, a banquet would be held in the
open air, followed by a visit to the merchants who came from far
and wide to display their fabrics, embroideries, miraculous oint-
ments and costume jewelry.
A piece of alarming news caught Peter and Elizabeth by sur-
prise in the midst of all this revelry: Natalya, Peter’s sister, took
sick; she was spitting blood. Was she going to die? But no, she
recovered; instead, Elizabeth’s sister in Kiel, Anna Petrovna,
Duchess of Holstein, gave her close relatives more serious concern.
She had caught cold while watching the fireworks during her
churching. Pneumonia, the doctors declared; and in a few days,
she was gone. The poor thing was only 20 years old; and she left
an orphaned son, Charles Ulrich, just two weeks old. Everyone
