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Terrible Tsarinas There was nonstop celebration at the palace for this event that had been ten years in the making. Finally, on November 1, 1754, forty days after giving birth, protocol required that the grand duchess receive the congratulations of the diplomatic corps and the court. Catherine, semi-recumbent on a ceremonial chaise upholstered in rose-colored velvet and embroidered in silver, received her visitors in a room that was richly furnished and brightly illuminated for the occasion. The tsarina herself came to inspect the rooms before the ceremony. But, immediately after the homage had been paid, she had the superfluous furniture and candelabra removed; at her instructions, the grand ducal couple found themselves back in their usual apartments at the Winter Palace - a subtle message to let Catherine know that her role was over and that, henceforth, reality would take the place of dreams.
Taking no notice of this family fracas, Peter returned to his puerile games and drinking bouts, while the grand duchess had to face the replacement of her former mentor, Choglokov, who had meanwhile passed away. The new “master of the junior court,” who seemed to be particularly nosy and meddlesome, was Count Alexander Shuvalov, Ivan’s brother. From the first moment, he sought to gain the sympathy of the habitues of the princely household; he cultivated Peter’s friendship and applauded his illconsidered passion for Prussia. With his support, the grand duke now let his Germanophilia run wild. He invited more recruits from Holstein and organized a fortified camp (which he gave the Germanic name of Peterstadt), in the park of the palace of Oranienbaum.
While he was thus amus ing himself by pretending to be a German officer, commanding German troops on land that he wished were German, Catherine, feeling more forsaken than ever, sank into depression. As she had feared, shortly after she gave
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Her Majesty and Their Imperial Highnesses birth, Sergei Saltykov was sent first to Sweden, and then as Russia’s resident ambassador to Hamburg. Elizabeth may have hated her adoptive son, but she made a point of cutting off all ties between the two lovers. Moreover, she allowed Catherine to see her baby only on an exceptional basis. More than a possessive mother-in-law, she mounted a guard by the cradle and did not tolerate any input from the grand duchess on how the child was to be raised. Elizabeth ousted Catherine entirely from the role of mother, after she had carried Paul in her womb for nine months and gone through the pain of bringing him into the world.
Robbed and discouraged, Catherine turned to books: Tacitus’ Annals, Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Laws, and various essays by Voltaire. Cut off from love, she sought to mitigate this lack of human warmth by delving into the realms of philosophy and politics. Attending the salons of the capital, she listened with more attention than before to the conversations, often brilliant, of the diplomats. While her husband was entirely absorbed in military nonsense, she was gaining assurance and a maturity of mind that did not escape those in her entourage. Elizabeth, whose health was declining as that of Catherine was blossoming, became aware of the progressive metamorphosis of her daughter-in-law - but she could not tell whether she should be delighted or upset. Suffering from asthma and dropsy, in her declining years the tsarina clung to the still young and handsome Ivan Shuvalov. He became her principal reason for living and her best adviser. She wondered whether it would not be better if Catherine, like she, had a designated lover who would fulfill her in every sense and keep her from interfering in public affairs.
In 1751, at Pentecost, a new English plenipotentiary arrived in St. Petersburg. His name was Charles Hambury Williams and in his retinue was a bright young Polish aristocrat, Stanislaw August Poniatowski. The 23- year-old Poniatowski was avidly inter«201»
Terrible Tsarinas ested in Western culture, had participated in all the European salons, and was personally acquainted with the famous Mme.
Geoffrin in Paris and in London enjoyed the friendship of the minister, Horace Walpole. He was said to be fluent in every language, at ease in every milieu and pleasing to every lady.
As soon as they set foot in Russia, Williams set out to use “the Pole” to seduce the grand duchess and make her an ally in the fight he intended to wage against the grand duke’s pro-Prussian passion. And the Chancellor, supported by everyone in the “Russian party,” was happy to go along with the British ambassador’s plans. Having seen which way the wind was blowing, Bestuzhev wanted to see Russia openly aligned with the English in the event of a conflict with Frederick II. According to the rumor mill, Louis XV himself, smelling war, was impatient to reestablish contact with Russia. Day by day, thanks to her conversations with Stanislaw Poniatowski, Catherine became immersed in every aspect of the European chaos, studying international questions while studying the face of the attractive Pole.
But Poniatowski, despite his many social successes, was terribly shy. Quick with words, he was nonetheless paralyzed by the elegance, grace and talented repartee of the grand duchess. It took a nudge from Leon Naryshkin, Sergei Saltykov’s cheerful companion in adventure, to push Poniatowski to declare his interest. Miss Vladislavov, Catherine’s chambermaid and confidante, facilitated their first meetings at Oranienbaum. Always wellinformed about such intrigues, the tsarina soon heard that her daughter-in-law had found a substitute for Saltykov, that her latest lover was Poniatowski and that the lovebirds were together constantly while the husband, indifferent, closed his eyes.
Elizabeth didn’t mind that her daughter-in-law was straying, but she did wonder whether there might not be a political motive behind this love affair. It suddenly occurred to her that
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Her Majesty and Their Imperial Highnesses there were two rival courts in Russia, one centered around Her Majesty and one centered around the grand-ducal couple - and that the interests of these two centers of power were at odds.
To secure the sympathies of “the great court,” traditionally Francophile, Louis XV sent to St. Petersburg a high-level emissary, Sir Mackenzie Douglas. A Scotsman by origin, he was a partisan of the Stuarts and had taken refuge in France; he was part of the “parallel cabinet” of Louis the Well-Loved, called “the King’s Secret.” His purported mission in Russia was to buy furs; meanwhile, he took the opportunity to communicate to the tsarina a confidential code that would enable her to correspond directly with Louis XV. Before he even started out, Douglas had been informed that his mission had become more delicate than envisaged, for Bestuzhev was now in the pay of London and was serving the British cause. Even the grand duchess, supported by her current lover, was said to be inclined in favor of the English. And Poniatowski, during his temporary absence from the Polish court, had just been granted a prominent official position: he was named Minister for the King of Poland in Russia. Thus his presence in the Russian capital was made more reliable, long-term, giving Catherine more confidence in the possibility of a peaceful future for their relationship. She was further comforted by a certain easing of restrictions in her regard on the part of Alexis Bestuzhev.
Having joined the chancellor in the pro-England clan, she was less liable to attack. The odious espionage to which she had been submitted, on behalf of the empress, was removed. The only reports Elizabeth now received from Oranienbaum were in regard to the pro-Prussian extravagances of her nephew.
In this atmosphere of reciprocal surveillance, cautious bargaining and courteous deception, a first treaty was concocted in St. Petersburg in an effort to specify how the various powers would respond in the event of a French- English conflict. But sud«203»
Terrible Tsarinas denly, following secret negotiations, a new accord was signed in Westminster, on January 16, 1756. It stipulated that, in the case of a generalized war, Russia would join France in its fight against England and Prussia. This abrupt inversion of alliances shocked the uninitiated and appalled Elizabeth. Without a doubt, Bestuzhev, better paid by someone else, had sacrificed Russia’s honorbound commitments to Prussia. And
