Terrible tsarinas

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Terrible Tsarinas and used to be the cantor in the imperial chapel; he spoke with a heavy Ukrainian accent, only said simple things, and - a rarity in the ts arina’s entourage - never asked for favors. At most he consented to have his mother, Natalya Demianovna, share the fortune that he was enjoying. He was concerned that contact with the court would harm a woman of her condition, accustomed to discretion and poverty. Natalya Demianovna’s first visit to the palace was an event. Seeing this muzhik’s widow stepping into her apartments, wedged into a formal gown, Elizabeth forgot all modesty and exclaimed with gratitude, “Blessed be the fruit of your entrails!” But her lover’s mother was not an ambitious woman.

Hardly having been named lady-in-waiting and installed in the palace, “Razumikhina”2, as she was contemptuously called behind her back, requested permission to leave the court. Returning to obscurity, sheltered from scandalmongers, she once again donned her peasant clothing.

Alexis Razumovsky understood very well how frightened this “woman of the people” must have been by the excesses of those at the top. He insisted that Her Majesty spare his mother the signs of honor that others around her were so keen to receive.

As for himself, in spite of his rising stature and fortune, he refused to consider himself worthy of the good fortune that had come to him. The more his influence over Elizabeth increased, the less he wished to be involved in politics.

His lack of interest in intrigues and rewards only gave his imperial mistress greater confidence in him. She made many public appearances with him, and she was proud of this companion whose only claim to respect from the nation were the titles that she had given him. When she presented him she was presenting her own handiwork, her personal Russia that she offered to her contemporaries for their assessment. He owed his elevation to