Terrible tsarinas

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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