Almost all Russian monarchs, in addition to their own name and "serial number", also had a nickname. At the official level, it sounded honorable and respectful (John "The Terrible", Alexander "The Liberator"), but in "everyday life" it was quite the opposite (Nikolai "Palkin" and his great-grandson Nikolai "Bloody"). These nicknames were not always justified, but in two cases their legitimacy is beyond doubt. We are talking about Peter the Great and his youngest daughter named Elizabeth or, as they used to say, Elizabeth.
Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who ruled Russia from 1741 to 1761, went down in history as "Merry". There are good reasons for such a half-joking characterization. Ever since childhood, she was distinguished by a lively, restless disposition and was desperatea minx, but at the same time she knew how to use her innate charm so deftly that she got away with tricks. Being a lovely child, she quickly turned into a young beauty, who early revealed such truly feminine qualities as coquetry and love for luxurious outfits.
Elizaveta Petrovna loved hunting, chic balls - masquerades and other high-society entertainments, and dancing became her main passion from her youth. Charming, never discouraged, friendly, generous with a kind word, sometimes quick-tempered, but quick-tempered - such, according to the memoirs of her contemporaries, was Elizaveta Petrovna. Her biography, however, is not as cloudless as it might seem at first glance.
At thirty-two, Elizaveta Petrovna became the first of the Russian monarchs to come to power as a result of a conspiracy of guards officers. This type of power grab was also the first of its kind. Later there will be several such conspiracies. Strictly speaking, who, if not the legitimate daughter of Peter the Great, should be called the Russian Empress? But the intricacies of court intrigues led to the fact that for many years she was "pushed away" from the throne and managed to ascend it only with the help of a military coup. Having become the empress, Elizaveta Petrovna, who was no longer too young and still not married, plunged headlong into her favorite pastimes. After all, now no one was holding her back at all, and she could give free rein to all her female whims.
Her reign is not marked by any outstanding achievements,and in general she was not very energetic in regard to domestic and foreign policy. But it would not be too fair for Russia to call the period of the reign of "merry Elizabeth" completely disastrous.
Elizaveta Petrovna obviously did not inherit the leadership qualities of her great father Peter the Great, but something can be credited to her - at least the fact that it was under her that the famous Moscow University was opened, and all twenty years of her stay in power in Russia, the death pen alty was not used.
The most accurate and capacious description was given to her by the outstanding Russian historian V. Klyuchevsky, who described Elizabeth as the first intelligent and rather kind, and at the same time wayward Russian lady of the eighteenth century. He mentioned that during her lifetime, according to Russian customs, many scolded the Empress, but almost everyone mourned her death according to the same traditions.
