The Dark Life Of The Last Romanov D
the Russian royal family was full of scandalous figures none were like Empress Elizabeth from cruel and unusual punishments to kidnapping infants there was never a dull moment while Elizabeth held power if she isn’t even more well known today perhaps that’s because of her cruel end the Russian Empire saw a long line of extravagant deranged and scandalous Zars yet believe me when I say that Empress Elizabeth of Russia puts them all to shame from her bottomless vanity to her unimaginably cruel punishments Elizabeth of Russia’s reputation today is full of Scandal and contradiction as it was in her own time one historian called her the laziest most extravagant and most Amorous of sovereigns and the empress’s Reign is still the stuff of Legends for all her beauty and luxury Elizabeth of Russia had one chilling history at the height
of her power Elizabeth’s Court was beyond decadent not only did the empress demand that all her courtiers wear the most luxurious clothes she also insisted that no one wear the same dress twice and had her men stamped gowns with special ink to enforce this rule even though Elizabeth insisted that her yes men be dressed to the nines the incredibly vain Empress also strictly forbade anyone from o shining her she honest to God issued literal edicts proclaiming that no one could wear the same hairstyle dress or even the same accessory as her one day a quer named lapaka didn’t get the memo about Elizabeth’s get up that evening and ended up wearing a similar Bobble as the empress Elizabeth’s reaction was Swift and brutal she lashed poor Laina across the face for impertinence as you’ll see this is Elizabeth on a good day Elizabeth of Russia’s eccentricities might have come from her extremely
scandalous childhood sure she had half a royal pedigree her father was no less than Peter the Great but her mother Catherine was a peasant to make matters more soapy the day Elizabeth was born on December 29th 1709 she was illegitimate Yep this was a recipe for drama growing up Elizabeth was her father’s favorite and it didn’t take a Russian rocket scientist to figure out why the Bold intelligent sociable little girl took away her father’s own vivacious personality and they even looked alike Peter was as susceptible to vanity as his daughter and he dotted on her well except for one glaring issue Peter may have spoiled Elizabeth rotten when it came to gifts but there was one thing he denied her since she had only a distant claim to the throne Peter gave Elizabeth a shamelessly Bare Bones education he left most of her upbringing to her peasant mother who was pretty out of her
depth when it came to courtly charms not that Elizabeth didn’t make it work what Elizabeth lacked in formal education she more than made up for in looks she was one of the great beauties of her age with one foreign minister describing her as fair with light brown hair large sprightly blue eyes fine teeth and a pretty mouth this should have helped her snag a royal husband but she only got tragedy besides the fact she was a St Petersburg 10 in the looks department Elizabeth had another secret weapon for winning allies she was a total Riot to be around she lived life to the fullest and could charm even the most kinly courtiers as one of her acquaintances put it she is extremely gay and talks to everyone as the Royal daughter of Peter the Great Elizabeth should have made a stunning marriage only that’s not what happened at all though Peter was anxious to get his girl a snoody European Prince those
European princes didn’t want her citing her half peasant Heritage so the Monarch had to resort to desperate me in 1724 Elizabeth’s father betrothed her to Charles Augustus a prince from a tiny German principality she was sluming it with the match but her father planned a lavish wedding anyway sadly the nuptuals were doomed to a heartbreaking end in fact Elizabeth was in for a world of pain that would make Ivan the Terrible tremble Elizabeth of Russia was 15 beautiful and a royal wedding was fast approaching it should have been a dream come true until it suddenly turned into a Nightmare Before Peter the Great could walk his favorite daughter down the aisle the Zar dropped dead Elizabeth was inconsolable little knowing there was more heartache to come even though her beloved father was gone Elizabeth at least still had her mother Catherine to
lean on for emotional support but she didn’t have long to do it just 2 years later on May 17th 1727 Catherine also passed turning Elizabeth into an orphan but hey there was always her fiance Prince Charles Augustus right well not 2 weeks after her mother’s passing Elizabeth received news that was almost too horrible to be true her fiance Charles had perished and there would be no wedding at all the 17-year-old Elizabeth had watched her entire life unravel in mere months and she was left alone and vulnerable in aord of Russian vipers and those snakes had fangs Elizabeth was physically domineering and it’s no wonder she cut such a figure she loved horseback riding hunting skating and basically any activity she could show off Elizabeth didn’t limit her skills to the outdoors either one quartier claimed she dances
better than anyone I ever saw Elizabeth’s fiercest enemy during this time was her equally beautiful cousin Anna Ivanova the cousins never like each other but the Rivalry soon reached disturbing Heights somehow Anna came out of this turmoil as empress of Russia and she didn’t just make Elizabeth bend the knee she practically destroyed her after her family dropped like flies Elizabeth’s marriage prospects plummeted and Anna was all too happy to help quash them Anna made it very clear that no nobleman could marry Elizabeth meanwhile if Elizabeth chose a commoner the empress would strip her of her titles and her claim to the throne and that’s not even the worst part don’t forget Elizabeth was one heck of a looker a truth that Anna utterly despised in fact one day Anna had a real Mir mirr moment and tried to bait a Chinese Minister by asking who was the most beautiful woman
at court when the minister pointed over to Elizabeth Anna nearly blew a gasket but she got an ice cold Revenge Elizabeth was a beautiful growing girl and it wasn’t long before she started a steamy relationship with a strapping Sergeant named Alexis shuin although it was strictly bedroom relationship with no hope of marriage Anna eventually found out and her response was legendarily bitter take heed do not cross your jealous cousin if your jealous cousin happens to be the Empress of all Russia when Anna found out about Elizabeth’s side piece shuin the unhinged Empress ordered her men to cut out shubin’s tongue and as if that weren’t enough exiled him to Siberia for the rest of his miserable life how did Elizabeth get over the mangling and banishment of her favorite bedmate she got a new lover of course well actually lovers plural and she
didn’t have to look far Elizabeth dried her tears on the pillows of her Coachman before moving on to her footman to get the cathartic release hope she tipped well Elizabeth had a type and that type was men under her employee but her next Conquest really took the cake Alexis razami was a Ukrainian peasant singer with a dulet voice and an even sweeter face Elizabeth brought him in to sing in her own personal choir and the position came with some Choice side benefits but no one could have predicted what happened next from these humble beginnings grew a legendary romance though they weren’t allowed to marry razami was unshakably loyal to Elizabeth even throwed her turbulent rise to power in turn Elizabeth was so devoted to her choir boy people started calling the strapping man the emperor of the night for his
influence in 1740 a miracle happened at long last the horrible Empress Anna passed except this only meant Elizabeth had a bigger problem on her hands instead of naming her Empress the court crowned elizab Elizabeth’s 3-month-old cousin Ivan I 6th as ruler that’s right they chose a literal baby over Elizabeth this time Elizabeth didn’t get mad she got even from the moment the pink little newborn Ivan got crowned Elizabeth started plotting his brutal demise cunning and smart she’d always made sure to be friendly with the Russian guard and on November 25th 1741 she called in a major favor she asked them to join her in staging a coupe but it’s the way she did it that’s become almost mythical that November Elizabeth of Russia marched over to the regiment while deck outed in a warrior Queen’s metal breastplate over one of
her fabulous dresses she convinced the guards with a single sentence Elizabeth showed it out whom do you want to serve me your natural Sovereign or those who have stolen my inheritance what occurred after this PR feat was one of the most spectacular coups Russia had ever seen Elizabeth and her men stred up to the Winter Palace stormed in and detain the child Emperor and his parents without shedding a single drop of blood but that doesn’t mean Elizabeth didn’t commit one horrific act Elizabeth had initially decided to let Ivan flee Russia with his mother and live in Exile instead she doled out a much darker punishment worried the babe would gather supporters and threaten in her crown she imprisoned him in a fortress for the rest of his life the poor boy spent 20 long unhinged years in captivity before passing Elizabeth of Russia knew the way to hold
on to power was to hold on to secrets and she kept her horrific treatment of her baby cousin under strict lock and key not even the Commandment of the Fortress knew the identity of a certain prisoner but that wasn’t all she also destroyed almost all references to Ivan in court documents and coins oh but her cruelty was just getting started today Elizabeth is famous in Russia because she refused to execute a single person during her Reign instead she gave her enemies a fate worse than death early on in her rule Elizabeth caught wind of a court plot to overthrow her and reinstall Ivan enraged she rounded up the conspirators and gave them a taste of their own medicine instead of executing the treacherous courtiers Elizabeth did the gracious thing and had them brought before a crowd stripped down to their skibbies and fogged no wait there’s more she then took a move
from her old cousin Anna’s Playbook and had the conspirators tongues torn out before exiling them to you guessed it Siberia at the height of a rain Elizabeth of Russia became notorious for her debuted Behavior particularly at her ball s she threw no fewer than two a week one for the whole court and one degenerate Affair for her special friends these private Gatherings started as masked balls but they soon developed into something else entirely the masquerades quickly turned into so-called metamorphosis balls where Elizabeth forced everyone to dress up as members of the opposite gender Elizabeth herself always chose either a classic or a carpenter costume supposedly in honor of her beloved father only she had another more selfish reason for this disguise though they would never say so the courtiers despised Elizabeth’s balls because of
how ridiculous the costumes made them look but that’s exactly how Elizabeth liked it see while everyone else got de hotted she knew she looked like a mega babe in men’s clothes one quartier put it as she was tall and Powerful male attire suited her Elizabeth knew her Empire had one huge weakness she needed to solve the matter of an air without one Ivan’s fan base would only grow so maybe that explains her choice of her malleable nephew Peter as the next Emperor Elizabeth thought she could easily control Peter but she took that control to the next level not only did Elizabeth drag Peter into Russia to live permanently she also immediately arranged a marriage for him to Sophia of unheld Zer a little known German princess except apparently Elizabeth could sure pick him because Sophia would soon turn into Catherine the Great not that Elizabeth treated her with respect
Elizabeth was incredibly exacting of Peter and Catherine and demanded total loyalty from them even after they became adults then in 1754 the empress went to chilling lyns to assert her power that year Catherine gave birth to a son named Paul and Elizabeth in instantly claim the child as her own and I do mean instantly literally right after Catherine gave birth Elizabeth marched up to the Midwife and ordered the woman to give her the baby she didn’t even let poor Catherine see her own child for an entire month after that and even then only briefly to Elizabeth she was now Paul’s mother too bad she did such a mind-blowingly terrible job with that as it turns out vain empresses don’t make the best moms and Elizabeth treated raising Paul more like a fun hobby than a serious job one minute she smothered
him and the next she went off Dancing she was so neglectful one time the baby reportedly fell out of his crib and slept the night away unnoticed on the floor did this make her want to give him back to Catherine heck no Elizabeth’s vanity really knew no bounds one day she happened to get a a bit of powder stuck in her hair and had to shave off a patch of her scalp then she made everyone else pay in a brutal way unable to stand the humiliation Elizabeth forced all the ladies of the court to shave patches into their hair as well even as they choked back tears you might be wondering how does a woman so unhinged handle the ravages of agun the answer is really really badly Elizabeth’s narcissism and cruelty reportedly only grew worse with age and by the end of her Reign she would often burst into a tantrum at the mere sight
of a woman who was more beautiful than her although Elizabeth had a legendarily beautiful face she had another famous asset her legs if they knew what was good for them courtiers made sure to comment on how beautiful her legs were in front of her and Elizabeth liked to show them off in men’s trousers whenever she was able to finagle another Metamorphoses ball Elizabeth of Russia was definitely of the work smarter not harder School of thinking although many of her advisers complained that she was lazy and would take forever to sign documents this was actually probably an ingenious move Elizabeth often appeared to procrastinate like a classic indecisive woman but she did it to wisely delay important decisions and let egos cool as she got on in age Elizabeth’s commitment to Fantasy took on unsettling dimensions starting in the 1750s she began to suffer from strange dizzy spells and fainting fits the Aging
Empress was no fool but she also wasn’t ready to confront her own mortality instead simply forbade anyone from saying the word death in her presence for all her carousing the empress was weirdly religious and it popped up in the strangest places never the most book smart she didn’t like secular literature because she thought it was injurious to help then when it came to her crossdressing balls she forbade anyone from coming as a pilgrim because she thought it was profane Elizabeth’s Court didn’t skimp in the fashion department and it certainly didn’t skimp in the food department it was totally normal for the empress to order thousands of bottles of champagne for one single event and she usually insisted on serving pineapple at these sarees which at the point was one of the greatest Delicacies in Europe people who characterized Elizabeth as
lazy obviously weren’t aware of just how productive she could be as long as she wanted to this woman could build an entire Party Palace in 24 hours and she regularly traveled the immense distance from Moscow to St Petersburg in fewer than 2 days which maybe explains her last great feat Empress Elizabeth had a dubious claim to fame as a direct descendant of Peter the Great she was the last full-blooded Romanov of the Russian throne in 1757 Elizabeth started her most bloody project yet the seven years war against prussia’s Frederick the great Elizabeth had been getting Mighty suspicious that Prussia was trying to curb her power plus she just plain didn’t like Frederick and had a personal Vendetta against him here’s the thing Elizabeth was really good at Bloodshed when she started the conflict against Frederick she was like a particularly vicious dog
with a bone year after year the conflict grew into Epic Proportions but Elizabeth kept hammering at Frederick with her men and refusing to back down then it was Frederick who buckled by 1762 Frederick the King of Prussia a hero of the battlefield wrote to a friend and confessed that Bain vicious Elizabeth had forced him into a corner in fact he was willing to meet a soldier’s end just to claw back some of his territory from her she’d done it Elizabeth had won that is until the miracle happened on Christmas Eve 1761 Elizabeth of Russia succumbed to her ill health and suffered a stroke passing on Christmas day it was a cruel twist of fate her demise unraveled all her work in the Seven Years War and saved her enemies from certain death when Frederick heard about her en and he
anointed it the miracle of the House of Brandenburg but Elizabeth wasn’t quite done yet Elizabeth’s funeral was utterly Bizarre by our modern standards as befitting a queen her corpse was displayed in state for six very ripe weeks today we see Elizabeth’s reign as one long decadent party and well it was but Elizabeth was also hiding a shameful truth she was constantly on the brink of poverty and though her ballrooms were Deo with the best music and food the living quarters in her Court were often crammed in the end there’s still a lot we don’t know about Empress Elizabeth but that is going to bring us to the end of the video If you enjoyed the video leave a like rating subscribe for more comment below and we’ll be back with a brand new video very soon
