The first biography of the daughter

She lived only 20 years, but left a deep mark in Russian history. However, the significance of the eldest daughter of Peter the Great for the dynastic history of Russia is enormous. Judging by the memoirs of contemporaries, already in her early childhood it was noticeable that she surpasses her brothers and sisters with her mind and curiosity. And not only that. Gustav von Mardefeld Gustav von Mardefeld, the Prussian Minister, the Messenger at the Russian Court, described the summer Anna: “I don’t think that in Europe a princess was currently found, who could argue with her in beauty, she is higher than ordinary, but her waist can be read in her great beautiful eyes all the charm and greatness of the soul.

But when she says, .. He is echoed by the President of the Privy Council of the Golstinsky Duke Count Henning von Bassevitz Henning von Bassewitz: “Nothing could be more magnificent than her posture and physiognomy, her gaze and smile were graceful and most strict demand for anything could not open any drawback in her. The penetrating mind, genuine simplicity and good nature, generosity, condescension, excellent education and excellent knowledge of languages - Russian, French, German, Italian and Swedish.

"Annexed. The wedding took place after the death of Peter the Great, but it was Peter who spent several years in Russia at the invitation of the tsar: Karl was a contender for the Swedish, and this is joined. Political pressure on the sworn northern enemy to Germany, but the Duke of Golstein, was also of his own interest: he wanted to return to himself a rich Schleswig, which he took Denmark under the Danish-Swedish Treaty Oldenburgs belonged to the family of Oldenburgs - Oldenburgs, by the way, are being reigned in Norway and Denmark today.

For Russia - also because Anna did not have to change the religion of the Protestant courtyards in this regard were very liberal. In addition, although Anna and her husband refused all future claims to the Russian throne, their son, which was specifically agreed on the secret article of the marriage contract, could become the heir to the throne. The only condition: the heir should be baptized in the Orthodox religion.

For some time after the wedding, Anna and the Duke remained in Russia.

But after the death of Peter, the political situation in the country changed. According to the famous Russian historian Alexei Morokhin, Anna was accompanied, in addition to maids of honor and servants, a priest with a deacon, eight singers, 12 rowers and two brewers. Farewell to his homeland was not too funny. And life in Kile too. Anna Petrovna was very missing the sister of the future Russian Empress Elizabeth and suffered from her husband’s inattention.

Even in Russia, with great pleasure, he spent time in feasts and entertainment, and in Kile he completely abandoned his wife. Anna complained to her sister that the duke "not a single day was sitting at home." Anna's mood could not even correct the admiration of subjects. The heir to the throne, the Germans loved her very much and revered her. What was happening in the keel when she gave birth to a boy!

It was a real nationwide holiday: they called the bells, fell from guns at the entrance to the palace, a real line of those who wanted to congratulate happy parents lined up. The birth of Karl Peter Ulrich was perceived much more restrained in St. Petersburg. There is a legend that she caught a cold when she looked at the open window at the fireworks in honor of the birth of her son.

The windy duke sincerely grieved for her. In the garden of the palace, he built a real memorial in honor of Anna. And ten years after her death, he established the Order of St. Anne - "for the eternal and indispensable glory and memory of" his wife. Later, with her grandson, Paul I, this order became Russian, and one of the most prestigious. And the boy, whom Anna Petrovna gave birth and who, perhaps, was an indirect cause of her early death, later became the Russian emperor - Peter the Third.

Elizaveta Petrovna ordered to bring the summer nephew to St. Petersburg then. Karl Peter Ulrich was baptized in Orthodoxy, began to learn the Russian language and declared the heir to the throne. And the ashes of his mother were transported to Russia even earlier and buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral - in the same place where the ashes of her great father rests.