Heir Abhorrent

On February 3, 1718, Emperor Peter I issued a manifesto depriving Alexei, his son by his first wife, of the right to succeed him to the throne. Alexei, who had only just returned from Western Europe, where he had traveled in an attempt to avoid his father’s wrath, swore a solemn oath in Moscow’s Dormition Cathedral renouncing any claim to the throne in favor of his half brother Peter. One might have thought that the many years of conflict between father and son had finally been resolved, but in fact its most horrific episodes lay ahead.

Poor, unfortunate Tsarevich Alexei had been separated from his mother in childhood and was unloved by his father, of whom he lived in dread. Who knows? He might have made a perfectly good tsar if the charismatic Peter had not quashed his every impulse and burdened him with terrible psychological complexes, along with the habit of drunkenness.

One moment Alexei would make clumsy attempts to earn his father’s affection; the next he’d admit during confession that he wished his father were dead (the confessor replied: “The Lord will forgive you; that’s what we all wish”). One moment he would naively discuss his prospects with Peter’s courtiers; the next he’d drink himself into a stupor. Peter tolerated such a “failure” of a son, but not out of love – there was certainly no question of that – but rather out of self-interest. He and his second wife Catherine had many children, but most of them died in childhood.

In 1715 Catherine finally gave birth to a son, “Petrushka,” and Peter was elated to have this new “recruit,” as he called his sons. That was when he wrote a threatening letter to Alexei, demanding that he change his behavior or renounce the throne. Apparently Peter saw nothing wrong with giving Alexei this letter right after his (Alexei’s) wife had died.

The tsarevich sought refuge in Europe. Some of his father’s associates warned him not to return to Russia under any circumstances, should Peter summon him. Alas, he did not heed this advice. Alexei returned, unable to withstand the pressure from his paramour, Yefrosinya, who was in the pay of Peter’s people.

He returned, repented, and renounced the throne. He also named all of his sympathizers, even though he knew full well the fatal consequences they would suffer. However, that did not save him. In this awful story, it was everyone for his- or herself. Yefrosinya told her interrogators that Alexei longed for his father’s death and that he even corresponded with Swedes who wanted to overthrow Peter.

Peter’s previous forgiveness was forgotten and ruthless interrogations began. Alexei was mercilessly beaten with a knout. According to some accounts, the tsar himself took part in torturing his son.

Alexei was sentenced to death, but the torture continued even after this sentence was pronounced. We do not know exactly how he died. Maybe he was beaten to death; maybe he bled to death on the dungeon floor; maybe Peter secretly ordered that he be strangled. Whatever the case, in July 1718, Alexei died in Peter and Paul Fortress. Peter sobbed at his funeral, but a few days later he was partying with his characteristic exuberance.

Such was the end of this unfortunate, luckless, and bumbling tsarevich. However, as it turned out, little Petrushka, the new heir, outlived his older brother by less than a year, dying in the spring of 1719. Out of Peter’s numerous offspring, only two daughters survived to adulthood. He never managed to produce a male heir.

Because of concerns about ending up with an unfit heir, Peter changed Russia’s law of succession, allowing himself and future sovereigns to pass the throne to someone other than their eldest son, choosing whatever relative they deemed most worthy. Yet he himself was not able to decide who among the candidates would make the best ruler. Before his death he wrote “give it all…” but was unable to finish his final testament.