Peter II (Russian: Пётр II Алексеевич or Pyotr II Alekseyevich) (October 23, 1715 – January 29, 1730) was Emperor of Russia from 1727 until his death. He was the only son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, son of Peter I of Russia by his first Empress consort Eudoxia Lopukhina, and Princess Charlotte of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, a sister-in-law of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor. He was also the only male-line grandson of Peter the Great.

Peter was born in Saint Petersburg on 18 October 1715 (Julian calendar). From his childhood the orphan grand duke was kept in the strictest seclusion. His grandfather, Peter the Great, systematically ignored him. His earliest governesses were the wives of a tailor and a vintner from the Dutch settlement; a sailor called Norman taught him the rudiments of navigation; and, when he grew older, he was placed under the care of a Hungarian refugee, Janos Zeikin, who seems to have been a conscientious teacher.

The senate, the privy council and the guards took the oath of allegiance forthwith. The education of the young prince was wisely entrusted to the vice-chancellor Ostermann. Menshikov, who took possession of Peter II and lodged him in his own palace on the Vasilievsky Island, had intended to marry Peter to his daughter Maria; the scheme was frustrated by his fall (September 21, 1727); but Peter only fell into the hands of the equally unscrupulous Prince Vasily Dolgorukov, who carried him away from Petersburg to Moscow. Peter's coronation was celebrated at that city on 25 February, 1728. He was betrothed to his mentor's niece, Princess Catherine Dolgorukova, and the wedding was actually fixed for 30 January, 1730; but on that very day the emperor died of smallpox. Whilst he lay dying, his new wife was pushed into his deathbed in a desperate attempt to make her pregnant.

With Peter's death, the direct male line of the Romanov Dynasty ended. He was succeeded by Anna Ivanovna, daughter of Peter the Great's half-brother and co-ruler, Ivan V.

References

1715 births | 1730 deaths | Natives of Saint Petersburg | Russian emperors | House of Romanov

Petr II. | Peter 2. af Rusland | Peter II. (Russland) | Pedro II de Rusia | Petro la 2-a (Rusio) | Pierre II de Russie | 러시아의 표트르 2세 | Pietro II di Russia | Peter II van Rusland | ピョートル2世 | Piotr II Romanow | Пётр II | Pietari II (Venäjä) | Pyotr II của Nga | Петро II Романов | 彼得二世