Night Emperor
Razumovsky played an important role in the palace revolution on November 25–26 (NS December 6–7) in 1741, which brought about Elizabeth Petrovna's accession to the throne. On November 30 (NS: December 11) he was accepted in the valid chamberlains as a general-lieutenant. On the coronation day (April 25 (NS: May 6) 1742) he was made a Hofmarschall. Other honours bestowed on him included Order of Saint Andrew and St. Alexander Nevsky, as well as numerous estates in Moscow and elsewhere.
It has been speculated that he secretly married Elizabeth Petrovna in a rural church of Perovo (now a part of Moscow) in the autumn 1742, earning him the nickname of "the Emperor of the Night." Two years later In 1744 he received the comital title (Reichsgraf, рейхграф in Russian) from the Holy Roman emperor Charles VII; and he was made count in Russia the same year. In 1745 he became the captain-lieutenant of the life-guards, and in 1748 he became the lieutenant-colonel of life-guards. On September 5 (NS: September 16) 1756 he received the rank of Field Marshal.
During Elizabeth Petrovna's reign he kept an exclusive position at court (though in his last years he was rivalled by the younger Ivan Shuvalov); in 1744 the empress even visited his native village and made acquaintance with all his family. Razumovsky's apartments in the Summer Palace directly adjoined to Elizabeth's apartments, and he had constant access to her. Under his influence the court had a passion for music and singing.
Razumovsky was not interested in politics, although he quite often supported chancellor Aleksei Petrovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin. On his advice the office of Ukrainian hetman was restored; and his younger brother Kirill Razumovsky was made a hetman and president of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
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