Abstract

Turning to Anglo-Russian relations in the mid-eighteenth century, the author notes that the British crown, when dispatching envoys to the Russian Empire, required them to gather intelligence about their host country and, above all, to report on its ruler, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. An analysis of the ambassadors’ secret correspondence with the secretary of state between 1741 and 1761 makes it possible to reconstruct their attitudes toward Elizabeth and their assessments of her political conduct. Although this question — approached here within imagology, a well-established field in contemporary historical scholar ship — has been touched upon episodically by Russian historians, it has not previously been the subject of sustained investigation. The article emphasizes the contested character of British diplomatic claims that the empress was unwilling to attend to affairs of state. It identifies the traits most frequently attributed to Elizabeth in the dispatches — her fondness for entertainments, pronounced piety, deliberation in decision-making on matters of government, and, in moments of crisis, boldness and resolve. English envoys were especially responsive to the empress’s benevolent disposition toward King George II. They devoted particular attention to her participation in celebrations and diversions that they themselves attended, as required by diplomatic etiquette. Balls and masquerades, in particular, afforded opportunities for informal exchanges with ministers and courtiers and, at times, with the empress herself. Such occasions proved to be productive settings for the acquisition of confidential information, a central component of the work of foreign diplomats in Russia. The author concludes that English judgments of the empress’s character and actions, though not invariably sympathetic, were more often than not grounded in sober observation. The evidence of diplomatic correspondence thus illuminates both the practice of British diplomacy in Russia and the envoys’ relationship with Elizabeth Petrovna, thereby opening new perspectives on the history of Anglo-Russian relations in the mid-eighteenth century.