Why by the age of 40, the daughter of Peter I turned from a beauty into a monster

Elizabeth Petrovna is the youngest and favorite daughter of Peter I. She ascended the Russian throne in 1741 and ruled the country for twenty years, gaining fame as the most beautiful and most cheerful empress. In fact, if you believe the historians, the stories about the incredible attractiveness of Elizabeth Petrovna had grounds for themselves, but they belonged to the period of youth.

Having taken the throne at the age of 32, she began to rapidly lose not only her beauty, but also the adequacy of her character. And this is not an exaggeration, but a historical fact.

Apparently, the young Elizabeth fell in love with literally everyone who saw her. There were legends about the appearance of the youngest daughter of Peter I since 1723, when the tsarevna began to appear at assemblies — balls established by her father.

Elizabeth loved fashion. After her death, there were 15 thousand dresses left

The Emperor spied this idea in Europe and actively implemented it at home. Thanks to this undertaking, his beautiful daughter was able to show all her attractiveness in the most advantageous light: she had the best outfits at her disposal, made according to the latest fashion. So the French ambassador wrote about the 14-year-old Elizabeth:

An interesting fact is that there are no enthusiastic memories about the eldest daughter of Peter I, who was also present at these balls. Probably for the simple reason that later Anna did not become the Russian Empress and in preserving odes about her "unearthly beauty" had no strategic need. Elizabeth's older sister died at the age of 20, having not suffered from labor fever.

Young Elizabeth

Alas, in the portraits we can not assess how much this snub nose spoiled Elizabeth, since almost all the canvases are painted full-face. Historians say that this is not for nothing: it was because of her complexes that the empress forbade artists to use other angles.

The profile of the pen of Heinrich Buchholz, which was preserved on the coins

The fullness that the empress acquired during the years of her reign was not at all natural for that time, it greatly harmed not only her beauty, but also her health. When, at the age of 52, Elizabeth Petrovna died of throat bleeding, the doctor sadly concluded:

Elizabeth Petrovna loved to eat delicious and plentiful food

The beauty of Elizabeth Petrovna was ruined by her irrepressible thirst for life. The Empress adored balls, dresses, delicious food and wine. There were legends about the feasts she threw. At the same time, if the passion for fashion only harmed the treasury, addiction to copious meals and neglect of sleep directly affected health and appearance.

When the process of beauty fading became apparent, it began to affect the character of the ruler. If in her youth she was called slightly arrogant, but sweet and pleasant to communicate with, then with age Elizabeth's behavior increasingly caused horror among others. It seems that the beauty has really turned into a monster…

If they said about the portraits of the young Elizabeth that they could not convey all her beauty, then they preferred to only whisper about the mature ones…

Elizabeth Petrovna's balls were a real test for her subjects

At the same time, it was also dangerous not to observe the fashion, of which Elizabeth was a passionate fan. The court ladies constantly had to balance on the edge, risking not just falling out of favor, but also getting physically injured at the hands of the Empress. A similar case occurred with Natalia Lopukhina.