Elizaveta Vorontsova

[3] She belonged to the celebrated Vorontsov family that reached the pinnacle of power during the last years of the reign of Empress Elizabeth (r. 1741–1762)—Elizaveta's uncle, Mikhail Illarionovich, served as Imperial Chancellor from 1758 to 1765.

[8] She accompanied Peter in all his excursions and adventures, and foreign ambassadors reported to their governments that the emperor intended to banish his wife to a convent in order to marry Vorontsova.

claim that these rumors drove Catherine to join efforts with Vorontsova's sister, Princess Ekaterina Dashkova, and to stage the palace coup which removed her husband from power in July 1762.

[9] Maureen Callahan summarized the marital split as follows: "As for her husband, Catherine threw him in jail, and though she couldn't help show some sympathy—allowing him his own bed from home, along with his dogs, violin and even his personal doctor—she refused his most heartfelt and repeated request: She made sure that Peter and his mistress never saw each other again.

[8] The empress arranged her rival's marriage to an army colonel of humble, yet noble background, Alexander Ivanovich Polyansky (1721–1818) and ordered the couple to withdraw to the countryside, where Vorontsova spent the rest of her days in bitterness and ill-health.