In 1742, following the Russian occupation of Finland in the Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743) and vague promises of making the country independent, the four estates gathered in Turku and decided to ask Empress Elizabeth of Russia if the then Duke Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, grand-nephew of the late king Charles XII of Sweden, could be proclaimed as the King of Finland. However, the political situation had soon outgrown the idea of Finnish independence, and it quickly evaporated.