Alexey Razumovsky Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky ( , ; 1709 – 1771 ) , was a Ukrainian Cossack who rose to become lover and , eventually , the morganatic spouse of the Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna . Early life . Oleksiy Rozum was born on March 17 , 1709 ( NS : March 28 ) on the farm Lemeshi near Chernihiv in the family of a registered Ukrainian Cossack , Hryhory Rozum . In his youth he was a shepherd ; then he was taught to read and write by the rural sexton . Having a fine voice he sang in the choir at the village church . In 1731 , Colonel Vyshnevsky , one of empress Anna Ivanovna ’ s courtiers , while passing through the village on his way back to the Russian capital from a mission to Hungary , was wonder - struck with his vocal ability , and took him to St . Petersburg where he joined the choir of the Ukrainian palace chapel . The beauty and talent of Razumovsky captivated Elizabeth Petrovna who took him to the imperial court in 1732 . Upon deportation of Elizabeth ’ s minion Aleksey Shubin , Razumovsky replaced him as tsesarevna ' s favorite . After losing his voice , he was accepted in the post of the court bandura player , and then the manager of one of her mansions . He received the rank of the hof - quartermeister ; and actually supervised Elizabeth ' s court . During the period of Anna Leopoldovna ’ s reign he was made a Kamer - Junker . " 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 . Later Years and posterity . Before her death the empress made her successor Peter III promise not to offend her former favorites . In 1762 he submitted his resignation and moved from the Winter Palace to Anichkov Palace presented to him by Elizabeth . After Catherine II ' s accession to the throne he refused the title of highness that was offered to him . On the Empress ' request he destroyed all documents about his marriage with Elizabeth . He died on July 6 ( NS July 17 ) 1771 in St . Petersburg and was buried in the Annunciation Cathedral of the Alexandro - Nevskaya Lavra . The question of Razumovsky and Elizabeth Petrovna ' s posterity remains open . About their postulated children there are many legends . The most known pretenders to this rank are two princesses Tarakanova , one of which ( August ) became a nun under name Dosifeya died in 1810 and was buried in the Romanov family crypt , and another ( Elizabeth Tarakanova ) who was arrested in Livorno by Aleksei Grigoryevich Orlov and delivered to Russia in February 1775 , and was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress where she died from tuberculosis . The legend of her being drowned during the severe flooding 1777 served as the plot for a painting by artist Konstantin Flavitsky ( 1864 , Tretyakov Gallery ) .