She came to the throne without a shadow of right, by the murder of her husband, and took good cause to remove the true heir, Ivan, who ever since the beginning of Elizabeth's reign had been immured in prison. At her instigation he was assassinated.
There was another possible claimant to the throne and she resolved to get rid of her. This young lady was the daughter of the Empress Elizabeth, whose marriage had been a clandestine one to a singer. She lived in the most retired manner at St. Petersburg, where she was being educated under an assumed name.
Prince Radzivill, of Poland, indignant at Catherine for the wrongs she was heaping upon his country, saw in this young woman an instrument of future revenge. Having gained over her guardians, he conveyed her with her governess to Rome.
The Empress took prompt measures to frustrate these designs upon her crown and confiscated the estates of the young lady's patron, so that his only resources in Rome were the money derived from the sale of his jewels, he having fled there with his charge for refuge. His means being exhausted, Radzivill set out for Poland, leaving his ward and her governess in reduced circumstances which he hoped to relieve on his return.
Upon his arrival in Poland, Catherine promised to restore his estates if he would bring the young Princess back to Russia. He refused to comply with this condition, but, as the price of his restoration to fortune, he promised not again to press her claims as an heir to the throne.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
