Yevdokia Lopukhina, 1st wife of Emperor Peter the Great

[ilyala]

I think Peter was far more of a determined autocrat than Henry VIII ever dreamed of being ! He certainly did not let public opinion stand in his way in the case of reforms & modernisation.  He even abolished the patriarchy! What is a bit surprising  to me is that poor Evdokia even survived as long as she did !

he was much stronger but i still think a level of appearance and public image had to be kept. in the end he was made by the people: the heirs to the throne were the daughters of his older brother, ivan, he was on the throne because the public wanted a healthy tsar. that's why initially he was on that throne alone and his older brother was ignored (remember he became tsar when he was a child, he was made one, he didn't fight for his throne till a lot later).  i really don't think he wasn't aware that he had to maintain at least the illusion of decency.

[Romanov_fan]

I think most rulers most places then realized that they had to support the illusion of decency at least to some degree. As an autocrat, in a not so westernized country, and being very dominating, and strong willed, Peter had to do it less than others might have had to. But there had been palace revolutions before if a opposite group did not approve of the current ruler, or to get power for themselves and the like. Peter knew this.

[agordon2000]

This was not a question of his will but that of the church. Even they refused to tonsure her for six months because they thought this was highly irregular and some archbishops declared it heresy.He could not do whatever he wanted without reason.  Later when he killed her lover Stephen Glebov it was not out of jealousy but his desire to wipe out all the dissidents and he considered that those around his ex-wife were a center of opposition, which they were. He killed Glebov in a purge after his son returned.