The Finale of Ropsha’s Tragedy

The truth about Peter III’s death is a subject historians continue to ponder and debate. Foreign diplomats’ eyewitness accounts occupy a significant place in the relatively restricted number of sources shedding light on the circumstances of the tragedy. This paper offers a new description of Peter III’s murder as related by a French diplomat 35 years after the facts. These reminiscences were triggered by Paul I’s accession to the throne, his first steps as monarch, and by the publication in France of Claude-Carloman de Rulhière’s memoirs, copies of which were widely available. Although the two diplomats’ descriptions converge on several points, they differ on the role played by A. G. Orlov in the matter. This new account of the circumstances of Peter III’s murder contributes supplementary material to the understanding of a highly significant event in the history of Russia, whose reconstruction still raises a number of questions.