REIGNS OF THE THREE CZARINAS OF RUSSIA,

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 145, 20 June 1931, Page 14

REIGNS OF THE THREE CZARINAS OF RUSSIA,

ADDRESS TO P.N.E.U. MEMBERS BY MISS CANDY.

The monthly meeting of the Parents' National Educational Union was held last evening at the home of Mrs Norton Francis, Rossall Street. Mrs Norton r rancis, president of the branch, was in the chair. The meeting took the form of a social evening and there were a large number of members, who greatly enjoyed M*s Francis’s hospitality. The reception hall and spacious room were arranged with bowls of autumn-coloured chrysanthemums and foliage. Mrs Francis informed the members that two new home schools had been started in New Zealand. She then introduced Miss A. Candy. Miss Candy gave a most instructive and illuminating address on the lives of the three Autocratic Czarinas who reigned in Russia in the early part of the eighteenth century. Catherine 1., she said, was the first woman to occupy the throne in Russia. Miss'Candy then explained the difference between the status of women in England and Russia before the reign of Catherine. They lead extremely bigoted lives; were treated with great dislike and contempt and were kept in cloisters, taking. no part in public affairs. One of the many old proverbs that Miss Candy quoted was this: “A woman invisible is made of gold, a woman visible is made of copper.” Peter I. came to the throne early in the eighteenth century. It was he wlio began to remodel Russia. He decided that the people must be westernised to enable the country to become westernised. He allowed the women more freedom and they began to take more prominence in public affairs. He married Catherine, a peasant girl, and horrified the people by deciding that Catherine should succeed him to the throne. In 1725 Catherine ascended the throne as Catherine I. Her reign was not an easy one and was known as “ The Age of Favourites.” After the death of Catherine and Peter in 1730 there were only women left to succeed to the throne. They passed over Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, and chose Anna, his half-niece. Anna reigned from 1730 to 1740 and these years were one of the gloomiest periods in Russia’s history. She was determined to live a life of pleasure, of which she had been deprived in her youth. She hated the Russians and came with a body of Germans under Biron, to which she gave prominent positions. She died in 1740.

Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, who had been previously passed over, then came to the throne. She lived a life of splendour, was overextravagant, but with all these faults, governed Russia wisely and chose her Ministers well. She kidnapped Anna’s son, Peter (afterwards known as “The Mad Czar”), to succeed to the throne and arranged his marriage with Sofia of Germany. Sofia of Germany afterwards became Catherine 11. and it was during her reign that the seven years’ war took place. In 1761 she died and was succeeded by her nephew, thus ending the reign of women in Russia. A vote of thanks to Miss Candy was proposed by Mrs Edwin Hay and seconded by Mrs W. H. Clark. Supper was served.

Among those present were:—Mrs J. H. Williams, Mrs George Weston, Mrs L. M. Wilson, Mrs Peter Wood, Mrs Mervyn Stevenson, Mrs A. R. Bloxam, Mrs J. H. Hall, Mrs Bland, Miss Strouts, Mrs Paterson (Dunedin), Miss Ethne Tosswill, Mrs R. W. Morrow. Mrs E. D. Pullon, Miss Aitken, Mrs Dearsley, Miss Carr, Miss A. Holderness. Miss Phyllis Agar, Mrs Stephen Wade, Mrs 11. S. E. Turner, Mrs H. Wyatt, Mrs Leslie Averill, Mrs Kenneth Macdonald, Mrs A. Bunz, Mrs Trevor Foster, Miss Elinor Foster, Mrs Kenneth Ballantyne. Mrs Vesey Robinson, Mrs Hay, Mrs Vesey Hamilton, Mrs J. W. Lawrence, Mrs Edwin Hay, Mrs B. E. 11. Whitcombe, Miss Lesley Hay, Mrs R. J. Loughnan, Mrs Robinson Hall, Mrs J. Westall, Mrs Malcolm Powrie, Mrs J. I. Smail, Miss J. Macfarlane, Mrs Hand Newton, Miss Marjorie Turner, Miss Phyllis Francis, Miss Jocelyn Francis, Miss Margaret Clark and Miss Blakey.