Editing Peter II of Russia (section)

== Early life ==
[[File:Peter II of Russia's birth by Peter Schenk (1715).jpg|thumb|left|The birth of Peter II of Russia, by Peter Schenk (1715)]]

Peter was born in [[Saint Petersburg]] on 23 ([[Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe|O.S. 12]]) October 1715. His father was the only living son of [[Peter the Great]]. His mother was well-connected to European royalty, and through her, Peter was a first cousin of Empress [[Maria Theresa]] of Austria. 

Peter's mother died when he was only ten days old. His father, the tsarevich Alexei, accused of treason by his own father, [[Peter the Great]], died in prison in 1718. So three-year-old Peter and his four-year-old sister, [[Grand Duchess Natalya Alexeyevna of Russia (1714–1728)|Natalya]], became orphans. Their grandfather showed no interest in their upbringing or education: the Tsar had disliked their father and even their grandmother, his own first wife, and young Peter in particular reminded him of his only son Alexei, whom the Tsar suspected of treachery. Therefore, from his childhood, the young and orphaned Peter was kept in the strictest seclusion. His earliest governesses were the wives of a tailor and a vintner from the Dutch settlement, while a sailor named Norman taught him the rudiments of navigation. When he grew older, however, Peter was placed under the care of a Hungarian noble, Janos (Ivan) Zeikin (Zékány),<ref>[https://www.arcanum.com/en/online-kiadvanyok/Lexikonok-magyar-eletrajzi-lexikon-7428D/z-zs-787F8/zekany-janos-78841/ Zékány János] - Offices. Sándor Takáts: Z. J. Bpesti Hírlap, 1902. 332.</ref> who seems to have been a conscientious teacher.

[[File:A. Menshikov (Kuskovo).jpg|thumb|Menshikov was the de facto ruler of Russia when Peter II came to the throne]]
Peter the Great died in 1725 and was succeeded by his second wife, [[Catherine I of Russia|Catherine I]], a woman of low birth. The powerful minister [[Alexander Danilovich Menshikov|Aleksander Danilovich Menshikov]], who had aided in Catherine's accession, replaced the boy's teachers with the vice-chancellor, [[Andrey Osterman|Count Ostermann]]. The program of education that Ostermann compiled included history, geography, mathematics, and foreign languages, but the overall education of the future emperor remained shallow and left much to be desired.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}} Peter himself did not display much interest in study; his favorite occupations were hunting and feasting.

By the time Catherine I died in 1727, it had become clear to those in power that the only grandson of Peter the Great could not be kept from his inheritance much longer. The majority of Russians and three-quarters of the nobility (especially the old-established nobility) were on his side, while the Holy Roman Emperor [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles VI]] (the husband of Peter's mother's elder sister, [[Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]]) persistently urged Peter's claims through the imperial ambassador at [[Saint Petersburg]]. Through the efforts of Menshikov, the court named Peter as Catherine's heir apparent, even though Catherine had two daughters of her own. The relevant documentation also specified the betrothal of Peter to Menshikov's daughter [[Maria Alexandrovna Menshikova|Maria]].