Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie

Who was Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie?

Jacques-Joachim Trotti, marquis de La Chétardie was a French diplomat who engineered the coup d'etat that brought Elizaveta Petrovna to the Russian throne in 1741. In the course of his eventful career, La Chetardie was sent on diplomatic errands throughout Europe: in London, then in Holland and Prussia, in Russia twice, and finally in Turin in 1749 in the company of Jean-Louis Favier.

When he arrived as Ambassador to Saint Petersburg in 1739, he found all the key positions in the imperial administration in the hands of ethnic Germans, inimical to his own country. In order to counterbalance their influence, La Chetardie approached his compatriot, Count Lestocq, and the Swedish ambassador, who was preparing the war with Russia. Their complex manoeuvring resulted in the coup d'etat which made Peter the Great's daughter Elizaveta the new Empress.