[For context, Ivan V and Peter I (later known as Peter the Great) were both crowned co-Tsars of Imperial Russia in 1682. Both were still very young, and their ambitious older sister, Sophia, essentially ruled through them from the shadows for a time.]
It was a strange tableau, unprecedented in European royal history: two sibling monarchs, in full ceremonial regalia, sharing the same throne. Seated listlessly on one side was the drooling half-wit Ivan V; on the other was his infinitely more robust half-brother Peter.
[…]
Missing from the scene, but controlling it nonetheless, was Sophia, sister of the tsars and the power behind them – literally – for at the back of Ivan and Peter’s two-seated throne, hidden from view, was a chair upon which big sister Sophia or one of her representatives sat, whispering instructions to the young co-monarchs through an opening cut out for the purpose.
Source:
Farquhar, Michael. “Chapter 1 – Ivan V and Peter I (1682-1696): One Autocrat Too Many.” Secret Lives of the Tsars: Three Centuries of Autocracy, Debauchery, Betrayal, Murder, and Madness from Romanov Russia. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2014. 26. Print.
Further Reading:
Ivan V Alekseyevich (Russian: Иван V Алексеевич)
Peter the Great (Russian: Пётр Вели́кий); Peter the Great
Sophia Alekseyevna (Russian: Со́фья Алексе́евна)
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