The Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, the younger daughter of Peter the Great and his second wife, Catherine I.
The Grand Duke Peter Fyodorovich (Karl Ulrich). Later Emperor Peter III.
The Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeyevna (Sophie), Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst. After the coup, the Empress Catherine II.
Princess Johanna of Anhalt-Zerbt, Catherine’s mother.
Alexei Betuzhev-Rhumin, the Chancellor of Russia to Empress Elizabeth: later replaced by Vice-Chancellor Vorontzov.
Das Fräulein, Countess Vorontzova, one of Catherine’s maids-of-honor, the niece of the Vice-Chancellor Vorontzov and a sister of Princess Dashkova; also Peter’s Imperial Favorite.
Princess Dashkova, a courtier.
Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, a courtier and Elizabeth’s Imperial Favorite.
Sergey Saltykov, a courtier.
Sir Charles Hanbury-Williams, British Ambassador to the Russian court.
Count Stanislav Poniatowski, an Envoy to the Russian court. Elected King of Poland in 1764.
The Orlov brothers, Grigory and his younger brother Alexei, officers in the Izmailovsky Guards.
Francesco Bartolomeo Ratrelli, the imperial architect of Empress Elizabeth.
Count Alexei Razumovsky, the Emperor of the Night and Elizabeth’s Imperial Favorite.
Count Letocq, a French surgeon, made Count by Empress Elizabeth.