Twice Elizabeth ordered him to be brought to Petersburg, where she conversed with him without letting him know who she was; but she did nothing to alleviate his horrible doom.  After the death of Elizabeth, her successor, Peter III., made Ivan a visit, without making himself known.  Touched with such an aspect of misery, he ordered an apartment to be built in an angle of the fortress, for Ivan, who had now attained the age of manhood, where he could enjoy air and light.  The sudden death of Peter defeated this purpose, and Ivan was left in his misery.  Still weary years passed away while the prince, dead to himself as well as to the world, remained breathing in his tomb.  Catharine II., after her accession to the throne, called to see Ivan.  She thus describes her visit: 

“After we had ascended the throne, and offered up to Heaven our just thanksgivings, the first object that employed our thoughts, in consequence of that humanity which is natural to us, was the unhappy situation of that prince, who was dethroned by divine Providence, and had been unfortunate ever since his birth; and we formed the resolution of alleviating his misfortunes as far as possible.

“We immediately made a visit to him in order to judge of his understanding and talents, and to procure him a situation suitable to his character and education.  But how great was our surprise to find, that in addition to a defect in his utterance, which rendered it difficult for him to speak, and still more difficult to be understood, we observed an almost total deprivation of sense and reason.  Those who accompanied us, during this interview, saw how much our heart suffered at the contemplation of an object so fitted to excite compassion; they were also convinced that the only measure we could take to succor the unfortunate prince was to leave him where we found him, and to procure him all the comforts and conveniences his situation would admit of.  We accordingly gave our orders for this purpose, though the state he was in prevented his perceiving the marks of our humanity or being sensible of our attention and care; for he knew nobody, could not distinguish between good and evil, nor did he know the use that might be made of reading, to pass the time with less weariness and disgust.  On the contrary, he sought pleasure in objects that discovered with sufficient evidence the disorder of his imagination.”

Soon after this poor Ivan was cruelly assassinated.  An officer in the Russian army, named Mirovitch, conceived an absurd plan of liberating Ivan from his captivity, restoring him to the throne, and consigning Catharine II. to the dungeon the prince had so long inhabited.  Mirovitch had command of the garrison at Schlusselburg, where Ivan was imprisoned.  Taking advantage of the absence of the empress, on a journey to Livonia, he proceeded to the castle, with a few soldiers whose cooeperation he had secured through the influence of brandy and promises, knocked down the commandant of