A special department of state looked after his brood mares and stallions. The magnificence of his plate astonished the French ambassador, and the diamonds of his duchess were the envy of princes. The climax of his elevation occurred when, on the extinction of the line of Kettler, the estates of Courland, in June 1737, elected Biron their reigning duke. He was almost as unpopular in Courland as in Russia, but the will of the empress was the law of the land, and large sums of money, smuggled into Courland in the shape of bills payable in Amsterdam to bearer, speedily convinced the electors.
Kettler
Biron