Supreme Privy Council
The Supreme Privy Council (Russian: Верховный тайный совет, romanized: Verkhovnyy taynyy sovet) of Imperial Russia, founded on 19 February 1726 and operative until 1730, originated as a body of advisors to Empress Catherine I. == History == Originally, the council comprised six members—Alexander Menshikov, Fyodor Apraksin, Gavriil Golovkin, Andrey Osterman, Peter Tolstoy, and Dmitry Mikhaylovich Golitsyn. Several months later, Catherine's son-in-law, Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, joined the council.