The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

CATHERINE II

Catherine II (Catherine the Great) was Empress of Russia. She was born in 1729 and died in 1796. In 1745 she married Grand Duke Peter, the nephew and successor to the Russian Empress Elizabeth on whose death in 1762 her husband succeeded as Peter III. Fearing that her husbands mistress may supplant her - or perhaps just wishing the throne for herself, Catherine II won over the guards and proclaimed herself monarch. Peter abdicated and a few days later was murdered in prison, probably on the orders of Catherine II.
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