Loading descriptions...
A 14-year-old German princessĀ evolves into the Empress of
Russia.
In 1744, 14-year-old German princess Sophie Friedericke Auguste von
Anhalt-Zerbst is summoned to the Russian court by Empress
Elizabeth, daughter of the late Peter the Great. The
childless Elizabeth has chosen her sickly, imbecilic nephew Peter
III to succeed her - and arranged for young Sophie to become
Peter's bride. Converting to the Russian Orthodox religion, Sophie
changes her name to Catherine and marries Peter in 1745. The union
is a disaster, her childish husband unable to consummate the
marriage for several years. Catherine uses her time alone to
educate herself, becoming an avid student of politics and the
Enlightenment - preparing for the day when she will take the
throne. In 1761, Empress Elizabeth dies and Peter becomes the czar
- while Catherine is pregnant with the child of her lover, war hero
Grigory Orloff. Peter quickly earns the enmity of the Russian
military and the people, and Catherine, Orloff and Orloff's brother
Alexei overthrow Peter in a bloodless coup (bloodless until the
hot-headed Alexei murders Peter a few months later). Catherine is
now the unchallenged Empress of Russia.