May 2, 1729
In the Prussian city of Stettin, a daughter, Sophia, was born into the family of a German prince – the future ruler of the Russian Empire. Catherine II.
Russia itself is a universe, and it doesn’t need anyone.
The princess's parents were poor. To improve their situation, they groomed their daughter for an advantageous marriage from an early age: they taught her etiquette, dancing, singing, and four languages.
The suitors were sought by the mother, a despotic woman who adored court gossip. It was she who sent the portrait of her daughter to the Russian empress. Elizabeth, and she decided to marry her off to her nephew and heir to the throne - Peter III.
At the age of 15, Sofia secretly came to Russia.
I arrived with a very meager wardrobe: if I had three or four dresses, that was the limit. And this was at a court where dresses were changed three times a day.
To learn Russian, I woke up late at night and repeated my lessons. Walking barefoot on the cold floor caused me to contract pleurisy and almost die.
After recovering, she converted to Orthodoxy and received a new name, Catherine. The next day, she became engaged to Peter III.
She disliked her husband from the first time they met: he was unattractive, drank heavily, and cheated on her with other women. In response, Ekaterina began cheating on him.
He was almost indifferent to me, but the Russian crown was not indifferent to me.
In July 1762, she staged a palace coup and ascended the throne herself, forcing her husband to abdicate (he died under strange circumstances just a week later).
Politics is not a hospital. The weak are dragged out heels first.
She ruled the country for almost 35 years, in the spirit of "enlightened absolutism." Under her rule, hundreds of cities were founded, the treasury quadrupled, and new lands were annexed, including Alaska. Peasant revolts also occurred during her reign.
She had many lovers, whom she generously gifted with serfs, estates and money.
Men in their 20s make love more passionately, but in their 30s it's much better.
Every Russian, deep down, doesn't like any foreigner.
She lived to be 67 years old; her last boyfriend was 39 years her junior. She died of a stroke.
