In 1745, after being received into the Russian Orthodox Church, and changing her name to Catherine, she married Grand Duke Peter, grandson of Peter the Great and heir to the Russian throne.

Catherine the Great moved to a foreign land as a teenager and became one of the most important leaders in history. Known for her long and prosperous reign over the Russian Empire, the empress ...

The formidable Russian empress — who reigned from 1762 to 1796 after overthrowing her own husband, Peter III — understood ...

The longest-serving female ruler in Russian history and one of the most significant ... his father’s death and his mother’s new lovers. Taken from Catherine at birth and raised by his great aunt, ...