The six royal women of the German Walhalla Memorial
The Walhalla Memorial is a hall of fame that honours distinguished people in German(-speaking) history. It is named for the Valhalla of the Norse Paganism […]
Catherine the Great
Catherine the Great – The later years (Part five)
Read part four here. Catherine saw her son as her rival, and she never gave him a role in government. Despite this, he and his […]
Catherine the Great – Ruling an Empire (Part four)
Read part three here. Catherine enforced her success by rewarding those who helped to put her on the throne, including the church and the army. […]
Catherine the Great – The coup that made her Empress in her own right (Part three)
Read part two here. As Empress Elizabeth’s health deteriorated, Catherine found herself pregnant with Gregory Orlov’s child, and she began to seclude herself. Peter was […]
Catherine the Great – An Empress-in-waiting (Part two)
Read part one here. Sophie had arrived at the Russian court as a 14-year-old German Princess to marry the 15-year-old Grand Duke Peter – heir […]
Catherine the Great – The little-known German Princess (Part one)
In the early hours of 2 May 1729, 16-year-old Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein Gottorp, wife of the 39-year-old Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, gave […]