catherine coup russia
Catherine the Great

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 already talking of repudiating her and Catherine did not want to fuel the fire by appearing in public while pregnant. On 3 January 1762, Empress Elizabeth suffered a massive stroke, [read more]