The Library › Reel IV · All the Empress’s Men
Was Catherine the Great really a German princess named Sophie?
VERDICTTRUE
Yes. She was born Sophie, a German princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, invited to Russia in 1744 and married to the future Peter III on 21 August 1745, taking the name Ekaterina. Her memoirs say she caught pleurisy studying Russian at night, was bled sixteen times, and asked for an Orthodox priest rather than a Lutheran one.
The receipts
- 8 Things You Didn’t Know About Catherine the Great, HISTORY (A&E Networks)
- Memoirs of the Empress Catherine II, ed. Alexander Herzen, Project Gutenberg
The comedy version
The untold story of Catherine the Great, inventor of the job interview.
Play All the Empress’s Men ☞More from this shelf
- Did Catherine the Great die having sex with a horse?Invented
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- Did Catherine the Great seize the throne in a borrowed military uniform?True
- Did Peter III really court-martial and hang a rat?True
- Did Catherine’s husband play with toy soldiers in bed?True
- Did Catherine the Great have her husband Peter III killed?Disputed