Catherine - Empress Catherine II of Russia, better known as Catherine The Great and one of the more effective of the Russian rulers, was actually a German by birth. Born in 1729 and christened Sophia Augusta Frederica, she was the daughter of Christian Augustus, Prince of Anhalt Zerbst-Bernburg. Her father was an easy-going man, generally considered something of a harmless ninny, but her mother, Princess Johanna of Holstein-Gottorp, was a forceful, ambitious character and it was entirely due to her machinations that her young daughter, aged fourteen, was recommended to the Russian Empress Elizabeth as the potential bride for her nephew and heir, the Grand Duke Peter.
Tags: Catherine, intorduction