1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,720
Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio

2
00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:10,600
Speaker 1: and Aaron Manky. Listener discretion is advised. On his name

3
00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:15,160
Speaker 1: Day celebration, the Emperor of Russia, Peter the Third, rode

4
00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:18,479
Speaker 1: with a large entourage from one palace to another to

5
00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,960
Speaker 1: meet his wife Katherine at peter Hof, where a large

6
00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:26,520
Speaker 1: celebration that evening was to take place. Since their wedding

7
00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:31,160
Speaker 1: in seventeen forty five, Peter had grown to despise his wife,

8
00:00:31,400 --> 00:00:34,360
Speaker 1: and he'd been making snide remarks about his intentions to

9
00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:38,360
Speaker 1: divorce Katherine and marry his mistress, a woman whom people

10
00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:44,519
Speaker 1: might generously call charmless and truthfully might call absolutely boorish.

11
00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:49,080
Speaker 1: The mistress Elizabeth Voronstova, was traveling with him that afternoon

12
00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:53,960
Speaker 1: from Iranian Baum, along with Mikhail Voranstove, the Russian Chancellor

13
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,840
Speaker 1: and Elizabeth's uncle, a number of dignitaries and their wives,

14
00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:01,480
Speaker 1: and a gaggle of Elizabeth vorn's Stova's ladies in waiting.

15
00:01:02,440 --> 00:01:05,640
Speaker 1: At this point, Peter and his wife Catherine lived almost

16
00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,920
Speaker 1: entirely separate lives with entirely separate lovers, but for a

17
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,120
Speaker 1: large state event like his name Day celebration, they would

18
00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,560
Speaker 1: make an appearance together. She was still his wife, and

19
00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:19,000
Speaker 1: her job was to meet him outside the palace that

20
00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,680
Speaker 1: day and congratulate him on his name day. There was

21
00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:27,640
Speaker 1: only one problem. When the entourage arrived at Peterhof, no

22
00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:31,240
Speaker 1: one was there to greet them. Where Catherine was supposed

23
00:01:31,240 --> 00:01:34,120
Speaker 1: to be waiting with open arms and a forgiving heart,

24
00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:40,480
Speaker 1: there is instead only locked doors and closed windows. The

25
00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:46,800
Speaker 1: Empress was gone. Peter and his mistress searched the bedrooms,

26
00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:50,760
Speaker 1: under the mattresses. In the closets, they saw the gown

27
00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:53,040
Speaker 1: that had been laid out for Catherine to wear at

28
00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:55,920
Speaker 1: the ball that evening, but there was no other sign

29
00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:00,160
Speaker 1: of Catherine. At that very moment. While Peter and his

30
00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:04,160
Speaker 1: mistress swept through the palace looking for her, the Empress

31
00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:08,400
Speaker 1: was fifteen miles away in St. Petersburg, taking an oath

32
00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:12,480
Speaker 1: in front of hundreds of regiments of soldiers, declaring herself

33
00:02:12,560 --> 00:02:16,760
Speaker 1: to be the new Sovereign of Russia. Back at Peterhoff,

34
00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,880
Speaker 1: the servants could only say that they saw Katherine leave

35
00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:23,040
Speaker 1: for St. Petersburg that morning, and that she hadn't returned

36
00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:27,280
Speaker 1: and hadn't sent word. After an hour of frantically running

37
00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:32,000
Speaker 1: from room to room, Peter's chancellor, Michael varon Stove, volunteered

38
00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,400
Speaker 1: to ride to the city to find out about Katherine's whereabouts.

39
00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:39,960
Speaker 1: When Michael varn Stove made it to the winter Palace,

40
00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,800
Speaker 1: he saw Katherine on the balcony waving to the hordes

41
00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:47,720
Speaker 1: of people below, cheering her name, cheering for Russia, for

42
00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,600
Speaker 1: their new monarch. It didn't take Michael too long to

43
00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:55,639
Speaker 1: understand what he was seeing. What about your husband, he sputtered.

44
00:02:55,760 --> 00:03:00,400
Speaker 1: You shouldn't take up arms against your husband. Katherine only mild,

45
00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:05,080
Speaker 1: She gestured back at the screaming crowd outside her palace window,

46
00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,320
Speaker 1: a sound that roared along with the echoing of the

47
00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:12,160
Speaker 1: church bells, which had been tolling for her all afternoon.

48
00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:17,440
Speaker 1: Give your message to them, sir, she replied, I only obey.

49
00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:25,080
Speaker 1: Mcalvern Stove promptly returned to his home, where he wrote

50
00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,680
Speaker 1: Catherine a letter celebrating the inevitability of her ascension to

51
00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:33,840
Speaker 1: sovereign Empress and politely asking permission to formally retire and

52
00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:39,280
Speaker 1: disappear off forever into seclusion, which he then did. Meanwhile,

53
00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,440
Speaker 1: Peter still searched the empty rooms at peter Hof for

54
00:03:42,520 --> 00:03:45,720
Speaker 1: his missing wife, not believing the servants when they told

55
00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,560
Speaker 1: him that she was actually gone. I can't believe she

56
00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:51,520
Speaker 1: would do this to me, he fumed, Ruining my moment,

57
00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,280
Speaker 1: ruining my name, day, ruining my night. He turned to

58
00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,160
Speaker 1: his mistress and exhaled, didn't I tell you she was

59
00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:02,120
Speaker 1: capable of anything. Peter the third was not right about

60
00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:06,080
Speaker 1: very much, but he was right about that. I'm Dana

61
00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:16,240
Speaker 1: Schwartz and this is noble blood. One evening, a few

62
00:04:16,320 --> 00:04:19,520
Speaker 1: years after they were married, but before Peter Ulrich ascended

63
00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:22,960
Speaker 1: to the throne as Peter the Third, Katherine entered the

64
00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,039
Speaker 1: chamber of her husband to find him playing with toys.

65
00:04:26,880 --> 00:04:30,719
Speaker 1: A dead rat was hanging from the wall. The two

66
00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,479
Speaker 1: of them still hadn't produced an air, and the failure

67
00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,880
Speaker 1: had begun to weigh on Katherine. She saw it reflected

68
00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:40,160
Speaker 1: in the faces of courtiers and in the snide comments

69
00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:46,120
Speaker 1: and increasingly cruel outbursts of the Empress Elizabeth. Creating an

70
00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:50,160
Speaker 1: air a clear dynastic legacy was the only reason Elizabeth

71
00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:53,719
Speaker 1: plucked Katherine out from her minor Prussian family to bring

72
00:04:53,760 --> 00:04:56,360
Speaker 1: her to Russia to marry her nephew in the first place.

73
00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,640
Speaker 1: The two of them, Katherine and Peter, had been married

74
00:04:59,680 --> 00:05:02,440
Speaker 1: for seven years, and there were still murmurs that the

75
00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:08,080
Speaker 1: marriage was unconsummated. When Katherine opened the doors to their

76
00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:11,920
Speaker 1: chambers that day, she could barely walk without disturbing her

77
00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:16,520
Speaker 1: husband's intricate toy soldier military maneuvers. Though he was the

78
00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:20,200
Speaker 1: future Emperor of Russia, all of his toy soldiers and

79
00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:26,159
Speaker 1: Peter himself, we're wearing the blue of the Holstein military uniform.

80
00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:29,440
Speaker 1: Peter had come to Russia as Empress Elizabeth's heir when

81
00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,680
Speaker 1: he was thirteen, but he never gave up his obsession

82
00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:36,360
Speaker 1: with the memory of his homeland, nor his childish fixation

83
00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:41,240
Speaker 1: on the Prussian King Frederick the third. The toy soldiers

84
00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:44,559
Speaker 1: were in their intricate lines, but Katherine couldn't stop looking

85
00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:48,120
Speaker 1: at the hanging rat, a string noose wrapped around its neck.

86
00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:52,239
Speaker 1: Why did you do that to the rat, Catherine asked.

87
00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:55,400
Speaker 1: Peter didn't look up from the regiment that he was

88
00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:59,120
Speaker 1: rearranging on the floor. He was hanged after a military

89
00:05:59,160 --> 00:06:03,560
Speaker 1: tribunal found him guilty for treason. Katherine was silent, so

90
00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:08,840
Speaker 1: Peter continued. I found him climbing up the rampart invasion.

91
00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:13,440
Speaker 1: He ate two of my soldiers. Catherine stared at the rath,

92
00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:17,919
Speaker 1: hanged by a string loop, its tiny eyes open and bulging,

93
00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:22,000
Speaker 1: a small bloom of a red tongue protruding from its mouth.

94
00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,320
Speaker 1: Playing with toy soldiers was the closest Peter ever came

95
00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:30,279
Speaker 1: to military service. Peter spent every night in Catherine's bed,

96
00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:32,600
Speaker 1: but as soon as the lights were out, he would

97
00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:35,840
Speaker 1: pull from beneath the mattress a box of soldiers. He'd

98
00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,480
Speaker 1: arrange on the bed sheets, playing for hours, spreading them

99
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:44,520
Speaker 1: across the dubai until Catherine couldn't move without disturbing them.

100
00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,239
Speaker 1: Early in their marriage, she had tried to please Peter,

101
00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:51,279
Speaker 1: to appease his whims and childishness by listening to him

102
00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:55,080
Speaker 1: and opening her heart to his complaints. He rewarded her

103
00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,240
Speaker 1: by telling her on their wedding night that he was

104
00:06:57,279 --> 00:06:59,480
Speaker 1: in love with one of her ladies in waiting, and

105
00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:02,479
Speaker 1: spending next half a dozen years treating Catherine like a

106
00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:07,159
Speaker 1: wearisome acquaintance, forcing her to listen to his middling violin recitals,

107
00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:10,520
Speaker 1: and making her stand guard an oppression uniform when he

108
00:07:10,560 --> 00:07:16,000
Speaker 1: wanted to play toy soldiers with human beings. That incident

109
00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:19,280
Speaker 1: with the rat reveals just about how seriously. Peter took

110
00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:23,920
Speaker 1: military justice. A rat that to paper machee soldiers was

111
00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:27,400
Speaker 1: sentenced to death, and as the future Emperor, he was judge,

112
00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:32,560
Speaker 1: jury and executioner. Catherine knew Peter well enough that upon

113
00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:35,320
Speaker 1: seeing the scene, she couldn't say what she was thinking,

114
00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,520
Speaker 1: so instead she went back and wrote it with a

115
00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,360
Speaker 1: sly smile in her own memoirs. Maybe the rat had

116
00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:45,240
Speaker 1: committed treason, but it hadn't been allowed to speak in

117
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:50,120
Speaker 1: its own defense. On its own behalf. Even pitiable creatures,

118
00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:54,120
Speaker 1: Catherine thought, should be permitted a chance to save themselves.

119
00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:59,080
Speaker 1: That was the key difference between Catherine and Peter. Catherine

120
00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:03,080
Speaker 1: understood that, and power wasn't something confined to silly play

121
00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,720
Speaker 1: acting in private chambers, and that's why less than a

122
00:08:06,840 --> 00:08:10,600
Speaker 1: year after her husband Peter took the throne as Emperor

123
00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,600
Speaker 1: Peter the Third, she would usurp him, becoming the Empress

124
00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:18,360
Speaker 1: of Russia, the figure that would pull Russia into the

125
00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:23,280
Speaker 1: modern age. Peter loved toys, but Katherine knew how to

126
00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:27,720
Speaker 1: play the game. Though her fiance remained indifferent to her,

127
00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:31,360
Speaker 1: the entire Russian Empire fell in love with the future

128
00:08:31,440 --> 00:08:34,960
Speaker 1: Katherine the Great when she was unconscious in her bed chamber.

129
00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:39,439
Speaker 1: Back then, she was just Sophia, a young German princess

130
00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,160
Speaker 1: brought to Russia to marry the Archduke Peter Elra. She

131
00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:47,120
Speaker 1: wouldn't become a Katarina or Katherine until she was baptized

132
00:08:47,120 --> 00:08:49,839
Speaker 1: in the Russian Orthodox Church, when she would be given

133
00:08:49,880 --> 00:08:54,640
Speaker 1: a new name, a new Russian identity. But unlike her

134
00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:58,960
Speaker 1: fiance Peter, the young Sophia devoted herself to learning all

135
00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,840
Speaker 1: that she could about the new country to which she

136
00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:06,200
Speaker 1: now belonged. She begged her Russian tutors for longer lessons,

137
00:09:06,520 --> 00:09:09,920
Speaker 1: and then spent the evenings pacing the icy stone floors

138
00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:13,520
Speaker 1: of the Palace in St. Petersburg, studying. That's how she

139
00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:17,080
Speaker 1: got sick, walking barefoot in the cold in her flimsy

140
00:09:17,200 --> 00:09:20,360
Speaker 1: night dress, her eyes straining to make out the letters

141
00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:24,160
Speaker 1: by candle light. Her servants had seen her, and when

142
00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:28,360
Speaker 1: she got sick, the whisper of Sophia's devotion spread quickly

143
00:09:28,440 --> 00:09:32,800
Speaker 1: throughout the palace. When Sophia's illness worsened, and when it

144
00:09:32,840 --> 00:09:35,560
Speaker 1: seemed as though she was close to death, her mother

145
00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:39,720
Speaker 1: inquired about bringing in a Lutheran pastor for her final rights.

146
00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,600
Speaker 1: Why would you call a Lutheran? Sophia chirped from her bed,

147
00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:47,760
Speaker 1: still too weak to sit upright. Instead, she asked for

148
00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:52,679
Speaker 1: her tutor in the Russian Orthodoxy. Words spread quickly. There

149
00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,680
Speaker 1: had been doubts about bringing in a German princess to

150
00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,920
Speaker 1: marry the heir to the Russian throne, whether a foreigner

151
00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:02,200
Speaker 1: would accept Russian culture and language, or whether she would

152
00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:05,280
Speaker 1: always be secretly loyal to her homeland over all else.

153
00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:11,480
Speaker 1: After Sophia's illness, there were no more doubts. Sophia was

154
00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:15,160
Speaker 1: just a minor princess from a middling family, but Russia,

155
00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:20,000
Speaker 1: she understood, was her great opportunity. She devoted herself to

156
00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:24,520
Speaker 1: the land, its language, its people, and its religion. Even

157
00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:28,320
Speaker 1: if her husband never really loved her, Russia would she

158
00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:33,800
Speaker 1: would leave Sophia behind entirely and walk into history as Katherine.

159
00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:40,880
Speaker 1: When embrass Elizabeth, the woman who had named her nephew

160
00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:44,760
Speaker 1: Peter as her heir and selected Catherine to be his bride, died,

161
00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:49,760
Speaker 1: Catherine sat respectfully in mourning throughout the entire funeral, While

162
00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:53,600
Speaker 1: Peter couldn't resist rolling his eyes and walking around the church.

163
00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,640
Speaker 1: He refused to kneel or say the prayers, murmuring the

164
00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:02,240
Speaker 1: entire time that the Russian Orthodox Church was ridiculous. Though

165
00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:05,920
Speaker 1: he had technically converted, Peter never gave up his conviction

166
00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,840
Speaker 1: that Lutheranism was far superior to the as he saw them,

167
00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:14,720
Speaker 1: primitive and frivolous traditions of the Russian religion. But it

168
00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:18,160
Speaker 1: wasn't just his religion that worried the noblemen about their

169
00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:22,120
Speaker 1: brand new emperor, and for Peter the Third was almost

170
00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:25,320
Speaker 1: thirty four years old and still acting like a child

171
00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:28,440
Speaker 1: in almost every way, not limited to his lack of

172
00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:33,800
Speaker 1: interest in his wife. During Elizabeth's funeral procession, Peter was

173
00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:37,959
Speaker 1: tasked with walking behind the casket, wearing a long formal

174
00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:42,280
Speaker 1: black robe with a long train carried by elder noblemen.

175
00:11:43,080 --> 00:11:47,280
Speaker 1: During the procession, Peter would slow down, letting the coffin

176
00:11:47,360 --> 00:11:50,560
Speaker 1: pull a distance in front of him, then stop entirely,

177
00:11:50,920 --> 00:11:54,040
Speaker 1: letting it pull ahead even further. Then all at once,

178
00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:57,400
Speaker 1: Peter would sprint up ahead to catch up, causing the

179
00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,480
Speaker 1: elderly nobleman at his train to he even pant and

180
00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:03,640
Speaker 1: ultimately give up, letting the rope flap in the wind

181
00:12:03,679 --> 00:12:08,640
Speaker 1: behind the giggling emperor. He repeated this routine. Several times,

182
00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:13,000
Speaker 1: even foolishness could have been forgiven, though, if Peter didn't

183
00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:17,160
Speaker 1: still seem loyal to Prussia and Frederick the Third over Russia,

184
00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,119
Speaker 1: the country of which he had just been made emperor.

185
00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:24,160
Speaker 1: Russia had been fighting and winning the Seven Years War

186
00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:27,920
Speaker 1: against Prussia with the help of their Austrian allies, but

187
00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,480
Speaker 1: with Elizabeth barely cold in the ground, Peter declared that

188
00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:33,960
Speaker 1: the war would be over and that there would be peace,

189
00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:36,600
Speaker 1: and all of the victories Russia had made, all of

190
00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:39,640
Speaker 1: the spoils of war that the Russian soldiers were finally

191
00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:43,600
Speaker 1: enjoying after years of battle, would be returned to Prussia.

192
00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:51,360
Speaker 1: The soldiers were dumbfounded, Russia's allies were flabbergasted, and, as

193
00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:54,920
Speaker 1: if to add insult to injury, Peter insisted that his

194
00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:59,360
Speaker 1: elite regiments where not the traditional Russian military uniform but

195
00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:03,319
Speaker 1: the tight fitting Prussian costumes that he had always personally preferred.

196
00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:07,360
Speaker 1: He further humiliated his officers by forcing them to act

197
00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:10,480
Speaker 1: out the soldier drills he had once perfected with his toys,

198
00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:16,120
Speaker 1: and so Peter's long suffering wife, the charming, slender, good

199
00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,520
Speaker 1: looking Catherine, who had worked so hard to learn Russian,

200
00:13:19,840 --> 00:13:22,560
Speaker 1: who by that point had already born Peter a son

201
00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:26,480
Speaker 1: and an heir. Well she became a martyr, it didn't

202
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,480
Speaker 1: matter that the son's paternity might be in dispute, and

203
00:13:30,120 --> 00:13:33,160
Speaker 1: for the record, the paternity of her next two children

204
00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:36,800
Speaker 1: would not be in dispute. There was no dispute necessary.

205
00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:41,000
Speaker 1: They weren't Peter's. It didn't matter. No, the nation loved

206
00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:44,960
Speaker 1: Catherine in all the ways they hated Peter, and when

207
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:47,480
Speaker 1: Peter forced his wife to pin the ribbon of the

208
00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,559
Speaker 1: Order of St. Catherine on the gown of his dull

209
00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:54,520
Speaker 1: and common boorish mistress, the nation fell further in love

210
00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,679
Speaker 1: with her. It's a cliche to point out that someone

211
00:13:57,760 --> 00:13:59,840
Speaker 1: is so shorted that they failed to see what's in

212
00:14:00,040 --> 00:14:03,400
Speaker 1: run of their own nose. But Peter was so shortsighted

213
00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:06,360
Speaker 1: he completely failed to see the woman he was married to.

214
00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:09,920
Speaker 1: He knew she was there, but he didn't know who

215
00:14:09,960 --> 00:14:14,480
Speaker 1: she was. Within six months of Peter taking the throne,

216
00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:18,360
Speaker 1: plans for a coup began to take shape with Katherine

217
00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,960
Speaker 1: as she conspired with her lover Gregory Orlov and Orlov's

218
00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:26,320
Speaker 1: brother Alexei. Both of them were well liked and high

219
00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:30,280
Speaker 1: ranking soldiers and Russian forces. The Orlov brothers had been

220
00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:35,200
Speaker 1: convertly converting soldiers to Katherine's cause, sharing bottles of wine

221
00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:39,920
Speaker 1: and messages of her benevolence and wisdom. Catherine just needed

222
00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,760
Speaker 1: to garner the support of a few other key statesmen, which,

223
00:14:43,880 --> 00:14:49,240
Speaker 1: given her husband's general incompetence, wasn't difficult. Next, they just

224
00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:53,520
Speaker 1: needed to plan when they would make their strike, But

225
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,520
Speaker 1: as it happens, they didn't get to make that choice.

226
00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:01,400
Speaker 1: A soldier who had heard about the coming coup asked

227
00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:04,840
Speaker 1: an officer if the rumors were true, whether Catherine had

228
00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:07,600
Speaker 1: been taken into custody and the planned revolt was over.

229
00:15:08,560 --> 00:15:12,480
Speaker 1: The rumor was not true, and the officer that the

230
00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:15,560
Speaker 1: soldier happened to ask was not involved in the coup.

231
00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:19,640
Speaker 1: He promptly had the soldier and his superior officer arrested.

232
00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:24,200
Speaker 1: As soon as the conspirators got word of the arrests,

233
00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:26,720
Speaker 1: they knew the clock had begun ticking. It was only

234
00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:29,200
Speaker 1: a matter of time before the soldiers were tortured and

235
00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:33,680
Speaker 1: turned over more names. It had to be now. The

236
00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,720
Speaker 1: officer who had made the arrests sent a message to

237
00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:40,680
Speaker 1: Emperor Peter at Iranian bomb warning him of the conspiracy.

238
00:15:41,240 --> 00:15:45,840
Speaker 1: Peter dismissed the message and began practicing his violin. Later,

239
00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,440
Speaker 1: a second messenger came bearing news of even more unrest

240
00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:53,880
Speaker 1: in St. Petersburg. Peter, who hated to be disturbed when

241
00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:57,400
Speaker 1: he was playing his violin, asked the messenger to leave

242
00:15:57,440 --> 00:15:59,720
Speaker 1: the note on a small table for him to look

243
00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:05,600
Speaker 1: at later. He never did like a proverbial nero, He

244
00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:13,320
Speaker 1: literally fiddled as his empire crumbled around him. Alexei or

245
00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:17,800
Speaker 1: Love rode from St. Petersburg to Peterhof, where Katherine was staying,

246
00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,760
Speaker 1: to alert the Empress that the revolution was beginning. He

247
00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:24,520
Speaker 1: arrived at five am and opened the curtains to let

248
00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:27,760
Speaker 1: the light in. Matuchka, He said, little mother, the time

249
00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:31,880
Speaker 1: has come. Wordlessly, Catherine emerged from her bed and threw

250
00:16:31,920 --> 00:16:34,920
Speaker 1: on the nearest clothes she could find, a simple black dress.

251
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:38,400
Speaker 1: Applying no makeup or powder to her hair, she knew

252
00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:41,480
Speaker 1: that there was no time to waste. She and Alexei

253
00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,560
Speaker 1: began their ride back to St. Petersburg and his carriage,

254
00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:47,480
Speaker 1: but the horses were still tired for making the journey

255
00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:51,080
Speaker 1: from there that morning. Fortunately, they happened to pass a

256
00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:54,240
Speaker 1: peasant farmer in his cart. They begged and emptied the

257
00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:57,800
Speaker 1: coins in their pockets, and the farmer agreed to swap horses,

258
00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,560
Speaker 1: so Alexey and Catherine contin nude on their frantic journey

259
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:05,640
Speaker 1: to the city, with two fresh farm horses leading the way.

260
00:17:06,440 --> 00:17:09,720
Speaker 1: With the Orlov brothers by her side, Katherine stood before

261
00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:13,119
Speaker 1: the guard regiments outside St. Petersburg and said that she

262
00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,679
Speaker 1: was forced to take on the mantle of Empress for

263
00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:19,000
Speaker 1: love of the Russian people and the Russian Church. The

264
00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:23,000
Speaker 1: men cheered, their colonel, who was loyal to Katherine, kissed her,

265
00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:27,600
Speaker 1: hen the chaplain blessed her. There thus began an afternoon

266
00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,280
Speaker 1: of regiments, one by one declaring their loyalty for Katherine,

267
00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:35,600
Speaker 1: culminating in her heroic march to the Winter Palace, where

268
00:17:35,600 --> 00:17:39,160
Speaker 1: the archbishop blessed her and declared her to be Sovereign

269
00:17:39,320 --> 00:17:44,760
Speaker 1: Empress Katherine. The second senior regiments shed the Prussian uniforms

270
00:17:44,760 --> 00:17:47,280
Speaker 1: that Peter had forced them to wear and put on

271
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,240
Speaker 1: as many of their old Russian uniforms as they could find.

272
00:17:50,720 --> 00:17:54,160
Speaker 1: They arrested the few officers who didn't support the new Empress.

273
00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:58,960
Speaker 1: Katherine had St. Petersburg, the Senate, and the Church behind her.

274
00:17:59,359 --> 00:18:04,720
Speaker 1: She had the crowds, but victory wasn't complete. Peter was

275
00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:08,720
Speaker 1: still alive, was still miles away somewhere, convinced that he

276
00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:11,560
Speaker 1: was still the emperor. He still had the loyalty of

277
00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:15,239
Speaker 1: his army back in Holstein and at least temporarily a

278
00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:18,399
Speaker 1: fleet at the island naval base of Kronstadt. It had

279
00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:22,280
Speaker 1: been a long day, but it wasn't over yet. Catherine

280
00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:25,359
Speaker 1: would need to capture her husband before she would truly

281
00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:33,280
Speaker 1: become the sovereign leader of Russia. Peter first got word

282
00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:36,440
Speaker 1: that something regarding his wife was going on in St.

283
00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:40,720
Speaker 1: Petersburg from the man on the barge delivering fireworks to

284
00:18:40,800 --> 00:18:45,000
Speaker 1: peter Hoff Palace for the scheduled gala that night. At

285
00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:48,400
Speaker 1: nine am, when the fireworks man was leaving St. Petersburg,

286
00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:52,200
Speaker 1: there were rumors going around that soldiers were declaring Catherine

287
00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:54,359
Speaker 1: to be the empress. But then it was time for

288
00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,679
Speaker 1: the fireworks man to leave and come deliver his fireworks,

289
00:18:57,760 --> 00:19:01,359
Speaker 1: so he didn't hear anything else. But then word began

290
00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:05,879
Speaker 1: to trickle in and Peter surrounded himself with advisers debating

291
00:19:05,880 --> 00:19:09,480
Speaker 1: what to do. Someone sent a messenger to Kronstadt, the

292
00:19:09,560 --> 00:19:12,040
Speaker 1: naval base, to make sure that the fortress was still

293
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:14,760
Speaker 1: loyal to Peter. In the meantime, they dug up a

294
00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:17,520
Speaker 1: Russian military uniform and had Peter change out of the

295
00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:21,200
Speaker 1: Prussian one that he was wearing. One faction of advisors

296
00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,040
Speaker 1: told Peter that he should march into Saint Petersburg in

297
00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:28,199
Speaker 1: full military regalia and remind people of their loyalty to

298
00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:32,399
Speaker 1: the emperor. Another faction advised Peter to go seventy miles

299
00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:35,239
Speaker 1: to the west, away from the city, to meet up

300
00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:37,960
Speaker 1: with a larger group of soldiers that he could lead back.

301
00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:42,840
Speaker 1: A third faction, perhaps the wisest faction, advised Peter just

302
00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:46,800
Speaker 1: to retreat to the safety of Holstein, the soon to

303
00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:51,720
Speaker 1: be former Emperor. Peter, in classic Peter fashion, did nothing,

304
00:19:53,440 --> 00:19:56,160
Speaker 1: but good news arrived. The messenger who had been sent

305
00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:59,119
Speaker 1: to Kronstad returned with word that it was still loyal

306
00:19:59,160 --> 00:20:04,120
Speaker 1: to the Emperor. The messenger was half right. The fortress

307
00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:06,960
Speaker 1: had been loyal to Peter when the messenger got there,

308
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:09,760
Speaker 1: but in the few hours since he left and returned

309
00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:13,000
Speaker 1: to Peter half the admiral of the Russian navy, loyal

310
00:20:13,040 --> 00:20:16,760
Speaker 1: to Catherine, had arrived and taken command of the fortress personally.

311
00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:21,280
Speaker 1: All of the soldiers inside had followed his lead all

312
00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:25,080
Speaker 1: the while. In Saint Petersburg, Catherine changed into a borrowed

313
00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:28,639
Speaker 1: military uniform and began to lead her guards out of

314
00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,800
Speaker 1: the city on a white stallion. The only part of

315
00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:34,720
Speaker 1: the uniform that she was missing was a sword knot

316
00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:38,919
Speaker 1: and impertinently, a young soldier of twenty two rode up

317
00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,400
Speaker 1: to the empress and handed her his own. She asked

318
00:20:42,480 --> 00:20:47,880
Speaker 1: his name, Gregory Petempken, he said, bowing before quickly returning

319
00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:53,520
Speaker 1: to his ranks. Catherine would remember that name. With very

320
00:20:53,560 --> 00:20:56,800
Speaker 1: few options, Peter got into a boat with his mistress

321
00:20:57,080 --> 00:20:59,679
Speaker 1: and sailed for a fort that he thought would be safe.

322
00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,840
Speaker 1: When they arrived at Cronstadt, they found the entrance to

323
00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:07,280
Speaker 1: the harbor closed. Peter stood on the deck of the ship.

324
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:11,040
Speaker 1: Don't you recognize your emperor, He shouted at the guards.

325
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:15,640
Speaker 1: We have no emperor. The guards shouted back, long live

326
00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:21,440
Speaker 1: Empress Catherine. The second. Peter's boat retreated back towards Iranian Baum,

327
00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:25,320
Speaker 1: where he quickly composed a letter apologizing to his wife

328
00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:27,359
Speaker 1: for everything he had done wrong in their marriage and

329
00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,479
Speaker 1: the way he had treated her, and generously offering to

330
00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:35,960
Speaker 1: share the throne with her. Catherine received the message, and,

331
00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,840
Speaker 1: in the eighteenth century version of leaving him on read,

332
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:43,679
Speaker 1: sent no reply. Peter wrote a second time, offering his

333
00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,480
Speaker 1: abdication if only he could bring his mistress with him

334
00:21:46,520 --> 00:21:50,160
Speaker 1: to the safety of Holstein. This time Catherine sent word

335
00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:52,600
Speaker 1: back that she would agree if she got the abdication

336
00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:57,320
Speaker 1: in writing, which he did, Peter declared himself incapable of

337
00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,280
Speaker 1: ruling and officially renowned the throne of Usha for eternity.

338
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:06,840
Speaker 1: Catherine's guards captured Peter and his mistress and brought them

339
00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:09,560
Speaker 1: in an old carriage back to peter Hoff, where they

340
00:22:09,600 --> 00:22:13,800
Speaker 1: said goodbye for the final time. The next day, Peter

341
00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:16,920
Speaker 1: was spirited off to Ropsha, a summer house of states

342
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:20,120
Speaker 1: some fourteen miles away that Peter selected for his own

343
00:22:20,119 --> 00:22:23,600
Speaker 1: temporary safe keeping while rooms were being prepared for him

344
00:22:23,640 --> 00:22:27,160
Speaker 1: at a more permanent fortress. Though he was a prisoner,

345
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,480
Speaker 1: Katherine did her best to make his stay comfortable. When

346
00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,320
Speaker 1: he wrote to her, Katherine had Peter's own four poster

347
00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:36,959
Speaker 1: bed from Iranian bomb sent to him by carriage so

348
00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,840
Speaker 1: he could at least get a good night's sleep. But

349
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 1: just eight days after the coup that put his wife

350
00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:45,720
Speaker 1: on the imperial throne of Russia. Peter the third was dead,

351
00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,200
Speaker 1: killed in a drunken brawl or in a vert assassination

352
00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:52,920
Speaker 1: by the men assigned to be his guards men, which

353
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:56,920
Speaker 1: included Alexei or Love, the brother of Catherine's lover Gregory.

354
00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,240
Speaker 1: There's no evidence that Katherine knew about the murder beforehand,

355
00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:04,760
Speaker 1: and she did seem genuinely shocked hearing of it, but

356
00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:09,119
Speaker 1: it was convenient that Peter was dead. Nonetheless, though he

357
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,440
Speaker 1: had been strangled, Catherine had the doctors declare that Peter

358
00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:15,919
Speaker 1: had died of hemorrhoidal colic, just to keep things simple

359
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:20,280
Speaker 1: so people wouldn't ask too many questions. Since Peter had

360
00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,440
Speaker 1: never formally been crowned emperor, he wasn't permitted to lie

361
00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:27,040
Speaker 1: in the Fortress Cathedral, where the consecrated emperors and empresses

362
00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:30,720
Speaker 1: of Russia were buried, so instead his remains were placed

363
00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:35,639
Speaker 1: in the Nevsky Monastery. But first Catherine prudently decided to

364
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,399
Speaker 1: display the body to the public so they would know

365
00:23:38,480 --> 00:23:41,600
Speaker 1: that the former emperor was actually dead, that he wasn't

366
00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:46,200
Speaker 1: still secretly alive somewhere waiting to reclaim power. A giant,

367
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:50,040
Speaker 1: three cornered hat covered most of the corpses swollen face

368
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,480
Speaker 1: and a wide cravat circled the neck to cover what

369
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:58,160
Speaker 1: might have been bruising from strangling. And of course, Peter's

370
00:23:58,160 --> 00:24:01,840
Speaker 1: body was put in the blue Holstein uniform that he

371
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:05,840
Speaker 1: had so cherished during his lifetime, so that even in death,

372
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,439
Speaker 1: people who saw his body would remember that he had

373
00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:13,919
Speaker 1: been at heart a foreigner all along. Catherine may not

374
00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:24,240
Speaker 1: have been born in Russia, but she was one of them.

375
00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:27,040
Speaker 1: That's the story of Catherine the Great's rise to power.

376
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:29,879
Speaker 1: But keep listening for a brief debunking of one of

377
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:34,720
Speaker 1: history's most pervasive rumors about her. This part verges on sexual.

378
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:37,679
Speaker 1: So if there are extremely young children listening with you,

379
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:39,600
Speaker 1: and you don't want now to be the moment that

380
00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,680
Speaker 1: you have to explain the concept of beast reality, it's

381
00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:52,680
Speaker 1: probably best that they stopped listening about ten seconds ago. Okay,

382
00:24:53,320 --> 00:24:56,359
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I had to do it. I had to

383
00:24:56,359 --> 00:25:01,080
Speaker 1: bring up the terrible, everlasting, decades long, century long rumor

384
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:04,160
Speaker 1: that Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia, who wrote

385
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:07,200
Speaker 1: letters with Voltaire and brought the Enlightenment to her empire,

386
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:13,080
Speaker 1: died having sex with her horse. She didn't the historians

387
00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:15,960
Speaker 1: tend to paint Catherine the Great as an incredibly sexual

388
00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:18,840
Speaker 1: person thanks to a handful of love affairs that she

389
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:22,000
Speaker 1: had with younger men when she was empress. Like many

390
00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,080
Speaker 1: women in power, a number of rumors then circulated about

391
00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 1: her to try to undermine and discredit her consensual relationships

392
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 1: with the young men. Yes, horses now. Catherine the Great

393
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:36,720
Speaker 1: died of a stroke when she was sixty seven years

394
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:40,359
Speaker 1: old in her bed at the Winter Palace. Rarely in

395
00:25:40,400 --> 00:25:43,760
Speaker 1: this podcast is the truth less fun than fiction, And

396
00:25:43,800 --> 00:25:47,200
Speaker 1: I take no pleasure in reporting a fairly standard end

397
00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:52,640
Speaker 1: to an extraordinary figure if it cushions the blow here's something.

398
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:55,600
Speaker 1: Although she did make it to her bed before her

399
00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:59,280
Speaker 1: actual death, some historians say that the stroke she suffered

400
00:25:59,320 --> 00:26:03,880
Speaker 1: before she actually occurred while she was on the toilet.

401
00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:09,560
Speaker 1: Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and

402
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,600
Speaker 1: Aaron Mankey. The show is written and hosted by Dana

403
00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:17,240
Speaker 1: Schwartz and produced by Aaron Mankey, Matt Frederick, Alex Williams,

404
00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:20,720
Speaker 1: and Trevor Young. Noble Blood is on social media at

405
00:26:20,760 --> 00:26:23,280
Speaker 1: Noble Blood Tales, and you can learn more about the

406
00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,880
Speaker 1: show over at Noble Blood Tales dot com. For more podcasts,

407
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,720
Speaker 1: from I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,

408
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:33,199
Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

409
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 1: M