Frauen, die Geschichte machten (2013–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Katharina die Große - full transcript
I was The Empress of Russia.
The greatest the country ever had.
Actually I was only supposed to be
the belly that bears the heir to throne.
But they underestimated me.
I played the game of power better than any man.
Men? Yeah, yeah. I know what
they all say about me.
With countless lover
I supposedly did unspeakable things.
Only I know the truth.
00:00:46,300 --> 00:00:54,900
[Women who made History - Catherine the Great]
I remember it all.
I wrote it down.
My life.
A writer could not have come up with a better one.
My mother was of high birth.
You are not serious!
There is nothing else here.
You can choose:
Cold, hunger and wolves or
warmth, food and farmers.
And I? For mother, I was a disappointment.
Not pretty enough, she thought,
and most of all not a boy, and yet
suddenly, out of everyone, it was I
who could give our lives a crucial turn.
That is an imposition,
an imposition this is!
And that for the future wife of
The Grand Duke of Russia.
But most gracious, if you blare your destination
out even louder it will most likely not come to that.
So keep yourself back, most gracious!
Drink, girl, it warms.
What do you want?
Go away! Disappear! Come on!
My beautiful Russia.
In 1744, I came here.
I was called Sophie Auguste Friederike of Anhalt-Zerbst
and was supposed to be introduced at court.
The realm needed a wife
for the future emperor of all Russians.
I was adjuged worthy to have
myself tested for this task.
Sophie, keep yourself together!
It is your own fault if you
gulp down this disgusting beer.
Please forgive me, mother.
It will not happen again.
I think you still do not understand:
This here is the chance of our life.
And you? You stupid thing are tempting fate.
I doubt you will pass in front of The Empress.
She supposedly has a secret lover.
A singer of the court chapel.
Child, mind your own business.
First of all, we will take care
of your future husband.
Our travel distance was 1500 kilometer.
We were on the road for seven weeks.
By Russian standards, basically a
stone's throw [literally: a cat jump].
Because to reach the realm's Eastern border
we would have had to travel for four more months.
The ruler over this gigantic realm
expected us in Moscau in the Kremlin.
Sophie, let this fidgetiness be!
- Yes, mother.
Mother, look, that must be her.
The Empress Elizabeth.
Gorgeous, this dress.
She owns more than 5,000 of them
and she never wears one twice.
Dear Princess, I forgot to introduce myself.
My name is Maria. During your stay,
I will be at your service as a lady-in-waiting.
Whatever you wish for.
During our stay?
Tell me, how is she, The Empress?
How can I please her?
Do not speak if you are not asked for it.
And when you do, choose your words wisely.
Elizabeth imprisoned even her great-grandnephew.
No one ever heard from him again.
What did he do?
Nothing.
The Empress threw a child into the dungeon?
- Pst, not that loud.
There is not a single room in
this palace where you can speak freely.
Secret passages are running
everywhere and the walls are thin.
You must always account for someone spying on you.
And everyone you trust can betray you.
Pst, it begins.
I report to Your Majesty,
Empress Elizabeth Petrovna,
the arrival of Princess Sophie
Auguste Friederike of Anhalt-Zerbst
and her mother Johanna,
The Princess of Holstein-Gottorp.
Go.
[Speaks with a Russian accent]
Hm. A darling girl.
Darling.
Alexei Grigoryevich,
what do you think?
Not a comparison you need to fear.
Surely not, honorable Majesty.
Charmer. I would barely be scared of that.
You are a lively girl, I hear.
Yes.
No.
I do not know.
All of that remains to be seen.
Grand Duke Peter, my cousin, who Elizabeth
had adopted to take over her throne one day.
Come on now.
The man I was supposed to share table and bed
and one day the crown with.
We should leave the young
people alone for a moment.
Delighted to meet you, my dear cousin.
Well there we are now.
We did not make this too bad, did we?
The course was set.
There was no way back.
I descended from the House of Anhalt-Zerbst.
Our little town was no more
than a spot on the map.
My father, Christian August,
did have a princely title.
But his principality was barely bigger
than the front yard of The Prussian King.
It was just one of hundreds
of petty principalities
that could barely still feed their
"regents" beffiting their rank.
But mother was born a Holstein-Gottorp and by that
closely related to the Prussian King Frederick II.
He suggested me as a possible bride for Russia.
He had not wanted to send his own sisters.
I obeyed all instructions.
Laid down my Protestant faith
and converted to the Orthodox one.
When Peter and I stepped in front of the altar
I did not even have the name
my parents gave me anymore.
My God, my girl.
From now on, I had to rely on myself
and on my husband.
My God, how long will it still take here, Soph...
Oh no, Catherine.
The Empress had chosen Catherine for me.
I was fine with this name just like the next.
I was determined to leave the past behind me.
From day one, Russia was my country.
I would spend my life here.
And it was I who had to design this life
in a way that it would make me happy.
"My name is Catherine."
Of course, my name is Catherine. That is way too easy.
Continue to test me from right here onwards.
"How is the dear wife?"
Giddyup! Hey, hey!
When I was the ruler's wife, Russia's people
were supposed to understand and love me.
But was this country easy to love?
At my home, I had never seen poverty to such extend.
What kind of people were that
who had to live like this?
To me, Russia was like a book.
And I could barely wait to open its first page.
For my husband it was a manacle.
How did I deserve this?
Peter of Holstein descended from
a German princely house as well.
He had never aimed for the Russian throne.
Due to dynastic coincidence,
he was a suitable candidate.
Peter loved everything Prussian.
If I liked him?
Who asks for such things?
In the beginning, I hoped we could
arrange ourselves with one another somehow.
Come. Come on. Go. Run.
King Charles. Over here! Over here!
Will you come over here?
Your place is over there in the back.
Did you have a nice day, Grand Duchess?
Oh this poodles will kill me one day.
So disobeying, no discipline,
that is what I always say.
Outrageous! No discipline!
And now we come to the pleasant part of the day.
Today, my dear Catherine, we will
play the deciding battle.
Come one, Catherine, you will take the Russians.
Take the Russians!
After one year, the questions were still kind.
After four years, impatient.
And after eight years, it was clear
that something was not alright here.
Well, and?
As far as I can judge it, no.
But she sleeps at his side.
She does indeed.
One always has to take matters into their own hands.
I want you to arrange something for me.
Yes?
As long as I did not attend to my holy duty,
motherhood, the days spread endlessly in front of me.
What do you think of it?
Not green again.
My task: Being pretty,
chatting, receiving people.
Until I was dressed, a solid hour had past.
And that was only the first dress.
For the afternoon and the soiree,
the whole thing started all over again.
Oh, the secret code.
Frivolous?
Hesitant?
What does this right here mean again?
This means mad about men.
Good heavens.
Then put it there.
The next one please!
Hey, I am flying.
In the residence Peterhof,
there was dining room without any doors.
You could only enter it via a lift.
But that was not enough.
The food also appeared as if by magic.
Yes, it was funny.
But something like that could not fulfill a person.
I sought refuge in books.
First it were novels.
I devoured one after the other
until I got bored by them.
Then I discovered history books.
"It is good to live in distress.
It has the same effect as a spring under pressure."
He was so right, the good Montesquieu.
He was so right.
It was so therapeutic to occupy myself with thoughts
that were more than powder puff and gossip.
In Petersburg, there were many highly gifted scientists.
Geniuses of mathematics, philosophy and astronomy.
Does Grand Duchess allow?
Peter the Great had a gigantic globe brought here.
Please, take a seat, Grand Duchess.
The heavenly bodies take their course
without you having to follow them.
I will show you how the sky is changing.
Very interesting, Mister professor.
But I prefer to decide over the movement.
But with whom should I share all that knowledge?
At table, I probably would have
not attracted much interest.
You must try this right here.
It is called frons in sauce
awakened in the morning.
An extraordinary delicacy.
It is like paradise.
Just heavenly.
A speciality from Ukraine.
It tickles gorgeous on the gums.
Now my dear, try your extraordinary
sensitive gums on this right here.
Definitely French.
Does it come directly from Paris?
Nearly hit. The pastry was delivered from Strasbourg.
Have you heard already?
They say, The Prinz recently has...
Does she already know of it?
- But of course not!
Well, she is really the last one who has to complain.
Do you still remember last fall,
when she and this Swedish diplomat...
Year after year passed in the ever same cycle.
In 1752, something surprising happened.
Or had I only waited for that?
Excuse me!
Sergei Saltykov, your most
loyal servant, Grand Duchess.
Sergei Andrevitch,
the name Salytkov had an impressive reputation at court.
I assure you, my ancestors have
served the czars for centuries.
And I, too, can always be of service to you.
What a man.
I was 24 and never ever before in my life
had someone look at me like that.
So that is what the court whispered about day in and out.
Now I could understand it.
The consequences could not be overlooked for long.
Well, my dear?
What brings you to me?
A message that should delight you, Majesty.
I...I am expecting the future heir to the throne.
The heir to throne?
Yes.
It will be your child,
no matter whoever its father may be.
Go, child.
Maria!
Bring Sergei to me.
You had me called?
Mission accomplished, my dear.
It shall not be your harm.
If you require my services, always.
I only got to know all of this way later.
I had truly believed him to be the love of my life.
On September 21st, 1754, labour began.
I smell a wonderful tea.
I had waited for the delivery with dread.
Countless women have already died in childbed.
The doctors were charlatans.
The midwife had sent first for The Empress.
And?
It will still take time.
It is time.
It was a boy.
I only held him for a few seconds.
Paul was immediately brought to The Empress'
living quarters where he was also supposed to grow up.
Others would decide on his life.
But on mine - that is what I swore to myself
back then - only I would make decisions from now on.
For Peter, Paul was without question his son.
Most importantly, the succession
was secured for the future.
I wonder who the boy looks like?
Probably like me.
But the eyes are most definitely mine.
Dear husband, it works.
Actually ee are a happy little family.
That is true.
Especially if everyone can go their own ways.
And after all you did your duty.
Do you want to threaten me?
Threaten?
But never, Your Highness.
Sit straight, boy.
I rather want to play.
Then run.
Peter was right.
He and the court could do to me what they wanted.
They had already estranged the boy from me.
I basically never saw him.
I did not really miss him.
It is your turn.
Soon Sergei was commandeered to foreign countries
and one of his affairs followed the next.
But I had learnt my lesson.
Only much later, I would gift my heart again.
Maria, who is that?
But many earned my favour.
You do not know him?
This is Grigory Orlov with his brother.
Orlov.
Let him come to me.
What should I tell him as reason for his audience?
I will let him know that myself.
Grigory was not afraid of anything.
Not of an affair with me,
and not of many other things.
And I decided that I could
use men in a very useful way.
You just have to tell them where and how.
Hey. Not too fast.
Grigory Orlov was an amazing lover.
And by now I, too, knew pretty well what I wanted.
We had our toys.
Erotic paintings.
Snuff boxes with decisive pictures.
Everywhere at court something like
this was common practice.
Grigory would not to be the last man in my bed.
I never made a secret out of it.
In all of the years, I introduced 21 men
officially as my favourites at court.
So many?
It were fewer than some of my male colleagues on the
European thrones wore out as mistresses in a single year.
What is this prudery about?
We are all just humans.
And I believe none of my favourites
ever regretted the time with me.
Because even when I grew tired of them
I rewarded them royally.
They were all worth it.
Do you have to rant and rave at me a lot?
For 18 years, I lived at the Czars' court now already.
Again and again Empress Elizabeth
had been sick but then recovered again.
But this time it appeared to be serious.
It draw to a close.
It was a time of tension.
Everyone tried to gather as much information as possible
to have the best position in case of a change in government.
Little Ivan, who Elizabeth once threw
into the dungeon, had become a young man
who in his 21 years had not spent
a single day in freedom.
Czar, Czar.
Does he know who he is?
No.
He only knows the word.
Peter stayed in the loop about Ivan's condition, too.
He is still alive but not a threat to you.
He prepared himself to finally take over the throne
for which he was called here
nearly two decades ago from Germany.
Empress Elizabeth was famous
among the people for her religiousness.
Rightfully so, because she believed sincerely.
Peter never really got to like the Orthodox faith.
But the clergy was a major power factor in Russia.
I knew one must not alienate them.
But what did it matter what I thought?
Peter forged plans.
But I was probably the last one
who he would tell them to.
Because who even said that I would still be
by his side when he ascended to the throne?
Fire!
He wants to see you.
Who?
The Grand Duke. Peter. Your husband.
I know who Peter is, silly.
But what does that mean?
He is staying in the loop about Ivan's condition
and he has been keeping a mistress for some time.
An impossible person called...
Elizaveta Vorontsova, I know.
You do not have to believe that you are
the only one who provides me with news, my dear.
I learnt my lesson.
She apparently loves his little solider games.
Where the general always roves about.
Come, you must see that.
And you had sent for me for this?
It is guilty and deserved, according to military law,
nothing less than maximum penalty.
What did it do?
Do? This right here:
She climbed the walls and there.
The situation is clear.
This way the penalty will affect everyone
who disobeys the orders of the future emperor.
Because in Russia only one single person
alone commands and that is The Emperor.
Or The Empress.
On Christmas 1761, Empress Elizabeth died.
I did not really felt sorry for her death.
Too much had she naged me with her domineering nature.
But I learnt a lot from her.
Because she showed me as well
how far one can make it as a woman.
And that too many emotions were dangerous on a throne.
Long live Emperor Peter III.
My husband was now the ruler
over Europe's biggest realm.
Including all the power that
this title brought with it.
Peter made peace with Frederick the Great
and ended the Seven Years War with Prussia.
He had great plans and approached them
with a determination I never thought him capable of.
I do not care if there are no Russian interests
at play in Denmark. This is about my interests.
Dismissed.
And I was in the way of
these interests like never before.
If he only sends me to a convent,
I can still consider myself lucky.
Peter loaths me.
Because he knows exactly that
he is unable to hold a candle to you.
Well, what does that help me
if I have to take the veil?
It is not even sure if I will
survive the next weeks at all.
Peter awarded his ordinary Vorontsova
the Order of Saint Catherine.
What else does it mean than that
he wants to marry her and get rid of me?
And what if you preempt him?
It was the time of the white nights
in the year 1762.
For six months, Peter had been in power.
And he still had not have himself crowned.
He did not understand that the people
worship the crown and not the one who wears it.
His mistake was my chance.
For 18 years, I endured the Romanovs.
And now they wanted to discard me
like a moth-eaten dress.
It was time to act.
When I learnt one thing in all these year, then that
you need strong allies if you want to achieve something.
Grigory Orlov and his brothers
tested the situation inside the military.
Do you have new orders?
A little bit of emphasis here,
a nice little sum there.
And the number of my followers grew.
Done.
The church expected of me to protect it
from the impending dispossession.
What did I have to lose?
If I did not nothing, I would be nothing anymore.
But if I acted...
It is time.
What? Already?
Now or never.
That is what your brother always says too.
Yes, and has he not always been right?
Maria, I want to be dressed. Quick.
My dear, I am about to ascend to Russia's throne.
I am unlikely to do that in such a attire.
Get me...
Get me a dress uniform, quickly.
Peter had withdrawn himself to
his favourite residence Peterhof.
He did not have the slightest idea
what was brewing up against him.
And now my dear Elizaveta,
the Prussian times are dawning.
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:14,200
Out of the way! Make way for
The Grand Duchess! To the side!
It was still dawn when we reached the
Izmaylovsky Regiment in front of Petersburg's gates.
Out of the way!
Now I had to succeed in winning over the guards.
Never before had I spoken in front of such a crowd.
The hour has come to protect
our country from the greatest danger.
Our church is in danger,
our honor is in danger!
It was rode roughshod over by signing a
peace treaty with our mortal enemy Frederick II.!
What is it? What is it?
What is it?
And the peace with Frederick is only the beginning.
Our country is in danger to be subjected,
yeah even to be scarificed.
Against Denmark I will send the armys, against Denmark.
For your braveness on which our country now depends on.
It is your loyalty my power depends on.
There is only one way.
You, my dear Vorontsova, I will make...
I see myself bound by duty to ascend to the throne
with God's help and the honest wish of our loyal subjects.
I will make you The Empress of all Rararu...
As sole and sovereign ruler
of all Russians.
Matuschka, matuschka, mother!
Catherine!
There was no one who warned Peter.
No one who told him how he could still prevent the catastrophe.
His followers abandoned him as soon as
they heard of my appearance in Petersburg.
In just one day, Russia's fate had changed.
I had really done it.
I, Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst,
had defeated the great Romanovs.
When Peter recognized where things stood,
he downright collapsed.
He wrote to me that I could be sure that
he would not move against me anymore.
He just wanted to return to Germany.
In the name of The Empress,
you are hereby arrested.
Could he be serious?
Or did he only play the harmless
to have me lulled into a sense of security?
But as long as Peter lived, he was a threat to me.
A few days later, I received a letter from Alexei Orlov.
"Empress, disaster struck."
"At table, it came to blows with Prince Fjodor."
"We could not seperate them anymore.
And then he already was no more."
I never ordered Peter's death, I swear.
But should I not have known
that it will come like that?
Just like in the case of the unfortunate Ivan?
Sadly, he lost his life when my opponents
wanted to free him from his dungeon.
I did not hold myself up with ponderings for long.
On September 23rd, 1762,
I was crowned Empress in Moscow.
Many had expected that I would
only rule in my son's stead.
But I would never again play
the role of the court decoration.
No, this was my throne
and it was my crown.
In my memoires, I recorded how I remembered it all.
Or maybe how I wanted it to be remembered.
I learnt to act like a man.
With one difference:
I did it better.
The greatest the country ever had.
Actually I was only supposed to be
the belly that bears the heir to throne.
But they underestimated me.
I played the game of power better than any man.
Men? Yeah, yeah. I know what
they all say about me.
With countless lover
I supposedly did unspeakable things.
Only I know the truth.
00:00:46,300 --> 00:00:54,900
[Women who made History - Catherine the Great]
I remember it all.
I wrote it down.
My life.
A writer could not have come up with a better one.
My mother was of high birth.
You are not serious!
There is nothing else here.
You can choose:
Cold, hunger and wolves or
warmth, food and farmers.
And I? For mother, I was a disappointment.
Not pretty enough, she thought,
and most of all not a boy, and yet
suddenly, out of everyone, it was I
who could give our lives a crucial turn.
That is an imposition,
an imposition this is!
And that for the future wife of
The Grand Duke of Russia.
But most gracious, if you blare your destination
out even louder it will most likely not come to that.
So keep yourself back, most gracious!
Drink, girl, it warms.
What do you want?
Go away! Disappear! Come on!
My beautiful Russia.
In 1744, I came here.
I was called Sophie Auguste Friederike of Anhalt-Zerbst
and was supposed to be introduced at court.
The realm needed a wife
for the future emperor of all Russians.
I was adjuged worthy to have
myself tested for this task.
Sophie, keep yourself together!
It is your own fault if you
gulp down this disgusting beer.
Please forgive me, mother.
It will not happen again.
I think you still do not understand:
This here is the chance of our life.
And you? You stupid thing are tempting fate.
I doubt you will pass in front of The Empress.
She supposedly has a secret lover.
A singer of the court chapel.
Child, mind your own business.
First of all, we will take care
of your future husband.
Our travel distance was 1500 kilometer.
We were on the road for seven weeks.
By Russian standards, basically a
stone's throw [literally: a cat jump].
Because to reach the realm's Eastern border
we would have had to travel for four more months.
The ruler over this gigantic realm
expected us in Moscau in the Kremlin.
Sophie, let this fidgetiness be!
- Yes, mother.
Mother, look, that must be her.
The Empress Elizabeth.
Gorgeous, this dress.
She owns more than 5,000 of them
and she never wears one twice.
Dear Princess, I forgot to introduce myself.
My name is Maria. During your stay,
I will be at your service as a lady-in-waiting.
Whatever you wish for.
During our stay?
Tell me, how is she, The Empress?
How can I please her?
Do not speak if you are not asked for it.
And when you do, choose your words wisely.
Elizabeth imprisoned even her great-grandnephew.
No one ever heard from him again.
What did he do?
Nothing.
The Empress threw a child into the dungeon?
- Pst, not that loud.
There is not a single room in
this palace where you can speak freely.
Secret passages are running
everywhere and the walls are thin.
You must always account for someone spying on you.
And everyone you trust can betray you.
Pst, it begins.
I report to Your Majesty,
Empress Elizabeth Petrovna,
the arrival of Princess Sophie
Auguste Friederike of Anhalt-Zerbst
and her mother Johanna,
The Princess of Holstein-Gottorp.
Go.
[Speaks with a Russian accent]
Hm. A darling girl.
Darling.
Alexei Grigoryevich,
what do you think?
Not a comparison you need to fear.
Surely not, honorable Majesty.
Charmer. I would barely be scared of that.
You are a lively girl, I hear.
Yes.
No.
I do not know.
All of that remains to be seen.
Grand Duke Peter, my cousin, who Elizabeth
had adopted to take over her throne one day.
Come on now.
The man I was supposed to share table and bed
and one day the crown with.
We should leave the young
people alone for a moment.
Delighted to meet you, my dear cousin.
Well there we are now.
We did not make this too bad, did we?
The course was set.
There was no way back.
I descended from the House of Anhalt-Zerbst.
Our little town was no more
than a spot on the map.
My father, Christian August,
did have a princely title.
But his principality was barely bigger
than the front yard of The Prussian King.
It was just one of hundreds
of petty principalities
that could barely still feed their
"regents" beffiting their rank.
But mother was born a Holstein-Gottorp and by that
closely related to the Prussian King Frederick II.
He suggested me as a possible bride for Russia.
He had not wanted to send his own sisters.
I obeyed all instructions.
Laid down my Protestant faith
and converted to the Orthodox one.
When Peter and I stepped in front of the altar
I did not even have the name
my parents gave me anymore.
My God, my girl.
From now on, I had to rely on myself
and on my husband.
My God, how long will it still take here, Soph...
Oh no, Catherine.
The Empress had chosen Catherine for me.
I was fine with this name just like the next.
I was determined to leave the past behind me.
From day one, Russia was my country.
I would spend my life here.
And it was I who had to design this life
in a way that it would make me happy.
"My name is Catherine."
Of course, my name is Catherine. That is way too easy.
Continue to test me from right here onwards.
"How is the dear wife?"
Giddyup! Hey, hey!
When I was the ruler's wife, Russia's people
were supposed to understand and love me.
But was this country easy to love?
At my home, I had never seen poverty to such extend.
What kind of people were that
who had to live like this?
To me, Russia was like a book.
And I could barely wait to open its first page.
For my husband it was a manacle.
How did I deserve this?
Peter of Holstein descended from
a German princely house as well.
He had never aimed for the Russian throne.
Due to dynastic coincidence,
he was a suitable candidate.
Peter loved everything Prussian.
If I liked him?
Who asks for such things?
In the beginning, I hoped we could
arrange ourselves with one another somehow.
Come. Come on. Go. Run.
King Charles. Over here! Over here!
Will you come over here?
Your place is over there in the back.
Did you have a nice day, Grand Duchess?
Oh this poodles will kill me one day.
So disobeying, no discipline,
that is what I always say.
Outrageous! No discipline!
And now we come to the pleasant part of the day.
Today, my dear Catherine, we will
play the deciding battle.
Come one, Catherine, you will take the Russians.
Take the Russians!
After one year, the questions were still kind.
After four years, impatient.
And after eight years, it was clear
that something was not alright here.
Well, and?
As far as I can judge it, no.
But she sleeps at his side.
She does indeed.
One always has to take matters into their own hands.
I want you to arrange something for me.
Yes?
As long as I did not attend to my holy duty,
motherhood, the days spread endlessly in front of me.
What do you think of it?
Not green again.
My task: Being pretty,
chatting, receiving people.
Until I was dressed, a solid hour had past.
And that was only the first dress.
For the afternoon and the soiree,
the whole thing started all over again.
Oh, the secret code.
Frivolous?
Hesitant?
What does this right here mean again?
This means mad about men.
Good heavens.
Then put it there.
The next one please!
Hey, I am flying.
In the residence Peterhof,
there was dining room without any doors.
You could only enter it via a lift.
But that was not enough.
The food also appeared as if by magic.
Yes, it was funny.
But something like that could not fulfill a person.
I sought refuge in books.
First it were novels.
I devoured one after the other
until I got bored by them.
Then I discovered history books.
"It is good to live in distress.
It has the same effect as a spring under pressure."
He was so right, the good Montesquieu.
He was so right.
It was so therapeutic to occupy myself with thoughts
that were more than powder puff and gossip.
In Petersburg, there were many highly gifted scientists.
Geniuses of mathematics, philosophy and astronomy.
Does Grand Duchess allow?
Peter the Great had a gigantic globe brought here.
Please, take a seat, Grand Duchess.
The heavenly bodies take their course
without you having to follow them.
I will show you how the sky is changing.
Very interesting, Mister professor.
But I prefer to decide over the movement.
But with whom should I share all that knowledge?
At table, I probably would have
not attracted much interest.
You must try this right here.
It is called frons in sauce
awakened in the morning.
An extraordinary delicacy.
It is like paradise.
Just heavenly.
A speciality from Ukraine.
It tickles gorgeous on the gums.
Now my dear, try your extraordinary
sensitive gums on this right here.
Definitely French.
Does it come directly from Paris?
Nearly hit. The pastry was delivered from Strasbourg.
Have you heard already?
They say, The Prinz recently has...
Does she already know of it?
- But of course not!
Well, she is really the last one who has to complain.
Do you still remember last fall,
when she and this Swedish diplomat...
Year after year passed in the ever same cycle.
In 1752, something surprising happened.
Or had I only waited for that?
Excuse me!
Sergei Saltykov, your most
loyal servant, Grand Duchess.
Sergei Andrevitch,
the name Salytkov had an impressive reputation at court.
I assure you, my ancestors have
served the czars for centuries.
And I, too, can always be of service to you.
What a man.
I was 24 and never ever before in my life
had someone look at me like that.
So that is what the court whispered about day in and out.
Now I could understand it.
The consequences could not be overlooked for long.
Well, my dear?
What brings you to me?
A message that should delight you, Majesty.
I...I am expecting the future heir to the throne.
The heir to throne?
Yes.
It will be your child,
no matter whoever its father may be.
Go, child.
Maria!
Bring Sergei to me.
You had me called?
Mission accomplished, my dear.
It shall not be your harm.
If you require my services, always.
I only got to know all of this way later.
I had truly believed him to be the love of my life.
On September 21st, 1754, labour began.
I smell a wonderful tea.
I had waited for the delivery with dread.
Countless women have already died in childbed.
The doctors were charlatans.
The midwife had sent first for The Empress.
And?
It will still take time.
It is time.
It was a boy.
I only held him for a few seconds.
Paul was immediately brought to The Empress'
living quarters where he was also supposed to grow up.
Others would decide on his life.
But on mine - that is what I swore to myself
back then - only I would make decisions from now on.
For Peter, Paul was without question his son.
Most importantly, the succession
was secured for the future.
I wonder who the boy looks like?
Probably like me.
But the eyes are most definitely mine.
Dear husband, it works.
Actually ee are a happy little family.
That is true.
Especially if everyone can go their own ways.
And after all you did your duty.
Do you want to threaten me?
Threaten?
But never, Your Highness.
Sit straight, boy.
I rather want to play.
Then run.
Peter was right.
He and the court could do to me what they wanted.
They had already estranged the boy from me.
I basically never saw him.
I did not really miss him.
It is your turn.
Soon Sergei was commandeered to foreign countries
and one of his affairs followed the next.
But I had learnt my lesson.
Only much later, I would gift my heart again.
Maria, who is that?
But many earned my favour.
You do not know him?
This is Grigory Orlov with his brother.
Orlov.
Let him come to me.
What should I tell him as reason for his audience?
I will let him know that myself.
Grigory was not afraid of anything.
Not of an affair with me,
and not of many other things.
And I decided that I could
use men in a very useful way.
You just have to tell them where and how.
Hey. Not too fast.
Grigory Orlov was an amazing lover.
And by now I, too, knew pretty well what I wanted.
We had our toys.
Erotic paintings.
Snuff boxes with decisive pictures.
Everywhere at court something like
this was common practice.
Grigory would not to be the last man in my bed.
I never made a secret out of it.
In all of the years, I introduced 21 men
officially as my favourites at court.
So many?
It were fewer than some of my male colleagues on the
European thrones wore out as mistresses in a single year.
What is this prudery about?
We are all just humans.
And I believe none of my favourites
ever regretted the time with me.
Because even when I grew tired of them
I rewarded them royally.
They were all worth it.
Do you have to rant and rave at me a lot?
For 18 years, I lived at the Czars' court now already.
Again and again Empress Elizabeth
had been sick but then recovered again.
But this time it appeared to be serious.
It draw to a close.
It was a time of tension.
Everyone tried to gather as much information as possible
to have the best position in case of a change in government.
Little Ivan, who Elizabeth once threw
into the dungeon, had become a young man
who in his 21 years had not spent
a single day in freedom.
Czar, Czar.
Does he know who he is?
No.
He only knows the word.
Peter stayed in the loop about Ivan's condition, too.
He is still alive but not a threat to you.
He prepared himself to finally take over the throne
for which he was called here
nearly two decades ago from Germany.
Empress Elizabeth was famous
among the people for her religiousness.
Rightfully so, because she believed sincerely.
Peter never really got to like the Orthodox faith.
But the clergy was a major power factor in Russia.
I knew one must not alienate them.
But what did it matter what I thought?
Peter forged plans.
But I was probably the last one
who he would tell them to.
Because who even said that I would still be
by his side when he ascended to the throne?
Fire!
He wants to see you.
Who?
The Grand Duke. Peter. Your husband.
I know who Peter is, silly.
But what does that mean?
He is staying in the loop about Ivan's condition
and he has been keeping a mistress for some time.
An impossible person called...
Elizaveta Vorontsova, I know.
You do not have to believe that you are
the only one who provides me with news, my dear.
I learnt my lesson.
She apparently loves his little solider games.
Where the general always roves about.
Come, you must see that.
And you had sent for me for this?
It is guilty and deserved, according to military law,
nothing less than maximum penalty.
What did it do?
Do? This right here:
She climbed the walls and there.
The situation is clear.
This way the penalty will affect everyone
who disobeys the orders of the future emperor.
Because in Russia only one single person
alone commands and that is The Emperor.
Or The Empress.
On Christmas 1761, Empress Elizabeth died.
I did not really felt sorry for her death.
Too much had she naged me with her domineering nature.
But I learnt a lot from her.
Because she showed me as well
how far one can make it as a woman.
And that too many emotions were dangerous on a throne.
Long live Emperor Peter III.
My husband was now the ruler
over Europe's biggest realm.
Including all the power that
this title brought with it.
Peter made peace with Frederick the Great
and ended the Seven Years War with Prussia.
He had great plans and approached them
with a determination I never thought him capable of.
I do not care if there are no Russian interests
at play in Denmark. This is about my interests.
Dismissed.
And I was in the way of
these interests like never before.
If he only sends me to a convent,
I can still consider myself lucky.
Peter loaths me.
Because he knows exactly that
he is unable to hold a candle to you.
Well, what does that help me
if I have to take the veil?
It is not even sure if I will
survive the next weeks at all.
Peter awarded his ordinary Vorontsova
the Order of Saint Catherine.
What else does it mean than that
he wants to marry her and get rid of me?
And what if you preempt him?
It was the time of the white nights
in the year 1762.
For six months, Peter had been in power.
And he still had not have himself crowned.
He did not understand that the people
worship the crown and not the one who wears it.
His mistake was my chance.
For 18 years, I endured the Romanovs.
And now they wanted to discard me
like a moth-eaten dress.
It was time to act.
When I learnt one thing in all these year, then that
you need strong allies if you want to achieve something.
Grigory Orlov and his brothers
tested the situation inside the military.
Do you have new orders?
A little bit of emphasis here,
a nice little sum there.
And the number of my followers grew.
Done.
The church expected of me to protect it
from the impending dispossession.
What did I have to lose?
If I did not nothing, I would be nothing anymore.
But if I acted...
It is time.
What? Already?
Now or never.
That is what your brother always says too.
Yes, and has he not always been right?
Maria, I want to be dressed. Quick.
My dear, I am about to ascend to Russia's throne.
I am unlikely to do that in such a attire.
Get me...
Get me a dress uniform, quickly.
Peter had withdrawn himself to
his favourite residence Peterhof.
He did not have the slightest idea
what was brewing up against him.
And now my dear Elizaveta,
the Prussian times are dawning.
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:14,200
Out of the way! Make way for
The Grand Duchess! To the side!
It was still dawn when we reached the
Izmaylovsky Regiment in front of Petersburg's gates.
Out of the way!
Now I had to succeed in winning over the guards.
Never before had I spoken in front of such a crowd.
The hour has come to protect
our country from the greatest danger.
Our church is in danger,
our honor is in danger!
It was rode roughshod over by signing a
peace treaty with our mortal enemy Frederick II.!
What is it? What is it?
What is it?
And the peace with Frederick is only the beginning.
Our country is in danger to be subjected,
yeah even to be scarificed.
Against Denmark I will send the armys, against Denmark.
For your braveness on which our country now depends on.
It is your loyalty my power depends on.
There is only one way.
You, my dear Vorontsova, I will make...
I see myself bound by duty to ascend to the throne
with God's help and the honest wish of our loyal subjects.
I will make you The Empress of all Rararu...
As sole and sovereign ruler
of all Russians.
Matuschka, matuschka, mother!
Catherine!
There was no one who warned Peter.
No one who told him how he could still prevent the catastrophe.
His followers abandoned him as soon as
they heard of my appearance in Petersburg.
In just one day, Russia's fate had changed.
I had really done it.
I, Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst,
had defeated the great Romanovs.
When Peter recognized where things stood,
he downright collapsed.
He wrote to me that I could be sure that
he would not move against me anymore.
He just wanted to return to Germany.
In the name of The Empress,
you are hereby arrested.
Could he be serious?
Or did he only play the harmless
to have me lulled into a sense of security?
But as long as Peter lived, he was a threat to me.
A few days later, I received a letter from Alexei Orlov.
"Empress, disaster struck."
"At table, it came to blows with Prince Fjodor."
"We could not seperate them anymore.
And then he already was no more."
I never ordered Peter's death, I swear.
But should I not have known
that it will come like that?
Just like in the case of the unfortunate Ivan?
Sadly, he lost his life when my opponents
wanted to free him from his dungeon.
I did not hold myself up with ponderings for long.
On September 23rd, 1762,
I was crowned Empress in Moscow.
Many had expected that I would
only rule in my son's stead.
But I would never again play
the role of the court decoration.
No, this was my throne
and it was my crown.
In my memoires, I recorded how I remembered it all.
Or maybe how I wanted it to be remembered.
I learnt to act like a man.
With one difference:
I did it better.