Peter III | |
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Emperor Peter III, 1762
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Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias | |
Reign | 5 January 1762 – 9 July 1762 |
Predecessor | Elizabeth |
Successor | Catherine II |
Born |
Kiel, Duchy of Holstein |
21 February 1728
Died | 17 July 1762 Ropsha, Russian Empire |
(aged 34)
Burial | Peter and Paul Cathedral |
Consort | Catherine II of Russia |
Issue | Paul I of Russia |
House | Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov |
Father | Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp |
Mother | Anna Petrovna of Russia |
Religion | Russian Orthodoxy |
Peter III (21 February 1728 – 17 July [O.S. 6 July] 1762) (Russian: Пётр III Фëдорович, Pyotr III Fyodorovich) was emperor of Russia for six months in 1762. He was born in Kiel as Karl Peter Ulrich, the only child of Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and Anna Petrovna, the elder surviving daughter of Peter the Great. The German Peter could hardly speak Russian and pursued a strongly pro-Prussian policy, which made him an unpopular leader. He was deposed and possibly assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his German wife Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, who succeeded him to the throne as Catherine II. His death could also have been the result of a drunken brawl with his bodyguard when he was being held captive after Catherine's coup.
Peter was born in Kiel, in the duchy of Holstein-Gottorp. His parents were Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (a nephew of Charles XII of Sweden), and Anna Petrovna (a daughter of Emperor Peter I and Empress Catherine I of Russia). His mother died three months after his birth. In 1739, Peter's father died, and he became Duke of Holstein-Gottorp as Charles Peter Ulrich (German: Karl Peter Ulrich) at the age of 11.