Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: When were Peter III and Catherine the Great married?
Princess Sophie's father, a devout German Lutheran, opposed his daughter's conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy. Despite his objection, on 28 June 1744 the Russian Orthodox Church received Princess Sophie as a member with the new name Catherine (Yekaterina or Ekaterina) and the (artificial) patronymic Алексеевна (Alekseyevna, daughter of Aleksey). On the following day, the formal betrothal took place. The long-planned dynastic marriage finally occurred on 21 August 1745 in Saint Petersburg. Sophia had turned 16; her father did not travel to Russia for the wedding. The bridegroom, known then as Peter von Holstein-Gottorp, had become Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (located in the north-west of present-day Germany near the border with Denmark) in 1739. The newlyweds settled in the palace of Oranienbaum, which remained the residence of the "young court" for many years to come.
When the Summer Palace was completed in 1714, it became the residence of Peter the Great and his second wife Catherine I of Russia and many of their 12 children—with Peter occupying the first floor and Catherine, along with the children, occupying the second one, until Peter’s death in 1725.
He took Martha Skavronskaya, a Polish-Lithuanian peasant, as a mistress some time between 1702 and 1704.[37] Martha converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and took the name Catherine.[38] Though no record exists, Catherine and Peter are described as having married secretly between 23 Oct and 1 Dec 1707 in St. Petersburg.[39] Peter valued Catherine and married her again (this time officially) at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg on 19 February 1712.
Catherine came from a branch of the French royal family, House of Valois, her family were known as The House of Valois-Alençon. Her brother John I, Duke of Alençon was killed at the Battle of Agincourt against Henry V of England. Catherine married in 1411 to the 30-year-old Peter of Évreux, Count of Mortain. Peter was a brother of Charles III of Navarre. After only one year of marriage, Peter died, the marriage produced no children.
Catherine the Great was a German princess who married Peter III, the German heir to the Russian crown. After the death of Empress Elizabeth, she came to power when her coup d'état against her unpopular husband succeeded. She contributed to the resurgence of the Russian nobility that began after the death of Peter the Great. State service was abolished, and Catherine delighted the nobles further by turning over most state functions in the provinces to them.[12]
Mehmet allowed the retreat, whether motivated by the bribe or considerations of trade and diplomacy. In any case Peter credited Catherine and proceeded to marry her again (this time officially) at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg on 9 February 1712. Catherine was Peter's second wife; he had previously married and divorced Eudoxia Lopukhina, who had borne him the Tsarevich Alexis Petrovich. Upon their wedding, Catherine took the style of her husband and became Tsarina. When Peter elevated the Russian Tsardom to Empire, Catherine became Empress. The Order of Saint Catherine was instituted by her husband on the occasion of their wedding.
Tsar Peter III of Russia married on 21 August 1745 to his second cousin, the Prussian princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, better known as Catherine II or Catherine the Great. The couple had one son, Paul, who, after the death of Empress Catherine in 1796, ruled as Emperor Paul I of Russia until his assassination in 1801. Paul and his wife, Maria Feodorovna, Duchess of Württemberg, had 10 children. Their eldest son ruled as Emperor Alexander I of Russia between 1801 and 1825, the period of the Napoleonic Wars.
This tankard, with gently waisted sides, is set with twelve silver roubles, each depicting a monarch in profile, including Peter the Great, Catherine I, Anna, Elizabeth, Peter III of Russia, Catherine II, Paul I of Russia, Alexander I, Nicholas I of Russia, Alexander II of Russia, Alexander III of Russia. What makes his work unique is the fact that you can see the rouble coins on both sides - inside the shell and of course, on the outside.
Duke Charles Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp () (30 April 1700 – 18 June 1739) was a Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and an important member of European royalty. His dynasty, the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, were a cadet branch of the ancient House of Oldenburg, which at that time was ruling Denmark. Charles Frederick married a daughter of Peter the Great and became the father of the future Peter III of Russia. As such, he is the progenitor of the Russian imperial house of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov and the patrilineal ancestor of all Russian emperors starting with Peter III, except for Catherine II.
The period of Catherine the Great's rule, the Catherinian Era,[1] is considered the Golden Age of Russia.[2] The Manifesto on Freedom of the Nobility, issued during the short reign of Peter III and confirmed by Catherine, freed Russian nobles from compulsory military or state service. Construction of many mansions of the nobility, in the classical style endorsed by the Empress, changed the face of the country. She enthusiastically supported the ideals of the Enlightenment and is often regarded as an enlightened despot.[3] As a patron of the arts she presided over the age of the Russian Enlightenment, a period when the Smolny Institute, the first state-financed higher education institution for women in Europe, was established.
The history of Catherine the Great from the moment she arrived in Russia as the new bride of Peter III and her ascent to the Russian throne.
A young German Princess (Catherine Zeta-Jones) gets married to the immature future Czar Peter III (Hannes Jaenicke). She gradually becomes a skillful politician and rises to become Catherine the Great.
Peter III had a short and unpopular reign. Although he was a grandson of Peter the Great, his father was the duke of Holstein-Gottorp, so Peter III was raised in a German Lutheran environment. Russians therefore considered him a foreigner. Making no secret of his contempt for all things Russian, Peter created deep resentment by forcing Prussian military drills on the Russian military, attacking the Russian Orthodox Church, and depriving Russia of a military victory by establishing his sudden alliance with Prussia. Making use of the discontent and fearing for her own position, Peter III's wife, Catherine, deposed her husband in a coup, and her lover, Aleksey Orlov, subsequently murdered him, so in June 1762 Catherine became Catherine II, empress of Russia.
Elena Palmer is the author of the biography „Peter III - The Prince of Holstein“ (Sutton Publishing, Germany, 2005), herein she is expressing reasonable doubt towards the common portrayal of Russian emperor Peter III. In her work Palmer is referencing and questioning Peter III's wife Catherine the Great's memoirs. According to Palmer's research Catherine initiated Peter's murder and
illegally succeeded his throne, while later characterizing him as an “idiot”, “drunkard of Holstein”, “good-for-nothing” in order to improve her own bad reputation among the people of Russia. Elena Palmer says: "Peter III was neither a drunkard nor a moron. His plans for the dramatic transformation of society reveal a young Emperor's vision that was far ahead of his contemporaries. Peter took a position of “enlightened absolutism”, which was very new and progressive for this period in Russian history. With his democratic approaches, Peter was in a position to lead Russia out of the impasse of feudalism and was able to create a new social order without bloodshed. He proved his fortitude with ambitious reforms and gave the country hope for economic and social advancements. There were no political reasons for Peter’s overthrow, as the people loved their Emperor and his supporters idolized him. Rather, the fate of Peter III was a family tragedy the likes of a Shakespeare drama. The queen’s lover killed her husband while she silently supported him in this treacherous act" 
The kings of the house of Holstein-Gottorp, which produced the kings of Sweden from 1751 to 1818, emphasized their Vasa descent through a female line. The current ruling house of Bernadotte similarly claims a Vasa mantle: Charles XIV was an adopted son of Charles XIII; his son Oscar I married a Vasa descendant Josephine of Leuchtenberg; their grandson Gustav V married Victoria of Baden who was a great-grandchild of Gustav IV Adolf of the house Holstein-Gottorp.John III of Sweden married Catherine Jagellonka, the sister of Sigismund II Augustus of Poland. When Sigismund II of Poland died without issue, the son of John III of Sweden and Catherine Jagellonka was elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania as Sigismund III in 1587. On John's death, Sigismund also gained the Swedish throne.
The Empire of Russia was declared by Peter the Great in 1721. Officially, Russia would be ruled by the Romanov dynasty until the Russian Revolution of 1917. However, direct male descendants of Michael Romanov came to an end in 1730 with the death of Peter II of Russia, grandson of Peter the Great. The throne passed to Anna, a niece of Peter the Great, and after the brief rule of her niece's infant son Ivan VI, the throne was seized by Elizabeth, a daughter of Peter the Great. Elizabeth would be the last of the direct Romanovs to rule Russia. Elizabeth declared her nephew, Peter, to be her heir. Peter (who would rule as Peter III) spoke little Russian, having been a German prince of the House of Holstein-Gottorp before arriving in Russia to assume the Imperial title. He and his German wife Sophia changed their name to Romanov upon inheriting the throne. Peter was ill-liked, and he was assassinated within six months of assuming the throne, in a coup orchestrated by his wife, who became Empress in her own right and ruled as Catherine the Great (both Peter and Catherine were descended from the House of Rurik). Following the confused successions of the descendants of Peter the Great, Catherine's son Paul I established clear succession laws which governed the rules of primogeniture over the Imperial throne until the fall of the Empire in 1917.
Nicholas II abdicated in favour of his brother, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, but the next day, after a nominal reign of only 18 hours, "Emperor Michael II" abdicated, ending dynastic rule in Russia forever. (He is not normally considered to be the last tsar.)
The equestrian statue of Peter the Great is situated in the Senate Square (formerly the Decembrists Square), in Saint Petersburg. Catherine the Great, a German princess who married into the Romanov line, was anxious to connect herself to Peter the Great to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the people. She ordered its construction, and had it inscribed with the phrase Petro Primo Catharina Secunda MDCCLXXXII in Latin and Петру перьвому Екатерина вторая, лѣта 1782 in Russian, both meaning 'Catherine the Second to Peter the First, 1782', an expression of her admiration for her predecessor and her view of her own place in the line of great Russian rulers. Having gained her position through a palace coup, Catherine had no legal claim to the throne and wanted to represent herself as Peter's rightful heir.
Elizabeth was born at Kolomenskoye, near Moscow, on 18 December 1709 (O.S.), the daughter of Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, by his second wife, Catherine I.[2] Catherine had been a maid in the household of Peter the Great and, although no documentary record exists, they are said to have married secretly at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in St. Petersburg at some point between 23 October and 1 December 1707.[3] Peter valued Catherine and married her again (this time officially) at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg on 9 February 1712. On this day, the two children previously born to them (Anna and Elizabeth) were legitimized by their father.[3] The circumstances of Elizabeth's birth would later be used by her political opponents to challenge her right to the throne on grounds of illegitimate birth.
At least sixteen pretenders during Catherine's reign claimed that they were the deposed tsar, Peter III. A less common position pretenders claimed during Catherine's reign was that of Ivan VI. Ivan VI was a potential threat to Catherine since he was exiled as an infant and could lay claim to the throne. Peter III was the more popular option for pretenders since there existed legends that he was not actually dead, allowing pretenders to convince discontented Russians they were Peter III. Peter III was also popular among Russians because of his benevolent rule. Pretenders claiming to be Peter III used his popularity among Russians to gain support. Pretenders had to be careful to establish themselves as the ruler they claimed to be without being recognised as a normal mortal and not of royal blood. One popular way to prevent recognition was to claim their right to royalty far from their home as both Emal'Ian Ivanovich Pugachev and the pretender Artem'ev did. Pretenders also had to account for where they had disappeared to for the time since their reported deaths. For example, Pugachev claimed that he spent the eleven years since Peter III's reported death wandering abroad as far as Egypt or Constantinople.[119]
In 1762 Peter III made an attempt to secularize all church land and serfs. Catherine the Great, who initially reverded Peter′s decree, eventually re-affirmed it in 1764 and went still further by closing 569 out of 954 monasteries. In 1785 the Orthodox clergy did not receive a single seat in Catherine's legislative commission. By 1786, Catherine chose to simply exclude all religion and clerical studies programs from lay education. In 1797 the Holy Synod banned the election of priests who were now appointed by bishops.
Grigory Orlov, the grandson of a rebel in the Streltsy Uprising (1698) against Peter the Great, distinguished himself in the Battle of Zorndorf (25 August 1758), receiving three wounds. He represented an opposite to Peter's pro-Prussian sentiment, with which Catherine disagreed. By 1759, Catherine and he had become lovers; no one told Catherine's husband, the Grand Duke Peter. Catherine saw Orlov as very useful, and he became instrumental in the 28 June 1762 coup d’état against her husband, but she preferred to remain the Dowager Empress of Russia, rather than marrying anyone.
The army, then poised to attack Persia in accordance with Catherine's last design, was recalled to the capital within one month of Paul's accession. His father Peter was reburied with great pomp at the royal sepulchre in the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Paul responded to the rumour of his illegitimacy by parading his descent from Peter the Great. The aged Count Aleksey Orlov, who had been involved in Peter III's murder 35 years earlier, was forced to carry the imperial crown behind the coffin on the way to its new resting place. The inscription on the monument to the first Emperor of Russia near the St. Michael's Castle reads in Russian "To the Great-Grandfather from the Great-Grandson". This is an allusion to the Latin "PETRO PRIMO CATHARINA SECUNDA", the dedication by Catherine on the 'Bronze Horseman' of Peter the Great.
Tsarevna Catherine Alekseyevna (; 27 November 1658 - 1 May 1718) was the fifth daughter of Tsar Alexis of Russia and Maria Miloslavskaya, sister of Tsar Feodor III of Russia and Tsar Ivan V of Russia and half-sister of Tsar Peter the Great.
Catherine was named after Saint Catherine of Alexandria. In accordance with the Muscovite custom for imperial princesses, she lived in seclusion and never married. During the Moscow uprising of 1682, however, Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky (Tararui) is alleged to have planned to marry Catherine to his son Andrey Ivanovich Khovanskii in order to place him on the throne. Catherine Alekseyevna seems to have been supportive of Westernized reforms of Russia; while Russian princesses were expected to live in seclusion and screen completely from being seen by men, she was evidently seen in public in 1683, as a witness from that year reported how she did not wear the traditional clothes, but dressed in Polish costume and did not wear her hair in traditional braids. 
Peter has been depicted on screen a number of times, almost always in films concerning his wife Catherine. He was portrayed by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in the 1934 film "The Rise of Catherine the Great" and by Sam Jaffe in "The Scarlet Empress" the same year. In 1991 Reece Dinsdale portrayed him in the television series "Young Catherine". "La Tempesta" (1958) depicts Yemelyan Pugachev's effort to force his recognition as Peter III and offers a critical view of Catherine the Great, with Van Heflin in the role of Pugachev and Viveca Lindfors as Catherine. He was also depicted as a cowardly, drunken wife-beater in the Japanese anime "Le Chevalier D'Eon". He also appears in the 2014 TV series played by Aleksander Yatsenko.
From 1682 to 1801 there was a strict "man–woman" sequence on the Russian throne: Peter I the Great, Catherine I, Peter II, Anna, Ivan VI, Elizabeth, Peter III, Catherine II the Great, Paul. Emperor Paul changed the rules of succession to the throne so that only men could rule the country, and the "man–woman" interchange was terminated. If Tsarina Sophia (a sister of Peter I and Ivan V and a powerful regent during their minority), is counted as a "de facto" ruler, then the sequence could be traced from 1676, when another of Sophia's brothers, Feodor III, succeeded to the throne.