catherineempressofrussia:On 28 June 1762, with the aid of her lover Grigory Orlov, Catherine rallied
catherineempressofrussia:On 28 June 1762, with the aid of her lover Grigory Orlov, Catherine rallied the troops of Saint Petersburg to her support and declared herself Catherine II, the sovereign ruler of Russia, later naming her son Paul as her heir. She had Peter arrested and forced him to sign an act of abdication. When he sought permission to leave the country, she refused it, intending to hold him prisoner for life. He had only a few days to live, though, as shortly after his arrest, he was strangled to death by Catherine’s supporters; though, no one knows what part Catherine had in Peter’s death. She was crowned in Moscow on the 22 September 1762. Catherine’s coronation marks the creation of one of the main treasures of the Romanov dynasty, the Imperial Crown of Russia, designed by Swiss-French court diamond jeweller Jérémie Pauzié. -- source link
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