Ekaterina Rise of Catherine the Great

Princess Frederika of Germany is en route to a new future the royal court of Empress Elizabeth of Russia and a marriage to a Russian prince The princess and her mother are blissfully unaware of what awaits them

Fredericka becomes more and more accustomed to life in the palacenbspShe spends as much time as she can getting to know her fianceacute Pyotr and trying to win his favor Some members of the court are displeased with her and try to take matters into their own hands

After receiving her new name Ekaterina is baptized and prepares for her wedding to PyotrnbspLittle does she know the affairs of her mother begin to jeopardize her chances of remaining safe and prosperous in Russia

After the wedding Pyotr remains distant from Ekaterina He comes to believe that by conceiving a child they would no longer be of use to Queen Elizabeth and would then be cast asidenbspPyotr then becomes ill sending him into a bitter spiral

After his recovery Pyotr is no longer interested in EkaterinanbspAs they grow more and more distant Queen Elizabeth loses hope of getting an heir to the throne Her hopes rise when she puts Ekaterina in the sights of Prince Saltykov

After the birth of her son Ekaterina discovers that Pyotrs premonitions are coming truenbspElizabeth decides to take the baby and remove them from his carenbspEkaterina is forced to watch her child grow from afar She decides that she will do anything she can to get her baby back

Ekaterina cares less and less about the Queens opinion of her flaunting her affairs and misdemeanors Despite their mutual distaste she and Pyotr begin to conspire knowing that the queen has fallen illnbspAll they want is to regain their rights to the throne and to her child

The Queen recovers putting Ekaterina and Pyotrs plan on holdnbspBut their potential rise to power has done nothing to bring them closer togethernbspPyotr begins to fall in love with a handmaiden and Ekaterina grows closer to Gregory Orlov

The Queen has fallen ill yet again Pyotr is in line to succeed her at last But his rise to power has driven his distaste for Ekaterina into pure hatred Russians at large have begun to see him as an unfit ruler and that is causing unrest to spread throughout the kingdom

Ekaterina sees a fatal weakness in PyotrnbspShe seizes her opportunity and with the help of Orlov begins a daring effort to seize control of the throne Her goal to finally get justice for herself and her broken family