Rebel Girls Lead: 20 Tales of Extraordinary Women

Rebel Girls Lead: 20 Tales of Extraordinary Women — page 5
Catherine The Great EMPRESS Once there was a queen who disliked her husband Her name was Catherine and her husband Peter was the emperor of Russia The Russian people found him mean and arrogant Catherine knew she would do a better job of ruling the country All she had to do was to figure out a way of replacing her husband Six months after becoming emperor Peter went on vacation leaving Catherine behind This was her chance Catherine gave a rousing speech to the royal soldiers to get them on her side They switched their loyalty from Peter to Catherine and a priest declared her the new ruler of Russia She then ordered a suitably magnificent crown to be made One of her first acts as empress was to order her husband to be arrested and put in jail Catherine’s magnificent crown took two months to create It was made of gold and silver encrusted with 4,936 diamonds 75 pearls and a huge ruby on top During her reign Catherine expanded the Russian empire winning many wars and uprisings Lots of people were envious of this powerful woman They said nasty things about her behind her back when she was alive and when she died they said she must have fallen off the toilet In fact she died in her bed and was buried in a golden tomb in Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg 3 MAY 2 1729 NOVEMBER 17 1796 RUSSIA