The more than 300 sovereign entities of the Holy Roman Empire, many of them quite small and powerless, made for a highly competitive political system as the various princely families fought for advantage over each other, often via political marriages. Her mother's brother became the heir to the Swedish throne after her second cousin Peter III converted to Orthodoxy. Her rise to power was supported by her mother Joanna's wealthy relatives, who were both nobles and royal relations. She once wrote to her correspondent Baron Grimm: "I see nothing of interest in it." Although Sophie was born a princess, her family had very little money. According to her memoirs, Sophie was regarded as a tomboy, and trained herself to master a sword. In accordance with the custom then prevailing in the ruling dynasties of Germany, she received her education chiefly from a French governess and from tutors. But because her second cousin Peter III converted to Orthodox Christianity, two of her first cousins became Kings of Sweden: Gustav III and Charles XIII. He tried to become the duke of Duchy of Courland and Semigallia but in vain and at the time of his daughter's birth held the rank of a Prussian general in his capacity as governor of the city of Stettin. Her father, Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, belonged to the ruling German family of Anhalt. Young Catherine soon after her arrival in Russia, by Louis CaravaqueĬatherine was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia (now Szczecin, Poland) as Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg.
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