Episode 2 of 5

Conversion to Orthodoxy and New Name

When: 1776
Where: Russia
Part of: Marriage of Paul of Russia and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg

Sophie Dorothea converted to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1776 and adopted the name Maria Feodorovna.

In spite of her fiancé's difficult character, Sophie Dorothea developed a long, peaceful relationship with Paul. She converted to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1776, adopting the name Mariya Feodorovna, the name under which she later became Empress of Russia as Paul's second wife.

Sources

Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-26

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.