Historedia
Episode 1 of 5

Frederick II and Catherine II Arrange the Match

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

After Paul became a widower, Frederick II of Prussia proposed Sophie Dorothea as Paul's second wife, and Catherine II approved.

Following Paul's widowerhood in 1776, King Frederick II of Prussia, Sophie Dorothea's maternal great-uncle, proposed his grandniece as the ideal candidate to be Paul's second wife. Empress Catherine II was delighted, observing that the Princess of Württemberg shared with her a similar education, the same original name, and the same place of birth.

Sources

  1. 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.