Episode 3 of 5

Death of Paul's First Wife

When: 15 April 1776
Where: Russia
Part of: Marriage of Paul of Russia and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg

Paul's first wife Wilhelmina and their child died in childbirth on 15 April 1776, prompting Catherine to seek a new bride.

Wilhelmina and her child died in childbirth on 15 April 1776, three years after her wedding to Paul. After her death, Catherine began work forthwith on the project of finding another wife for Paul, setting the stage for the remarriage of October 1776.

Sources

Paul I of Russia Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-16

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.