Person attributes
Catherine Alekseevna, the wife of the Emperor Peter Fyodorovich, ascended the throne as a result of a coup d'etat. On June 28, 1762, when the emperor was at Oranienbaum, Catherine secretly arrived in Petersburg and was proclaimed the autocratic Empress Catherine II in the barracks of the Izmailovsky Regiment.
The fact that she came to the throne with a definite political program certainly speaks to the preparations for the coup and her accession to power. On one hand, she declared the ideas of Enlightenment, and on the other hand, she took into account the peculiarities of the historical development of Russia. The most important principles of the implementation of the program were gradualness and consideration of public sentiments. A few days later her husband was assassinated. The coronation took place in September 1762 in Moscow.
