Catherine I.
From a simple girl to the Empress of Russia.
At birth her name was Marta Smailovna Skvaronskaya.
Martha's parents died early from the plague. The orphan was taken in by her aunt, and later she ended up in the home of the Lutheran priest Ernst Gluck in Marienburg (today Aloksana, Latvia).
At the age of 17, Marta married the Swedish dragon Johan Kruse (according to other sources - Raba). But the marriage did not last long: soon the husband went to war and disappeared.
Martha's fate changed dramatically in 1702.
During the Northern War, Russian forces captured Marienburg. Field Marshal Boris Shrematev kept the girl with him, and later Alexander Menshikov took her to him.
It was in Menshikov's house in 1703 that Peter I noticed her. He was charmed by her lively disposition and intelligence.
In 1707 or 1708 she converted to Orthodoxy and received the name Yekaterina Alekseevna Mikhailova.
On February 19, 1712, Peter officially married Catherine. Their daughters - Anna (1708) and Elizabeth (1709) - received official princess status.
After the death of Peter I in 1725, Catherine, with the support of Menshikov, the guard and the garrison of St. Petersburg, ascended the throne. She became the first woman on the Russian throne.