Welcome to the History Tricks, where any resemblance to a boring old history lesson is purely coincidental.

Hello, and welcome back to part 2 of our coverage of Catherine the Great of Russia.

We strongly encourage you to go back and listen to part 1, but we provided a little recap, as it's been a little while,

so you could remember what happened if you don't have time to go back.

And here's your 30-second recap.

Once upon a time a fair and smart princess Sophia is hauled out of obscurity by being called to Russia.

Her prince was a grand duke next in line for the throne.

Our heroine navigated backstabby and political court life down the aisle at age 16.

So what her husband was a few shots short of a bottle of vodka.

Sophia becomes Catherine, grand Duchess of Russia, and is ready to fulfill her primary objective, producer air.

Seven years, many schemes, a few miscarriages and a stand-in, um, contributor.

Catherine gives birth to a son who is whisked away by Empress Elizabeth, but that's only part 1, our tale is far from over.

So let's just jump right in to part 2 of our coverage of Catherine the Great of Russia.

When last we saw grand Duchess Catherine, she was standing alone in an empty room with an empty heart.

Her child, Paul, had been taken over by Empress Elizabeth and the court, sensing the way the wind was blowing had just faded away.

There were two ways you could go here. The easiest way was just wilt and let fate carry her where it would.

The second, more uphill of these options was to get hold of your backbone again and change your fate.

So Catherine would jump was not immediately apparent. She sort of retreated to this tiny indoor room, a room small enough to keep warm.

Say what you will about the grand palaces and castles comfort was not a quality that a lot of rooms had.

So Catherine and her little retreat, chick refuge in a fireplace, and a comfortable chair, and a blanky, and voltair.

It might have been some postpartum depression in there because I had read some things about that that's what she was maybe experiencing.

But sitting and reading to recuperate is way better than watching lifetime movies, which is what I would have done.

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