Catherine I of Russia Catherine I of Russia Catherine I (, born , later known as Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya; – ) was the second wife of Peter the Great and Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death. The life of Catherine I was said by Voltaire to be nearly as extraordinary as that of Peter the Great himself. There are no documents that confirm her origins. Said to have been born on 15 April 1684 (o.s. 5 April), she was originally named Marta Helena Skowrońska. Marta was the daughter of Samuel Skowroński (later spelt "Samuil Skavronsky"), a Roman Catholic peasant from the Polish–Lithuanian
Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia from the capital and her mother followed her husband into exile. Catherine and her brother Vsevolod remained in the care of her grandmother, the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Mavriekievna of Russia. On 18 July 1918, their father Prince John was killed, and their mother Princess Jelena was arrested and spent several months in Soviet prisons. Grand Duchess Elizabeth was able to take Catherine and her brother to Sweden. Sometime later, they were reunited with their mother. The family lived in Serbia, then moved to England. There, Catherine received an excellent education, although she never learned the Russian language because her mother,