Paul I of Russia which event the Russian Imperial Crown was crafted by court jewellers. The 8-year-old Paul retained his position as crown prince. In 1772, her son and heir, Paul, turned eighteen. Paul and his adviser, Panin, believed he was the rightful tsar of Russia, as the only son of Peter III. His adviser had also taught him that the rule of women endangered good leadership, which was why he was so interested in gaining the throne. Distracting him, Catherine took trouble to find Paul a wife among the minor princesses of the Holy Roman Empire. She chose Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstad, who
Great Russia Great Russia Great Russia, sometimes Great Rus' (, , , , , ), is an obsolete name formerly applied to the territories of "Russia proper", the land that formed the core of Muscovy and later Russia. This was the land to which the ethnic Russians were native and where the ethnogenesis of (Great) Russians took place. The name is said to have come from the Greek , used by Byzantines for the northern part of the lands of Rus'. From 1654–1721, Russian Tsars adopted the word - their official title included the wording (literal translation): "The Sovereign of all Rus':