Peter was born in the city of Kiel in Holstein on 10 February, 1728. His mother died when he was three months old and he lost his father when he was eleven.

The future emperor of Russia was educated by a marshal of the Holstein court. Bullied and harshly punished for the slightest misdemeanour, the sickly child developed a lifelong hatred of learning.

When Elizabeth Petrovna seized power in 1741, she invited her nephew to St. Petersburg to ensure that the throne passed to her father's descendants. Carl Peter Ulrich converted to the Russian Orthodox Church and was proclaimed Elizabeth's heir on 7 November, 1742.

Peter was horrifed at the thought of being emperor of Russia. He disliked everything about Russia and this irritated the empress. Elizabeth gave him Russian tutors, but his antipathy towards learning meant that he preferred to spend his time in the company of servants.

Grand Duke Peter Feodorovich and Grand Duchess Catherine Alekseyevna with an Arab
Artist: Anna-Rosina Liszewka

When Elizabeth died in 1761, her nephew ascended the throne as Peter III. This signalled the start of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov dynasty, which ruled Russia until 1917.

Peter made a disastrous start to his reign by withdrawing Russia from the Seven Years War and concluding peace with his idol, King Frederick II of Prussia, when the Prussians were on the point of suing for peace. All the Russian victories and sacrifices were in vain. Eastern Prussia was returned to Frederick and Russia received no indemnities or compensations. The Russian army seethed with indignation at having to make peace with Prussia and then join a military alliance against their former allies.

Portrait of Emperor Peter III
Artist: Unknown

On 6 July, 1762, Peter III was officially claimed to have died of "haemorrhoidal colic" at Ropsha.

The palace of Ropsha. It was here that Peter was brought under guard after the coup d'etat of 1762
and it was there that he was murdered under shady circumstances.
Artist: Pre-1917 photograph