Peter III (21 February 1728 – ) was
emperor of
Russia for six months in 1762. He was born in
Kiel as Karl Peter Ulrich, the only child of
Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and
Anna Petrovna, the elder surviving daughter of
Peter the Great. The
German Peter could hardly speak Russian and pursued a strongly pro-
Prussian policy, which made him an unpopular leader. He was deposed and possibly
assassinated as a result of a
conspiracy led by his German wife Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, who succeeded him to the throne as
Catherine II. His death could also have been the result of a drunken brawl with his bodyguard when he was being held captive after Catherine's coup.