First, Elizabeth's beloved sister, Anna, the eldest daughter of Peter the Great, married Johanna's cousin, Duke Carl Friedrich of Holstein.

The product of this marriage was Karl Peter Ulrich!

According to the paternal genealogy, Peter is the grandnephew of King Carl XII of Sweden, and he will inherit Sweden. According to the maternal genealogy, he is the grandson of Peter the Great of Russia.

Anna died three months after Peter was born.

Elizabeth herself had an even closer relationship with the Holstein family.

At the age of 17, she was engaged to Johanna's brother Charles August.

In 1726, the prince of Holstein went to St. Petersburg to marry Elizabeth.

However, just a few weeks before the wedding day, the prince contracted smallpox in the Russian capital and died before returning home.

Therefore, with the relationship between her sister and Peter, and this pending marriage, in Elizabeth's mind the Holstein family is basically equivalent to her own family.

Now, when she suddenly heard that it was Elizabeth who had sat on the throne of the Russian Czar overnight, Johanna immediately sent a congratulatory letter to the empress who had almost become her sister-in-law.

Elizabeth's reply was kind and cordial, and the letter was filled with affection, and the relationship between the two families would become even closer.

Johanna kept a portrait of Elizabeth's deceased sister Anna, and the Queen wanted to get this portrait.

Elizabeth wrote to Johanna asking if the portrait could be returned to Russia, and Johanna happily agreed.

Not long after, a Russian minister in Berlin came to Stettin. He sent Johanna a miniature portrait of Elizabeth, which was embedded in a brilliant diamond frame.

The photo frame alone is worth 18,000 rubles.

Seeing that her relationship with the Russian royal family was promising, Johanna set out to strengthen the ties between the two families.

At the end of the year, Johanna gave birth to her fifth child, her second daughter and Sophia's only sister.

As soon as the gender of the baby was determined, Johanna immediately sent a letter to the Queen, in which she announced that the child would be named "Elizabeth" and asked the Queen to be the child's godmother.

Elizabeth not only agreed to Johanna's request, but soon another portrait of the empress was sent to Stettin.

This portrait is also set in a diamond frame.

At the same time, a series of things happened that also satisfied Johanna.

Peter of the Holstein family suddenly disappeared in Kiev and then reappeared in St. Petersburg.

The boy, whose parents were dead, was adopted by his aunt Elizabeth and declared heir to the throne of Tsarist Russia.

Then something good happened that surprised Johanna.

Since Peter Ulrich became the heir to the Russian throne, the Prince of Holstein renounced his right to the Swedish throne.

According to the agreement between Russia and Sweden, Queen Elizabeth had the right to choose a successor for her nephew.

The Queen selected Johanna's brother, Prince Bishop of Lübeck, Peter's guardian, Adolf Frederick, to succeed Peter and become the heir to the Swedish throne.

Once the announcement was made, the inheritance rights were handed over, and other changes were finalized one by one, Johanna suddenly found herself surrounded by good luck.

Her luck is even surprising.

Due to smallpox, she lost her brother who could have become the husband of the new Empress of Russia. However, now she has a relative who will one day become the Tsar, and her living brother will also become the King of Sweden.

Johanna tried every means to promote the family's contacts with St. Petersburg, accompanying her daughter to the principalities in northern Germany, while her husband and father, Prince Christian August, stayed at home.

The 54-year-old prince still adheres to his simple lifestyle. He has witnessed his rank and status being promoted again and again.

Later, the new King of Prussia, Frederick II, promoted him to field marshal of the Prussian army.

Then, the prince and his brother jointly inherited the rule of Anhalt-Zerbst, a small principality located southwest of Berlin.

Christian August resigned from his original military post and left Stettin. He moved his family to Zerbst and worked wholeheartedly for the benefit of his 20,000 subjects.

Now, Johanna is somewhat satisfied. She has become the princess of a small principality in Germany, which is as big as a sesame and a mung bean. She has the power to rule this principality and lives in a Baroque style palace that is also as big as a sesame and a mung bean.

Although she maintained correspondence with the Russian Empress and often visited relatives who had been promoted to official positions, it wasn't long before she began to worry that her life would pass away quietly.

One day in 1744, just after the family had finished praying in the castle chapel and just sat down to enjoy the New Year's dinner, a messenger sent Johanna a secret letter.

Johanna opened the letter immediately.

The letter comes from St. Petersburg, and the sender is Vorontsov, the Russian Minister of General Affairs. The content of the letter is as follows:

"In view of Her Majesty the Queen's express orders, I have to inform you, Madam, that the Queen hopes that your eldest daughter, Her Royal Highness, will leave for Russia as soon as possible accompanied by you, Princess, and rush to the seat of the palace without delay.

Her Royal Highness the Princess is extremely intelligent and cannot fail to understand the Queen’s true intention of summoning you and your daughter.

It is said that your daughter is very cute...

At the same time, our incomparable monarch also explicitly asked me to inform Her Royal Highness the Princess that the prince cannot accompany you under any circumstances.

Her Majesty the Queen has her own reasons for this matter.

I believe that a word from Her Royal Highness can satisfy our extraordinary Queen."

Vorontsov made several other demands in his letter.

He asked Johanna to use a pseudonym all the way to Riga on the Russian border.

In order to ensure the expenses of Johanna's trip, Vorontsov also enclosed a money order worth ten thousand rubles drawn from a bank in Berlin.

This letter did not specify the true purpose of the Queen's summons, but a few hours later, another messenger arrived in a letter that explained everything.

The second letter was sent by Frederick.

Frederick II's letter reads:

"I will no longer conceal my long-standing respect for you and your daughter, the little Princess Sophia, and I can also tell you that I have always hoped to bring the latter unusual good fortune.

I suddenly realized that it might be possible to marry her to the Russian Crown Prince Peter.

…

"

In the letter from Russia, Vorontsov explicitly excluded Prince Christian August from the Empress's invitation list.

Frederick's special letter to Johanna also made the nominal head of the family lose face.

The wording of both letters makes it clear that everyone involved believed that whatever reasons Prince Christian August might have raised to protest his rejection and otherwise deny the potential marriage,

His wife will try to overturn the objections of her dull-witted husband.

In order to marry the future Tsar, the German princess would be required to give up her Protestant beliefs and convert to the Orthodox Church, and the fear was that the prince would intervene mainly on this issue.

Prince Christian August was a devout Lutheran, and all parties involved in Sophia's marriage knew that he would not allow his daughter to leave her faith behind.

For Johanna, this is a glorious day.

After fifteen frustrating years of marriage, a queen and a king paved the way for her to realize her exciting dreams and adventures.

She will become a big shot, show off her talents on the world stage, and those valuable qualities that she once lost will be used.

Johanna immediately became elated.

As time passed, Russia and Berlin continued to send letters to Zerbst, urging Johanna to leave as soon as possible.

In St. Petersburg, Vorontsov was under constant pressure from Empress Elizabeth, who was very restless.

Because the other princesses have already set off.

Vorontsov told Empress Elisabeth that Johanna wrote back that "it is just that she lacks a pair of wings, otherwise she would fly to Russia."

There is nothing wrong in saying that. In just 10 days, Johanna was ready to set off.

Sophia's mother savored the peak moments of her life with relish, while her father locked himself in the study.

This old soldier always knew how to fight, but now he was at a loss.

He was annoyed that Qian was excluded from the whole thing, but he still hoped that he could give his daughter some help.

He hated the fact that his daughter would be forced to change her religion, and he felt uneasy at the thought of being sent to a country so far away from home and as politically unstable as Russia, where repeated coups had taken place.

In the end, despite all his worries and concerns, the good old soldier realized that he had no choice. He must obey his wife and obey King Frederick's orders.

He locked the door to his study and gave his daughter some warnings on how to behave in the Russian court:

"Besides respecting Her Majesty the Queen, above all else you should have the same respect for your future husband as you would your Master, your father and your Lord.

However, you must also do your best to care about him and obey his instructions to win his trust and love for you.

Your Lord and His will love all pleasures and treasures in the world, and nothing will happen against His will.”

It only took three days for Johanna to reply to Paitlie:

"The prince, my husband, has given his approval.

Traveling during this time of year can become extremely dangerous, but I have nothing to fear about this trip.

I have made my decision, and I firmly believe that whatever is going to happen is God's will."

It was not only Prince Christian's role in the Zerbst family that was unmistakably diminished in this monumental task.

While Johanna was reading letters from various parties, making replies, giving orders, and choosing clothes, Sophia was also ignored by everyone.

The money received was used to replenish the mother's wardrobe, and the daughter did not receive a penny.

Sophia's luggage, which was supposed to be her trousseau, contained only three old dresses, a dozen underwear, several pairs of stockings and a few handkerchiefs.
To be continued...