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Fans were thrilled when Gillian Anderson was announced as a new addition to Hulus The great-the playful and often anachronistic portrayal of the rise of Catherine the Great (Elle Fanning) against her husband Peter III. (Nicholas Hoult). In season 2, Anderson was cast as Joanna Elisabeth von Holstein-Gottorp, the mother of Catherine the Great and, at least on the show, not someone to mess with. When Joanna arrives, her daughter has successfully landed a coup and she is only a few days away from giving birth. And yet Joanna manages to bring even more chaos into the situation.
But Joanna was a real person, and like all real people The great, the authors have taken some liberties with their life story. Anyone who watches is likely to wonder how much of this narrative aligns with Anderson’s portrayal. Here are some of the basics for viewers who want a little history with their entertainment. Be warned: some spoilers for season 2 of The great lie in front.
Joanna wasn’t exactly influential.
Katharina was born as Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst (before converting to Orthodox Christianity and changing her name). Her mother Joanna was described as the daughter of “smaller Prussian nobles who had more social connections than money” biography. Joanna’s family ruled the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp, which had neither much land nor assets. But it was in a strategic place between Denmark and Germany and on the east coast of the Baltic Sea. Many powers in the region viewed the region as a place of struggle for control of the Baltic States and Northern Europe, and therefore had some influence. But finally, at the age of 15, Joanna was married to Prince Christian August von Anhalt-Zerbst. She had lived with the Duchess of Braunschweig-Lüneburg in Wolfenbüttel Castle, which was said to be a lively place. But after she got married, she had to move to Stettin in Pomerania, now Poland, for her husband’s military career, and found it pretty boring. In her early life, she had limited influence.
She wasn’t really allergic to peanuts.
…As far as we know. It’s always fun when a historical show has plot points about healthcare that The great galore, like Catherine’s prenatal frog watch. When Catherine gave her mother the chance to try this new delicious treat, the peanut, most viewers could likely see her anaphylactic shock from a mile away. While there were probably people with peanut allergies even in Russia in the 18th century, National Geographic stated that the first scientist to really study the body’s response to allergens began his experiments in Manchester, England in 1859. Maybe Joanna was allergic to peanuts, but no one watching would have known what he was seeing. Nor did he have the means to revive her.
She wasn’t really the “maestro of marriage”.
When Joanna shows up in Russia to see The greatCatherine ‘s version of hearing about her daughter’s coup against her own husband. Rumors of rebellion suppress Joanna’s plans to marry another daughter to another prince, this time the Frenchman Louis XIV. No prince wants to marry into a family that has started a real war against their spouses in the past. In reality, Catherine’s only other sister died when she was three years old.
And it seems like Catherine’s marriage wasn’t necessarily supported by her mother. Although Joanna raised her daughter with the idea that she would get married for good, other plans apparently took precedence. Johanna and Katharina were invited to the Russian court by Empress Elisabeth Petrovna in 1744 to arrange a union between Peter and Katharina. There Joanna got into trouble when the Empress found out that she was trying to represent Prussian interests in court on behalf of the Prussian king, Frederick the Great. She was banished from Russia in 1745 and never saw her daughter again.
Catherine wasn’t exactly a mommy’s girl.
During Gillian Anderson’s brief guest appearance, we see Catherine come to terms with the fact that her mother doesn’t really support her as a leader. Despite her social and sexual manipulations, Joanna turns out to be rather conservative. She believes women shouldn’t brag about stealing power from men because “their fists will come up”. The last time Catherine sees her mother alive, they have a heated argument over Joanna’s insistence on returning Russia to Peter. The scales have fallen from Catherine’s eyes and she finally realizes that her mother does not love her unconditionally as she had believed. Based on the story above, Catherine likely always knew that her mother would prioritize her own political agenda. She once wrote about her parents that her father “saw her very rarely” and that her mother “did not care much about me”.
She died in exile.
You will probably be shocked to read that she wasn’t actually pushed out the window while passionately in love with her son-in-law. After the death of her husband, Prince Christian August von Anhalt-Zerbst, Joanna was regent of her son Friedrich August until 1752 when he came of age. However, both survived their kingdom. Anhalt-Zerbst was attacked by the Prussians in 1958 and ceased to exist. Joanna lived in exile in Paris until she died in 1760 at the age of 47.
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