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Grandson of Peter the Great and son of Czarevich Alexei Petrovich, from his marriage to Crown Princess Sofia Charlotta of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, Peter II was born on October 12, 1715. His mother died three days after his birth, his father when he was 3 years old. After the death of Catherine I, he ascended the throne at the age of 12. By order of Catherine, until he reached his majority the state was to be ruled by the Supreme Privy Council with the participation of Czarevnas Anna Petrovna and Elizaveta Petrovna. During the first year of Peter's reign, actual power was in the hands of the former favorite of Peter the Great, Prince A.D. Menshikov, the voting sovereign's guardian. On January 9, 1728, Peter II moved to Moscow with his court and the Supreme Privy Council. Here his coronation took place on February 25, 1728, in the Dormition Cathedral of the Kremlin. On November 30, 1729, he was engaged to the 18-year-old beauty Ekaterina Alexeevna Dolgorukova. But on January 6, 1730, he caught a chill during a military review and subsequently contracted smallpox, dying on January 19, 1730. He was buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin. The male line of the Romanov Dynasty ended with Peter II.
