The Great, Hulu’s extravagant, bawdy, triumphantly irreverent series about the reign of Catherine the Great, never promised us historical accuracy.
After all, each episode begins with the disclaimer “occasionally a true story” and most characters are either amalgamations of different real-life courtiers or just entirely made up.
As the hit series approaches Season 3, showrunner Tony McNamara appears to be gleefully jettisoning even more facts for some far more entertaining fiction.
Chief among these dramatic changes is the blossoming romance between Empress Catherine (Elle Fanning) and her husband, Peter III (Nicholas Hoult).
Though the crude, spoiled and entitled Peter initially seemed to be the series antagonist, things changed quickly in Season 2 when he fell in love with his wife.
Even more surprisingly (and ahistorically) Catherine returns his feelings.
In reality, Peter III and Catherine the Great had a loveless, miserable marriage for 16 years before he took the throne–and just six…
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