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Peter III Fyodorovich, born Charles Peter Ulrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp; [ 1728 – 1762 ] was Emperor of Russia 🇷🇺 from 5 January 1762 until 9 July of the same year, when his wife, Catherine II, overthrew him in a palace coup d'état.

Peter was the son of Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp, and Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia who died of puerperal fever after childbirth. After succeeding to the throne of Holstein-Gottorp following his father’s death, Peter was made heir presumptive to both the Russian and Swedish thrones in 1742. Due to his conversion to Russian Orthodoxy, he was disqualified from becoming King of Sweden.

Peter married his paternal second cousin, Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, who took the Orthodox name of Catherine Alexeievna, in 1745. They had one child who survived to adulthood, Paul Petrovich. Peter succeeded his maternal aunt as Emperor of Russia in 1762. After a 186-day reign, Peter III was overthrown by his wife, and soon died under unclear circumstances. The official cause proposed by Catherine's new government was that he died due to hemorrhoids. This explanation was met with skepticism, both in Russia and abroad, with notable critics such as Voltaire and d'Alembert expressing doubt about the plausibility of death from such a condition.

After Peter III's death, many impostors thrived, pretending to be him, the most famous of whom were Yemelyan Pugachev and the "Montenegerin Tsar Peter III" [ Stephan the Little ].