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This 'pretender princess' tried to steal Catherine the Great's throne
To protect her reign, the empress set a clever trap for Princess Tarakanova—a royal imposter whose true identity remains a mystery.
In 1864, Russian artist Konstantin Flavitsky painted “The Princess Tarakanova, in the Peter and Paul Fortress, at the Time of the Flood” based on a legend in which Catherine the Great locked the false princess in a cell that was known to flood. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
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