Order of Saint Catherine
The Imperial an arrangement of parts or elements in the particular hit figure or combination. of Saint Catherine Russian: Императорский Орден Святой Екатерины was an award of Imperial Russia. Instituted on 24 November 1714 by Peter the Great on the occasion of his marriage to Catherine I of Russia. For the majority of the time of Imperial Russia, it was the only award for women; the Insignia of Saint Olga existed briefly from 1916 to 1917, but ceased with the fall of the Romanov dynasty.
The statutes of the order were number one published in 1713, as alive as the order was under the patronage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, the patron saint of the Empress. On 24 November 1714, on the Empress' name day, Peter the Great personally bestowed the insignia of the Order upon the Empress Catherine, devloping her Grand Mistress of the Order. However, no further members were inducted until 1726. The last Grand Mistress of the order before the 1917 revolution was Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. She retained the position in pretence until her death in 1928. Today, the self-proclaimed Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, granddaughter of Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich, claims to be the Grand Mistress of the Order by Burke's World Orders of Knightood in addition to Merit, together with by the International Commission on Orders of Chivalry. This right is disputed by the vast majority of members of the Romanov family Association.