On this journey he went to Berlin to visit Frederick of Prussia and, as usual, Catherine went with him. Frederick, being possessed of the same contempt for vanity and luxury which was so marked in Peter, found in the Czar a congenial companion, but the Prussian Queen and the Princesses seemed to have regarded Catherine as quite an "impossible woman."
Some letters, written by the Princess Wilhelmina, have come down to us, in which she handles the royal couple from Russia without gloves.
The young Princess writes: "When Peter approached to embrace my mother, Her Majesty looked as if she would rather be excused. The Czar is tall and well made; his face is handsome; but there is in it a rudeness which inspires dread. He was dressed like a sailor in a frock without lace or ornaments. The Czarina is short and lusty, remarkably coarse and without grace or animation. One need only see her to become satisfied of her ignoble birth.
"At the first blush you would take her for a German actress. Her clothes look as if bought at a doll shop, everything is so old-fashioned, and so bedecked with silver tinsel. She was decorated with a dozen orders and portraits of saints and relics, which occasioned such a clatter when she walked you would suppose an ass with bells was approaching."
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
