Between love madness, scandals, intrigue and happiness - the stories of German princesses on the Russian tzar's throne were shaped by strokes of fate. Princess Charlotte of Prussia was married on exactly her 19th birthday in 1817 with the future Russian Tsar. She joined a long line of German princesses at the Tsar's court, beginning with Catherine the Great and extending to the last Russian Empress. 200 years later, her descendant Maria in St. Petersburg is searching for the traces of these German women.—Ulf Kjell Gür