Arguably the most handsomely rewarded of Catherine’s lovers was Stanislaw Poniatowski, whom she later installed as the king of Poland in a bid to maintain Poland as a loyal vassal. Such gifts included lands, titles, palaces, and even people-one former lover was dispatched with 1,000 indentured servants. Heritage Images What political favors did Catherine the Great’s lovers receive?Ĭatherine was unfailingly generous to her current and former lovers, often dispatching them with parting gifts at the conclusion of their time together. Catherine aligned herself with generals, admirals, and wealthy nobles, forming relationships that were as politically rewarding as they were pleasurable. Though the number of Catherine’s lovers is disputed, the nature of those relationships is not. Catherine loved to be in love, writing, “The trouble is that my heart is loathe to remain even one hour without love.”
While some historians argue that Catherine took 22 male lovers, others claim that she had only 12 romantic relationships. How many lovers did Catherine the Great really have? Though Catherine’s detractors would argue that Paul should take the throne upon coming of age, Catherine squashed dozens of uprisings to reign for over three decades until her death. No evidence exists to support Catherine’s complicity in the assassination, yet the Russian public by and large held her accountable, casting a shadow over her reign. Eight days later, Peter died at the hands of Alexei Orlov, younger brother to Catherine’s then-lover Grigory Orlov. As the only heir apparent was the crown prince Paul, then a small child, Catherine acceded to the throne. Upon his return, Catherine ordered Peter’s arrest and forced him to sign a document of abdication. Six months into his reign, when Peter left Saint Petersburg on vacation, Catherine met with the military, whom she implored to protect her from her husband. When Peter inherited the throne, he quickly ended Russia’s war with Prussia (as he was fanatically in thrall to the Prussian king, Frederick II) and sought to improve life for the working poor through domestic reform, alienating the military class as well as the nobility. Catherine came to power through a political coup against her husband that lately turned deadly. Probably not, though public opinion held her accountable for his assassination. Did Catherine the Great kill her husband?
Though Catherine gave birth to three children who survived to adulthood, some historians believe that Peter fathered none of them, likely due to impotence or infertility.
Desperately unhappy, Catherine began to take lovers. The arranged marriage was a complete mismatch, largely due to Peter’s personal failings-Peter was neurotic, stubborn, and an alcoholic. Upon her conversion to Russian Orthodoxy, she took the name Yekaterina (anglicized as Catherine). In 1745, at the age of 16, she was married through a dynastic arrangement to her second cousin, the prospective Tsar Peter of Holstein-Gottorp. Was Catherine the Great married?Įmpress Catherine II of Russia was born Princess Sophie of Prussia (now Poland). Read on for the real story about how Catherine lived and loved. With the monarch’s story hitting television in HBO’s Catherine the Great, we took it upon ourselves to sort fact from fiction when it comes to her personal life. Yet thanks to misogyny, jealousy, and a poisonous court culture, Catherine was accused of practically every form of sexual deviance you can dream up-like bestiality, nyphomania, and voyeurism, to name a few. Even in her lifetime, Catherine was known for her string of male lovers, many of whom were significantly younger than her, and some of whom reaped political and financial benefits from their arrangement. Yet other legends are less savory (and less factual), namely the legends concerning Catherine’s infamous life between the sheets. However, Catherine wasn’t simply a great conqueror-she was also an enlightened intellectual and a forward-thinking trailblazer, a woman who championed vaccination, uplifted female artists, exchanged letters with leading philosophers like Voltaire, wrote memoirs, and penned the first works of children’s literature published in Russia.
CHATERINE QUARANTINO PLUS
In the plus column, the longest-reigning empress of Russia transformed her empire into one of Europe’s great and enduring powers, annexing over 200,000 miles of land, building over 100 new towns, and fostering a golden age of development for the arts and sciences. Legends abound about Catherine the Great-the good kind and the bad kind.
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