She was born Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, daughter of Prince Christian and Princess Johanna of Anhalt-Zerbst. With a little help from her ambitious and meddling mother, and a lot of help from her own astonishing wit and beauty, she rose to become Empress Regent of the Russian Empire.
This incredible claiming of power is only the background to her fascinating and scandalous 67-year life. Here are 35 astonishing things you didn’t know about Catherine the Great.
She Met Her Husband at 10
It might seem icky enough that Catherine the Great’s husband, Peter III of Russia, was her second cousin, but that’s nothing compared to how old she was when she was introduced to him as a potential wife. At just 10 years old, Catherine, or Princess Sophie as she was then known, was sent off by her mother to meet Peter. She hated him immediately.
Peter was sickly and childish, even for an 11 year-old, and was already nurturing a drinking problem. Catherine was both a vivacious tomboy and a revered beauty. Still, Peter was heir to the entire Russian Empire, so, as soon as she turned 16 in 1745, Catherine married the repellent boy just as their mothers had hoped. Catherine threw herself into learning Russian, determined to be more than “Peter’s wife” in the Russian court.
Her First Time Wasn’t With Her Husband
Catherine’s lack of interest in her new husband was so pronounced she almost immediately began an affair with a much more exciting and handsome man named Sergei Saltykov who was an officer of the royal court. Her unfaithfulness was even more cutting than a standard affair; Catherine herself later claimed Saltykov was the first man she ever slept with, not her husband.
When Catherine’s first child, a son she named Paul, was born, she claimed he was Saltykov’s, not Peter’s. Historians have since argued that Paul was far too plain looking to be born from such beautiful parents as Catherine and Saltykov, concluding on that basis alone he was much more likely to have Peter’s DNA. Peter didn't exactly stay loyal to his wife either and was known to be so enamored with his mistress, Elizaveta Vorontsova, that he almost divorced Catherine to be with her.
Cold Griever
“God knows where my wife gets her pregnancies,” Peter remarked when it was revealed Catherine was pregnant with her second child. The indication was that, whoever the father was, Peter did not believe it to be himself. The child was a daughter who was given the name Anna, but she only lived for 14 months before dying in March 1759.
Catherine revealed something about her personality in the way she handled the loss of her first daughter, rather than any outward signs of sadness, Catherine seemed to simply move on with things, hardly ever referring to the child again.
She Deposed Her Own Husband
Peter III became Emperor of Russia on January 5, 1762. By July 9, his reign was over. It didn’t end due to illness, death, war, or revolution. It ended because his own wife executed a devilish and decisive plot against him. From the start, Peter’s rule was described as “eccentric” by those minded to be kind, while Catherine simply chastised him as being an “idiot” and a “drunkard”.
Catherine engineered support from people who would be willing to make her Empress in the event anything should happen to Peter. Not willing to leave the last part to fate, Catherine then arranged the end of Peter’s reign by running to a regiment of soldiers, distressed and helpless, asking them to save her from her “unhinged husband.” The soldiers did as they were bid. Meanwhile, Catherine made her way to a prearranged meeting of clergy, waiting to swear her into power.
A Murderer?
Peter III died on July 17, 1762, eight days after he had been forcibly removed from power and forced to publically abdicate by his own wife. He was being held captive in the Palace of Ropsha at the time and his autopsy report stated the former emperor had suffered a stroke and a severe case of colic. Rumors soon formed suggesting Peter may have been helped to his death in a much more deliberate manner, a theory which is supported by many historians today.
It’s believed Peter’s assassin was most likely a courtier named Alexey Orlov, whose brother had been a lover of Catherine. Whether Orlov acted alone or worked under the instruction of Catherine is debated, but the end result was the same. Peter III was dead, and Catherine the Great was Empress of Russia.
No Shame
While the legitimacy of Catherine’s first two children, Paul and Anna, was always questioned but never confirmed, the origins of her third were left in no doubt whatsoever. Catherine was pregnant throughout her plotting for the final removal of Peter and the child was born in April 1762, just a few short months before Catherine took power.
Presumably knowing what was coming, Catherine saw no reason to hide the identity of her new baby’s father from anyone. The boy was named Alexey after the man who would soon become a prime suspect in the death of Peter III, Alexey Orlov, the brother of Catherine’s lover and undisputed father of the child, Count Grigory Orlov.
Illegitimacy
Catherine hid both her pregnancy and her third child's birth, having her loyal valet, Vasiliy Shkurin, set his own house on fire so that pyromaniac Peter would leave to view the flames, and Catherine could give birth. In fact, Shkurin became the boy's guardian, and his mother, though she hid the fact he was her son, give him a village named Bobrikovo (which provided his eventual surname, Bobrinsky) to provide him with income.
The question of whether Alexey knew of his true heritage remains. As he grew up, he became reckless with women, drinking, and spending. Catherine even wrote about him, “This young man is very careless, but I don’t think he is evil or dishonorable, he is young and prone to be involved in very lewd company. He drove the tutors who were with him mad. He wanted to live freely, and he was granted this freedom." Eventually, after her death, Alexey was invited by his half-brother, Pavel, to court, where he bestowed honors and titles upon him. Though he had spent his early years irresponsibly, he eventually became known for his work in science and agriculture. He died in 1813 at the age of 51.
Queen of Bling
Catherine was a woman of opulent taste, and she definitely loved showing off her power with some serious bling. The most obvious example of this is her commissioning what will become Russia's official imperial crown. The unbelievably decorated crown was inspired by the crown of the legendary Byzantine empire, and was used until the fall of the Romanov dynasty in the early 20th century.
Catherine was also the person responsible for the Catherine Palace’s famous Amber Room, a lavish chamber decorated with gold leaf and mirrors which was dismantled during World War I before being reconstructed at the end of the 20th Century. The original room was considered by some to be an Eighth Wonder of the World.
Cold-Blooded Killer
Whether Catherine the Great ordered the killing of her husband or not, she was certainly responsible for at least one other death. Ivan VI was 23 and had what many believed to be a legitimate claim to succeed Peter III as emperor, even though he had been kept locked up since the age of six months.
The justification given for Ivan’s imprisonment was his insanity, but it was just as likely he was simply seen as a threat by Peter III’s mother, Empress Elizabeth, just as he came to be thought of by Catherine. Catherine, however, took things a step further and had Ivan killed during a failed coup just two years after her ascent to power.
She Tested Her Lovers
Catherine took lovers both during her marriage to Peter and after his death in 1762, but she wouldn’t take any man to her bed who hadn’t already proved his skills in that area. Before agreeing to sleep with a new man, Catherine insisted they took her lady-in-waiting, Countess Praskovya Bruce, to bed first.
After - sampling the goods - Bruce would pass on a review of her satisfaction to Catherine who would use the information to decide whether to take the man herself. How Bruce felt about this arrangement is unclear, but it did ultimately end her days in the court. When, in 1779, Catherine caught one of her lovers going back to Bruce, she exiled both of them immediately. She supposedely took between 10 and 17 male lovers throughout her reign.
Human Dating App
Catherine might have used Countess Praskovya Bruce to test any new lover’s skills in the bedroom, but that wasn’t the only part of the Empress’ system of selection. After growing tired of one lover, Grigory Potemkin, she maintained his services as a “fixer” for future liaisons. Potemkin selected and referred potential lovers to Catherine based on their intelligence and looks, like a human dating app.
In return, Potemkin remained in good favor within Catherine’s court. He was not alone in receiving this positive post-relationship treatment. Never one to seem ungrateful, Catherine would commonly promote her conquests to higher ranks before pensioning them off with land and servants. It seems loving the empress was a smart career move as much as it was a romantic one.
No Emperor
While she may have enjoyed many lovers throughout her reign, Catherine the Great never remarried, at least not officially. This was a deliberate move as marrying would mean running the risk of having to share her power with her husband, or perhaps even surrender it to him.
By the same token, Catherine refused to take the not unknown path of offering to share power with her eldest son, Paul, who she largely treated as inconsequential. When Paul had his own son, Catherine even began trying to arrange for her grandchild to become the official heir to the empire, thus skipping Paul entirely.
Love in War
Catherine the Great was far from an idle ruler. She waged many wars, expanded the empire significantly, and brought what she felt to be enlightenment to Russia, encouraging classical-style architecture and modernizing its cities.
Catherine also enjoyed the spoils of war in her own way. She is known to have seduced several high-ranking military chiefs such as Prince Platon Zubov (more about him later). Once these men were in her bed, she probed them for strategic advice to help her successful rule of the empire and its expansion via the battlefield.
Like Mother, Like Daughter
Just as Catherine’s own mother had plotted her marriage to Peter, she tried to secure a powerful husband for her granddaughter, Alexandra. Catherine had visions of strengthening bonds between Russia and Sweden by arranging for Alexandra to be married to King Gustav IV of Sweden.
Catherine threw a lavish and expensive engagement ball for the two intended lovers only to be left embarrassed when Gustav never arrived at the party. Apparently, he had become nervous about whether Alexandra would convert to his religion and decided to call the whole thing off.
She Crushed Rebels
In 1773, 11 years after Catherine the Great had taken power, she found herself fighting a lengthy rebellion from a group of peasants led by Emelyan Pugachev. If having to squash a peasant’s revolt wasn’t irritating enough for Catherine, hearing its leader claimed to be the reincarnated embodiment of Peter III was a step too far.
Catherine crushed the rebellion with great force, captured Pugachev, and hung him in a cage as a warning to others. She then had him decapitated, drawn, and quartered, just to make sure the message hit home completely.
She Made and Removed a King
One of the favored lovers of Catherine the Great was a polish aristocrat named Stanislaw Poniatowski. When Poland’s King Augustus III died towards the end of 1763, Catherine saw to it that Stanislaw was elected as his replacement - she gave him the crown of Poland.
Unfortunately for both Catherine and Stanislaw, he then set about campaigning for reforms and independence from Russia. This displeased Catherine, so she forced him to abdicate. Sharing the bed of the Russian Empress could reap great rewards, but it was important to remember she had the power to take it all away again too.
Petit Hermitage
While Catherine was not shy about her enjoyment of the company of men, she was also an aristocrat and she knew how to behave. It would not do for the court or commoners to see a constant stream of men making their way to the Empress’ bed chamber in the Winter Palace.
Catherine’s solution was to build the Petit Hermitage, a discrete love nest close by. It featured a bedroom and the ability to move lovers in and out much more subtly than would have been possible in the palace.
She Was Pro-Vax
The idea of vaccination, or inoculation, against disease was only just coming to the fore during Catherine the Great’s reign and the mood in Russia was skeptical, to say the least. Catherine shared none of this hesitation and was a huge advocate for getting the nation’s populace vaccinated against smallpox, one of the biggest medical scourges of the time.
She did more than just talk, however, Catherine had both herself and her son Paul vaccinated at the hands of Thomas Dimsdale, an English doctor. It worked, making Catherine a true pioneer in modern medical care for Russia.
Kept Boys
It could also be said that Catherine the Great was pioneering in how she treated her array of lovers. History is littered with examples of powerful men keeping harems of female consorts whether that be literally taking several wives, or simply setting up mistresses in convenient accommodations so they were always on hand.
Catherine approached her lovers in the same way. She would look after any man who came to her bed so long as they understood the rules. She was free to act as she pleased but they must be both loyal to her and available whenever she required them. This was so recognized that one man even referred to himself and his peers as Catherine’s “kept boys”. For 18th Century Russia, that’s quite a strike for feminism.
Cradle Snatcher
Catherine the Great’s sexual appetite was unquestionable and she was known to bed many different men through her life, but one perhaps raised more eyebrows than others. One of Catherine’s officer conquests was Prince Platon Zubov who she described in letters to Grigory Potemkin as "a dark, little one" and "our baby," who "weeps when denied the entry into my room."
Catherine’s choice of language is significant when put into the context that Zubov was just 22 at the time he first went to Catherine’s bed, while she was a 60 year old woman. Surprisingly, to Potemkin at least, the relationship between Catherine and Zubov lasted for several years.
Star of the North
Catherine’s intimacy with men wasn’t confined to the physical. She had a great affection for the minds of the outspoken thinkers of her time. She was a reader, and writers like the French philosopher Voltaire were top of her list. She enjoyed the ideas of such men so much she worked hard to ensure the prominent names of the era were invited to Moscow where she could become better acquainted with them.
Catherine entered into and kept up intimate correspondence with Voltaire for 15 years, leading to him referring to her as “The Star of the North” for her accomplishments in modernizing Russia. She also formed connections with d'Alembert and Diderot, the latter of whom she invited to live under her protection in Russia after he found himself under threat from the French Government for his ideas.
Final Morning
Catherine the Great died suddenly on November 17, 1796. She had woken that morning like any other, she commented to a maid about how well she had slept and then got on with some official paperwork. At some point, the Empress was left alone. At around 9 am she was discovered by a servant, collapsed on the floor of her chambers.
Accounts tell how Catherine’s breathing was ragged and her pulse quick and irregular. Her face had turned purple and she was clearly very unwell. A short time later she slipped into a coma from which she never woke.
She Never Left
You might think that, at some point in her life, Catherine may have gone back to Prussia to visit her childhood home. However, from the time she arrived in Russia to marry Peter to the day she died, Catherine never did. Russia became her home, perhaps even her prison.
It was believed Catherine’s lack of traveling was more about being afraid to leave Russia unattended than not wanting to see Prussia again. Catherine had fought her way to power and had no intention of letting her guard down and risking it being taken away from her while she was out of the country. She stayed her whole adult life where she was so she could keep complete control.
Unusual Bedroom Habits
It wasn’t just how many people Catherine the Great took to her bedroom which set tongues wagging around Russia, but also what she was believed to do in that most private of chambers. It was said she demanded satisfaction up to six times every day and used sex as a way of curing insomnia.
It was whispered in some corners that Catherine kept a cage in her room, where she imprisoned a hairdresser so as to keep her wearing of a wig a secret from the court. What other scandalous things happened in the personal quarters of Catherine the Great has been a matter of wonder for more than 250 years.
Always an Aristocrat
Thanks to her passion for modernization, radical thinking, and the arts Catherine the Great is often credited with revolutionizing Russia and bringing it in line with the enlightened nations of Western Europe. She did a great deal to improve Russia in those matters, but she stopped deliberately short of revolution. “I am an aristocrat,” she once wrote. “It is my profession.”
Catherine may have been keen to expand the minds of Russian citizens but she had no intention of upsetting the status quo which kept her in a life of luxury and easily satisfied desires. So far as Catherine was concerned, the poor could stay poor and the aristocracy could remain in control. Real revolution didn’t come to Russia until more than a century after Catherine’s death.
A Romantic at Heart
Many of the facts in this list have painted Catherine the Great as a promiscuous woman with a bottomless sexual appetite. That may be true in part, but it is not the whole picture and certainly not a fair reflection on her personality. When it came down to it, Catherine was simply in love with being in love and many of her affairs took the form of committed relationships that lasted for months or even years.
“The trouble is that my heart is loathe to remain even one hour without love,” she once wrote. The thing about being the most powerful woman in Russia, however, is that you have unlimited resources in which to indulge such romantic urges, and Catherine was always ready to do so when the opportunity arose.
Last Wishes
“Mourning dress is to be worn for six months, and no longer: the shorter the better,” wrote Catherine the Great before she died, indicating she did not want to see Russia plunged into grief and misery when she was gone.
The document, which was found by an aide in the later years of Catherine’s life, also had very specific wishes for how her corpse should be treated. “[I wish to be] dressed in white, with a golden crown on my head, and on it inscribe my Christian name,” she instructed.
She Had a Very Regal Funeral
Catherine the Great got her crown, but not her dress. Her body was placed in a coffin lined with golden fabric and her final outfit was an elegant silver brocade dress. Her coffin was placed on a specially designed and decorated platform in the Grand Gallery's chamber of mourning.
"The empress's body lay in state for six weeks in a large and magnificently decorated room in the castle, which was kept lit day and night. Catherine was stretched on a ceremonial bed surrounded by the coats of arms of all the towns in Russia. Her face was left uncovered, and her fair hand rested on the bed,“ was the description in Madame Vigée Le Brun's memoirs. It all sounds lovely, but imagine the state of her corpse after six weeks of people filing by to kiss her decaying hand!
She Got the Heir She Wanted, Eventually
The legendary reign of Catherine the Great was bookended by two incredibly unpopular male rulers. Peter III had been reviled almost to the point of mockery, while Emperor Paul I, Catherine’s son, was equally disliked; so much so his reign ended after just four and a half years, strangled and trampled to death by assassins.
Paul was succeeded by Alexander I, the grandson Catherine had always intended for the throne in the first place. Alexander’s reign was almost as long as his grandmother’s, lasting 24 years.
She Was an Art Connoisseur
Catherine the Great bought a collection of art from Frederick II of Prussia. The King had rejected the pieces and was just trying to clear out what he thought were useless paintings. As it turned out, the collection included 13 original Rembrandt, their total worth was a fortune.
Buoyed by this unexpected success, Catherine became a huge collector of art and gathered thousands of paintings during her life. She also enjoyed artifacts of all kinds and established enough pieces to form the basis of what is now the Hermitage Museum in the Winter Palace.
She Had Distinct Tastes
While Catherine the Great collected fine art and pushed “enlightenment” in public, she also had a private collection with a very certain style. “Two Lovers” by Giulio Romano, a painting showing an almost naked couple in recline while a third figure watches from a closet, hung in Catherine’s basement for her own private enjoyment.
Catherine also reputedly had a “playroom” or “erotic cabinet” filled with furniture of a “sensual” nature featuring representations of sexual organs. German soldiers claimed to have discovered the room during WWII when they raided the Winter Palace. Photographs were said to have been taken, but have since been lost. They suggested that, while Catherine would portray a dignified art-loving lady upstairs, downstairs was a very different matter.
She Loved a Tickle
One of the more pedestrian rumors about Catherine the Great’s proclivities was her love of a good foot tickling. She was known to employ servants full-time for the very purpose of tickling her feet to help her relax, and also to stimulate arousal.
Catherine wasn’t alone in this respect, however, as this was a long-standing tradition amongst Russian roles. The Empress may have had other personal kinks we understand less about, but this is one she would have no shame in allowing the world to know.
Her Autopsy Saved Her Reputation
When doctors were finally able to fully examine Catherine the Great’s body, they determined a cause of death which put paid to some fairly audacious rumors about how she might have died. The tests revealed that, in a strange sort of irony, Catherine had died of a huge stroke, much like the one which was officially believed to have killed her husband, Peter III.
Not a pleasant end, but certainly different to the one which had become rumored in court in the immediate aftermath of Catherine’s death. Whispers around the palace at the time suggested Catherine had died after attempting to have sexual relations with a horse.
The Great
In 2020, the Australian writer Tony McNamara turned the history of Catherine the Great, both what is known and its rumors, into a comedy series titled The Great. The adaptation of her life focuses heavily on the sexual behavior of Catherine, Peter III, and other members of the royal court. While McNamara’s writing makes no claim of complete historical accuracy it is built around just enough factual truth to keep it, undeniably, Catherine’s story.
In many ways, The Great offers a representation of just how much Catherine’s achievements have become wrapped up in false assumptions and gossip. “It seemed like [Catherine’s] life had been reduced to a salacious headline about having sex with a horse,” McNamara said of his discoveries in researching the show. “Yet she’d done an enormous amount of amazing things, had been a kid who’d come to a country that wasn’t her own and taken it over.”
Other Talents
While it is the stories of sex, romance, war, and culture change that dominate historical tales of Catherine the Great, she also had talents in far less gossip-worthy fields. Catherine was a keen gardener and a particular fan of horticultural styles and techniques from England and China.
"Right now I adore English gardens, curves, gentle slopes, ponds in the form of lakes, archipelagos on dry land, and I have a profound scorn for straight lines, symmetric avenues. I hate fountains that torture water in order to make it take a course contrary to its nature: Statues are relegated to galleries, vestibules etc; in a word, Anglomania is the master of my plantomania," Catherine once wrote to Voltaire. The Empress also turned her hand to writing, both about her own life and for comedy. She despised music, however, referring to it as “infernal noise”.
An Unforgettable Era
For all the truths, rumors, and plain untruths which have persisted about Catherine the Great in the centuries after her life, there is no denying her standing and impact as a ruler. The “Catherinian Era” is almost unanimously regarded as a golden age in the rich history of Russia and its empires.
Testament to this is the longevity of Catherine’s reign. At a little under 35 years in power, Catherine became the country’s longest-ever serving female ruler, a record which stands to this day. Only Peter the Great, Ivan III, and Ivan the Terrible have presided over Russia for longer.