Lectures

4th December 2019: Catherine the Great and her Lovers

At the December 2019 meeting the Wye Historical Society welcomed back Patsy Erskine Hill to speak on the Life and Loves of Catherine the Great. Catherine, or Sophie as she was born, came from a minor German aristocratic family but rose to become Empress of Russia. She was an intelligent and precocious child; by fourteen years of age she was attracting attention and her mother wished her to marry well. She was matched with the Prussian Carl Peter, Empress Elizabeth’s chosen heir. After their marriage Peter became very erratic and tyrannical and treated Catherine with contempt. Elizabeth was also volatile and could be both sentimental and jealous of pretty women at court. As Peter had not given Catherine a child it was agreed with Elizabeth’s blessing that she should take a lover. It's probable that Count Sergei Saltykov fathered her first child, Paul, following which Saltikov was sent abroad and the child taken away by Elizabeth. In 1762 Peter succeeded to the throne and lived openly with his mistress. He insisted on wearing Prussian colours and was hated by the men he commanded. Catherine, by contrast, learned Russian and observed all the feasts of the Orthadox Church. She took a new lover called Grigory Orlov and they had a son together who was brought up on an estate outside Moscow. After reigning for six months Catherine masterminded a plot to dethrone the emperor. On 28 June 1762, after an incident at dinner when Peter declared that she wasn’t a member of the royal family, Orlov advised Catherine her to take action as her life was in danger. She had Peter arrested and forced him to sign an abdication; Peter was then murdered in a fracas with Orlov and his brother. Catherine travelled to Moscow wearing the Russian Green uniform to be crowned Empress.

In total Catherine had eleven lovers and was probably married twice. Even as she aged she preferred younger lovers and all were aged between 22 and 30. The young men’s families never objected as they were rewarded with lands and money. The affair with Orlov lasted fourteen years. He wanted to marry Catherine but her ministers advised against it. Her most famous lover was Potemkin, who was brave, fiercely intelligent and stood up to Catherine and her ministers. As he was a trusted diplomat and military leader they held many conversations on statecraft and politics and he was valuable to her, adding the Crimea to the empire and planning the city of Odessa. It's thought they were probably married - a 1784 letter to Potemkin is signed "your devoted wife". He also vetted Catherine’s lovers and didn’t always approve - for example, he thought Zubov was greedy and shallow. Catherine's secretary and lover Zorich accused Potemkin of embezzlement and were both slightly injured in a duel which resulted in Zorich being sent away. Lanskoy was her youngest lover at 22 years old, a gentle and kind man; they had four years together until he was killed in a riding accident. The young men were often forbidden to go out or correspond with others. Demanding lovers who were intelligent, patient and good looking, Catherine found it difficult to find such companions. Some of them didn’t love her and were just happy to accept her patronage. One who did love her was Poniatowski, from a noble Polish family. They had a daughter together and he went on to rule Poland as a puppet king.

An enlightenment monarch, famous for her art collection, Catherine modernised Russia, greatly improving education and healthcare. However, she failed to end serfdom as it underpinned Russian society. Therefore her main support came from the nobility and she had to put down the peasants' Pugachev Rebellion. By the end of her 34-year reign the country was richer, larger and healthier and the period is considered the Golden Age of Russia.

Ellie Morris