Vulgar and intimate successes of empresses. The most brilliant lovers in history

Cleopatra - used a "vibrator" from a hollow gourd filled with live bees.

The Egyptian queen Cleopatra is one of the wisest mistresses, far from being a beauty in appearance. Cleopatra is perhaps the most controversial character in the ancient world. The night of love with the queen cost the man his life, however, those who wanted to experience all the passion of the fatal beauty did not become less from this. Each man was determined to conquer Cleopatra with his strength and skill, and in the morning not only stay alive, but also become her lawful husband and king of Egypt. But Cleopatra was uncompromising: she did not leave life to any of her lovers.

Egyptologists call Cleopatra not only an adherent of free love, but also an experienced fellatrix (fellatio from lat. fello - to suck), or, more simply, Cleopatra did an amazing blowjob. Perhaps it was for this reason that the ancient Greeks gave her the name Meriohane - translated from Greek. - “open-mouthed”, “one that opens its mouth wide”; "wide short"; "the woman with ten thousand mouths." Cleopatra was also called Khaylon - "Thick-lipped".

Thais of Athens - a daring hetaera who seduced Alexander the Great. She went down in history as an impregnable beauty, although she was a prostitute.

She lured Macedonian by the fact that she did not want to sell her body to him for any wealth and gifts. “If you penetrate the heart, you will conquer me and the whole world,” she said to the great conqueror.

The voluptuous Marquise de Pompadour, favorite of the French King Louis XV, is still considered one of the most tireless and skillful mistresses. The secret of her passion is in celery.

Her daily menu included two of the strongest aphrodisiacs - chocolate and celery root. The lady drank a cup of hot chocolate with celery root powder in the morning, and during the day she ate a salad of celery, apples and walnuts. It is not known for certain whether she or she knew about the exciting effect of these products, but she had sex five to ten times a day and with different partners. By the way, in many countries, peasants broadcast a bunch of celery at the head of the bed on their wedding night.

The Marquise de Pompadour (Jeanne Antoinette Poisson) was predicted at the age of nine that she would have a relationship with the king himself. Its origin is not exactly known. According to one version, she was not from a wealthy family at all, but she was very lucky to find herself a patron in the face of a nobleman. Her meeting with King Louis XV took place at a masquerade. The king was intrigued by the behavior of the girl who hid her face under the mask, and when she took it off, it finally struck the monarch. Progress towards the goal further was not easy, but Jeanne nevertheless achieved her goal, becoming the official favorite of the king. She continued her vigorous activity - she took up the development of art, becoming the greatest patron for many writers and artists of that time. The Marquise de Pompadour until her death remained for Louis not just a mistress, always brilliant and original, but also a friend, which is very rare.

Egyptian Queen Cleopatra- one of the wisest mistresses, far from being a beauty in appearance. Cleopatra is perhaps the most controversial character in the ancient world. The night of love with the queen cost the man his life, however, those who wanted to experience all the passion of the fatal beauty did not become less from this. Each man was determined to conquer Cleopatra with his strength and skill, and in the morning not only stay alive, but also become her lawful husband and king of Egypt. But Cleopatra was uncompromising: she did not leave life to any of her lovers.

Thais of Athens- a daring hetaera who seduced Alexander the Great. She went down in history as an impregnable beauty, although she was a prostitute.

She lured Macedonian by the fact that she did not want to sell her body to him for any wealth and gifts. “If you penetrate into the heart, you will conquer me and the whole world,” she said to the great conqueror.

Voluptuous Marquise de Pompadour, the favorite of the French king Louis XV, is still considered one of the most tireless and skillful mistresses. The secret of her passion is in celery.

"Women are made to be loved, not to be understood." Oscar Wilde, who understood the essence of women better than many men. The most famous women forever inscribed their names in history. And although some of them do not seem to us fatal beauties, and they really did not have unearthly beauty, they were remembered for centuries.

Roman Valeria Messalina went down in history as the most dissolute mistress, while being the wife of the emperor, she became a symbol of lust and fornication. Messalina lived in the 1st century AD and died at the hands of her husband at the age of 23. She wanted to enthrone her young lover Gaius Silius. Historians also say that she was already seriously stricken with syphilis at that time, so that her death at the hands of her husband was a beautiful - and rather fortunate - end to her dissolute life.

According to her contemporaries, she was much more promiscuous than the emperor Nero, who was famous for wild orgies, children's harems and the imperial palace turned into a brothel ...

Egyptologists call Cleopatra not only an adherent of free love, but also an experienced fellatrix (fellatio from lat. fello - to suck), or, more simply, Cleopatra did an amazing blowjob. Perhaps it was for this reason that the ancient Greeks gave her the name Meriohane - translated from Greek. - "open-mouthed", "one that opens its mouth wide"; "wide short"; "the woman with ten thousand mouths." Cleopatra was also called Khaylon - "Thick-lipped".

Despite the good inclinations of a real ruler, Cleopatra most of all loved to indulge her desires. And the desires of their heroic lovers. Cleopatra always knew exactly what a man wants from her, what he wants to see her. For Caesar, she was smart and modest, and for Mark Antony, she was a frantic hunter for carnal pleasures.

Was truly beautifulGreek hetaera Phryne.She was a model, and they sculpted and painted Aphrodite from her. In the end, she was sentenced to death in Athens for "pernicious influence on the most enlightened citizens of the republic." But during the execution, when her clothes were torn off, and the judges and the public saw her perfect body, she was acquitted, because they considered that a dissolute soul could not dwell in such a "divine body."

Thais of Athens- a daring hetera who seduced Alexander the Great. She went down in history as an impregnable beauty, although she was a prostitute. She lured Macedonian by the fact that she did not want to sell her body to him for any wealth and gifts. “If you penetrate into the heart, you will conquer me and the whole world,” she said to the great conqueror.

Chinese empress Wu Hu of the Tang Dynasty introduced into court etiquette the custom of "licking the stamens of a lotus", which symbolized the advent of an era of female superiority. Wu Hu demanded that all government officials and visiting dignitaries show their special respect for Her Imperial Majesty through cunnilingus. So, ancient paintings depict the Empress supporting her dress, and the dignitary, kneeling in front of her, kisses her genitals.

In Chinese stories of the 18th-19th centuries, one can read about a romantic and comfortable armchair. Large landowners quite widely used this device. It was a folding chair with automatic grippers for arms and legs, when a woman was put into this chair, the grips worked and fixed her arms and legs, and shethe armchair unfolded, turning into a miniature bed. Such chairs were banned during the reign of the Manchus.

Scheherazade famous for her intelligence. After each act of love, she told her master a fairy tale, which she interrupted at the most interesting place. The Sultan initially wanted to exile her to the lower harem as a wife who no longer satisfies him, but he never did, because she was a tireless storyteller, and no one could tell him such stories. Scheherazade and her book of fairy tales "A Thousand and One Nights" is a folk legend about the same brilliant dreamer who was the most desired wife of the Sultan for exactly 1000 nights. What happened to her afterwards is unknown. According to some sources, she died from some infectious disease.

Blood Countess Alzhbeta Bathory became the muse of the painter Caravaggio, his model and goddess. According to legend, she had unearthly beauty and had the face of a young girl until her death, and all because she tortured and killed young girls, and then bathed in their blood. She killed about six hundred women, among whom were not only servants and peasant women, but also women of noble birth. Bathory is credited with making monstrous mechanisms. Among them is a metal coffin with spikes inside, the spikes do not penetrate deep into the body, they only cause bleeding. In this case, the victim slowly dies from blood loss.

The Blood Countess had several thousand painful tortures and devices in her arsenal. In 1611, at the age of 50, Alzhbet Bathory was tried, and then an angry mob staged lynching - the countess was immured in the wall of her castle in the Lesser Carpathians. According to another version, the widow of Bathory was slandered because she was richer than the king, and he wanted to take away her land and gold. Where her five children disappeared after her death is also unknown, but the immortal wealth of the widow Bathory went to the royal family. She went down in history as the most beautiful woman in Europe with unfading youth, and in Hungary she is still called a vampire to lure tourists, not inferior in the number of atrocities and cruelty to Vlad Tepes, the prototype of Count Dracula.

Voluptuous Marquise de Pompadour, the favorite of the French king Louis XV, is still considered one of the most tireless and skillful mistresses. The secret of her passion is in celery. Her daily menu included two of the strongest aphrodisiacs - chocolate and celery root. The lady drank a cup of hot chocolate with celery root powder in the morning, and during the day she ate a salad of celery, apples and walnuts. It is not known for certain whether she or she knew about the exciting effect of these products, but she had sex five to ten times a day and with different partners. By the way, in many countries, peasants hung a bunch of celery at the head of the bed on their wedding night.

Despite the fact that at the time of the meeting with NapoleonJosephinewas no longer young (she was over thirty), her appearance remained admirable. Being an imperious ruler for the rest, he gave all his most tender feelings to her. The secret of her success is that she was not just a beautiful woman, she was an excellent listener, and always approved of all the actions of Napoleon, no matter what he did, she said that he made the right decision.

The most revolutionary lover - Inessa Armand - met Lenin in Paris in front of Krupskaya, until her death, one might say, Krupskaya was always in a relationship with Lenin on the sidelines.

Continuation of "Brilliant mistresses" part 2

So, after a medical examination, Catherine's favorite is entrusted to the care of Countess Bruce, whose task was to take care of the appropriate wardrobe of the chosen one. He passes the next stage of testing at the alcove lady, Mrs. Protasova, and then, checked, washed, dressed in the thinnest shirts and hastily trained in palace etiquette, he is taken to the prepared apartments. He is expected here by comfort, unprecedented luxury, servants. Opening his desk drawer, he finds 100,000 rubles (a fixed rate for sexual favors to newly minted favorites) in it.

Then he is solemnly escorted into the bedroom of the Empress. In the evening, cheerful and contented, the empress appears before the assembled court, leaning on the hand of her favorite. By her mood, the courtiers will know if he is left in his position. If not, they will let him go with God, and even the award of 100,000 rubles will not be taken away. We remind dear readers that with this money he could buy three thousand serf girls.

But the favorite is confirmed. Exactly at ten o'clock in the evening, having finished playing cards, the empress retires to her bedchamber, where the favorite slips after her with a nimble mouse. From now on, his future depends only on himself. If the empress is satisfied with his services, he will remain in his "golden cage" for as long as the empress wishes, unless, of course, unforeseen circumstances occur for his somewhat hasty resignation, which happened to the empress more than once.

From the moment he is approved for the position of favorite, he will accompany the queen everywhere, in all her trips and exits. When leaving, his apartments will be located next to the apartments of the queen, and the beds will be masked by a huge mirror, which can move to the side with the help of a special spring - and now the double marital bed is ready.

The position of the favorite is very well paid. Much more than all other positions. Unheard-of wealth and royal honors await the lover, and if he is ambitious, then glory. From now on, he does not have to worry about his future. If, after some time, he is shown the door, he will not leave empty-handed. He will take with him the granted estates, palaces, furniture, utensils, how many thousands of souls of peasants there, he will be allowed to marry, go abroad, in a word, he will be happy for the rest of his life. It is estimated that Catherine the Great distributed 800,000 acres of land, along with the peasants inhabiting them, and 90 million in money to her favorites. The position of favorite thus became an official state institution. What the first Russian tsarinas timidly began, what Elizabeth Petrovna had already introduced with some courage, was ingeniously improved, exalted, introduced to the rank of honorary titles by Catherine II. With what disarming simplicity and naturalness she accepts the services of a favorite, without making any secret of this, even before her grandchildren. In the evening, a friendly family gathers in her apartment: son Pavel with his wife and children and a favorite. They drink tea, joke, talk about family affairs, then the family delicately says goodbye, the grandchildren kiss their grandmother's hand, she kisses them on the cheek, and leaves, leaving the favorite alone with the queen.

Everything is decent, as in a respectable family. No one ever expressed any censure at court on this occasion. Only foreigners were indignant, believing that Catherine was compromising both her deeds and her great name. She herself sincerely did not see anything discrediting her in this.

Well, what is it about this that Catherine raised the bed to the highest pedestal, created a cult of sensual love? She was not only sensual by nature, but also an educated woman, well-read, besides German, where the cult of the bed had its own historical traditions. “You get into bed and you get your rights,” says an old German proverb. And sexual insatiability was one of the features of this era, serving three cults: food, drink and sexual pleasures. And if Catherine was extremely moderate in food and drink, then she gave herself to love with all the passion she was capable of.

The Empress guards her favorites and is jealous. Usually they are not allowed to leave the palace without her knowledge. There were exceptions, of course. Such an exception was Grigory Orlov, who openly cheated on the queen with his numerous mistresses and often left her for whole weeks. Such an exception was Prince Potemkin, the only one who retained his independence and, having ceased to be Catherine's lover, became her friend, adviser, an absolutely necessary and valuable person. But other favorites were forced to reckon with their dependent position and not to forget that they are supposed to be unobtrusive and inoffensive. So, Mamonov only once received permission to go himself to the house of the ambassador Count Segur, but the empress was so worried and jealous of her lover that her carriage flashed back and forth in front of the windows of the embassy, to the great bewilderment of the astonished guests.

It would be best for Catherine if the favorite absolutely merged with her "I". Observed the same interests, tastes and desires.

That is why she was so willing to educate them. And when in other royal courts of Europe they began to whisper about the immorality of Catherine the Great, Masson declared: "Her manners were refined and dissolute, but she always retained some outward decency."

What about other monarchs? At the Viennese court, the favorite is a common thing: he played the role of a servant, lover and friend. The mistress maintains him and pays him a salary. He is always with her, during the toilet he replaces the maid, at dinner - a friend, on a walk - a companion, in bed - her husband. Blaming Catherine the Great, we forget that long before her, European queens introduced the position of favorite. Neither Elizabeth of England, nor Mary of Scotland, nor Christina of Sweden made secrets from their relationship with favorites.

From time immemorial, the mistress of the king was higher than the legitimate wife. Madame Montespan, mistress of King Louis XIV, had twenty rooms in Versailles on the first floor, and the queen only eleven, and then on the second floor. In front of the palace of the favorite of the Prussian king Frederick II, ballerina Barbarini, there was a guard of honor, there were maids of honor at her service, as to the persons of the King, and the honors accorded to her were truly royal. Exorbitant signs of attention were shown to the Marquise Pompadour, the mistress of King Louis XV, and neither King Frederick II, nor Queen Maria Theresa, nor our Catherine the Great considered it shameful for themselves to correspond with her.

Henry IV had a Gabrielle who felt so queen that only her death prevented this official appointment. Henry II appears as a submissive slave before the all-powerful Diana Poitier, about whom his wife Catherine de Medici said: "This whore rules the state."

Are we accusing Catherine the Great of indefatigable sensuality? But how many erotomaniac kings reigned in Europe, giving an example "worthy of imitation" to their subjects? With Louis XIV, the parade of favorites begins. Under Friedrich Wilhelm II, the entire court was one great brothel. Everyone vied with each other to offer both their wives and daughters to the bed of the king, and this was considered the highest favor on his part. The favorite "dish" of Louis XV were girls, who were not difficult to seduce just because for his pleasures the girls were fattened like geese for slaughter.

In general, the whole life of this king is a continuous chain of immorality and obscenity. It is difficult to instill morality in subjects. They tried with might and main, wanting to outdo each other in perversion and sadism. Count Haufeld indulged in debauchery openly, in front of everyone, most unceremoniously in front of his own wife. In her presence, he caressed the women who were staying in the castle, forced his wife to be a witness to his nightly adventures. Husbands needed to test their sexual sadism on the patience of their wives. When the wife of Count Haufeld gave birth to a dead child and her life was in danger, her husband did not find anything better to console her than to copulate with her best friend, Countess Nesselrode, right there, in front of her eyes.

The conspiracy has been revealed! We are dead! - with such an exclamation, Princess Vorontsova-Dashkova burst into Catherine's bedroom and froze on the threshold. The Empress was washing her lace cuffs in the pelvis.
- Empress, what are you doing?
- Can't you see, I'm erasing. What surprises you? I was prepared not for the Russian empresses, but, God forbid, for the wife of some German prince. Therefore, they taught to wash and cook ...

The future empress of the vast Russian empire, Catherine the Great, was born not in a luxurious palace, but in an ordinary German house and received a bourgeois education: she was really taught to clean and cook.

Her father, Prince Christian-August, was the younger brother of a sovereign German prince, but due to a constant lack of money, he was forced to take a job. And Sophia-Augusta-Frederica-Emilia, as Catherine was called in childhood, despite her royal origin, played in the city square with the children of burghers, received slaps from her mother for poorly polished boilers and respectfully kissed the hem of the dress of the wives of wealthy citizens, if they went into house.

Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp and Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst are the parents of the future Empress Catherine the Great.

Catherine's mother, John Elisabeth, was a domineering and riotous woman. It was even rumored that Catherine's real father was none other than Frederick the Great himself. He also proposed the candidacy of the young Princess Sofikhen as a wife to the Russian heir to the throne, Peter, when he heard a rumor that Empress Elizaveta Petrovna was looking for a bride for her nephew, to whom she intended to leave the throne.

This is what the future Catherine the Great looked like when she arrived in Russia, being a simple German princess Sophia Augusta Frederica. Portrait by Louis Caravaca

So the little German princess from the dirty city streets ended up in the shining gold of the Russian Imperial Palace. Having received the name Catherine in baptism, the future wife of the heir to the throne began to study with the best court teachers and fabulously succeeded not only in the Russian language, but also in the art of flirting.

Having inherited from her mother an indefatigable sexual temperament, Catherine launched her seduction at the Russian court. Even before the wedding, she flirted so openly with the court don Juan Andrei Chernyshev that, in order to avoid rumors, Elizabeth was forced to send the poor count abroad.

Grand Duchess Ekaterina Alekseevna at the age of 16 (1745). Groot painting

As soon as Catherine turned sixteen, Elizaveta Petrovna hurried to marry the German princess to Peter, making it clear to her that her only duty was to give birth to an heir.

After the wedding and a magnificent ball, the young people were finally taken to the marriage chambers. But Catherine woke up, as she lay down - a virgin. Peter remained cold to her both on their wedding night and for many months afterwards. Some are looking for the reasons for such an attitude towards his wife in the infantilism and dementia of Peter, others in his tragic love.

Peter III with Catherine II

Peter fell in love with the maid of honor Natalia Lopukhina, whose mother was Elizabeth's personal enemy. Lopukhina Sr. was Anna Ioannovna's favorite lady of state and catered to the Empress in every possible way, humiliating her hated daughter-in-law, Princess Elizabeth.

The historical anecdote has survived. Balls were often held in the Lopukhins' house. Elizabeth was also invited there. Once Lopukhina bribed Elizabeth's maids and offered them a sample of yellow brocade with silver, from which the princess sewed her dress for the ball.

When Elizabeth entered the living room, there was an explosion of laughter. The walls, chairs, armchairs and sofas in the room were upholstered in the same yellow and silver brocade. The humiliated princess rushed out of the palace and sobbed for a long time in her bedroom.

Natalya Fyodorovna Lopukhina. Engraving by L. A. Seryakov.

Some authors explain the hostile attitude towards Lopukhina on the part of Elizabeth Petrovna by successful rivalry in amorous affairs. Subsequently, trying to explain to themselves the reasons for the disgrace that befell her, contemporaries recalled another case:

One day, Lopukhina, famous for her beauty and therefore arousing the jealousy of the empress, decided, whether out of frivolity or in the form of bravado, to appear with a rose in her hair, while the empress had the same rose in her hair.

In the midst of the ball, Elizabeth forced the guilty one to kneel, ordered the scissors to be brought, cut off the criminal rose along with the strand of hair to which it was attached, and, having rolled two good slaps on the guilty person, continued to dance. When she was told that the unfortunate Lopukhina had fainted, she shrugged her shoulders: “ Nothing to her fool!

Empress Elizabeth I Petrovna Romanova

When Peter asked his royal aunt for permission to marry Lopukhina's daughter, Elizabeth decided to take revenge. She accused Lopukhina of high treason, and the court sentenced the unfortunate countess to death. Elizabeth, by her "great mercy", mitigated the punishment. Lopukhina the elder was shamefully whipped on Trinity Square, her tongue was cut out, and she was exiled to Siberia.

After this tragic story with the mother of his beloved, Tsarevich Peter went crazy. But Catherine did not seek to please her husband: she quickly found solace in the arms of the Swedish envoy Count Polenberg. Empress Elizabeth turned a blind eye to the relationship of the young: she needed an heir, but Catherine still could not get pregnant.

Meanwhile, in the bed of an eighteen-year-old princess, one favorite replaced another: Kirill Razumovsky, Stanislav Poniatovsky, Zakhar Chernyshev (brother of Andrei exiled abroad), Lev Naryshkin and the Saltykov brothers, who knew a lot about love. Their mother, nee Golitsyna, was famous throughout Petersburg for drunkenness and debauchery in the soldiers' barracks - there were rumors that she had three hundred lovers among the empress's grenadiers.

Lev Alexandrovich Naryshkin - the famous court joker and rake of the times of Peter III and Catherine II.

After a few years of marriage, a miracle happened - Catherine became pregnant. Sergei Saltykov openly boasted that he was the father of the future heir, and was expelled from St. Petersburg. Later in Sweden, he spread terrible rumors about the debauchery of the Russian princess and assured that she herself hung on his neck, made appointments, and he supposedly deceived and did not come, which made Catherine suffer unspeakably.

Elizaveta Petrovna was so pleased with the good news that she gave her pregnant daughter-in-law one hundred thousand rubles and a lot of jewelry. The poor German princess, who came to Russia with three dresses and half a dozen handkerchiefs, began to squander the Russian treasury with money.

The born baby was named Pavel and immediately taken away from the young mother. However, Catherine was not interested in her son and never loved him. It is still unknown who was the real father of Paul - they call Zakhar Chernyshev, and Lev Naryshkin, and other lovers of the princess. Among the guesses, an amazing fact is noted: Pavel is unusually similar to his official father, Pyotr Fedorovich - which History does not joke about ...

Peter III and Paul I

After the death of Elizabeth, Peter III ascended the throne and declared that for depraved behavior he would exile Catherine to a monastery, and he would marry Elizabeth Vorontsova, his mistress. But by that time, with the help of her favorites, Catherine had woven a huge network around Peter.

Chancellor Panin, Prince Baryatinsky, Catherine's lover Grigory Orlov and four of his brothers organized a conspiracy against the emperor. But then one of the conspirators got scared and decided to warn the emperor - Peter did not attach any importance to his words, for which he paid not only with the throne, but also with his life.

At the court of Catherine II in Russia, favoritism became a new position, as at the court of Louis XIV in France, and bed careerists were recognized as people who served the fatherland and the throne. For their love efforts, they received palaces and considerable financial resources from the Russian treasury.

The bedroom of Elizaveta Petrovna was inherited for a long twenty years by her successor Catherine.

But Catherine was a passionate woman and could not live without a man. In her palace there was a special room with a huge bed. If necessary, a secret mechanism divided the bed into two parts with a wall - the favorite remained on the hidden half, and on the second, the empress, who had not cooled down from love pleasures, received ambassadors and ministers.

Catherine had a weakness for huge, gigantic men with a sensual face. Potential lovers were represented to the Empress by Chancellor Panin and Countess Bruce, who at court was called the “assay lady”.

Count Nikita Ivanovich Panin

Panin was Catherine's constant lover - he was smart, not demanding, not jealous. He appeared in the bedroom of the empress no more than once a week, and in his free time in his harem, consisting of serf concubines - every day he acquired a new girl, and gave away those who were bored to friends or sold them.

For Catherine, he chose tall soldiers who were not distinguished by intelligence, so as not to create rivals for himself. Once Panin and Countess Bruce recommended the handsome Potemkin.

Catherine was embarrassed by the fact that the lieutenant-general had only one eye (Grigory Orlov once knocked out his second in a fit of jealousy), but the countess convinced Catherine that Potemkin was going crazy with love for the empress.

Empress Catherine II and His Serene Highness Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin-Tavrichesky

After a night of love, Catherine promoted Potemkin to lieutenant general, gave him a magnificent palace and a million rubles for its arrangement. This is how bed careers were made in one night under Catherine.

But it seemed to Potemkin that the imperial gifts were not enough - once at dinner he demanded that Catherine make him a member of the State Council. Catherine was horrified:
But my friend, that's impossible!
- Wonderful! Then I go to the monastery. The role of your kept woman does not suit me!
Catherine began to cry and left the table. Potemkin did not come to the favorites' room. Catherine cried all night, and the next morning Potemkin was appointed senator.

Once Potemkin left for St. Petersburg on business for a few days. But the Empress could not be left alone for a long time. Once in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace, Catherine woke up at night from the cold. It was winter, and all the wood in the fireplace had burned down. She slept alone - Potemkin was in St. Petersburg on business.

Catherine II in Tsarskoye Selo park for a walk. Painting by artist Vladimir Borovikovsky

Not finding servants behind the screen, Catherine went out into the corridor, along which a stoker with a bundle of firewood on his shoulders was just walking. From the sight of this young Hercules of enormous growth, carrying firewood like a feather, Catherine took her breath away.
- Who are you?
- Court stoker, Your Majesty!
"Why didn't I see you before?" Fire up the fireplace in my bedroom.

The young man was delighted with such favor of the empress and lit a huge fire in the fireplace. But Catherine was not satisfied:
“Don’t you understand how to keep the Empress warm?”
And the stoker finally understood. And the next morning, he received an order to grant him the hereditary nobility, ten thousand peasants, an order never to return to St. Petersburg and change his surname to Teplov - in memory of how he warmed the empress.

In her old age, Catherine reached complete debauchery. Hefty men were no longer enough for her - and she turned her passion to a young gypsy, presented to her by Potemkin.

Countess Natalya Alexandrovna Zubova (née Suvorova) is the only daughter Field Marshal Suvorov , who affectionately called her "Suvorochka".

There were rumors at court about how the empress treated her maids and young peasant women. At the final exam at the Smolny Institute, the Empress drew attention to a beautiful graduate, who turned out to be Suvorov's daughter.
Give your daughter to me as a favorite.
Having heard about the adventures of the Empress, Suvorov replied:
- Mother, to die for you - I will die, but I will not give you my Suvorochka!
The angry empress sent the old man along with her daughter to their estate, forbidding them to appear at court - which was exactly what Suvorov needed.

In the absence of Potemkin, Catherine had many lovers: Ambassador Bezborodko and his secretaries Zavadovsky and Mamonov, the nephew of the midwife Zorich, guard officers Korsakov and Khvostov, and finally, the provincial youth Alexander Lanskoy.

Potemkin accidentally saw the twenty-year-old Lanskoy and introduced him to the Empress. The young man had an angelic appearance: huge blue eyes filled with sadness, blond curls, a slight blush on his cheeks and coral lips. He would have looked like a girl if not for his huge height and broad shoulders.

Alexander Dmitrievich Lanskoy. Portrait by D. G. Levitsky (1782).

He accepted Catherine's attention as the concern of his mother, besides, he was too loyal to his state to refuse something to the empress. He was ashamed of the position of the imperial concubine, but over time he became attached to Catherine with all his heart. The Empress was touched by such reading love of an innocent young man who had not known women at all before her.

Her aging heart was so jealous of Sashenka that Catherine locked her lover in several rooms, surrounding her with unheard of luxury. The Empress awarded Lanskoy with the title of count, huge lands, tens of thousands of peasants. But the young man in love did not need ranks and wealth - he was probably the only favorite who loved the empress like a woman. And the empress said to Potemkin:

- My soul, I'm going to marry Lansky.
What did he do to deserve such an honor?
“He never cheated on me.
Potemkin lowered his eyes. He himself cheated on Catherine almost every day with different women.

A month later, Lanskoy took to his bed. And not one court doctor could make an accurate diagnosis. Catherine knew that her lover was poisoned on behalf of Potemkin. Catherine wrote to her friend:

“I, sobbing, have the misfortune to tell you that General Lansky is gone ... and my room, which I loved so much before, has now turned into an empty cave.”

Virgilius Eriksen. Catherine II in mourning.

After the death of her beloved, the empress walked around the palace like a shadow. She abandoned all state affairs and did not receive anyone. It was so unlike her ... Apparently, the love that she did not know in her youth overtook her in her old age.

The only topic that the empress kept up the conversation was about Alexander Lansky, the only place she visited was his grave. She spent many hours at Lansky's grave in anguish and tears. Potemkin was furious. He was jealous - and to whom, to the deceased? In fits of anger, Potemkin circled like a kite among the guards officers. Finally, he chose Alexander Yermolov, made him his adjutant and sent him to Catherine.

His calculation was justified: Yermolov occupied the favorites' room, which had been empty for almost half a year. Still, Catherine was a woman, and the desire to love overcame her grief for the loss. Noticing that one of the ladies-in-waiting was secluded with Eromlov, Catherine ordered the soldiers to flog the aristocrat to the point of blood in the presence of the other eleven ladies-in-waiting - so that it would not be customary.

Alexander Petrovich Ermolov, favorite of Catherine II, lieutenant general, chamberlain.

Tall and slender blond, with a good complexion, Yermolov attracted attention with his handsome appearance, and only a wide, flat nose, for which Potemkin nicknamed him " le negre blanc' ruined his face.

Yermolov was too stupid, arrogant and narcissistic, besides he liked to play and often ran away from the empress to gambling houses and to prostitutes.

Potemkin himself, disappointed in Yermolov, successfully arranged for his rapid fall. The Empress willingly got rid of the boring favorite, inviting him on June 29, 1786 to go abroad on a trip. Not possessing the greed of other favorites, Yermolov received relatively little: 4,000 souls and about 400,000 in money; he did not care about the enrichment of all his relatives, as others did.

His place was soon taken by another adjutant of Potemkin - Alexander Mamonov.

Graph Alexander Matveevich Dmitriev-Mamonov (1788)

"Priceless Sasha" - so called Empress Mamonov. But Sasha began to disappear somewhere more and more often. He was not there on that ill-fated night when the tired Catherine returned from a meeting of the Council. She waited for him half the night, but greeted him playfully:

“Where are you, dear sir, deigned to disappear?”
“Mother Empress…” his tone and facial expression did not bode well. “You have always been kind to me, and I am frank with you. I can no longer carry out my duties near Your Majesty.

Catherine's face changed:
"What's the matter, are you kidding me?"
“Not at all, your majesty. I fell in love with another and ask your gracious permission to marry her. Her name is Princess Shcherbatova.

What can an aging woman who has lost her former attractiveness answer when a young lover says that he fell in love with another, good and young?
- I give you permission to marry. Moreover, I will arrange your wedding myself.

“... before the evening exit, Her Majesty herself deigned to betroth Count A. M. Mamonov to Princess Shcherbatova; they, on their knees, asked for forgiveness and are forgiven". The groom was granted 2,250 souls of peasants and 100,000 rubles and ordered to leave Petersburg the very next day after the wedding.

Having settled in Moscow, Dmitriev-Mamonov was at first pleased with his fate, but a year later he decides to remind Catherine of himself, writes pitiful letters to her, asks her to return his former favor, to allow him to come to St. Petersburg. The reply of the empress soon convinced him that his hopes were in vain.

The legend that Catherine, out of jealousy, sent bailiffs dressed in women's clothes to Shcherbatova, who brutally flogged her in the presence of her husband, is not true.

His Serene Highness Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov is the last favorite of Catherine II.

Meanwhile, a new and last favorite reigned in the palace - in 1789, the dizzying career of 22-year-old second-captain Platon Zubov began. He inherited the room of favorites from his brother, Valerian Zubov, who was the empress's lover for a very short time.

June 21, 1789, through the mediation of the lady of state Anna Nikitichna Naryshkina, the wife of Oberschenk Alexander Alexandrovich Naryshkin, Zubov, " passed through the top”, received a special reception from the Empress, and since then spent every evening with her.

Three days later, on June 24, Zubov received 10 thousand rubles and a ring with a portrait of the Empress, and ten days later, on July 4, 1789, he was promoted to colonel, granted to the adjutant wing of Her Imperial Majesty and settled in the palace, in the wing adjutant quarters, which were previously occupied by Count Dmitriev-Mamonov.

Those around him hated him, but the empress showered alms on her last favorite: on October 3, 1789, Zubov was appointed cornet of the Cavalier Guard Corps with promotion to major general, on February 3, 1790 he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, in July 1790 - the Prussian orders of Black and Red Orlov and the Polish White Eagle and St. Stanislav, September 8, 1790 - the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, March 12, 1792 promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Adjutant General of Her Imperial Majesty.

Platon Alexandrovich Zubov - Most Serene Prince of the Roman Empire, Chief of the First Cadet Corps, Yekaterinoslav, Voznesensky and Taurida Governor-General.

Diploma of the Roman Emperor Franz II, dated January 27 (February 7), 1793, Senator, Privy Councilor Alexander Nikolayevich Zubov and his sons, Adjutant General, Lieutenant General Platon, Major General Nikolai, Chamber Junker Dmitry and Major General Valerian Aleksandrovichi, elevated, with their descendants, to the dignity of a count of the Roman Empire. The adoption of the aforementioned title and its use in Russia in the same year was followed by the Highest permission.

Platon Zubov was arrogant, arrogant and loved only one thing in the world - money. Having received unlimited power, he mocked Tsarevich Pavel, completely sure that he would not get the throne. Potemkin planned to kill the new favorite, but did not have time - he died.

"Prince G.A. Potemkin-Tauride. From a rare engraving by Skorodumov.

The war with the Turks undermined Potemkin's health, he caught malaria in the Crimea. Catherine again showered him with orders and distinctions, but above all with money, which, however, he never had in abundance, because he generously distributed them.

When the war ended, he once again visited St. Petersburg. On the way back, he fell ill. He fainted, suffocated. Suddenly he decided that he must certainly visit Nikolaev - he himself founded this city and loved it very much; he believed that the forest air there would heal him. October 4, he set off.

Before leaving, no matter how difficult it was for him, he wrote a message to Catherine: “My beloved, my almighty Empress. I no longer have the strength to endure my suffering. Only one salvation remains: to leave this city, and I gave the order to deliver me to Nikolaev. I don't know what will happen to me." On October 5, 1791, on the second day of the journey, Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin died. He was 52 years old.

"The death of Prince G.A. Potemkin-Tauride. From the engraving by Skorodumov

The Empress sobbed for a long time and inconsolably, arranged a magnificent funeral for her former favorite and ordered two monuments to be erected to him. During the reign of Catherine from the Russian treasury, palaces and jewelry worth nine million rubles and forty thousand peasants passed into Potemkin's pocket.

After the death of Potemkin, during which Platon Aleksandrovich Zubov did not play, however, a prominent role in public affairs, the importance of Zubov increases every day. Many of the posts previously held by Potemkin are being transferred to him.

On July 23, 1793, he was awarded a portrait of the Empress and the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, on July 25, 1793 he was appointed governor-general of Yekaterinoslav and Tauride, on October 19, 1793 - general feldzeugmeister and general director over fortifications, on October 21, 1793 - chief of the Cavalier Guard Corps, January 1, 1795 he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir I degree.

Portrait of Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov. Lumpy Senior I.B. 1790s

All affairs were handled by his three secretaries: Altesti, Gribovsky and Ribas. Count Zubov himself, on August 18, 1795, receives huge estates in the newly annexed Polish regions - Shavelsky savings in 13669 souls of serfs with an income of 100 thousand rubles. And soon, after the annexation of the Duchy of Courland, Zubov was granted the Ruental (Rundal Palace) ducal palace built by Rastrelli.

By the end of the reign of Empress Catherine II, His Serene Highness Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov became the bearer of the following high-profile title:

« Feldzeugmeister General, director general over fortifications, over the Black Sea Fleet, Voznesenskaya light cavalry and the Black Sea Cossack army commander-in-chief, Adjutant General of Her Imperial Majesty, Chief of the Cavalier Guard Corps, Yekaterinoslav, Voznesensky and Tauride Governor-General, Member of the State Military Collegium, Imperial Educational home honorary philanthropist, honorary lover of the Imperial Academy of Arts and orders of the Russian St. Apostle Andrei, St. Alexander Nevsky, St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir I degree, royal Prussian Black and Red Eagle, Polish White Eagle and St. Stanislav and the Grand Ducal Holstein St. Anna cavalier».

This last favorite of Catherine II was a participant in the assassination of Emperor Paul I.

Catherine II. Artist Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov.

On November 16, 1796, as usual, Catherine, getting out of bed and drinking coffee, went to the toilet room, and, contrary to her usual habit, stayed there longer than usual.

The valet on duty of the Empress Zakhar Zotov, sensing something unkind, quietly opened the door of the dressing room and saw with horror the body of Catherine lying on the floor. Her eyes were closed, her complexion was purple, and wheezing came from her throat. The Empress was transferred to the bedchamber. During the fall, Catherine dislocated her leg, her body became so heavy that six people of the room servants did not have enough strength to lift him onto the bed. Therefore, a red morocco mattress was laid on the floor and the dying empress was laid on it.

The Empress had a brain hemorrhage, according to the terminology of the XVIII century - "apoplexy." According to the Kammer-Fourier magazine - this kind of diary-chronicle of the life of Her Majesty, - “ suffering continued uninterruptedly, sighing of the womb, wheezing, at times eruption from the larynx of dark sputum».

Despite the fact that Catherine did not regain consciousness, the Chamber Fourier journal reports that the Empress was confessed by her confessor, communed with the holy mysteries and unction with oil by Metropolitan Gabriel. True, it remains unclear how a person lying in an unconscious state can confess and take communion ...

Meanwhile, the doctors continued to conjure over the motionless thing that used to be Empress Catherine - her body: they applied Spanish flies to her legs, put emetic powders in her mouth, let "bad blood" out of her hand. But all was in vain: the empress’s face turned purple, then filled with a pink blush, her chest and stomach constantly rose and fell, and the court lackeys wiped the sputum flowing from her mouth, straightened her arms, then her head, then her legs.

Doctors predicted that death would come at 3 o'clock the next day, and indeed, at this time, Catherine's pulse noticeably weakened. But her strong body continued to resist the impending death and lasted until 9 pm, when the life physician Rogerson announced that the Empress was ending, and the happy Pavel, his wife, older children, the most influential dignitaries and room servants lined up on both sides of the morocco mattress.

At 9:45 in the afternoon, Great Catherine sighed for the last time and, along with others, appeared before the judgment of the Most High. For we will all be there: those who have titles occupy a whole paragraph, and those who do not have them at all ...

Catherine combined a high intellect, education, statesmanship and commitment to "free love". She is known for her connections with numerous lovers, the number of which (according to the list of the authoritative Ekaterinologist P. I. Bartenev) reaches 23.

Catherine's love affairs are marked by a series of scandals. So, Grigory Orlov, being her favorite, at the same time (according to M. M. Shcherbatov) cohabited with all her ladies-in-waiting and even with his 13-year-old cousin.

The favorite of Empress Lanskoy used an aphrodisiac to increase "male strength" (kontarid) in ever-increasing doses, which, apparently, according to the conclusion of the court physician Weikart, was the cause of his unexpected death at a young age. Her last favorite, Platon Zubov, was a little over 20 years old, while Catherine's age at that time had already exceeded 60.

Historians mention many other scandalous details (“a bribe” of 100 thousand rubles paid to Potemkin by the empress’s future favorites, many of whom were his adjutants before, testing their “male strength” by her ladies-in-waiting, etc.

Contemporaries, including foreign diplomats, were bewildered by the rave reviews and characteristics that Catherine gave to her young favorites, for the most part devoid of any outstanding talents. As N.I. Pavlenko writes, “ neither before Catherine, nor after her, debauchery did not reach such a wide scale and did not manifest itself in such a frankly defiant form.

It is worth noting that in Europe Catherine's "debauchery" was not such a rare phenomenon against the background of the general licentiousness of the mores of the 18th century. Most kings (with the possible exception of Frederick the Great, Louis XVI and Charles XII) had numerous mistresses. However, this does not apply to reigning queens and empresses.

Louis XVI

So, the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa wrote about “ disgust and horror”, which are instilled in her by such persons as Catherine II, and this attitude towards the latter was shared by her daughter Marie Antoinette.

As K. Valishevsky wrote in this regard, comparing Catherine II with Louis XV, “ the difference between the sexes until the end of time, we think, will give a deeply unequal character to the same actions, depending on whether they are committed by a man or a woman ... moreover, the mistresses of Louis XV never influenced the fate of France».

There are numerous examples of the exceptional influence (both negative and positive) that Catherine's favorites (Orlov, Potemkin, Platon Zubov, etc.) had on the fate of the country, starting from June 28, 1762, until the death of the Empress, as well as on its domestic, foreign policy and even on military operations.

According to N.I. Pavlenko, in order to please the favorite Grigory Potemkin, who envied the glory of Field Marshal Rumyantsev, this outstanding commander and hero of the Russian-Turkish wars was removed by Catherine from command of the army and was forced to retire to his estate.

Another, very mediocre commander, Musin-Pushkin, on the contrary, continued to lead the army, despite his blunders in military campaigns (for which the empress herself called him "a real blockhead") - thanks to the fact that he was "the favorite of June 28", one of those who helped Catherine seize the throne.

In addition, the institute of favoritism had a negative effect on the morals of the higher nobility, who sought benefits through flattery to a new favorite, tried to make “his man” into lovers to the empress, etc. A contemporary M. M. Shcherbatov wrote that Catherine’s favoritism and debauchery II contributed to the decline in the morals of the nobility of that era, and historians agree with this.

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