Born the daughter of an obscure German prince, a suggestion by Frederick the Great of Prussia brought her on to the world's stage. When the Russian Empress asked Frederick the Great's advice about a wife for the Russian heir, he proposed Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst. Together with her mother, she then went to St. Petersburg, embraced the Orthodox religion, and took the name of Catherine. According to her memoirs she gained the confidence of her young husband when he told her that what he liked about her was her being his second cousin and, as a relative, could talk freely with him. Then he told her that he was in love with one of the Empress's ladies-in-waiting but had to resign himself to marrying Catherine. Not at all upset, she wrote "I did not care about Peter, but I did about the Crown". A year-and-a-half later she married him. Catherine came to the conclusion that Peter's love affairs were probably imaginary as he spent all his time playing soldiers. She kept on good terms with her young husband as well as pleasing everyone she considered important. Nine years after their marriage, a son, Paul, was born; but as Catherine cared little for the baby, he was brought up by the Empress Elizabeth. Later on Catherine gave birth to a daughter, Anne, fathered by Stanislas Poniatowski. In 1762 Empress Elizabeth died while Russia was at war with Prussia. Catherine's husband, now Emperor Peter III, stopped this war but remained pre-occupied with his mistress, Elisabeth Vorontsova. He began his reign with some improvements but also made some grave errors, upsetting many Russians. Soon Catherine was scheming to depose her husband. In her efforts she was assisted by her lover, Gregory Orlov who, with his four brothers, began soliciting supporters for Catherine. When Peter III threatened to send her to a convent, the conspirators acted. At the headquarters of the Ismailovsky Guards, Catherine insisted that her actions were for the sake of Russia and the Orthodox religion. She was then conducted to the capital and proclaimed Sovereign Autocrat, while Peter III was taken to Ropsha, a country house. After he was murdered, Catherine announced that he had died of a violent fit of colic.

Although Europe was scandalized and her announcement regarded as cynical, Catherine ignored the disapproval of the European courts. On the day she was crowned, she made Gregory Orlov a Count as well as her Adjutant-General. He was given rooms in the Winter Palace which had a private staircase leading to her own apartment. In private Orlov beat Catherine, but she fell even more in love with "the handsomest man I have ever known". However, even though she bore him a son, Alexis Bobrinskoy, she refused to marry him. Warned that "Madame Orlov could never remain Empress of Russia", she ignored his tirades, cried over his infidelities, yet allowed the world to know she was his mistress. Nevertheless, Catherine displayed grandeur, not only at court but also by replacing the wooden houses of St. Petersburg with stone houses, and commissioning the Italian Rastrelli to build her a palace at Tsarskoye Selo. In St. Petersburg she built another palace for Orlov. She also created the Hermitage, instructing her ambassadors to collect paintings by Rembrandt, Rubens, Raphael, Tiepolo, Titian, van Dyck and Reni. Despite all the entertainment that took place, she would rise at six in the morning and often work ten hours a day. She may not have liked France, but she loved the French language and made it the Court language. Soon any thing French was fashionable. Even though many hoped she would alleviate the serfs, she increased the master's right to punish them and turned over nearly a million free peasants to private proprietors. In 1773 a Don Cossack, Emelyan Pugachev, claimed to be Peter III and called on people to free themselves from their slavery. His revolt started to turn into an uprising and, in the winter of 1773, he came within 120 miles of Moscow. First Catherine made peace with the Turks, then sent General Suvorov to pursue Pugachev who was betrayed by his own lieutenants. At least Pugachev was not tortured before being executed, while the execution of his followers continued for over a year. In 1772 when she found that Gregory Orlov was having an affaire with Princess Golitsyna, she replaced him with the tall, handsome and young Alexander Vasilchikov, installing him in Orlov's apartments. However, Vasilchikov turned out to be dull, moody and a poor lover. Disliking their relationship, Vasilchikov complained that he was "nothing more than a kept woman and treated as such". Orlov then had to be pacified with gifts---many gifts. For a few years he travelled through Europe before marrying his second cousin. Widowed a year later, he began to display symptoms of madness. When in 1783 he died aged forty-six, he left his immense fortune to Count Alexis Bobrinskoy, his son by Catherine the Great. When Catherine was 44 she started her affaire with the 34-year-old Potemkin. This time she was as much attracted to his mind as to his body. He composed music and ballads and did more than anyone to end the Turkish war. Some believe she may have married him in 1774. Catherine persuaded the Austrian Emperor to make Potemkin a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, showered him with gifts, but still could not keep him. However, before departing he provided Catherine with her next lover, the 25-year-old Zavadovsky. This started a long chain of lovers, most chosen by Potemkin: Zavadovsky, Zorich, Korsakov, Lanskoy, Yermolov and Mamonov. However, as she was terrified of venereal diseases, she insisted that all her future lovers be examined by her doctor and "tested" by two of her ladies-in-waiting. Selected by Potemkin, he also dismissed them, but all left the Palace with a fortune. All this shocked Orthodox Russia and even her own son Paul alluded to her as a whore. However, she was too secure in her position to worry. Her son resented both her keeping him out of the affairs of state and having taken away his two eldest sons. In 1789, aged 61, Catherine found yet another new lover, the 22-year-old Platon Zouboff. She had lost her teeth, her face was a ruin, her body fat, her legs swollen so that she moved around in a wheel-chair, yet her sexual appetite was as strong as ever. 1789 also saw the beginning of the French Revolution which, through the following years, she followed with fascinated horror. In 1790 she ordered all Russians in France to return home. When Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed, she broke off diplomatic relations and imposed six weeks of court mourning. In 1791 Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg, but then returned to the south to die six months later. In 1796 Catherine was considering to by-pass her son Paul and make her grandson, Alexander, her heir. Become aware of this, Paul feared of being murdered. However, before anything could be finalized, Catherine died on 6 November 1796. It was Zouboff's brother who brought the news to her son, now Emperor Paul I.

Source: Leo van de Pas