Gruff’s a 1st class beastie
She wasn’t Russian and her name wasn’t Catherine, having been born in Germany as Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst in 1729, the daughter of a poor Prussian prince. A tomboy as a girl, nicknamed Fike, her mother’s aristocratic connections meant that at just 16 she was married off to her second cousin, the future Russian tsar Peter III in 1745.
Her name was changed to Catherine and her religion to the Russian Orthodox, but the couple had an unhappy marriage, both having affairs and taking nine years to produce one son, Paul. Peter became emperor in 1762. A violent drunkard, he was hated by the Russian army. Within just six months Catherine had conspired to seize power in a bloodless coup, taking the throne for herself.
A little later Peter was murdered by the brother of Catherine’s lover, Gregory Orlov, though historians still debate whether she had ordered the assassination.
As empress, Catherine II would become the longest ruling female leader of the nation spending 34 years on the throne, surviving several uprisings herself.
As ruler she would oversee a golden age for Russia which saw it transformed into a global superpower and expand its territories in places such as the Crimea and Alaska.
She also built dozens of palaces, amassed a huge art collection, modernised the country and wrote a number of ★
CHILDREN’S character The Gruffalo will feature on a special set of stamps. It will mark the book’s 20th anniversary and feature new drawings by illustrator Axel Scheffler. ★
The Gruffalo, written by Julia Donaldson, has sold more than
14.5million copies worldwide.
Stamps go on sale from October 10. comedic plays. Catherine was dubbed “the great” by her friend, the French philosopher Denis Diderot.
She never married again but did enjoy an adventurous sex life after her husband’s death. In total, estimates of the number of lovers she took range from 12 to 22. One beau was 38 years her junior. Many of these beaus were given top jobs in the Russian government, showered with riches and servants. Lovers fathered her three other children.
In the new Sky Atlantic TV series there are several saucy scenes, including one showing a lover going up the stairs to Catherine’s bedroom to be greeted by another heading down!
It’s true that Catherine spent a lot of time with her favourite Arabian stallions, but it’s a myth that she perished trying to have sex with a horse when a harness broke and it toppled on to her. In fact she died in 1796, aged 67, after suffering a stroke – though not while sitting on the toilet as another rumour had it.
The fake news was spread by Catherine’s enemies after her death. Her own heir, Paul I, spread rumours that his mum was a nymphomaniac while another tale had it she was obsessed by erotic furniture.
Dame Helen, 74, who has already played Queen Elizabeth I and II, reckons lies spread about Catherine’s sex life were “appalling” propaganda. ● Catherine The Great is on Sky Atlantic and NOW 9pm this Thursday. ★ RACY Russian ruler Catherine the Great has long been the subject of a lurid legend that she died while trying to have sex with a horse.
But what’s the truth about the mysterious 18th century monarch played by Dame Helen Mirren in a new TV epic hitting screens this week? ★
Here JAMES MOORE reveals 15 fascinating facts about her… TV at