HELEN MIRREN BRINGS LUSTFU Men & ... the passio Cather

HISTORY can be cruel and few leaders have had a harsher press than Russia’s Catherine the Great.

The empress, played by Helen Mirren in a new series, was a woman of great passions and abilities.

She overthrew her drunken husband, Tsar Peter III, but revitalised and enlarged Russia, turning it into a great power of Europe.

Yet she made many enemies, including her son and successor Paul I. Her legacy was in his hands and one notorious myth follows the highly-sexed queen to this day.

The claim she was crushed to death while having sex with a horse.

But if anyone has the pedigree to set the record straight it’s Helen.

She has played Queen Charlotte in 1994’ s The Madness of King George, Elizabeth I in 2005 and in 2006 was Elizabeth II in The Queen, which won her an Oscar.

Helen, 74, who herself has Russian heritage, was intrigued by controversial Catherine, who ruled for 34 years, from 1762 to 1796.

Helen said: “She knew how to charm people, but also manipulate and blackmail them. What she did to survive was extraordinary.”

Catherine proved her military might by conquering vast swathes of land. She kept power by killing any rivals and never taking a second husband to replace Peter, who died in 1762.

Secret

She continued to have many lovers – as she had during her marriage – most of them far younger.

The heart of Sky Atlantic’s fourpart period drama is Catherine’s enduring love of Grigory Potemkin, played by Jason Clarke, 50.

Potemkin commanded her armies, won wars in her name and, some historians claim, actually married Catherine in secret.

Helen said: “It was love at first sight. It absolutely overwhelmed her physically and mentally and she was besotted with him.

“I think it’s one of the great love stories of our history.

“But they were very much oil and water. They could never settle down comfortably together. He went off to conquer Turkey key and the

Crimea, so was always off on military i t ary expeditions in n the name of the empire mpire and expansion.”

The passionate te couple would send nd each other several love letters a day.

In one she said she was thrilled d to have found a man she considered her equal to share her bedroom. She he wrote: “My dararling, the time ei I spend with you u is so happy. We pass ass four hours, boreredom vanishes and nd

I don’t want to part from you. u.

My dearest st friend, I LOVE E YOU SO MUCH, you are handsome, clever, jovial and funny; when I am with you, I attach no importance to the world.

“I have never been so happy. Very often I want to t keep my feelings from you but my heart just blabs out my passi passion.”

Catherine was so infatuated that despite being a great queen she once w waited in freezing temperatures outside his empty bedroom for t two hours, hoping to make love w with her hero.

Cath Catherine had a huge array of pet names for Po Potemkin. Soppier te terms included “my da darling soul”, “my h heart” and “dearest d dove”. Her more passionate names for him, thought to refer to his stamina in the bedroom and t the impressive manhoo hood, included “Lion of the Jungle”, J “Golden Cocke Cockerel” and “Wolf”. Cather Catherine was said to have had a cast made of Potemkin’s enormous manhood to console herself when he was away on military campaigns.

Potemkin’s moods were legendary and their relationship tumultuous. Actor Jason believes their intellectual connection was as important as their physical one.

He said: “I guess the age difference was also a factor. They formed a kind of teacher-student relationship in the beginning with Catherine seeing in Potemkin a man that was capable of learning and taking a seat next to her to build the empire together.” Potemkin had had a sexual relationship with the queen’s confidante Lady Bruce, played by Gina Mckee, who then stepped aside in favour of Catherine.

Speaking about her sex scenes, Gina said: “Catherine and certainly Countess Bruce have a great appetite for sex.”

However, Potemkin still had to see off Catherine’s lover Alexander Vasilchikov. He was sent off from the Winter Palace, but not without the usual compensation that she paid her discarded toyboys. Vasilchikov received a fu rated mansion, 50,000 ro setting up the house, 5,00 a year as a pension, villag ware, linen and a 20-pl service. Another ex-lover, Poniatowski, did very wel made him King of Poland

Catherine and Potemk ally decided to take other long as these flings did no with their own deep pol spiritual connection. Potem a Prince, left to annex th while back at Court, C