She was an empress, and another woman, from the daughter of a fallen principality in Prussia, Germany, to the grand duchess of a sexless marriage, and for 18 years she was a recluse, using her lover to launch a coup d'état to seize the throne, and during her reign, she went around conquering and expanding her territory, bringing Russia into its heyday.
Just like Wu Zetian, from the crown princess to the Russian empress, Catherine experienced many lovers. But the difference is that she has paid for true love, given birth to a child for the man she loves, and how crazy is her path to love?
Crown Prince Peter, a thin and eccentric man who had been chosen crown prince by her aunt, Tsarisa of Russia, had no interest in Yekaterina, who had become crown princess, so much so that in the seven years of their marriage, the two had never been married.
Catherine
The Empress was very angry, so that the throne was still no successor, she blamed the head of the guard, Jogorokova, for not fulfilling the duty of prompting, in order to fulfill the Empress's wishes, the head of the guard arranged a young widowed Lady Groot for Peter, designated the mercurial Saltikov for the Crown Princess Catherine, let the two veterans of the love field guide a couple of newcomers to the round house, and finally in 1754, Catherine gave birth to the baby boy Paul.
Although After becoming empress, Catherine insisted that Paul was in fact Saltykov's son, Paul expressed great anger at her words, insisting that he was the flesh and blood of Peter III. And from the appearance and personality of Paul after adulthood, it is indeed very similar to Peter III.
As the object of Ekaterina's love, Saltykov also became her first lover, who first fell in love with Catherine, and naturally has an innocent attachment to Saltykov, a master of love.
Catherine and Paul
However, after Paul's birth, Empress Elizabeth arranged for Saltykov to stay in Hamburg and left Catherine's life.
Later, when Catherine became empress, instead of recalling Saltykov to renew the frontier, she sent her to Paris further afield as a minister. After experiencing more men, Catherine found that the man's performance was actually very bad, and naturally there was no interest.
Shortly after giving birth to Paul, Ekaterina, without Saltykov, soon had a new goal. In June 1755, the elegant, handsome and handsome young Polish nobleman Poniatov fell under Catherine's pomegranate skirt, and the two soon fell in love, ignoring the surprised eyes of others, and entered and exited Catherine's palace in pairs every day, and a year later, their daughter was born, but it was not long before they died.
Poniatov
And Catherine's husband, Peter, is fighting with Empress Elizabeth's maid, Voronzova, and does not care about all this. Eventually, the scandal reached the Empress's ears. Poniatov was sent back to Poland, and the innocent little boy should have had a crush on Catherine, and was very sad when he left. Catherine, on her tour of Poland, later rejected the party arranged for her by Poniatov, who was already the king of Poland, and said to her retinue: "This king disgusts me."
In 1761, Empress Elizabeth died and Peter ascended the throne, known historically as Peter III. At this time, Catherine was already in the arms of orlov, the leader of the Guards.
On April 11, 1762, Catherine's third child was born, the boy's father was Orof, and after sending the child out of the palace, Catherine and Orof planned a coup d'état before the angry Peter III began to act.
Orlov
On 28 June, under the escort of clergy and army, Catherine entered the Winter Palace, and the Archbishop proclaimed Catherine as the new Tsar, Paul as Crown Prince, and all the courtiers listened to the Empress's first statement.
In order to prevent trouble, Catherine personally led an army of more than 14,000 people to surround the palace of her unsuspecting husband Peter III, arrested and imprisoned him, and a few days later, Peter died mysteriously.
In the first few years of Catherine's reign, Orof was almost inseparable from her, and his chest hung a portrait of the empress, which became the symbol of the "male favorite" of the empress. Orlov had instructed the entire family to petition the Empress for remarriage. However, the strong opposition of the Guards helped the Empress, and she did not have to personally refuse Orof's forced marriage.
Palace coup
In 1772, Orlov was appointed by Empress Catherine as a negotiator to settle the Russo-Turkish War dispute, a failure that left Orlov with everything. Not only was her reputation and status not secured, but the Empress's lover also became a 28-year-old cavalry officer, Vaslichkov.
It was just that Catherine was not satisfied with the new "male favorite" and sent him away from the frontier more than a year later, and the most important man in her life, Potemkin, began to enter her life and Russian politics.
Potemkin was also a member of the officer corps at the time of Catherine's coup d'état, and he was astute and brave, and was blinded by the king's man at the time, the jealous Orof, when he attended the party, but this did not affect his favor with Empress Catherine.
Potemkin
In January 1774, Potemkin officially became Catherine's new favorite, and he also became the most powerful man in all of Russia, combining the Empress's staff officer, grand marshal, and fleet commander. Legend has it that on June 8, 1774, the two also held a secret wedding at the Church of St. Sampsonov. Because from this day on, Catherine began to refer to Potemkin as "dear husband".
In the spring of 1776, Catherine had a new lover, Lieutenant Colonel Zavadowski and Potemkin still living in the Winter Palace, and a year later, the Lieutenant Colonel left the Winter Palace with the Empress's farewell gift, and from then on, the young officers in the Guards continued to become new people in Catherine's Winter Palace.
Zubelf
In February 1791, Potemkin, unusually, advised Catherine to get rid of the new Zubeev, believing that Zubev was an insatiable and ambitious and disguised villain, but Catherine needed the young man, although she still loved Potemkin. In the end, the depressed Potemkin died of illness, Catherine was very sad, and in this life, the only person she really loved was Potemkin.
There were at least 23 men in Catherine's life, and some scholars who specialize in Russian history believe that there are at least 23 people with names and surnames, but it is possible that even Empress Catherine herself cannot remember.
Reference history: "Catherine's Road to Love"