Favoritism of Catherine 2. Children of Catherine the Great. The reign and personal life of Catherine the Great

But Elizabeth suspected Catherine of plotting against her and set up surveillance. She was informed that Poniatowski was sneaking into the chambers of the heir's wife. Having learned about this, Pyotr Fedorovich, according to rumors, personally asked not to execute anyone. And let the wife's lover down the stairs.

So Poniatowski was forced to return to Poland, leaving literally the same night. After the shameful separation, they did not maintain correspondence, but, having learned about the coup, Stanislav still sent Catherine a letter, where he spoke about his intention to return to St. Petersburg. And... he received his resignation. The Empress categorically asked not to do this.

But she found a way to thank her once romantic favorite. After the death of King Augustus III in October 1763, he was nominated to the throne of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by the Czartoryski Party. In 1764, Catherine II expressed strong support on this issue. The rest is a matter of technology, and in this case, of diplomats.

Grigory Orlov

Stories about the famous hero Grigory Orlov, who during the Seven Years' War received three wounds at Zorndorf (1757), but did not leave the battlefield, conquered, perhaps, the whole of St. Petersburg. This information could not have passed by Catherine. A hero, a handsome man - at court there was only talk about Orlov.

In 1760, Feldzeichmeister General Count Pyotr Shuvalov took him in as his adjutant. But the noble rake charmed Shuvalov’s beloved, Elena Kurakina. The affair was discovered, and Orlov was kicked out.

Of course, the scandalous military man instantly found a place in the grenadier regiment. It was there that Catherine noticed the handsome man. “To fall in love is like a queen,” Orlov apparently reasoned. And he began to do everything so that the one he loved would become that queen. A whirlwind romance broke out between them. During the meetings, they discussed not only themselves, but also how to overthrow Peter III from the throne. And then it turned out that Catherine was pregnant.

What kind of abortion? It's the 18th century on the street, what are you talking about? They desperately tried to convince Peter III that he was the father of the unborn child. The husband himself, who by that time had taken the imperial throne, shouted that he would send his wife to a monastery, since he had nothing to do with the baby.

In April 1762, labor began. It was necessary to rescue him from the palace. Historians indicate that for this purpose an arson was set somewhere on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. The emperor, who loved to try on the role of a fireman, did not let this pass and left. And Catherine gave birth to a boy named Alexei. The emperor was told that the child had died. In fact, the newborn was given to wardrobe master Vasily Shkurin. He was raised the same as his other children. At the age of 11, the boy and his older “brothers” were sent to study abroad.

Meanwhile, the threat of the monastery hung over Catherine's head. The husband promised to marry his favorite Elizaveta Vorontsova. It was necessary to act immediately. As a result, Gregory, together with his brothers, enlisting the support of the guard, literally brought Catherine to the throne on June 28, 1762.

After the coup and coronation, Orlov spoke more than once or twice about the wedding, but Catherine stopped this topic, recalling that it was Romanov, not Orlova, who was now on the throne. And Orlova will be thrown off this throne. That’s how they lived: both in the palace, everyone knows about their relationship, but nothing happened officially.

The feelings between them cooled down after a couple of years, but Catherine still needed an ally. Contemporaries pointed out that he behaved too freely with her, so the empress either sent her lover to fight the plague in Moscow or appointed him to high positions that required a huge amount of time.

And in 1768, the Russian-Turkish war also began. If Alexey Orlov, in fact, was responsible for the fleet, then Grigory drew up a plan of action for the Russian army. Of course, Catherine did not always listen to him. But my beloved was constantly busy!

By 1772, Catherine’s relationship with Grigory Orlov had completely deteriorated. The final straw was the failure of the Russian-Turkish peace negotiations in 1772. As soon as Orlov left for them, Count Nikita Panin, together with Catherine’s son Pavel, spoke about Orlov’s mistress, Princess Golitsyna.

The favorite was, of course, informed about this. As historians point out, he wanted to return to Russia as soon as possible in order to again win the favor of the empress. Allegedly, therefore, he presented his demands to the Turks in the form of an ultimatum. They responded by refusing to negotiate.

As a result, the war with Turkey dragged on for another two years. And Catherine suggested to Grigory Orlov that he retire to the Gatchina Palace, specially built for him, “or wherever he himself wishes.”

And soon after the “resignation” that she gave to Orlov, the empress wrote a long letter to the new favorite candidate Grigory Potemkin, where she clearly made her attitude towards him clear and demanded to return to St. Petersburg, “because she was worried.”

Grigory Potemkin

Grigory Potemkin was an active participant in the palace coup, thanks to which Catherine took the throne. The ruler then found the officer “rude, sharp-tongued and funny imitating the voices of animals.” After the coup, the empress promoted him, ordering him to be appointed second lieutenant (“one rank from the sergeant”). The military man was invited to a couple of assemblies in 1762, which greatly angered Catherine’s then favorite Grigory Orlov.

According to legend, the Orlov brothers noticed that the second lieutenant was “looking” at the empress and, being drunk, started a fight with him, in which Potemkin allegedly lost his eye. Later, however, he said that he fell ill, turned to a healer, who treated him with some ointments, and this became the reason.

The officer even retired to a remote village for several months and considered joining a monastery. Here the empress intervened. According to legend, at one of the receptions she asked where Grigory Potemkin was and why he was not present. And then she ordered Orlov to personally inform him that his absence was upsetting the empress.

By 1765, Potemkin returned to St. Petersburg, took the post of deputy chief prosecutor of the synod, and soon a prosecutor. In April 1765, he was appointed treasurer of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment. This is how Potemkin moved up the career ladder at court until the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish War in 1768. Then he asked to go to the front. Later, Field Marshal Pyotr Rumyantsev regularly reported on Potemkin’s exploits in his letters to the Empress.

Compared to Grigory Orlov, who by that time was mostly making not always successful offensive plans and drinking a lot, Potemkin, who fought on the battlefield, seemed like a true hero. They maintained correspondence since 1770, but then it was purely official.

However, after Orlov’s resignation and the open demand to come urgently, the relationship seemed to take on a different dimension. But in the capital it turned out that the empress had another man - Alexander Vasilchakov, who was 17 years younger than her.

Potemkin was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Preobrazhensky regiment (the empress herself was the colonel). He soon became vice-president of the Military College.

At the beginning of 1774, Gregory “revolted” and asked for an audience with the Empress. The request was soon granted. Historians are sure that it was then that the empress promised to soon declare Potemkin the official favorite. Vasilchakov was quickly given his resignation.

Potemkin, according to rumors, secretly married Catherine in July 1774. They lived in Zimny.

"truncated surnames" were given to Russian bastards. The pregnancy, of course, was carefully hidden from the entire court: a couple of times the empress was "poisoned" and "fell ill" for two weeks - so she did not go to receptions.

This did not reconcile the lovers, but, it seems, quarreled even more. In any case, at the end of 1775, Potemkin, at a ball in St. Petersburg, personally introduced Peter Zavadovsky to Catherine, who was to become her cabinet secretary. At some point, the Empress passes through the entire hall and hands Zavadovsky a ring, which was considered a sign of the Empress’s highest praise. Can you guess who the next favorite is? However, the relationship did not last long, about six months, under the close attention of Potemkin. Historians are still arguing whether the favorite once personally selected new lovers for the empress.

Platon Zubov

The last favorite of Catherine II, Platon Zubov, was 38 years younger than his royal mistress. But this did not prevent their relationship from lasting for seven years - until the death of the empress. The ruler first paid attention to him when the second captain of the Cavalry Army in 1789 persuaded his superiors to give him command of the convoy that accompanied Catherine II from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoe Selo. All the way, 22-year-old Zubov desperately tried to attract the ruler’s attention with his helpfulness and jokes. And yes, we succeeded. The 60-year-old empress invited the young man to dinner; they met several times, supposedly on official business. It all ended with him taking the “favorite” chambers, which had been in the palace since the time of Orlov.

From the first days, Zubov desperately tried to gain a foothold in some government post, however, the empress fulfilled every whim in this regard. As a result, having no special abilities for anything other than protecting the royal person, he held 36 posts at once: governor-general, member of both the Academy of Arts and the Collegium of Foreign Affairs... They also did not spare awards for him. Already in his first year in favor, he received the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, the Order of St. Anne, the Order of the Black and Red Eagles, the Polish Orders of St. Stanislaus and the White Eagle. Either it was a coincidence, or it was true that through the efforts of Zubov they removed Potemkin from the court, which in all respects seemed to be closer to the empress.

His fortune over the years of the relationship was estimated in the millions (note that the average salary at that time was 20 rubles), not to mention the palaces on the Black Sea coast, in St. Petersburg and the surrounding area.

who will remember the old" and said that Plato would not fall into disgrace. However, within a couple of months he changed his mind, first sending some of Zubov’s associates in the palace to the Peter and Paul Fortress, and then advising him to go abroad. All the estates and untold riches belong to the last favorite was taken away. By 1798, the emperor had mercy and allowed him to return, gave him part of the property and allowed him to settle on his estate in the Vladimir province. “In gratitude,” Zubov took part in the conspiracy and murder of Paul I on March 24, 1801.

Horse

Not only people appear in stories about the loving ruler. There is a legend that Catherine II died shortly after having sexual intercourse with a horse. Most historians are inclined to believe that this is nonsense. In fact, the author of such a legend was the Polish historian Kazimir Waliszewski, known for his works on Russia in the 18th century, and it was supplemented at the French court.

As a result, the following legend developed: the empress tried to sleep with a horse that was placed on top of her with ropes. And soon after that, she allegedly died from organ rupture.

Let us note that, except for the Polish historian and French courtiers, no one talks about this rather strange page in the biography of Catherine II. The official version says that Catherine fainted in the toilet room. When her duty valet Zakhar Zotov, who was concerned about the ruler’s long absence, looked in, he saw the empress with her eyes slightly open and her face pale.

They tried to carry the ruler onto the bed, but she became so heavy that six healthy men could not cope with her. As a result, they placed the mattress next to the bed. The official cause of death was apoplexy. In modern language - cerebral hemorrhage.

There are more than 20 names on the list of Catherine’s lovers, and these are only those they know about. There are legends that the empress could afford to have fun in taverns on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Moscow (on the road) or other Russian cities. Allegedly, she came to the tavern, dressing up almost like a peasant, and found herself “adventures.” However, there is no factual confirmation, records or even large donations to taverns (which could indirectly indicate a “good evening”).

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Favoritism is a fairly common phenomenon in world history. Politicians and monarchs, despite their high position and special status, remain first and foremost people, with all their weaknesses and passions. The empress who ruled Russia in the second half of the 18th century was no exception. Catherine II.

Anecdotes, poems, books were written and films were made about her love affairs. Indeed, Mother Catherine had many men. Historians cannot even say exactly how much. Let's try to remember at least the most famous of them.

Family of "eagles"

Back in the days when the recent Princess Sophia Augusta Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst became the wife of the heir to the Russian throne, Peter Fedorovich, she was already looking at other men and starting affairs with them. Her lovers were the chamberlain of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich Sergei Saltykov and the secretary of the British envoy to Russia, the Polish prince Stanislav August Poniatowski. But these were casual connections that pleased the empress’s body, but not her soul.

But the man who became Catherine’s assistant in all her affairs was Grigory Grigorievich Orlov. It was he and his brothers who were the soul of the palace coup on June 28, 1762, as a result of which Emperor Peter III was overthrown from the Russian throne and Ekaterina Alekseevna was proclaimed the All-Russian Empress.

Grigory Orlov was not an outstanding statesman, but it was he who helped Ekaterina Alekseevna become empress.

On the day of his beloved’s accession to the throne, Grigory Orlov immediately became a major general from captain. In addition, he received the high court rank of chamberlain, the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and a sword decorated with diamonds. Two months later, Grigory Orlov received the rank of lieutenant general and was elevated to the rank of count.

Showered with awards and surrounded by a crowd of courtiers who tried to express their devotion to the newly minted count, Grigory Orlov, like the old woman in the famous fairy tale of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, wanted to officially become the husband of the empress and sit next to her on the Russian throne.

But this idea was opposed by the highest dignitaries of the Russian Empire. Through the lips of Count Panin, Catherine was told: “The widow of Emperor Peter Fedorovich can rule Russia, but Mrs. Orlova never.”

Catherine lived with Orlov for twelve years. In 1762, she gave birth to a son from her favorite, the future Count Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky. Catherine broke up with Grigory Grigorievich due to the fact that he, being a man no less ardent and passionate than the Empress herself, had many love affairs on the side. Moreover, from the point of view of abilities in government affairs, Orlov turned out to be complete mediocrity. He was a personally brave and decisive man, but nothing more. His last feat was the elimination of the plague riot in Moscow in 1771.

Grigory Orlov was replaced by another favorite - the cornet of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, Alexander Semenovich Vasilchikov.

However, Vasilchikov did not remain the favorite for long. He turned out to be a rather colorless personality and, apart from his exploits in bed, was not famous for anything. However, he himself did not particularly strive for anything and simply fulfilled his duty as a subject of the “Mother Empress” in a way accessible to him. After the rise of Grigory Potemkin, Vasilchikov received a pension of 20 thousand rubles and another 50 thousand rubles at a time to set up a house in Moscow. He lived the rest of his life in the Mother See, where he died at the age of sixty-seven.

"The greatest, funniest and most pleasant eccentric"

But Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin, who replaced him, turned out to be a completely different person. The historian Kovalevsky wrote about him: “He is the most lasting favorite of the most fickle of women.”

It is worth noting that Potemkin was the Empress’s favorite for only two years. Then other people replaced him in Catherine’s bed, but even after that he remained the only person whom the empress considered her comrade-in-arms and with whom she resolved the most important state issues.

Potemkin was not a “parquet” general. With the rank of major general, he took part in the assault on Khotin, and in 1770 in the battle of Focsani.

And at the beginning of 1774, after arriving from the theater of hostilities in St. Petersburg, he became Catherine’s favorite. On July 14, 1774, Catherine wrote to Baron Grimm about her honeymoon with her new favorite Potemkin: “I got rid of a certain excellent, but very boring citizen, who was immediately, and I don’t know exactly how, replaced by the greatest, funniest and most pleasant eccentric you can meet.” in the current Iron Age."

Catherine more than once called Potemkin her student. And not only for alcove pleasures he was showered with awards by the empress.

In connection with the conclusion of the Kyu-chuk-Kainardzhi peace in 1774, Potemkin was elevated to the dignity of count, he was granted a golden sword studded with diamonds and the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called, and was also given 100 thousand rubles as a reward. Over the course of two years, Catherine awarded her favorite not only all domestic orders, but also many foreign ones: from the Prussian king Frederick II she obtained for him the Order of the Black Eagle, from the Danish king - the Order of the Elephant, from the Swedish - the Order of the Seraphim, from the Polish - the Order of the White eagle and Saint Stanislaus.

Potemkin also wanted to receive the Orders of the Golden Fleece, the Holy Spirit and the Garter, but in Vienna, Versailles and London Catherine was refused under the pretext that the first two orders were awarded only to persons of the Catholic faith, and the Order of the Garter was awarded even to the British in very rare cases.

In 1776, Catherine obtained the princely dignity of the Holy Roman Empire from the Austrian Emperor Joseph II. From now on, Grigory Alexandrovich began to call himself the most illustrious.

Husband or not husband?

Historians still argue about whether Potemkin was Catherine's secret husband. At one time, letters from the Empress to Potemkin were published, in which she calls her favorite “dear husband” and “tender husband.” In general, in relation to Potemkin, Catherine uses such expressions that show her passion for Grigory Alexandrovich: “Dear darling, Grishenka,” “My dear little darling and priceless Friend,” “My bud.”

In June 1774, the word “husband” appears for the first time in Catherine’s letters. The exact time and place of the wedding have not been established. According to one version, this happened in Moscow, according to another - in St. Petersburg. From this secret marriage they had a daughter, Elizaveta Grigorievna, who received her father’s truncated surname, Temkina.

However, after two and a half years, Catherine found herself a new favorite for bed pleasures - Colonel Pyotr Vasilyevich Zavadovsky. But his presence did not interfere with the communication between Catherine and Potemkin. The Most Serene Prince was not jealous of his secret wife for her lover, which cannot be said about Zavadovsky.

He sincerely loved the empress as a woman, and started scandals when Potemkin showed attention to Catherine. In the end, he was removed from the palace at the insistence of Grigory Alexandrovich, but not for personal reasons, but because the empress’s new favorite joined the Orlov group hostile to Potemkin.

The Empress consoled her rejected lover with luxurious rewards: for a year of staying in Catherine’s bed, he received 6 thousand souls in Ukraine, 2 thousand souls in Poland, 1800 souls in Russian provinces. In addition, Zavadovsky received 150 thousand rubles in money, 80 thousand rubles in jewelry, 30 thousand rubles in dishes, as well as a pension of 5 thousand rubles. And his place near Catherine was taken by the desperate hussar and grunt Semyon Gavrilovich Zorich, a Serb by birth.

The new favorite was an old friend of Potemkin, who “wooed” him to the empress. He was good in bed, but narrow-minded. In the end, Zorich managed to bore both Catherine with his gambling debts and Potemkin with his inability to take into account the interests of the all-powerful His Serene Highness. Zorich ended his court career after a huge scandal, which he caused His Serene Highness Prince Tauride, threatening a duel with his benefactor.

The daughter of Potemkin and the Empress - Elizaveta Tiomkina in a portrait by Borovikovsky, 1798

He was sent into honorable retirement with an award of 7 thousand peasants. Zorich settled in the town of Shklov, given to him by Catherine II, and began setting up a noble school there.

But the former hussar was let down by his ineradicable craving for gambling. In the end he went bankrupt and became completely entangled in debt. It was rumored that Zorich even dealt in counterfeiting. He died in 1799.

Leapfrog around the bed

Even during the life of Grigory Potemkin, the Empress’s married husband, something happened that could be called “leapfrog around the imperial bed.” In just three years, the aging Catherine changed, according to various estimates, seven favorites. Almost nothing is known about some of them.

Ivan Nikolaevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a sergeant of the Life Guards Horse Regiment, which Prince Potemkin considered something like a “personnel reserve” and from where he took more and more new favorites for the passionate empress. Rimsky-Korsakov was distinguished by rare beauty and no less rare ignorance. They said that, having already become the empress's favorite, Rimsky-Korsakov wanted to create a library for himself and for this purpose he sent for a bookseller. When asked by the latter what books he needed, he replied: “Well, you know, large volumes at the bottom, and small books at the top - like Her Majesty’s.”

Rimsky-Korsakov was the Empress's favorite for about a year. And this is where he screwed up. At one fateful moment for himself, Rimsky-Korsakov decided to have an affair with Catherine’s maid of honor and her best friend Countess Bruce. And not just over a nice conversation, but in the empress’s bed, in a pose that clearly spoke of the purpose of their being together in the royal bed. Outraged by such black ingratitude, Catherine kicked out both her traitorous favorite and her traitorous friend from the palace.

Well, then different personalities flashed about, about whom only surnames remained in history. This is a certain Strakhov, about whom they said that he was clearly “sorrowful in his head,” and some Stoyanov, about whom they said that this was another person from the “Potemkin list.”

More famous is Ivan Romanovich Rontsov, the illegitimate son of Count Vorontsov. In any case, he was a participant in a kind of “competition” to fill the vacant position of the favorite.

Horse Guardsman Alexander Dmitrievich Lanskoy was at one time the adjutant of His Serene Highness Prince Tauride and, on Potemkin’s orders, went “to serve” in the Empress’s bedroom. There, his “advantages” pleased Catherine. In 1780, when he became the empress's favorite, he was 23 years old. That is, he was 29 years younger than Catherine. Contemporaries noted his attractive appearance, he loved art, and was kind and sympathetic.

Catherine dreamed of making Lansky her assistant. Catherine showered him with awards and jewelry. His wealth, according to contemporaries, amounted to 7 million rubles. The buttons on his caftan alone cost about 80 thousand rubles.

It is unknown whether Catherine would have been able to make a statesman of Potemkin’s caliber out of Lansky - he died suddenly in June 1784, died after falling from a horse during a horseback ride.

Lansky's honesty and selflessness can be judged by his latest orders - none of the favorites did anything like that. Before his death, he ordered part of his colossal wealth to be transferred to the treasury. The Empress, however, ordered the transfer of all Lansky's property to his relatives.

Generous gifts

The death of Alexander Lansky shocked Catherine so much that she did not immediately find a new favorite. But the sensual nature of the aging empress took its toll, and soon Alexander Petrovich Ermolov appeared in her bedroom.

He was her old acquaintance. Back in 1767, while traveling along the Volga, Catherine stopped at his father’s estate and took the thirteen-year-old boy with her to St. Petersburg. Potemkin took him into his retinue, and almost two decades later proposed him as Catherine's favorite. Ermolov was tall and slender, blond, gloomy, taciturn, honest and too simple. Because of these qualities, Ermolov stayed briefly in Catherine’s bedroom, receiving in June 1786 a full resignation, about 400 thousand rubles, 4 thousand peasant souls and a five-year vacation with the right to travel abroad.

Yermolov was replaced by 28-year-old adjutant of Prince Potemkin, Alexander Matveevich Dmitriev-Mamonov. As in previous cases, he was brought into the empress’s bedroom by Potemkin himself, hoping to have his own man at court. Dmitriev-Mamonov pleased Catherine, and awards to the new favorite fell one after another - the Empress granted him the rank of colonel and adjutant. Later he became prime major of the Preobrazhensky regiment and was made a full chamberlain, and in 1788 - lieutenant general and adjutant general.

In the same year, Dmitriev-Mamonov became a count of the Roman Empire. Along with ranks and orders, he received estates and became one of the richest people in the country: in one Nizhny Novgorod governorate he owned 27 thousand peasant souls, and the total income from estates reached 63 thousand rubles a year.

The Empress did not skimp on monetary awards either: he received hundreds of thousands of rubles for the maintenance of the table on his birthday and name day. Only during the last three months of 1789, when Dmitriev-Mamonov’s career at court was interrupted, he received up to half a million rubles.

His career as a favorite ended in June 1789, when Dmitriev-Mamonov confessed his love for Princess Shcherbatova. A holy place is never empty, and soon another Horse Guardsman found himself in the Empress’s bedroom, only this time not Potemkin’s henchman.

last love

Platon Aleksandrovich Zubov was, as they say now, “from the team” of Count Saltykov. He quickly found an approach to the empress’s loving heart, and already in August Potemkin received the following message from his secret wife: “This is a very sweet child who has a sincere desire to do good and behave well. He’s not stupid, he has a good heart, and I hope he won’t get spoiled.” At the beginning of 1791, His Serene Highness Prince Tauride received another recognition: “...I am extremely pleased with his honesty, kindness and his unfeigned affection for me.”

Taking advantage of his great influence on Catherine, who was head over heels in love with him, Platon Zubov practically managed to nullify Potemkin’s influence on the empress, who threatened Catherine “to come and pull out a tooth.” But His Serene Highness never managed to do this. He soon died, and, as some historians believe, he went to another world not without the help of Zubov.

The Empress doted on her new favorite. But the nobles around her were not delighted with Platon Zubov. The most laconic review of him was given by Khrapovitsky: “Stupid Zubov.” He did not enjoy the respect of the famous nobleman of Catherine’s reign, Chancellor Bezborodko. Bezborodko found Zubov a mediocre and rude person.

According to the description of contemporaries, “everything crawled at Zubov’s feet, he stood alone and therefore considered himself great. Every morning, numerous crowds of flatterers besieged his doors, filling his hallways and reception rooms... Lounging in armchairs, in the most obscene negligee, with his little finger stuck in his nose, with his eyes aimlessly directed at the ceiling, this young man with a cold and pouty face barely deigned to pay attention to those around him..."

Fyodor Rostopchin captured Zubov’s behavior after the death of the Empress:

“The despair of this temporary worker cannot be compared with anything. I don’t know which feelings had a stronger effect on his heart; but the confidence in his fall and insignificance was depicted not only on his face, but also in all his movements. Passing through the empress’s bedroom, he stopped several times before the body of the empress and came out, sobbing... the crowd of courtiers moved away from him as if he were infected, and he, tormented by thirst and fever, could not beg for a glass of water.”

An equally devastating review of Catherine’s last favorite was given by one of his contemporaries, who contrasted him with Potemkin. The latter “owed almost all his greatness to himself, Zubov - to Catherine’s weaknesses. As the empress lost her strength, activity, and genius, he acquired power, wealth and strength. In the last years of her life he was omnipotent in the broadest sense of the word...”

Anton VORONIN