Catherine the Great & Potemkin: The Imperial Love Affair

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published under the title Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, in 2000, and subsequently in slightly different form in hardcover in the United States by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press, LLC, New York, in 2001. Published here by arrangement with St. Martin’s Press, LLC. Originally published as Potemkin: Catherine the Great’s Imperial Partner in trade paperback by Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, in 2005.

Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data for Potemkin: Catherine the Great’s Imperial Partner is on file at the Library of Congress.

Vintage Books Trade Paperback ISBN 9780525431961

Ebook ISBN 9780593467916

Cover design by Two Associates

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CONTENTS

 

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Notes

Preface

prologue: Death on the Steppes

part one: potemkin and catherine 1739–1762

1 The Provincial Boy

2 The Guardsman and the Grand Duchess: Catherine’s Coup

3 First Meeting: The Empress’s Reckless Suitor

part two: closer 1762–1774

4 Cyclops

5 The War Hero

6 The Happiest Man Alive

part three: together 1774–1776

7 Love

8 Power

9 Marriage: Madame Potemkin

10 Heartbreak and Understanding

part four: the passionate partnership 1776–1777

11 Her Favourites

12 His Nieces

13 Duchesses, Diplomats and Charlatans

part five: the colossus 1777–1783

14 Byzantium

15 The Holy Roman Emperor

16 Three Marriages and a Crown

17 Potemkin’s Paradise: The Crimea

part six: the co-tsar 1784–1786

18 Emperor of the South

19 British Blackamoors and Chechen Warriors

20 Anglomania: The Benthams in Russia and the Emperor of Gardens

21 The White Negro

22 A Day in the Life of Grigory Alexandrovich

part seven: the apogee 1787–1790

23 The Magical Theatre

24 Cleopatra

25 The Amazons

26 Jewish Cossacks and American Admirals: Potemkin’s War

27 Cry Havoc: The Storming of Ochakov

28 My Successes Are Yours

29 The Delicious and the Cruel: Sardanapalus

30 Sea of Slaughter: Ismail

part eight: the last dance 1791

31 The Beautiful Greek

32 Carnival and Crisis

33 The Last Ride

epilogue: Life After Death

Illustrations

List of Characters

Maps

Family Trees

Notes

Select Bibliography

ILLUSTRATIONS

 

Serenissimus Prince Grigory Potemkin, by Johann Baptist von Lampi (1751–1830), Hermitage, St Petersburg, photo by N. Y. Bolotina

Cathrine the Great in 1762 by Vigilius Ericksen (1722–1782), Musée des Beaux-Arts, Chartres, France, Lauros-Giraudon/Bridgeman Art Library

Countess Alexandra Branicka by R. Brompton, Alupka Palace Museum, Ukraine, photo by the author

Portrait of Paul I, 1796–7 by Stepan Semeonovich Shukin (1762–1828), Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia/Bridgeman Art Library

Potemkin’s Palacesacid.^*

Portrait of Catherine II the Great in Travelling Costume, 1787 (oil on canvas) by Mikhail Shibanov (fl. 1783–89), State Russian Museum, St Petersburg, Russia/Bridgeman Art Library

Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky as Grand Admiral of Black Sea Fleet, attributed to J. B. Lampi, Suvorov Museum, St Petersburg, photo by Leonid Bogdanov

Potemkin’s signature

Catherine the Great, 1973 by Johann Baptist von Lampi (1751–1830), Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia/Bridgeman Art Library

Portrait of Prince Grigori Potemkin-Tavrichesky, c. 1790 by Johann Baptist von Lampi (1751–1830), Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia/Bridgeman Art Library

The roadside memorials marking Potemkin’s death, photo by author

The board announcing Potemkin’s death, photo by author

The trapdoor in St Catherine’s church in Kherson, Ukraine, leading to Potemkin’s tomb, photo by author

Potemkin’s coffin, St Catherine’s, Kherson, Ukraine, photo by author

The ruined church in Potemkin’s home village of Chizhova, Russia, photo author’s collection

Potemkin in Chevalier-Garde uniform, collection of V. S. Lopatin

Potemkin’s mother, Daria Potemkina, Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, picture courtesy of the British Library

The Empress Elisabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, etching by E. Chemesov, Weidenfeld & Nicolson picture collection

The Grand Duchess Catherine with husband Peter and their son, Paul, Weidenfeld & Nicolson picture collection

Field-Marshal Peter Rumiantsev at the Battle of Kagul, 1770, Weidenfeld & Nicolson picture collection

Grigory Orlov, Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, picture courtesy of the British Library