Catherine the Great

health 24, 49, 72, 82, 85, 89, 149, 157, 192, 239, 243, 267, 289–90, 294–5, 303

childhood 24, 28–9

education 26–7, 28

journeys to Russia (1744) 37–40

meets Empress Elizabeth 47–8

accepted into the Russian faith 51–2

engaged to Grand Duke Peter 10, 52

name day (24 November) 54, 77, 101, 147, 191, 254, 255

marries Peter (1745) 56–63

mounting debts 73, 97–8

birthday 77, 89, 112, 160, 177, 233, 266, 270, 271, 279, 289, 290, 300, 307

relationship with Zakhar Chernyshev 86, 269

pregnancies by Sergey Saltykov 87

third pregnancy 89

birth of Paul 91–2

affair with Poniatowski 93–4, 95, 103

maturing political aspirations 100–103, 112, 113

pregnant by Poniatowski 103, 106

birth of Anna Petrovna 104–5

and Bestuzhev’s arrest 106

death of Anna Petrovna 106

pregnant by Orlov 112, 114, 117, 118, 120

birth of Aleksey Grigoryevich 6, 120

Peter III insults her at a banquet 122, 143

coup (1762) 11–14, 20, 22, 118, 122–4, 316

ceremonial re-entry into the capital 127–8

early reforms 125, 129–30, 155

long-serving state secretaries 130–32

coronation (1762) 4–22, 125, 136

correspondence with Voltaire 28, 153, 154, 158, 168–9, 175, 182, 191, 202, 203, 204, 206, 208, 209, 211, 217, 218, 224, 237, 244, 321

Volga expedition 155, 156, 158–69, 175, 235

accession anniversaries 169–70, 242, 256, 288

denies any expansionist ambitions 185–6, 250

and Poniatowski’s election as king of Poland 186

inoculation against smallpox 24, 188–90

art collection 192–4, 260–63

Greek project 206, 250, 263

‘plantomania’ 210

urban reconstruction 211–14

Vasilchikov becomes her new favourite 216, 217

improved relations with Paul 218–19

correspondence with Grimm 25, 223–4, 238–9, 245, 246, 247, 251–4, 256–7, 259–62, 265, 266, 269, 275, 277, 280, 283–4, 293, 295, 302, 304, 305, 310, 312, 313, 314, 330, 333

relationship with Grigory Potemkin 6, 27, 229, 231–2, 234, 238, 241

Provincial Reform 239–40, 250, 254, 271

relationship with Zavadovsky 28, 241, 242–3

relationship with Zorich 243, 252

buys off Sophia Dorothea’s fiance 245

love for grandson Alexander 247, 249, 268, 323

and education issue 248, 252, 295, 296

visits Mogilev 250–53

secret correspondence with Joseph 253, 254, 276

busts of 261, 305

deaths of General Bauer and Lanskoy 265–9

relationship with Yermolov 270–71

passion for garden design 94, 275–6

visits Kiev 281–6

journeys South 286–8

her last and youngest favourite, Zubov 291, 294

coronation anniversaries 302, 315, 320

and Potemkin’s death 303–4

and the second partition of Poland 309

opposes independent publishing 310

daily routine 132–3, 310–11

gifts given by 311–12

will 313–14

death (6 November 1796) 1, 315, 316

succession 316–17

lies in state 317–19

burial 318–20

publications on her 321–29

and exhibition of imperial portraits (1905) 331

self-assessment 333

contemporary criticism of 333–4

achievements 334–5

personality

bookishness 63, 67

competitiveness 204, 265

courage 18

eagerness to learn 63

fashions her own persona 27

impetuous nature 118

intelligence 63

joie de vivre 271

obsessed by the value of time 11

obsessed with her posthumous reputation 174, 181, 205, 209, 212, 333

optimism 127

scepticism 4

secretiveness 27–8

values precision 5, 133, 273

values trustfulness 134, 231

work ethic 28, 134, 184–5

works

The Antidote 12, 201

‘Authentic relation of a journey overseas that Sir Leon the Grand Equerry would have undertaken in the opinion of some of his friends’ 287

The Beginning of Oleg’s Reign (libretto) 280, 295

The Deceiver 276