Everyone has heard the horse story. It is the kind of salacious, weirdly specific rumor that sticks to history like glue. You’ve likely heard it in a bar or a high school history class whispered as a joke: that the most powerful woman in 18th-century Europe died while attempting something unspeakable with a stallion.
It's total nonsense. Honestly, it's just a 200-year-old smear campaign.
Catherine the Great didn't die in some bizarre stable accident. She died of a stroke. On a toilet. Or rather, she was found collapsed in her dressing room after a stroke and died in bed the next day. But the fact that the horse myth persists says more about our discomfort with powerful women than it does about Catherine the Great sex life.
She was a "serial monogamist" in an era that didn't have a word for it. She wasn't a nymphomaniac. She was just a woman with the bank account of an empress and the romantic needs of a human being.
The Reality of Her "Promiscuity"
When we talk about the Russian Empress, we’re talking about a woman who ruled for 34 years. In that time, she had roughly 12 to 22 lovers. If you do the math, that’s not exactly a wild weekend in Vegas. Many of these relationships lasted for years.
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Take Grigory Potemkin. He wasn't just a fling. He was likely her secret husband. Their letters are filled with the kind of "Sweet Lordikins" and "My precious Grishenko" pet names that would make a modern Tinder user cringe. They were political partners, soulmates, and co-rulers who eventually realized they worked better as friends who occasionally shared a bed and a country.
Historical records show she rarely had more than one lover at a time. She’d find a man, shower him with titles, and when the spark died, she’d send him away with a massive pension and a palace. It was basically the 18th-century version of a very generous severance package.
Why the Smear Campaign Worked
Misogyny is a hell of a drug.
Frederick the Great of Prussia, a man who basically pioneered the "boys' club" of European royalty, couldn't stand her. He once wrote that in a feminine government, "the c*nt has more influence than a firm policy." Nice guy, right? French revolutionaries and Russian rivals alike used her sexuality to delegitimize her power. If they could make her look like a "Messalina of the Neva," they didn't have to reckon with the fact that she was expanding the Russian Empire and corresponding with Voltaire.
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The Testing of the Lovers
One of the weirdest—but actually documented—parts of Catherine the Great sex history involves a woman named Countess Praskovya Bruce. Legend (and some memoirs) suggests she was the "L'éprouveuse."
Basically, her job was to "test" potential lovers.
Before a man was allowed into Catherine’s private apartments, he allegedly had to spend a night with Bruce to ensure he was... up to the task. Was it a real policy? Historians like Simon Sebag Montefiore suggest it might be slightly exaggerated, but it speaks to a very real dynamic: Catherine was the boss. She didn't have time for bad dates. She needed men who were physically capable, intellectually stimulating, and politically loyal.
- Sergei Saltykov: Probably the father of her son, Paul I.
- Stanisław Poniatowski: She didn't just date him; she made him the King of Poland.
- Grigory Orlov: He helped her kill her husband (Peter III) to take the throne. That's a high-stakes first date.
- Platon Zubov: Her final lover, who was over 30 years her junior.
The Erotic Furniture Mystery
Then there’s the furniture. In the 1940s, German soldiers allegedly found a secret room in the Gatchina Palace filled with tables and chairs carved with... very graphic anatomical details. Photos exist, but some skeptics claim they were faked by the Nazis to make the Russians look "degenerate."
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Whether the room was hers or a later addition, it fueled the fire. People wanted her to be a deviant. It’s much easier to digest a woman as a "nymphomaniac" than as a tactical genius who outmaneuvered every man in the room.
Why it Still Matters Today
The way we discuss Catherine the Great sex habits tells us exactly where our boundaries are. We don't talk about how many mistresses Peter the Great had (it was a lot). We don't obsess over the logistics of Louis XIV's bedroom. But with Catherine, the focus always drifts south.
She used her relationships to build an empire. When she was with Orlov, she secured the military. With Potemkin, she secured the South and Crimea. Her "favorites" weren't just distractions; they were her cabinet.
Actionable Takeaways for History Buffs
If you want to understand the real woman behind the myths, stop looking at the stables and start looking at the archives.
- Read the Letters: The correspondence between Catherine and Potemkin (translated by Montefiore) is the best way to see her humanity.
- Verify the Source: When you read a scandalous "fact" about a historical woman, check if the source was a political rival or a jilted ex. Usually, it's both.
- Contextualize the "Gifts": Recognize that her giving palaces to ex-lovers wasn't just "loving to be in love"—it was a way to keep potentially dangerous men loyal and quiet.
Catherine was a woman who refused to be small. She was an empress who wanted to be loved, and she had the power to make it happen on her own terms. The horse story? That's just a ghost story we tell to keep powerful women in their place.
To get a better sense of how she actually managed her court, look into the "Potemkin Village" myth next. You'll find a similar pattern of rivals inventing stories to make her look foolish when she was actually winning.