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 Crueclass="underline" 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
Alexei Orlov, Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich picture courtesy of the British Library
Catherine and Potemkin in her boudoir, author’s collection
Alexander Lanskoy, by D. G. Levitsky, Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, picture courtesy of the British Library
Count Alexander Dmitriyev-Mamonov, by Mikhail Shibanov, Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, picture courtesy of the British Library
Princess Varvara Golitsyna, Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, picture courtesy of the British Library
Countess Ekaterina Skavronskaya with her daughter, by Angelica Kauffman, Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, picture courtesy of the British Library
Princess Tatiana Yusupova, by E. Vigée Lebrun, Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, picture courtesy of the British Library
Portrait of Ekaterina Samoilova by Johann Baptist von Lampi (1751–1830), Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, picture courtesy of the British Library
Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston, photo author’s collection
Joseph II and Catherine meeting 1787, Weidenfeld & Nicolson picture collection
Charles-Joseph, Prince de Ligne, photo author’s collection
Catherine walking in the park at Tsarskoe Selo, by V. L. Borovikovsky, Weidenfeld & Nicolson picture collection
The storming of the Turkish fortress of Ochakov in 1788, Odessa State Local History Museum, photo by Sergei Bereninich, photo author’s collection
Count Alexander Suvorov, Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, picture courtesy of the British Library
The invitation to Potemkin’s ball in the Taurida Palace, 1791, Odessa State Local History Museum, photo by Sergei Bereninich, photo author’s collection
Princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaya by Johann Baptist von Lampi (1751–1830), Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, picture courtesy of the British Library
Countess Sophia Potocka by Johann Baptist von Lampi (1751–1830), Portraits Russes by Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, picture courtesy of the British Library
Prince Platon Zubov by Johann Baptist von Lampi (1751–1830), Weidenfeld & Nicolson picture collection
Potemkin’s death, 1791, Odessa State Local History Museum, photo by Sergei Bereninich, photo author’s collection
Potemkin’s funeral, Weidenfeld & Nicolson picture collection
*Potemkin’s Palaces: Taurida, photo by author; Anichkov, author’s collection; Ostrovky, author’s collection; Bablovo, photo by author; Ekaterinoslav, photo by author; Nikolaev, Nikolaev State History Museum, photo by author; Kherson, Kherson State History Museum, photo by author
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Over several years and thousands of miles, I have been helped by many people, from the peasant couple who keep bees on the site of Potemkin’s birthplace near Smolensk to professors, archivists and curators from Petersburg, Moscow and Paris to Warsaw, Odessa and Iasi in Rumania.
I owe my greatest debts to three remarkable scholars. The inspiration for this book came from Isabel de Madariaga, Professor Emeritus of Slavonic Studies at the University of London and the doyen of Catherinian history in the West. Her seminal work Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great changed the study of Catherine. She also appreciated the remarkable character of Potemkin and his relationship with the Empress, and declared that he needed a biographer. She has helped with ideas, suggestions and advice throughout the project. Above all, I must thank her for editing and correcting this book during sessions which she conducted with the amused authority and intellectual rigour of the Empress herself, whom she resembles in many ways. It was always I who was exhausted at the end of these sessions, not she. I lay any wisdom in this work at her feet; the follies are mine alone. I am glad that I was able to lay a wreath on her behalf on Potemkin’s neglected grave in Kherson.