The Prince of Princes: The Life of PotemkinPrince Grigory Potemkin was Catherine the Great's lover, secret husband, and partner in ruling the Russian Empire. Their affair was so tumultuous, they negotiated an arrangement that allowed them to share power while he was free to love his beautiful nieces, and Catherine, her favorites. But they never stopped loving each other. Their endearing and passionate relationship remains one of history's most remarkable love affairs. Potemkin shone as an outstandingly gifted statesman, winning the Crimea, founding the Black Sea Fleet, reforming the Cossacks, planning new cities like Sebastopol and Odessa, and making Russia a Near Eastern power - achievements in war and peace that emulated his hero Peter the Great. He embodied the strengths and weaknesses of Russia itself - volatile, ebullient, handsome, sensual, and always astonishing. His bizarre magnificence enchanted and scandalized Europe. Yet he disdained his own success. He was surrounded by a cosmopolitan court that included brilliant Americans, such as Admiral John Paul Jones, and Lewis Littlepage, a friend of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Both served under Potemkin against the Turks. An obsessive Anglophile, he commissioned Joshua Reynolds and created an English garden wherever he stopped for the night. In 1787, this master showman presided over Catherine's Crimean river-tour, so sumptuous it was compared to Cleopatra's progress. Potemkin's enemies claimed he displayed fake houses - "Potemkin villages" - a smear this biography lays to rest. After five years' new research in archives from Petersburg to Odessa, Sebag Montefiore shoes how Potemkin and Catherine, with their younger lovers, created their own "family." He brings blazingly to life Potemkin's loving partnership with Catherine and restores him to his place as a colossus of the eighteenth century. When he died, Catherine was heartbroken. She said there could never be another Potemkin. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 78
Page xii
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 5
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 17
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 23
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Page 40
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Sorry, this page's content is restricted.
Contents
Death on the Steppes | 1 |
The Provincial | 13 |
Catherines Coup | 32 |
The Empresss Reckless Suitor | 48 |
Cyclops | 65 |
The War Hero | 76 |
The Happiest Man Alive | 94 |
THE COLOSSUS 17771783 | 213 |
The Amazons | 376 |
Power | 378 |
Potemkins War | 388 |
The Storming of Ochakov | 404 |
My Successes Are Yours | 417 |
Sardanapalus | 430 |
Ismail | 448 |
THE LAST DANCE 1791 | 457 |
Byzantium | 215 |
The Holy Roman Emperor | 223 |
Three Marriages and a Crown | 236 |
The Crimea | 244 |
THE COTSAR 17841786 | 261 |
Emperor of the South | 263 |
5225 | 274 |
British Blackamoors and Chechen Warriors | 285 |
The Benthams in Russia and the Emperor of Gardens | 295 |
The White Negro | 312 |
A Day in the Life of Grigory Alexandrovich | 328 |
Love | 338 |
THE APOGEE 17871790 | 349 |
The Magical Theatre | 351 |
Cleopatra | 363 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Alexander ambassadors army arrived August Austrian AVPRI B&F vol Bentham Bezborodko Black Sea Branicka Catherine and Potemkin Catherine's CII to GAP command Comte Comte de Ségur Corberon Cossacks Count Countess Court courtiers Crimea Damas Dashkova diplomatic Ekaterina Ekaterinoslav Emperor Empire Engelhardt envoy estates favourite February fleet fortress Frederick French GAP to CII GAP ud GAP's gardens Golitsyn Grand Duke Greek Grigory Grigory Orlov Grimm Harris imperial Ismail Jassy Joseph July June Kherson King Krichev Langeron Lanskoy later letters Madariaga Mamonov Memoirs Miranda Moldavia Moscow Nassau never nieces Nikita Panin Ochakov ordered Orlov Ottoman Palace Panin Paul Pavel Potemkin Peter Poland Polish political Popov Prince de Ligne Prince Potemkin Prince's Princess Pugachev RGADA RGVIA roubles Rumiantsev Russian Samoilov Samuel Samuel Bentham Ségur September Serenissimus SIRIO SIRIO 23 St Petersburg Stedingk Suvorov Tartars Taurida told Tsarskoe Selo Turkish Turks unpublished Vorontsov wanted wrote Zaporogian Zavadovsky ZOOID Zubov