Catherine the Great was never the nymphomaniac that her enemies claimed, but she could not do without the presence of a male lover. Altogether, she had probably a dozen liasons during her sixty-seven years of life. Of all of these, the one she loved the most was Grigory Potemkin.
Catherine was imported from Germany by Czarina Elizaveta to wed her nephew, Peter. The couple were still in their teens when they married and, apparently, Peter never consummated the relationship. Elizaveta wanted Peter to produce an heir and, when he didn’t, arranged for a court favorite to seduce Catherine. She became pregnant and bore a son, Paul.