catherine: her and thou

The occasion was Catherine the Great’s triumphal tour of the Crimea, the longest, most lavish, most expensive boating party in world history. The Empress showed off the wonders of her realm, and they were many indeed. But were they real or were they fake?…

…Catherine, despite the journey, did not alter her daily schedule. She rose at six, worked with ministers and secretaries until breakfast, then received diplomats and courtiers until nine, at which time the caravan proceeded by sleigh through the winter scenery of the Russian countryside. Luncheon was served at two o’clock, there were several more hours of travel, and the sleighs arrived at seven, on schedule, for dinner and the night at a prearranged spot. Potemkin overlooked nothing, including the amount of tallow- five hundred pots- and the number of lanters-ten- that lit each palace in which Catherine stayed. She usually retired early, and beside her bed was an elaborate looking glass that concealed the bed of young Mamonov, her lover of the moment. At the touch of a button, the looking glass slid aside, another of the thoughtful arrangements provided by Potemkin and reassembled at each of the stops during the entire trip.

In Kiev, each foreign ambassador was provided with a palace, liveried servants, private coaches, and for their diversion, an unceasing round of balls and banquets while they waited for the spring thaw when the Dneiper would be navigable. At the heart of the guest list were the diplomats suach as the suave and witty Prince de Ligne, the Comte de Segur, Count Cobenzl and others. Between planned festivities, impromptu storytelling, versemaking, and cards, conversation ranged widely- literature, philosophy, town planning, child education, architecture- with Catherine initiating each topic and skillfully seeing to it that the dilpomats were fully informed about the regions through which they would travel. These were her foreign correspondents, her press corps, who would tell the rest of the world of Russia’s achievements and future plans. However, she forbade talk of politics, and in a burst of warm feeling, declared that everyone should address each other by the familiar “thou.” “I wish the whole of Europe might address me thus.” But only de Ligne had the courage to speak to the Empress as “Ta Majeste.” ( to be continued)…