Catherine II of Russia, more famously known as Catherine the Great, ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796, paving the way for enlightened reforms, expanding the empire, and championing the arts and education. Despite her many accomplishments, some may only know her for her provocative taste in furniture.
There are many stories about Catherine the Great, some based on facts, while others are fueled by rumors. One such story talks about a purported erotic cabinet – more like a room, really – that consists of a vast erotic furniture collection the ruler had accumulated and commissioned. Per Sang Bleu magazine, the pieces of furniture were decked with male appendages of various sizes, breasts, nude female forms with their legs spread wide open, and males gripping their privates. There was even said to be an entire wall decorated with numerous wooden phalluses.
As legend has it, soldiers stumbled upon the secret room in Catherine the Great’s palace during World War II and took photos for posterity. The palaces were bombed and the pieces were said to be destroyed in a fire. A couple of photographs survived, and they were the basis of stories about Catherine the Great’s erotic furniture collection. However, the legitimacy of the claim cannot be confirmed. While some are confident that the erotic cabinet did exist, historians say that there’s no verifiable proof that the furniture pieces photographed belonged to Catherine the Great, or whether the two black-and-white photos that resurfaced were even taken in her palace.
Other rumors about the empress
As a powerful woman in command of an empire, Catherine the Great had her fair share of critics. And while many of the tales about her can be taken as truth, some were grossly exaggerated or made up by her detractors in hopes of tarnishing her reputation.
One story is about Catherine the Great being a nymphomaniac there are reports of her having had up to 22 lovers (presumably this was more scandalous back then). However, she had only 12 romantic partners in 44 years, and there was a strategic element involved when she got together with someone, but that isn’t to say that she didn’t love them. Furthermore, she was said to be a monogamist and wasn’t involved with more than one man at a time.
Another rumor was that Catherine the Great attempted to have sexual intercourse with a horse that ultimately crushed her to death. She did indeed love horses, but not in that way. It isn’t clear who spread the story, but the truth is that Catherine the Great died of a cerebral hemorrhage — a common type of stroke — at 67 years old. and she was alone when it happened.
According to her biographer, the rumor was spread in hopes of “undercutting Catherine’s claims to greatness, by aggressively asserting that her primary motivation was unbridled sex, the excesses of which resulted in her monstrous death.”
Catherine the Great wasn’t the only powerful woman in history targeted in such a manner. Many, including Cleopatra, Catherine de Medici, and Anny Boleyn — just to name a few — were put under scrutiny for their sexual proclivities, real or not.