In our theme this week of “women who were famous for something they didn’t do,” I turn to the well-known and macabre story of the alleged death of Catherine the Great of Russia (d. 1796). The incredibly successful monarch had her husband assassinated, suppressed many rebellions, and was a patron of the arts. But she did not — most definitely did not — die by being crushed while having sex with a horse.
This rumor began to circulate soon after Catherine passed away, despite the fact that eyewitnesses monitored her death three days after suffering from a stroke in her sixty-seventh year. The fact that the story proved so difficult to shake stems from three reasons: 1) it is a super tawdry story, 2) women rulers have often been villianized by sexual slander, and 3) Catherine really did enjoy sex with many lovers.
Like the male rulers of her day, Catherine’s access to power gave her access to sexual favors. She once famously quipped “God grant us our desires and grant them quickly.” Unlike many kings, however, Catherine treated the men who had sex with her very well — often giving officers who slept with her an enormous amount of cash and estates. But such appetites were not expected of women, and it took many years before the rumor of her death was laid (no pun intended – groan) to death.
Source(s): _An Underground Education_, Richard Sacks, Doubleday, 1997, pages 319-320. Image from VCG/Wilson/Corbis/Getty Images .
