In terms of actual numbers, the extent of Catherine the Great's love life is history's best kept secret. Not only that, but down through the ages, she's been accused of all manner of immorality. It was the American Lutheran preacher Samuel Schmucker who in 1855 (nearly 60 years after her death) cited Catherine the Great as "one of the most corrupt, sensual, and licentious of women." But in the clear light of a few hundred years, it looks as though the great Russian queen, when she was in a relationship, became a generous partner. She bore incredible loyalty to those she loved her relationships were more about powerful love than unrestrained passion.

For all their talk of debauchery, what did earlier historians use as the basis for their claims?

Well, yes, the great queen did in fact have 12 documented lovers. And it's likely the real number is much higher and includes the odd foreign dignitary -- most notoriously France's Prince de Ligne, also known as "Prince Charming." Twelve lovers over the course of a hardy lifetime. Part of the scandal may come from the times in which Catherine lived and loved. It was the period between 1762 when her first husband, the king, mysteriously died (OK, most certainly at the hands of Catherine's then-lover Grigori Potemkin -- a minor detail) and 1796. To give the dates some context, Catherine was pursuing her amours (and running a country rather effectively) as George Washington and his men were freezing their butts off along the Potomac and as aristocratic heads were rolling in the streets of Paris. Catherine lived quite literally in "the best of times, the worst of times," when the erotic desires of the "weaker sex" were considered flaws inherent in "their nature" which had to be kept in check (lest womankind drive the world to wrack and ruin). And in that ethos, Catherine may have seemed quite the "loose" woman. (In fact she was no more loose than France's Louis XIV, or England's Henry VIII, or a host of other great male rulers).

As to Catherine's "depravities," a lot of the reports come from the writings of foreign ambassadors. These were basically tales of travel abroad to be embellished for homeland consumption.

And in Catherine's day an ambassador didn't just come for a day and a dinner, a brief speech and a holding of hands in the Rose Garden; he planted himself in the palace and grew roots. This would be the equivalent of a sort of old-world movie star entertaining a house full of paparazzi -- for months. Under such a magnifying glass, whose personal life would come out unscathed? Sadly, even though historians realize that these diplomatic sources were often analogous to an 18th century National Enquirer, some have clung to the accounts. 300 year-old information is hard to come by. Besides, Catherine meticulously burned every letter she received from her lovers as she went along, most probably in the name of privacy. (Her lovers were not so incendiary with respect to Catherine's letters. Thus Catherine's letters to her lovers have become a well-plundered source of information about her affairs).

How Catherine managed to carry on a love life at all is something many a modern day film star might like to know. Not that she could keep it private. Anyone who was anyone at court would have been aware of her affairs. And because she was a worthy (and generous) ruler, many among the court would have been facilitators. There are aspects of her behavior that would earn her notoriety even today, but in other aspects we would hardly see what all the fuss was about. Especially considering how historians excoriated her memory through the centuries (and particularly the Victorian 19th century).

Though she did have children out of wedlock and they lived quite openly at court, Catherine's personal behavior around the palace was full of decorum by our standards, certainly nothing we'd call shocking. No orgies, no infamously lewd companions. While entertaining guests in her private rooms or in her private carriage, Catherine was famous for not tolerating off-color jokes. And yet at one time visitors and courtiers went on record to report her romantic behavior as disgraceful. Why? Did they catch her playing footsie under the table with her lovers at state dinners? No. The problem that caused all the scandal seems to have been some wayward glances. During a state affair, she reputedly cast a quick glance across the room at her paramour du jour. Naturally as Queen, Catherine was under strict laws of decorum. As a result, her foreign guests at this particular event recorded this "scandalous" behavior in their letters home.

What we might safely say of Catherine's romantic entanglements is that she needed the companionship of a man, companionship in a broad sense. Her physical passion is well-documented. But overall, Catherine preferred affairs of the heart. She once explained that the heart had a mind of its own and that she had given up on controlling it. However, she did admit to her confidante, one-time lover and ever-after friend, Prince Grigori Potemkin, that she'd had casual affairs, but only out of desperation and loneliness. It is believed she may actually have married Potemkin -- in secret. We've learned that she called him "husband" and "master" in her letters. Pet names, perhaps. At any rate, Potemkin became her most trusted minister. She dubbed him prince of the Crimea after he secured that region for her and all Russia. They had two years of torrid passion (documented by her letters to him) at the beginning of their relationship, but long after their physical relationship cooled, they were there for each other: Potemkin continued to execute Catherine's royal plans; she calmed his moods. Catherine relied on Potemkin's advice; he fostered and procured for her an endless supply of dashing suitors. Er, yes, this is also true.

The political heart of the matter is that Catherine was at her best, as a stateswoman and overall power-person, when she had a warm bed to retreat to at night. Those closest to her at court knew it was in their best interests to play matchmaker or facilitator of romance. Potemkin, her amicable ex-lover, took charge of this duty. He hand-picked young (twenty-something) men for her. Often the young men would come from the palace guardsmen (the soldiered elite). They would be dashing, comely, bright, and promising in statecraft, almost as if Potemkin knew they would end up assisting and counseling Catherine in state matters. In a sense he was both romantic procurer and Intelligence agent.

And in this area, we might find one scandalous practice of the Queen's, even by our modere standards. There is evidence to suggest that Catherine's closest ladies-in-waiting actually gave her potential suitors a "trial run" and reported the evidence of their virility back to the queen. Amorous "vigor," according to the reports, was a quality the queen most certainly valued.

A rather long line of young lovers followed Potemkin -- who really was her life partner, with or without the wedding vows. But unlike many kings throughout history with similar habits, Queen Catherine always showered her amours with appreciation, high positions, lands, and properties which she did not withdraw when they fell out of favor, or even when she found them unfaithful. One of Catherine's paramours betrayed her by getting engaged behind her back. In response, though she was angry, she offered him the palace to hold his wedding in and to boot, gave him a castle of his own as a wedding gift. Henry VIII she was not.

Catherine's paramours, politely called "favorites," became official when they were installed in the "favorite's" quarters, a luxury suite right below Catherine's own. The luxury suite came with a spiral staircase that quite coincidentally led from his rooms to hers. And courtiers would have to be blind not to notice that no sooner was a gentleman installed in that room, than he underwent a meteoric rise at court. He suddenly found himself as a top minister, a general, or someone with a title that carried great national responsibility. If the young man lacked education, Catherine saw to it that he got the best tutors (Catherine liked her men smart, cultured, and able to discourse on French literature). Contemporary parlance would call Catherine's affairs win-win situations.

Likewise, everyone knew when the relationship was over because the lover vacated the favorite's room. For the most part, Catherine would give her ex an estate or a castle as a send off, plus lots of money and peasants (yes, they gave away peasants like livestock). And it has to reflect on Catherine's magnanimity, loyalty, or good judgment that many of her lovers remained competent and devoted servants at the posts she'd groomed them for.

All right, there is one other aspect of Catherine's appetite that we moderns have trouble getting our romantic notions around. It's the fact that all Catherine's lovers from Potemkin's time on were 32 or younger. Her last romantic liaison was a veritable Harold and Maude romance. When she got involved with Plato Zubov, she was a woman of 60; he was 22. It is believed that up until her death at the age of 67 (to his 29), the couple still engaged in some form of physical intimacy. The fact that only one film in our 50-year film history has conceived of such a romance suggests that we may not be any more progressive than Catherine's contemporary critics.

But in those days, even less acceptable than a queen's penchant for young men was the idea of a young man's sleeping his way to the top. Even in our time, it might be cause for ridicule or embarrassment. In Catherine's time, it was truly abhorrent. In the most tragic case, the young man's family disowned him in absolute disgust over his position as the Czarina's lover. And they found the fact that he earned his titles and power through her even more despicable yet. The young man was 23 year-old Alexander (Sasha) Lanskoi.

Catherine's abruptly ended relationship with Sasha was perhaps her truest and most bittersweet relationship of all. Settling happily into grand-motherhood, the Queen was devoted to Sasha. He completed her intimate family circle, and in fact, he seems to have loved her as deeply as his youthful heart was able. He offered Catherine advice on political and family matters that was not self-serving or contentious, but always seemed to smooth out the queen's sometimes sticky relations. Even cynical historians admit that Sasha's counsel helped to shore up unity within the Czarina's family. Meanwhile, other factions at court tried to buy him off -- he wouldn't be bought. Historians have combed the personal letters of the time for information or mention of Sasha Lanskoi, and despite the many mentions of his name, none had a bad word to say about him. Well, there was one. The man was a doctor who hinted that Sasha regularly took an herbal sort of "Viagra" in order to satisfy Catherine in bed. This libelous Dr. Wickard was not a regular palace doctor, but a specialist called in when Sasha suddenly took ill. Wickard's theory was that the prolonged use of this "Viagra" weakened Sasha's constitution. It is reported that Catherine sat with Sasha on his sick bed in attempts to nurse him through the illness. But the illness proved fatal. With Catherine nursing him till the end, Sasha died, at the age of 26. Stories from hostile members of her court suggested the young man may have been poisoned. But more objective modern investigation suggests that Sasha had caught diphtheria. Witness reports told of his throat closing up until he had trouble breathing -- a common condition in diphtheria cases.

After Sasha's death, the great Russian queen was crushed. She remained in bed for weeks and depressed for months. She had a church built in which to bury Sasha with the idea that his entire family could be buried along side him. But even after his death, Sasha's family remained hostile and bitter over their son's relationship with the queen. They refused to be buried in the church Catherine built, leaving their son's body in the church alone.

That was in June. By September, the pragmatic Griori Potemkin had selected another young man for introduction to the queen. Though this and successive relationships never reached the pitch and passion as that with Sasha, Catherine the Great continued on with her powerful reign aided by the companionship of young men until her death in 1796.