Catherine the Great

by Virginia Rounding

Roughly the contemporary of Marie Antoinette, Catherine was also the object of vicious slander, both during her lifetime and after. Unlike Marie, Catherine was a powerful, capable ruler who seized the throne from her husband in a coup and was subsequently implicated in his murder, at least indirectly. She then proceeded to take a series of lovers -- they seemed to be always be in their 20s, so as she aged, the gap in ages steadily widened -- in the most matter-of-fact, out-in-the-open way that it's not really too surprising that people enjoyed gossiping about her. She furthermore maintained close ties to her first three objects of affection: one who eventually became the King of Poland, another one of her finest generals, the third her lifelong advisor.

An interesting woman, obviously way ahead of her time.