Catherine’s life divides into two halves almost equal in length. From 1729 to 1762, she was a German princess and a Russian grand duchess; from 1762 until her death in 1796, she was the empress of Russia. The primary source of information about the first half of her life is her own
Catherine wrote her memoirs in French, and at least four translations have been published in English. The first of these was by Alexander Herzen, a celebrated Russian author and exile in London; this work appeared in 1859. An American, Katharine Anthony, retranslated and edited the memoirs and published them in London and New York in 1927. Catherine’s memoirs in the original French were edited and published by Dominique Maroger in Paris, then translated into English by Moura Budberg, appearing in New York in 1955. Modern Library brought out a new translation by Mark Cruse and Hilde Hoogenboom in 2005 that put Catherine’s reminiscences in correct chronological sequence, which Catherine herself and previous translators never achieved. I have used the first three of these translations. They are identified in the notes as follows: Maroger and Budberg’s version is denoted simply as
1. SOPHIA’S CHILDHOOD
1 “that idiot”: Haslip
2 “It was told me”:
3 “He lived to be only twelve”: Ibid., 41
4 “Very early it was noticed”: Anthony, 27
5 “circumcision”: Ibid., 31
6 “every night at dusk”:
7 “I am convinced”: Anthony, 27
8 “All my life”:
9 “He always brought with him”: Anthony, 27
10 “Music to my ears”:
11 “She had a noble soul”: Ibid., 26
12 “the pupil”: Oldenbourg, 8
13 “One cannot always know”: Kaus, 11
14 “A large number of parrots”:
15 “I don’t know whether”: Anthony, 13
16 “agreeable and well-bred”:
17 “I knew that one day”: Ibid., 34
18 “Madame, you do not know”: Ibid., 49
19 “Galloped until”: Ibid., 38
20 “I was never caught”: Ibid.
21 “I knew nothing about love”: Ibid., 46
22 “My parents will not wish it”:
23 “He was very good looking”:
2. SUMMONED TO RUSSIA
1 “The empress is charmed”: Kaus, 19
2 “At the explicit command”: Ibid., 25
3 “I will no longer conceal”: Ibid., 26
4 “She lacked only wings”: Ibid., 27
5 “Next to the empress”: Ibid., 28
6 “The prince, my husband”: Ibid.
7 “She told me”:
3. FREDERICK II AND THE JOURNEY TO RUSSIA
1 “ambition, the opportunity for gain”: Ritter, 7
2 “opera, comedy, poetry, dancing”:
3 “the entire company”: Oldenbourg, 21
4 “Accept this gift”:
5 “The little princess of Zerbst”: Haslip, 24
6 “My Lord: I beg you”: Oldenbourg, 59
7 “The bedchambers were unheated”: Waliszewski, 23
8 “I had never seen anything”:
9 “In these last days”: Anthony, 69
10 “I found ready to wrap us”: Ibid., 71
11 “Here everything goes on”: Ibid.
12 “It is the bride”: Kaus, 42
4. EMPRESS ELIZABETH
1 “loved both his girls”: Rice, 15
2 “My father often repeated”: Bain,
3 “She is a beauty”: Massie,
4 “I was too young then”: Rice, 48
5 “knew of no other family”: Ibid.
6 “Your Majesty may create me”: Ibid., 61
7 “In public”: Longworth, 162
8 “exceedingly obliging and affable”: Rice, 47
9 “Madame, you must choose”: Ibid., 57
5. THE MAKING OF A GRAND DUKE
1 “I don’t belive there is a princess”: Massie, 806
2 “I am Russian, remember”: Bain,
3 “the happiest day of my life”: Oldenbourg, 48
4 “I see that Your Highness”: Bain,
5 “utterly frivolous”: Ibid., 14
6 “extremely weak”: Ibid., 15
7 “This will be your last”: Oldenbourg, 52
8 “I cannot express”: Bain,
9 “One promised”: Oldenbourg, 53
10 “as he spoke”: Ibid.
6. MEETING ELIZABETH AND PETER
1 “I could wait no longer”: Kaus, 43
2 “All I have done for you”: Ibid.
3 “It was quite impossible”:
4 “one of the most handsome men”: Ibid., 61
5 “We are living like queens”: Kaus, 53
6 “for the first ten days”:
7 “because his aunt wished it”: Ibid.
8 “I blushed to hear”: Ibid.
7. PNEUMONIA
1 “the external forms”: Madariaga,
2 “Search yourself with care”: Anthony, 82
3 “The change of religion”: Ibid., 81
4 “There I lay with a high fever”:
5 “the devil would take her”: Oldenbourg, 68
6 “Call Simon Todorsky”: Anthony, 83
7 “the ladies would speak”: Herzen, 28,
