Bookshelf;

The written word abides;

The winter Palace;   by Eva Stachniak;

From the book:  ...…I was a tongue, a gazette. The bearer of the truth of the whispers”…

Elizabeth and Catherine had their female spies at court; these girls or women were called  "a tongue".

A well written and researched novel, brings to life the Empress Elisabeth and the early years of

  Catherine the Great;  

 Elizaveta Petrovna (29 December 1709 – 5 January 1762), also known as Yelisavet and Elizabeth, was the Empress of Russia (1741-1762).

As a child, Elizabeth was bright, if not brilliant, but her formal education was both imperfect and desultory. Her father, Peter the Great adored her. Elizabeth was his daughter and in many ways resembled him as a feminine replica, both physically and temperamentally. Peter had no leisure to devote to her training, and her mother, Catherine I of Russia, was too down-to-earth and illiterate to superintend her formal studies.

She had a French governess, and was fluent in Italian, German and French. She was also an excellent dancer and rider. From her earliest years she delighted everyone with her extraordinary beauty and vivacity. She was commonly known as the leading beauty of the Russian Empire.

Born: April 21 (May 2), 1729 Szczecin, Pomerania (Prussian Kingdom)

Died: November 6 (17), 1796 Tsarskoye Selo, Russia

The future Catherine the Great was born a German princess in one of many tiny German states, but ended her life a powerful and enlightened ruler of the vast Russian Empire. In 1745 she married Prince Carl Peter Ulrich, the heir to the Russian throne (the future Emperor Peter III). Being a bright personality with a strong sense of determination she joined the Russian Orthodox Church, learned the Russian language and through personal study acquired a brilliant education. She was proud to be a friend and an active correspondent of some of the brightest thinkers of the day, such as the prominent philosophers of the French Enlightenment, Rousseau and Diderot.

In June 1762 Catherine took an active part in a coup against her husband Emperor Peter III. He was overthrown and later killed "in an accident", and Catherine became Russia's autocratic ruler. Throughout her long reign she undertook many reforms and ensured the extension of the Russian Empire by acquiring territories in Southern Ukraine and the Crimea. Amongst her reforms was the extension of rights and privileges granted to the Russian nobility, which won Catherine popularity among the Russian social elite.

Catherine had a string of sensationalized and widely publicized love affairs with various army officers and politicians, although much of what was reported was untrue. Nevertheless, she promoted most of her lovers to the highest ranks and some of them proved themselves extremely talented and able figures (for example Prince Potyomkin, a very prominent general and political figure of the day).


Catherine the Great, being the foreign element in the Romanov dynasty, wanted to establish strong links with earlier Russian history and the Romanov Tsars and with this in mind she commissioned an impressive monument to Peter the Great - the Bronze Horseman. Most experts agree that Catherine changed the appearance of St. Petersburg quite significantly, and turned it into one of the most impressive capital cities in Europe.

Catherine the Great died in 1796 at the age of 67, having lived longer than any other Romanov monarch. She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.


My thoughts about Monarchies;

Monarchies in the 21 first century  are outdated and should be abolished!

I do not think they have a genuine place in today’s society. The term aristocracy is nothing else then a man made word to deceive the people, duped to function as the tool of another person or power.There is no aristocracy this is a man made invention.
 Aristocracy had its time and  worked well for them but now it is time to get rid of this invention as it  is absolutely superfluous. People are people,  none has blue blood, the so called aristocracy are humans like everybody else, they have the same bodily functions, nothing superior.

Why should tax payers money be used to prop up the spongers of society, whose forefathers have killed, lied and robbed the people for centuries?

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.