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Catherine the Great and Potemkin

Power, Love and the Russian Empire

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Catherine the Great and Potemkin

By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
Narrated by: Sophie Roberts
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About this listen

 'One of the great love stories of history, in a league with Napoleon and Josephine, and Antony and Cleopatra ... Excellent, with dazzling mastery of detail and literary flair' Economist

It was history's most successful political partnership - as sensual and fiery as it was creative and visionary. Catherine the Great was a woman of notorious passion and imperial ambition. Prince Potemkin - wildly flamboyant and sublimely talented - was the love of her life and her co-ruler.

Together they seized Ukraine and Crimea, defining the Russian empire to this day. Their affair was so tumultuous that they negotiated an arrangement to share power, leaving Potemkin free to love his beautiful nieces, and Catherine her young male favourites. But these 'twin souls' never stopped loving each other.

Drawing on their intimate letters and vast research, Simon Sebag Montefiore's enthralling, widely acclaimed biography restores these imperial partners to their rightful place as titans of their age. Historical Military & War Politicians Politics & Activism Royalty Russia Imperialism Military

Critic reviews

One of the great love stories of history in a league with Napoleon and Josephine and Antony and Cleopatra ... Excellent, with dazzling mastery of detail and literary flair
A rather wonderful book ... (Mick Jagger)
If you want a good racy historical read, CATHERINE THE GREAT & POTEMKIN certainly provides it! Book of the Year (Antonia Fraser)
It is a wonderful story, and Simon Sebag Montefiore tells it with joyful verve. He evidently warms to Potemkin's overblown personality and relishes the adventurers who swarmed around him. He has a firm grasp of the politics at the Russian court and of the diplomatic context, which is not easy, since the centre of gravity of this story shifts between St Petersburg, Vienna, Berlin and Istanbul. He is very good on the relationship between Potemkin and Catherine. His explanation of the day-to-day mechanics of the unusual ménage is light-handed, movingly told and psychologically credible (Adam Zamoyski)
This well researched and highly ambitious biography has succeeded triumphantly in re-creating the life of an extraordinary man of mixed moods... Sebag Montefiore also provides a remarkably good panorama of the period (Antony Beevor)
Clearly what fascinates Sebag Montefiore is the man himself - his personality, his achievements, his lifelong relationship with his sovereign/lover - and that fascination shines through every page of this book. Although more than 500 pages long, it could easily have been double the length, so enjoyable is it to read
With great industry and huge enthusiasm he has combed the archives to give us a detailed account of a gigantic but, until now, almost forgotten figure. The writing is fluent, the sympathy obvious
This exhaustive and beautifully-written biography... Montefiore vividly brings to life his supporting cast of envious conspirators, aristocratic mistresses, dandies, diplomats and adventurers
The contradictions in Potemkin's character are beautifully brought out in this magnificent biography
Montefiore's reputation so far has been for lively journalism and a couple of novels. With this lavish biography he has announced himself as a historian who deserves to be taken seriously
This splendid biography, as sprawling, magnificent and exotic as its subject, provides for the first time in English a fully researched, accurate and immensely readable history of this extraordinary man
Magnificent ... Montefiore's passionate and committed revisionism on behalf of his hero is just one of a host of excellent things about this book. Massively researched in Russian archives, it is a work of fine scholarship ... This is a superb biography and it is hard to see how it can ever be superseded
Exhilarating ... In describing Potemkin's career, Sebag Montefiore succeeds admirably in capturing its scale and ambition (Stella Tillyard)
All stars
Most relevant
The story of Catherine the Great cannot be told without telling the story of Prince Gregory Potemkin. The same way the story of Russia cannot be told without telling the story of Catherine the Great. Therefore, it makes sense to combine a biography of both as Simon Sebag Montefiore does here.

Montefiore is a great writer and the work flows effortlessly, allowing listeners of all levels of knowledge to easily understand who everyone is, what happened and why it happened. This could easily be your first book on Russia and you would not struggle.

I can honestly say I have learnt a lot from this book and I now walk away feeling like I have a solid grasp of who these two magnates of the 18th century were, how they lived their lives in the circumstances that history has placed them in.

The book has been criticised for containing too much salacious gossip. However, I feel these people are missing the point. This was the enlightenment, before the religious revival of the early 19th century and this is how Catherine and Potemkin lived. This is overall a great work and anyone interested in Russia should take the opportunity to pin the knowledge of this book to their own historical timeline. I honestly have no complaints, I asked for Catherine and Potemkin and was given it in an easy, (but not skimmed or dumbed down) coherent way.

Love, War and Russia

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In comparison with “The Romanovs” this book has the marks of a less polished writer.
The narrator struggles with Russian names and even mispronounces “Kirkcaldy”.
It’s difficult to give credence to a historian who describes George II as “king of England “. Historians are supposed to be as accurate as possible so a schoolboy howler like that puts the rest of the book under suspicion.

Not the author’s mature work.

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This was brilliantly brought to life by the narrator, Sophie Roberts who tackled the French & Russian names with ease. A great way to entwine two biographys in such an entertaining way.

Fantastic book

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I don’t blame Sebag for repurposing his research from his magisterial The Romanovs but this work is too much of a love story for me. More importantly, I found the narration unbearable and suspect it is AI generated by the performer. I struggled on but gave up half way through.

Sounds like an AI voice

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