Grigory Potemkin

Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin was a Russian statesman and military commander who rose to exceptional influence during the reign of Catherine the Great. After becoming Catherine’s favourite and intimate partner, he held senior military and administrative offices and played a major role in the empire’s expansion towards the Black Sea, the annexation of Crimea and the development of new southern territories and naval bases.

His relationship with Catherine combined personal intimacy, political partnership and periods of separation while remaining central to imperial affairs for many years. Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Catherine the Great and Potemkin, first published under the title Prince of Princes, treats their partnership as both a love story and a major force in eighteenth-century Russian statecraft.