Love at the Foot of the Throne

14 hrs. 31 min.

Language Russian

Author Elena Arsenyeva

Narrator Tatyana Nenarokomova

Description

This love had no right to exist and was forbidden—a love between monarchs and ordinary mortals. But passion that arises for someone else’s wife or husband is a thousand times greater tragedy for those who hold power and sit on its very peak—on the throne! And so at the foot of the throne, a love affair that cannot be kept secret appears. It becomes a source of countless gossip and rumors, overgrows with incredible speculations, is condemned… and at the same time awakens sympathy in the souls of those who themselves loved and know the irresistible power of forbidden passion.

The stories of love and passion of Ivan the Terrible’s mother Elena Glinskaya and her lover, Prince Ivan Obolensky-Telepnev-Obolchy, Catherine the Great and Alexander Lansky, Nicholas II and Matilda Kshesinskaya—read them in Elena Arsenyeva’s novellas…

Contents

01 Two mistresses of a sinful saint (“Greek girl” Eirena and Rogneda — Prince Vladimir the Baptizer)
02 Clear falcon (Elena Glinskaya — Prince Ivan Obolensky)
03 Vasilisa the Beautiful (Vasilisa Melen’tieva — Tsar Ivan the Terrible)
04 Unloved favorite (Ekaterina Dolgorukaya — Emperor Peter II)
05 A Narcissus for the princess (Anna Leopoldovna — Maurice Linar)
06 Viva, Elizaveta! (Empress Elizabeth Petrovna — Aleksey Shubin)
07 The pipe, the violin, and the mistress (Elizaveta Vorontsova — Emperor Peter III)
08 Hercules and the Kantarides (Empress Catherine the Great — Alexander Lansky)
09 A tyrant under the thumb (Emperor Paul I and his favorites)
10 The Black Casket (Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna — Aleksey Okhotnikov)
11 Beauty and the Beast (Ioanna Grudzhinskaya — Grand Duke Konstantin)
12 A fateful name (Ekaterina Dolgorukaya — Emperor Alexander II)
13 Splendid, half-airborne (Matilda Kshesinskaya — Emperor Nicholas II)