Did ‘Catherine the Great’ Really Die After Having Sex with a Horse?

HBO’s Catherine the Great is a lavish look at the life (and lovers) of the famous Russian empress. Helen Mirren stars as the lady in question, a beguiling figure in world history who managed to take over a foreign empire with just her wits, charms, and the help of her ferociously well-connected paramours. Catherine the Great doesn’t show Catherine’s rise from Prussian princess to Russian leader, but instead examines her later years and her love affair with the social climbing Grigory Potemkin (Jason Clarke).

Catherine the Great also makes a point to highlight the monarch’s sexual appetite. She has her best friend test out the sexual prowess of potential lovers and flirts with abandon. She even creates a gender-bending drag party where her lords need to dress like fussy ladies and she gets to play the gentleman. However, since HBO’s Catherine the Great is classy and all that, it also never broaches the most notorious Catherine the Great sex legend of all time: did Catherine the Great ever have sex with a horse? Or more specifically: did Catherine the Great die having sex with a horse?

There’s a legend that Catherine the Great’s lust was so powerful, no man could tame it. So, she turned to a stallion to get her rocks off. The legend has it that the leather harness holding the horse above her snapped thanks to, uh, the gregarious interspecies love-making, and Catherine was crushed to death.

So did it happen?

Did Catherine the Great Die Having Sex with a Horse?

Here’s the thing about powerful female monarchs… Throughout history, the easiest way for their jealous enemies to slander them would be to make specious claims about their sexuality. Catherine the Great was very powerful and very open about enjoying sex. And yes, as she grew older, she did take younger lovers such as Potemkin. This made it all too easy for her enemies to exaggerate her exploits and twist them into something far more disgusting.

Historians know for a fact that Catherine the Great did not die having sex with a horse. SHE DID NOT!

First of all, the rumor didn’t even emerge until decades after her death, suggesting that it was totally, completely, utterly made up. Secondly, we know that she died of stroke. Just that, a normal stroke. The horses were innocent.

Did Catherine the Great Ever Have Sex with a Horse?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, no. While — to quote Hardcore History podcast host Dan Carlin — “I’m not a historian,” and I haven’t done the decades of research on records about Catherine’s private life to know for sure, I’m guessing the rumors are just linked to that garish legend.

That said, there were also rumors that Catherine liked hanging out in the royal stables quite a lot. So much so that it got her maids whispering. To me, though, that doesn’t suggest bestiality so much as Catherine the Great was a horse girl, and that’s wholesome and pure.

Time will tell if HBO’s Catherine the Great will have the guts to make a horse joke, though. The limited series returns with an all-new episode next Monday, October 28th.

Where to stream Catherine the Great (2019)