CHAP
I. A comedy Queen
II. The “Bonnie Prince’s”
Bride
III. The peasant and the
Empress
IV. A crown that failed
V. A Queen of hearts
VI. The regent’s daughter
VII. A princess of mystery
VIII. The King and the “Little
dove”
IX. The romance of the
beautiful Swede
X. The sister of an Emperor
XI. A siren of the eighteenth
century
XII. The Corsican and the
Creole
XIII. The enslaver of A King
XIV. An Empress and her
favourites
XV. A seventeenth-century Cinderella
XVI. Bianca, grand duchess of
Tuscany
XVII. Richelieu, the roue
XVIII. The indiscretions of A
princess
XIX. The indiscretions of A
princess—continued
XX. The love-affairs of
A Regent
XXI. A Delilah of the court
of France
XXII. The “Sun-King”
And the widow
XXIII. A throned barbarian
XXIV. A friend of Marie Antoinette
XXV. The rival sisters
XXVI. The rival sisters—continued
XXVII. A mistress of intrigue
XXVIII. An ill-fated marriage
XXIX. An ill-fated marriage—continued
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
BIANCA CAPELLO BONAVENTURA GRAND DUCHESS OF TUSCANY
CATHERINE THE SECOND OF RUSSIA
COUNT GREGORY ORLOFF
DESIREE CLARY
JOSEPHINE DE BEAUHARNAIS, EMPRESS (BY PRUD’HON)
LOLA MONTEZ, COUNTESS OF LANDSFELD
LUDWIG I., KING OF BAVARIA
FRANCESCO I., GRAND DUKE OF TUSCANY
CAROLINE OF BRUNSWICK, WIFE OF GEORGE IV
LOVE AFFAIRS OF THE COURTS OF EUROPE
CHAPTER I
A COMEDY QUEEN
“It was to a noise like thunder, and close clasped in a soldier’s embrace, that Catherine I. made her first appearance in Russian history.”