The most beautiful women in history. Women's Rule

Greetings to all site visitors!
2013 marked the 400th anniversary of one of the great dynasties of the world - the Romanov dynasty. Since our site is predominantly female, I decided to make a publication about the women of the Romanov dynasty - those who were destined to become Russian empresses.

Catherine the First

Amazing fate! Laundress Marta Skavronskaya became the first Russian crowned empress! First, Field Marshal Sheremetyev liked it, then Menshikov and, finally, Peter the Great. She accompanied Peter on his campaigns and was distinguished by her good nature, excellent health, and cheerfulness. She knew how to “extinguish” the outbursts of anger of the hot-tempered Peter. True, in the last years of the life of Peter the Great, their relationship went wrong... After the death of her husband, she was elevated to the Russian throne, but reigned for only 2 years.

Anna Ioannovna

Niece of Peter the Great, daughter of his half-brother Tsar Ivan Alekseevich. She was married to the Duke of Courland to strengthen dynastic ties. She became a widow almost immediately after the wedding. She was invited to the Russian throne due to the lack of a direct heir. She was distinguished by her rude disposition and hard-heartedness. Russia was essentially ruled by its favorite Biron.

Elizaveta Petrovna

Daughter of Peter the Great. Could become a French queen! But somehow negotiations between Russia and France regarding a marriage with the heir to the French throne did not work out. Cheerful, kind, simple. When she was a princess, she baptized soldiers' children and adored folk festivities. The first fashionista of her time - after the death of Elizabeth, 15 thousand remained! dresses. She loved Russia, but really did not like to engage in government affairs and sign decrees...

Catherine II

Great woman!!! The princess from the seedy Principality of Anhalt-Zerbt came to Russia as a fifteen-year-old girl and was married to the future Peter the Third. She captivated and enchanted everyone! Enthroned by the guard, she overthrew her own husband. The years of her reign were the golden age of the Russian nobility. She managed to do everything - deal with government affairs, change favorites, add to the Hermitage collection, correspond with Voltaire, walk her beloved dogs, write plays and fairy tales. I repeat - Great woman!

Maria Feodorovna

Wife of Emperor Paul the First, mother of two emperors - Alexander the First and Nicholas the First. Born Princess of Württemberg. Catherine the Second called her daughter-in-law “cast iron” - apparently due to a lack of emotionality and sensitivity. The main merit of Maria Feodorovna is that she strengthened the gene pool of the dynasty - she gave birth to 10 children. Tried to play a political role during the reign of Alexander the First. She did a lot of charity work.

Elizaveta Alekseevna

Wife of Emperor Alexander the First. The most beautiful Russian empress. Born Princess of Baden. As her contemporaries called her, “a woman of the highest order.” Smart, educated, interested in music, history, literature. She was the only Russian empress who learned the Russian language perfectly. Pushkin admired her. According to modern literary scholars, it was Elizaveta Alekseevna who was his MUSE. “The Genius of Pure Beauty” is about her, and not at all about Anna Kern. The great historian Karamzin was a faithful friend of the empress.

Alexandra Fedorovna

Wife of Emperor Nicholas I. Daughter of the Prussian king. She was not interested in politics, preferring to be a “friend on the throne.” A wonderful wife and mother. She looked at her husband’s love “pranks” condescendingly, which contributed to their happy family life. She was invariably kind and friendly with her subjects. But I never learned Russian!

Maria Alexandrovna

Wife of Emperor Alexander II. Born Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt. As her maid of honor wrote in her memoirs, almost all her life the empress had to “tolerate and forgive the betrayals” of her amorous husband. Mother of seven children. She was distinguished by her intelligence, modesty, and sincerity. She helped those in need a lot, often doing it anonymously. In the last years of her life she was seriously ill and lived a lot abroad.

Maria Feodorovna

Wife of Alexander III. Born Danish Princess Dagmar. Perhaps the most beloved empress among the people. She was distinguished by her amazing charm, ability to win over a variety of people, and cheerfulness. She was a faithful support to her husband, Alexander III, and son, Nicholas II. She miraculously escaped from the Bolsheviks - the English king (the empress’s own nephew) sent a warship to the Crimea for her. She died in Denmark, never believing in the execution of the royal family.

Alexandra Fedorovna

The last Russian empress. Born Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt. Beloved granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England. She and her husband, Emperor Nicholas II, were an exemplary family, maintaining strength and freshness of feelings throughout their marriage. The most slandered empress - she was accused of both spying for Germany and having close relations with Rasputin. She was a nurse at the Tsarskoe Selo hospital during the First World War. Shot along with her family in Yekaterinburg in 1918. Canonized by the Russian Church.

Thank you for your attention and patience to everyone who read and watched to the end!!!

Women's rule. Advantages and disadvantages

With the death of Suleiman, the action of “a force as merciless as fate”, which placed the Ottoman family in the service of the empire, ended. Selim II immediately brought one hundred and fifty women of various types to the seraglio along with his property. Slowly but steadily, the Ottoman sultans began to pay high prices for the offspring of slaves. Women, freed from strict control, first quietly, then more openly and frantically, began to seek privileges, wealth and, finally, power.

It is generally accepted that this fight was started by Alexandra Anastasia Lisowska, who created the precedent of female shadow rule. Roksolana's accommodation in the well-guarded seraglio turned out to be unsafe. But in the crowded corridors and rooms of the seraglio, it was not difficult for women to keep secrets with the assessors of the divan. The women lived and slept near their black guards, who were stationed opposite the white guards at the entrance to the seraglio. The Treasury was located next to the inner Throne Room.

Hurrem Sultan, aka Roksolana

More significant than this convenient proximity was the fatal fact that the spoken word of the Turkish Sultan had despotic power, and the ruler was not immune to the influence of women. Suleiman himself was not free from the influence of one woman, although he did not allow her to lead him. Selim, succumbing to his moods, nevertheless attached great importance to Sokollu’s performance of the duties of the vizier, since he ignored the intrigues of the harem. However, when Selim’s drinking bouts became more frequent, his first lady, Nyrbanu, also known as the Venetian Cecilia, acquired power in the harem. Being the mother of Murad, she demanded for herself the title of valide, that is, the mother of the Sultan, after the death of Selim. Thus, for the first time, the Sultan's mother began to maintain her own court in the seraglio. Nyrbanu did not intend to part with her power in favor of her son’s first kadyn. Her inner Throne Room was meant to remain that way. (We’ll tell you more about Nurbanu later.)

Then, after the murder of the elderly Sokollu, the last barrier to women inheriting power was removed. The century that followed was called by the Turks Kadınlar Sultanati ("rule of the favorites"). Murad brought closer to him a beautiful Venetian, a woman from the noble Baffo family, known in the harem under the name Safiya (Safiye), the Light One. A blond or red-haired captive of a Turkish captain (or perhaps a secret agent introduced into the harem by far-sighted Venetians?), Safiya defended the interests of Venice in the succession to the throne in favor of her son, as Roksolana-Hurrem had previously done.

Since Murad was fond of women, Nurbanu, his mother, looked for lovers for him who could distract the Sultan from the dangerous Safiya. Murad readily gave himself up to entertainment, because his father was confined to a harem, and state affairs were managed by a divan... This, by the way, had a favorable effect on affairs. The prestige of the Ottoman Empire in Europe increased after Venice found a common language with France in the international arena. However, with the supply of numerous women to the harem from the slave markets, the power of the caretakers of the women increased, and Safiya, perhaps led by the Venetians, certainly influenced the actions of the Turkish army and navy. A diamond merchant, a Jewish woman named Chiarezza, served as an intermediary for her connection with the Venetian diplomatic complex, the Magnifica Comunita.

With the rise of Safiya, nineteen sons of Murad by other women were killed! An unprecedented record of bloody horror! Having become the mother of the Sultan's heir, she acquired enormous opportunities to influence the operations of the Turkish fleet.

When her son Murad III took the throne, Safiya encountered growing resistance. The Sultan's Venetian mother may have been withdrawn and inaccessible in the harem, but outside it she was considered a deadly fury. From behind the bars of the observation window, she watched the debate on the sofa, unable to be there in person.

During the period of maximum aggravation of the struggle between her and the vizirate, Safia began to provide her son with women so that he would be less distracted by state affairs. However, an uprising on the northern border of the empire allowed the military leaders to wrest Murad from the seraglio and place him at the head of the army that marched into Hungary, as was often the case under Suleiman, starting with his first campaign at the age of thirty.

When, in the absence of the Sultan, the supply of women to the harem did not stop, Safiya was eliminated in the only possible way. She was strangled in bed by another woman's eunuch servant. This was one of many in a series of murders in the harem.

All troubles usually began inside the overpopulated seraglio, going outside. As soon as the son of the Sultan began to lay claim to power, he became the object of intrigue by women who had barely reached puberty. The consequences of imprisonment in a harem immediately affected the heir who ascended the throne, who adhered to the harem and fell under the influence of the valides and their entourage.

This state of affairs contributed, in turn, to strengthening the power of the Agha Janissaries (who, like the head of the Praetorian Guard, formed the palace guard). Individual women could rarely be confident in their superiority without the support of the caretakers of the harem women and the aga himself. A fourth factor was unexpectedly added to this triangle in the form of graduates of the palace school, located on the opposite side of the third courtyard of the seraglio.

Therefore, despite the gossip that came out of the harem doors (some of them were known as “Shawl Doors”, and others as “Women’s Funeral Doors”), despite the already fantastic stories embellished in the back streets of the Galata region by foreigners who were looking for the most juicy stories from life of the Gran Seraglio, the intervention of the Kadyns in the state affairs of the empire could have been exclusively episodic.

Typically, this happened when an older woman clung to power over the younger inhabitants of the harem.

The viability of the Ottoman regime was undermined by upbringing in a harem environment. The grandson of Mehmed III was undoubtedly weak-minded. Another grandson, Osman, was killed by the Janissaries.

Then the first kadyn of the harem, named Kesem, tried to acquire the same power that Safiya had. However, her son Murad IV rejected the influence of the harem and became interested in military affairs. Due to drunkenness and illness, the young Sultan was very timid. They say that Murad died in a fit of fear before an eclipse of the sun.

It is possible that both Murad and his brother Ibrahim suffered from dementia. In any case, their inability to resist the intrigues of their mother led to a confrontation between various forces in the seraglio, not inferior in tragedy to Shakespeare's Hamlet...

Young Murad, dying in his sleeping chambers, sought satisfaction in the fact that the hated Ibrahim would die before him. Both brothers were the last male descendants of the ruling Ottoman family. Murad appointed one of his favorites, the head of the squires, as his heir. He ordered the execution of Ibrahim, who was imprisoned in one of the rooms next to the Sultan's chambers. (This was the forerunner of the famous “cage” in which the brothers of the Sultan’s heir and their children were often kept in order to isolate them from the outside world.) If Murad’s order for execution had been carried out, it would have ended the Ottoman dynasty, destroyed the ayin (custom) and would make the fate of the empire uncertain.

In the conditions of the crisis of government, Murad’s inner circle was afraid to carry out his command, especially since his executors were threatened with punishment by the Kyuss. They informed the dying Sultan that Ibrahim had allegedly been strangled.

It is said that after Murad's death, Ibrahim was so frightened that he barricaded himself in his cell when people were sent to him to release him. Even when Ibrahim was girded with Osman's sword, calling him Sultan, animal fear did not leave him. He was afraid of his mother, palace conspiracies, and this fear provoked crazy actions. Even more than Ivan the Terrible, who died two generations ago, Ibrahim was subject to fantastic visions, terrorizing those around him. His short eight-year reign was marked by the disastrous dominance of the harem over state power.

Ibrahim I

Ibrahim executed his capable vizier Kara-Mustafa, whose successor, naturally, allowed the Sultan to indulge in any fantasies and perversions. Kyusam did the same for her own selfish interests. The feeble-minded young man, who spent several years in prison waiting for the executioner with a bowstring, took revenge in the spirit of the notorious Roman emperor Caligula. He “took it out” on the inhabitants of the harem.

He had strange quirks - smothering himself excessively, dressing up in furs, especially sable coats; money flowed from the treasury of the empire for ambergris and outfits. He decorated the room with mirrors, demanded that girls not experienced in harem tricks be brought to him, and rewarded each of his associates who came up with a new way to stimulate sexual energy. They say he once forced all the women in his room to strip naked and gallop around him on their hands and knees like a herd of mares, while he himself pretended to be a stallion.

From a passion for spirits, Ibrahim moved on to an adoration for diamonds. His passion for rarities devastated the treasury. Women, forced to yield to his sexual desires, rewarded themselves by having jewelry and luxurious clothes purchased for them at the market. Ibrahim instructed the traders to keep their shops open day and night.

The brilliance of the emeralds in Ibrahim’s beard was seen as a devilish sign. For a number of years, corpses were constantly removed from the Funeral Doors.

One day, a diver who jumped into the depths of a small pond in a park near the Seraglio emerged with a cry of horror. At the bottom he saw rows of dead women standing. Wrapped in shrouds, they swayed with the current. (The inhabitants of the harem were removed secretly. They were sewn into bags, stones were tied to their feet. Then at night they were thrown into the reservoir from boats. The stones pulled the victims to the bottom, and the bodies stuck out vertically).

The harem, which served Ibrahim's crazy fantasies, actually ruled the empire. Opposition resistance grew. Finally, representatives of all branches of the army demanded that the mother of Sultan Kyusam depose Ibrahim and place him in a “cage”, and elevate the son of Sultan Mehmet to the throne.

When Ibrahim opposed this, the sipahis burst into the palace and, on the orders of the mufti, killed him. The Ottoman Sultan Ibrahim was strangled by order of the chief sharia judge.

The elderly Kesem, however, did not cede her power to the Sultan’s new mother, Turkhan Sultan. She still had a trump card - the support of the Aga Janissaries. It seemed possible to her that if the Janissaries seized power, young Mehmed would be removed, and his younger brother would ascend the throne.

Meanwhile, new forces were being formed that opposed Mehmet and the diwan obedient to him. Along with the struggle of hostile parties at the court, a social movement arose to establish law and order, as well as to end the arbitrariness of the Sultan’s power itself.

Kesem played her trump cards and lost. Her accomplices in the conspiracy were the head of the squires, most of the black eunuchs and the Janissaries with their aga.

The struggle for control of the seraglio began when Kyusam persuaded the head of the gardeners to open the gates of the courtyards at night to armed janissaries. It was assumed that they would capture the sleeping vizier and take him with them as a hostage. The capture of the seraglio seemed inevitable, but the vizier outwitted the Janissaries. He said that he intended to convene the assessors of the divan and satisfy the demands of the Janissaries. Having left them, he disappeared into the third courtyard, closing the gate.

While the courtyard was defended only by teenagers and servants, measures were taken to search for Kesem. She hid in her room. The old woman was pulled out of her clothing chest. Precious jewelry and a luxurious dress were torn from her. Then they strangled him and threw his body outside the gate.

Turkhan Sultan turned out to be wise enough to choose security over power. She gave in to public demands. One of the brilliant representatives of the Kuprulu family became the vizier. Thus, a hundred years after Hurrem Sultan weaved intrigues against Suleiman’s sisters and the first pretender to the throne, his son from Mahidevran, Mustafa, the reign of women under the sultans ended.

Our story about the morals of the harem, or more precisely, about their decline, is largely based on the stories of foreigners living in Turkey at that time, and they, in turn, drew information from the peddlers of countless gossip about the inner life of the seraglio. Of course, for the most part these events are reliable, but, naturally, they must be verified in archives and other sources of Turkish history. The testimonies of foreigners were retold for so long that many legends became facts, and facts, on the contrary, became tales. Getting acquainted with the era of Suleiman, we will either move away as necessary, then return to it again. However, it is worth immediately renouncing many Western tales, for example, that the chief vizier Ibrahim was a eunuch; that women from the Sultan's family were married only to eunuchs so that they could not have children; that Mihrimach and the inhabitants of the harem demanded the capture of Malta only because the galleys of the knights intercepted merchant ships with cargoes of clothing and jewelry for these women; that Selim ordered the capture of Cyprus only because his favorite wines were brought from this island...

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(Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya, Ekaterina Alekseevna Mikhailova; April 5, 1684 - May 6, 1727) - Russian empress from 1721 as the wife of the reigning emperor, from 1725 as the ruling empress; second wife of Peter I the Great, mother of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.

In her honor, Peter I established the Order of St. Catherine (in 1713) and named the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals (in 1723). The Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo (built under her daughter Elizabeth) also bears the name of Catherine I. She gave birth to two daughters, Elizabeth and Anna, and a son, Peter, who died in infancy.
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Portrait of Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna in mourning opposite the bust of her husband. Basin. 1831

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Which Slavic beauty captivated the heart of the famous monarch? Let's take a closer look at the most beautiful queens from the past.

Scotland - France

Mary Stuart (1542-1587)

While still an infant, Mary was proclaimed Queen of Scotland (her late father, King James V, had no heirs left besides her). At the age of 16, the girl headed the French throne, becoming the wife of Francis II. Already after 6 months. The young queen was widowed. Not wanting to tie the knot with the brother of her deceased husband, Karl, she returned to her homeland.

Many influential people wanted to win the heart of the graceful beauty, but to no avail. Only Lord Darnley managed to charm Mary, who married him. Due to many political differences, the marriage between the lord and the queen turned out to be fragile. Subsequently, Darnley died. Most likely, the initiator of the lord's murder was his wife.

As a result of the death of her husband, Mary's position on the throne was shaken - and she lost her crown. The third husband, James Hepburn, had to flee with Maria to England. Here she was taken prisoner, in which she spent 12 years. Later, Maria was executed by cutting off her head.

Spain and Portugal

Isabella of France (1602-1644)

The beautiful Isabella, the eldest daughter of the French monarch Henry IV, was married to the Spanish King Philip IV at the age of 13. For a long time, the young girl did not arouse any interest in her husband. In the new place, the girl felt like a stranger and unwanted. Only after turning 18 years old did her husband pay attention to her - since then the queen gave birth to 8 heirs, but only two of them managed to survive, and the rest died at an early age.

The loss of 6 babies negatively affected the physical and psychological state of the monarch. Not wanting to be at the Spanish court any longer, Isabella made several attempts to return to her homeland - she asked her father for permission to leave her husband and return to her father’s house. Without receiving the approval of the King of France, the woman died unexpectedly. The cause of Isabella's death is shrouded in mystery. According to one version, the queen’s death was planned by her husband, tired of Isabella’s prolonged depression.

England

Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492)

The daughter of the English Count Richard Woodville also had such a tragic fate. Like the ancient Greek Helen the Beautiful, the attractive Elizabeth became a bone of contention between powerful dynasties that renewed the War of the Roses. The leader of the Yorks, King Edward IV, fell in love with a young beauty (by the way, she was already a widow with 2 children) and he asked for her hand.

The monarch's supporter, the influential Earl of Warwick, did not like the king's passion, because he wanted Edward to choose a princess from France (any of the heirs) as his wife. Contrary to Warwick's plans, the king married his beloved, who subsequently turned the gentle monarch into a henpecked man who fulfilled her every whim.

As a result, Elizabeth's relatives became close associates of the king, which greatly angered Warwick. The offended count betrayed Edward and became a supporter of the monarch's worst enemies - the Lancaster family, one of whom the young king overthrew from the throne. By joining forces, the Lancasters briefly managed to regain the crown. Edward had to spend a lot of effort to return power to his own hands.

While her husband was alive, Elizabeth and her 12 children (including 2 sons) felt safe. After the sudden death of the king, the struggle for the throne flared up again, preventing Elizabeth's plans to crown her son. Subsequently, the former monarch buried her heir (he was executed), and spent her remaining years in Bermondzi Abbey.

Navarre (border area between France and Spain)

Margaret of Navarre (1553-1615)

Henry III, who headed the throne of the Kingdom of Navarre, became interested in the daughter of the French ruler Henry II. Legends were made about the beauty of Margaret of Valois. Throughout her life, the loving lady turned the heads of many men. Rumor has it that even her brother, the Duke of Anjou, could not resist the charms of the beautiful queen.

Henry III is grateful with the life of his wife, who saved him from death on St. Bartholomew's Night. Margarita organized her husband's escape from the Louvre, in which he was imprisoned as an honorary prisoner. Having inherited the crown of the French state, the already divorced monarch began to be called Henry IV.

After the dissolution of her marriage to the King of Navarre, Margaret continued to be popular among influential men. Until her death, the woman had a bunch of lovers who were ready to fulfill her every whim.

France

Anna Yaroslavna (1032-1075/1089)

The Kyiv prince Yaroslav the Wise had the most important goal - to become related to influential families in Europe. As a result, he married his daughters to kings (France, Hungary, Norway). Thanks to dynastic ties, Yaroslav managed to strengthen the position of Kievan Rus in the international arena.

He betrothed Anna Yaroslavna to the ruler of France, Henry I. Having never seen his bride before, the young king from the first minute of their meeting began to experience the most tender feelings for the Kyiv beauty. The kind and generous Anna was loved by the subjects of the French monarch. The mother of three sons was faithful to her husband until his death.

The widowed Anna attracted the attention of the influential feudal lord Raoul de Vexin, who became her second husband. Where and when one of the most beautiful queens in history died remains a mystery. Different sources speak about different places and dates of Anna's death.

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From time immemorial, power has been the prerogative of men. Tsars and kings, khans and shahs became fathers to their people, leading countries to prosperity and prosperity. The role of a woman in power was limited to dynastic marriage and the birth of healthy, strong heirs. However, since the time of the pharaohs, there have been wise and majestic persons who were able to bear the weight of Monomakh’s cap.

Hatshepsut

"Woman with a beard." Egyptian beliefs required that the holder of the crown of the Upper and Lower Kingdoms embody the god Horus. Therefore, Hatshepsut, having ascended the throne after the death of her husband Thutmose II, was forced to wear men's clothing and wear a false beard. She was the eldest daughter and only heir of Pharaoh Thutmose I - the future Thutmose III, the illegitimate son of her husband, had barely reached the age of six. Having come to power, she sent the bastard prince to be raised in the temple and single-handedly led Egypt for 22 years. The country devastated by nomads under the rule of Hatshepsut experienced unprecedented economic growth, construction and trade developed, Egyptian ships reached the country of Punt. The female pharaoh personally led a military campaign into Nubia and won. Hatshepsut was supported by the priestly elite and loved by the people. The only thing that she (like most female rulers) can be reproached for is her favorite, the architect Senenmut, the son of a simple scribe. He, of course, could not marry the living embodiment of God, but he loved his queen so much that he even built himself a tomb that exactly replicated his beloved’s sarcophagus.

« You will proclaim her word, you will obey her command. The one who worships her will live; the one who blasphemously speaks ill of Her Majesty will die» (Thutmose I about Queen Hatshepsut).

Cleopatra

"Fatal Beauty" To understand the irony of Cleopatra VII’s fate, you need to know the history of her “cheerful” family. Egyptian rulers, descendants of Ptolemy, the commander of Alexander the Great, married sisters for 12 generations in a row, executed, slaughtered and poisoned children, parents, brothers, husbands and wives. To ascend the throne, Cleopatra had to defeat two sisters - Berenice and Arsinoe, marry two young brothers in turn and poison both. She charmed the young Caesar and bore him a son, Ptolemy Caesarion, to rule on his behalf. She fell in love with the middle-aged Roman commander Mark Antony and bore him three children. She almost managed to embarrass Emperor Octavian, but age still took its toll. And at the same time, Cleopatra should not be considered a frivolous, depraved woman. In terms of education, the Egyptian princess was superior to most ladies of her time - she knew eight languages, and understood not only Homer, but also tactics, medicine, and toxicology. And for almost 30 years she successfully fought against Rome, defending the independence of Egypt.

« Although the beauty of this woman was not such that it is called incomparable and amazes at first sight, her manner was distinguished by irresistible charm. The very sounds of her voice caressed and delighted the ear, and her tongue was like a multi-stringed instrument, easily tuned to any mood.» (Plutarch on Cleopatra).

Elizabeth Taylor as Queen Cleopatra in the film of the same name (1963, directed by J. Mankiewicz)

Princess Sophia

"Bogatyr Princess" Undeservedly forgotten, slandered and pushed into the shadows, the regent-ruler, the elder sister of Peter I from another mother (Miloslavskaya). The very fact of its existence denies rumors about the illegal origin of the first All-Russian Emperor - brother and sister resembled each other like twins, with an iron will, stubbornness, tenacious mind and exorbitant ambition. If Pyotr Alekseevich had been born as weak as his older brothers Ivan and Fyodor, the history of Russia would have taken a different path - Sofya Alekseevna not only tried on the Monomakh cap, but also wore it with pride. Unlike the princess sisters, she was educated, wrote poetry, received ambassadors, and founded the first higher educational institution in Rus' in Moscow - the Slavic-Greco-Roman Academy. And she would have been a good queen... but Peter turned out to be stronger.

« An example of historical women: who freed themselves from the mansion, but did not take moral restraints out of it and did not find them in society» (S. Solovyov about Sofya Alekseevna).

Princess Sophia in the Novodevichy Convent. I. Repin

Elizabeth of England

"Virgin Queen" Like many women rulers of antiquity, they had a difficult fate. The unloved daughter of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, who was executed by him allegedly for treason, in fact - for the inability to give birth to a son. She went through disgrace, exile, exile, imprisonment in the Tower and still took the royal throne. Elizabeth's reign was called the “golden age”; under her wise rule, England defeated the “Invincible Armada” of Spain and became the queen of the seas. Despite the fact that Elizabeth had an official favorite, Robert Dudley, and many courtiers swore love to their queen, who was truly distinguished by amazing beauty, at least in her youth, she claimed that she had retained her virginity and was pure before God.

« I'd rather be a lonely beggar than a married queen».

Eleanor of Aquitaine

"Beautiful lady". Daughter and only heir of the Duke of Aquitaine, wife of Louis VII of France and Henry II Plantagenet, mother of kings Richard the Lionheart, John the Lackland, queens Eleanor of Spain and Joanna of Sicily. The ideal lover, the beautiful lady of all the troubadours of her time. Willful, decisive, formidable, amorous and jealous - according to rumors, she poisoned the “beautiful Rosamund,” Henry’s beloved, about which many sentimental ballads were composed. Married to the young French king by a 15-year-old girl, she did not love her husband, but lived with him for 20 years, gave birth to two daughters, and even went on the Crusade with him. A year after the annulment of her first marriage, she married Heinrich and gave birth to seven more (!) children. When her husband imprisoned her in a tower for unquenchable jealousy, she raised her sons against him. She lived until she was 80, and until her last day she actively participated in European politics, defending the interests of children.

I'll call that lady young
Whose thoughts and deeds are noble,
Whose beauty cannot be tarnished by rumor,
Whose heart is pure, far from evil.

(Troubadour Bertrand de Born about Eleanor of Aquitaine)

Queen Eleanor. Frederick Sandys

Elizaveta Petrovna

"Merry Queen" Daughter of Peter I and Catherine I, a carefree beauty, a skilled dancer and a kind-hearted person. She did not plan to take the Russian throne, being content with the life of a maiden of royal blood. According to foreign ambassadors, it was not a serious political force. However, at the age of 31, she led a revolt of the guards and ascended the throne, supported by the bayonets of the Preobrazhensky soldiers. The cheerful princess turned out to be a good ruler, at least she was smart enough to find wise ministers for herself. She fought victorious wars, opened the first banks, the imperial theater, and a porcelain factory in Russia. And... she abolished the death penalty - a couple of hundred years earlier than in Europe. The queen was also lucky with her personal life - she entered into a morganatic marriage with the singer Razumovsky. He loved his wife so much that after his death he destroyed the wedding documents so as not to compromise Peter’s daughter.

« I have no relations or correspondence with the enemy of my fatherland».

Portrait of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. I. Argunov

“Country of the Moon” - this is how Indira’s name is translated. Contrary to legends, she is not a daughter or even a relative of Mahatma (Master) Gandhi, but her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was one of his closest associates. The entire family of young Indira took part in the liberation struggle of India, in the destruction of patriarchal orders and the removal of caste restrictions. Contrary to class prejudices (in India they are still stronger than any laws), Indira married Feroz Gandhi, who professes Zoroastrianism. The marriage led them to prison, but love turned out to be stronger. Even the birth of two sons did not prevent Indira from actively participating in the political life of the country. In 1964, she became the Prime Minister of India and, with minor interruptions, remained in power for twenty years. She developed the country, eliminated dependence on food imports, built schools, factories, factories. She was killed by political opponents.

« You cannot shake hands with clenched fists» .

Golda Meir

"Grandmother of the State" Born into a hungry, poor family, the daughter of a nurse and a carpenter. Five of the eight children died from malnutrition and disease. She emigrated to America with her parents and graduated from free elementary school. She earned money for further education by teaching English to new emigrants. She married a modest young accountant who shared the ideas of Zionism, and with him emigrated to Palestine in 1921. She worked in a kibbutz, washed clothes, and participated in the resistance movement. She joined the labor movement and soon became one of its leaders. In 3 months, she raised $50 million for the newly proclaimed Jewish state, served as ambassador to the USSR, negotiated with the King of Jordan, and eventually became the fourth Prime Minister of Israel. I never wore makeup, didn’t follow fashion, didn’t dress up, but was always surrounded by fans and romantic stories.

“A man who loses his conscience loses everything.”

Margaret Thatcher

"The Iron Lady". This woman's path to power is an example of perseverance and long, hard work. Initially, Margaret did not plan to become a politician; she was attracted to chemistry. She received an Oxford scholarship and worked in the laboratory where one of the first antibiotics was created, under the leadership of Dorothy Hodgkin, a future Nobel laureate. Politics was her hobby, a youthful passion, but you can’t escape fate. First, Margaret joined the Conservative Party, then met her future husband, Dennis Thatcher, studied to be a lawyer, and gave birth to twins four months before taking the exam. Four years later, young Mrs. Thatcher entered the British Parliament. In 1970 she became a minister, and in 1979 - prime minister of Great Britain. “The Iron Lady,” as Soviet newspapers nicknamed Margaret, many did not like her for her tough social policies, the Falklands War and her radical views. However, she improved the education system, making it more accessible to children from poor families, and boosted the economy and production. In 2007, a monument to Margaret Thatcher was erected in the British Parliament - she became the only English prime minister to receive such an honor during her lifetime.

« It is not at all necessary to agree with the interlocutor in order to find a common language with him».

Vigdis Finnbogadottir

"Daughter of the Snows" De jure the second, de facto the first legally elected female president in the world. She held this post four times and left it of her own free will. Initially, she had nothing to do with politics. Vigdis studied in Denmark and France, studied theater and French, returned to her homeland in Iceland, and raised her children alone. On October 24, 1975, she became one of the initiators of the women's strike - all women refused to go to work and do housework to demonstrate how much work falls on their shoulders. In 1980, Vigdis was elected president of the country. She was a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, worked on the problems of women and children, and after leaving politics, she founded the Association for the Study of Spinal Cord Injuries - the doctors of this organization collect and analyze world experience in the treatment of spinal injuries.

« Women by their essence are closer to nature, especially girls and women from the “common people”, who often have direct contact with the environment. To achieve success, to protect mother earth from impending disasters, we must resort to the help of women».

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