Catherine the Great’s Remedies for Zits and Sunburn

Better living through 18th century chemistry

In 1744, Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst arrived in Russia, a minor German princess plucked from obscurity thanks to her dead uncle. That uncle had once been betrothed to Empress Elizabeth of Russia. Because of Elizabeth’s fondness for her dead fiancé, she selected Sophia as a bride for her heir, Grand Duke Peter.

But once married to Peter and converted to Orthodoxy, Sophia (now rebaptized as Catherine) found life in Russia more Hobbesian than she would have liked: solitary, nasty, brutish, and — if you were unlucky — short.

These early years in Russia shaped her understanding of power, relationship dynamics, and self-worth. At three different periods later in life, she looked back and wrote about these years, explaining how they shaped her destiny as the future ruler of Russia. The last version of these recollections, written a few years before her death, is what historians usually refer to when they mention her memoir.

Peter and Catherine, painted by Georg Cristoph Grooth. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Today, that memoir is surprisingly readable. It contains funny anecdotes about court life, pranks, mishaps, jokes, and the occasional home remedy for…