This, we all know, was Catherine of Russia, a woman of inexhaustible sexual appetite. Foot-tickling and bottom-slapping gave her particular sexual delight, and people were employed for these purposes. Even late in life this doughty Czarina was persistently seeking out new thrills.

When she was sixty she fancied a young lieutenant in the horseguards, named Plato Zubof aged twenty-five. He was duly inspected by the Empress's English physician, Mr. Rogerson, and by Miss Protas, the royal éprouveuse. The function of the latter was to test out the sexual abilities of potential favourites. All, apparently, was successful and Zubof was duly installed.