Jealous lies made up by male nobility that made a law after she died that women couldn’t be Tsar. It was all very well and good for male Russian nobility to have as many concubines, male or female, as they liked, but to have the Empress Catherine taking lovers and then treating them well after she was done with them, well, that could not be tolerated. One of her lovers was Orlov, who was a great breeder of horses (Orlov trotters) and that was really the only connection. As far as I can tell, Catherine never even rode a horse, from either direction.
Jealous lies made up by male nobility that made a law after she died that women couldn’t be Tsar. It was all very well and good for male Russian nobility to have as many concubines, male or female, as they liked, but to have the Empress Catherine taking lovers and then treating them well after she was done with them, well, that could not be tolerated. One of her lovers was Orlov, who was a great breeder of horses (Orlov trotters) and that was really the only connection. As far as I can tell, Catherine never even rode a horse, from either direction.