With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Tsar's erotic letters to young mistress auctioned

MOSCOW -- They made up a secret French codeword for sex -- bingerle. They were careful never to use their real names but signed off affectionately: "With you always".

And during more than a decade of furtive correspondence, Russia's Tsar Alexander II and his young mistress Ekaterina Dolgaroukaya wrote frankly of their desire for one another - and of the pleasures of past and future love-making.

Yesterday some 22 unpublished erotic letters written by the Tsar to the woman he simply called "Katia" -- and by her to him -- were auctioned in Paris. Christie's sold nine of the letters last night for €10,800 [$14,600].
Read entire article at Guardian