In portraits they are majestic and unapproachable. Their destinies are surrounded by speculation, gossip, and slander from both contemporaries and descendants. What were these women really like? Did they ever experience what was available to ordinary subjects: to love and be loved? The husbands of the queens could have favorites and publicly show them signs of attention... Therefore, only secretly, ashamed and hiding, the wives of the autocrats gave vent to their feelings. Read about the happy and unhappy love of Russian rulers: Princess Olga, the frantic sister of Peter the Great Sofia Alekseevna, Empress Anna Ioannovna and others in the brilliant short stories of Elena Arsenyeva...