In Tsarist Russia, many girls dreamed of living at court and serving the Empress. However, our contemporaries forget that being a maid of honor is not only a life of luxury and endless privileges, but also a real art of weaving intrigues, which requires a fair amount of intelligence and an impeccable knowledge of etiquette. Who had the right to claim a place at court, what were the responsibilities of ladies-in-waiting and state ladies, how was life in the imperial circle? Anna Tyutcheva, Alexandra Tolstaya, Varvara Golovina and other famous ladies-in-waiting will tell the reader about all this, as well as the secrets and details of the life of the royal family.