Were there compelling reasons for the conviction and execution of young Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of the English king Henry VIII, or did the executioner’s sword cut the tender neck of the innocent victim of slanderers and envious people? Why did Sophia Dorothea of Celje, the wife of King George I of Great Britain, not share the burden of power on the throne with him, but spent 32 years in prison? Why was Caroline Matilda, the wife of the mad king of Denmark and Norway Christian VII, deprived of the throne, the right to raise children and forever exiled to a provincial German town? Unlike their all-powerful husbands, who did not hesitate to acquire favorites and, as a rule, did not hide it, queens were not allowed to follow the inclinations of their hearts. The adultery of a crowned wife was equated with high treason, and, more often than not, it was the favorites who ruined the queens. The famous author Natalia Sotnikova in her new book offers stories about the sad fate of women who dared to obey the dictates of the soul and heart.