Platon Zubov

Who was Platon Zubov?

Prince Platon Alexandrovich Zubov was the last of Catherine the Great's favourites and the most powerful man in Russian Empire during the last years of her reign.

The prince was a member of the Zubov family and had several siblings, including Nicholas, Valerian, and Olga Zherebtsova. It was through his distant relative, Russian Field Marshall Nicholas Saltykov, that he met the Empress. Saltykov presented the young officer to the court on the understanding that Zubov would then help Saltykov in his feud with Catherine's long-standing favourite, Prince Potemkin.

In August 1789, Catherine wrote to Potemkin that she returned to life after a long winter slumber "as a fly does". "Now I am well and gay again," she added, telling about her new friend, "a dark, little one". "Our baby," as she called him, "weeps when denied the entry into my room," Catherine informed Potemkin in the next letter. As young minions succeeded each other monthly in Catherine's heart, Potemkin did not attach importance to her new liaison. Catherine was over 60, Zubov was just 22. The old courtier did not believe that the connection would last for an extended period of time.