Erika’s Reviews > The Romanovs, 1613-1918 > Status Update

But all through her life, Catherine longed for the intimacy of family. (…) Her parents were dead. Her son Paul was still little, but, as with so many royal families, their relationship was poisoned by the inevitable sequence of heredity that reversed the benign nature of motherhood. His maturity could herald her destruction.

Peter had specified to the prince-caesar that ‘dwarfs male and female residing in boyar homes in Moscow are to be collected and sent to St Petersburg.’ When they arrived they were cooped up ‘like cattle’ before being distributed to grandees who were to dress them for the weddings.