For centuries Russian royalty employed full-time professional foot ticklers. Why may you ask? Well, it was of course for sexual arousal, was that not obvious?
All over the great Muscovite palaces and their courts, the noblewomen from the Czarinas(a wife of a Russian aristocrat) were using professional foot ticklers to arouse them for their husbands or their lovers. It was a practice reserved for eunuchs or woman, some became so good at this unique skill that they gained immense prestige and wealth by it! Imagine living your life by tickling your boss all day. Haha!
And not only did they tickle, they also sang obscene songs and told erotic stories, you know just to ensure the scene was all set appropriately. Many great women from Russian royalty are thought to have been passionate participants of foot tickling. For example, Anna Leopoldovna, a regent of Russia, was reported to have at least six full-time ticklers ready to tickle at a moments notice. Did she just love being tickled or was her husband just hard to look at?
However, none matched the sexuality of Catherine the Great. She was an Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796, which is the longest ruling female leader Russia has ever had. Her era of a rule is often considered to be the Golden Age of the Russian Empire. Maybe it did have to do with the fact that, after a long stressful day of the ruling, she was able to come home to some relaxing foot tickling?
Catherine the Great’s private life paints a very different image than the strong public ruling figure she was known to be. Her secret rooms in her palace were stacked full of sexually charged imagery and furniture. German soldiers who raided the palace during WWII were so shocked by it, that they immediately photographed everything! Most of the images were lost during the war but some can still be found today. The furniture has unfortunately been destroyed, maybe for the best as those armchairs were definitely not safe for work!
