How did Catherine II come to power? What role did the British play in preparing the palace coup of 1762? Was the Russian Empress an English spy? Whose interests did she defend in negotiations with British diplomacy on the prolongation of trade and defense treaties, as well as "armed neutrality"? What strategy and tactics did the British ambassadors adhere to in the negotiation process with Catherine II and her closest associates N. I. Panin and G. A. Potemkin? How did diplomats combine their professional activities with intelligence? How objective were their characteristics of Russia and its political elite? Readers will find answers to these and many other questions in the proposed book, which is based on the secret correspondence of ambassadors with the head of the British Foreign Office.