On sleep-overs, my best friend and I pretended to be the purported survivor Anastasia, appearing on the TV show “What’s my line?” In Natashia’s (“The Bullwinkle Show”), accent, “I am Anastasia, emmmmpress ov all zeee Russias!”, was countered with,”Nyyyooo! I yaaam Anastasia . . .!” Repeated as laughter allowed. Haunting photos of the Romanov family survive.

Today’s classical ballerina must have steely technical brilliance within a willowy, graceful form. Russian-born Anna codified that model. She popularized classical ballet by tirelessly touring, performing in capitols and whistle stops across Europe and North and South America.

Catherine was a German princess who married a Russian Tsar, and took over upon his assassination. A friend of Voltaire, she brought European ideas to the back-water Boyar Court. She was a sexual seductress and ravenous collector of Old-Master paintings–which became the foundation for the Hermitage Museum.

A widow at 25, Christine was left with four dependents, stacks of bills and legal woes in claiming her husband’s estate. In the 14th century, literature had been exclusively male-written, with outrageous depictions of female behavior. Christine was the first woman to become a professional writer. She created realistic females and challenged notions of women’s inferiority.

Julius Caesar was her sugar-daddy and Marcus Aurelius her boy toy. Greek by birth, she had divine status in Egypt but not enough money to maintain power. Roman soldiers destroyed her images after she and Marcus Aurelius were defeated. To avoid the walk in chains through the streets of Rome, she chose the bite of a poisonous snake.

By creating a demand for a simple mode of dress, accented with costume jewelry, cash-strapped women and rich women gained access to a similar pared-down style. Coco’s lasting contribution is comfortable, elegant timeless suits and little black dresses–none needing tortuous underwear to look great. Underwire and spanx, stilettos and skin tight spandex? Mais non!!

She hunted with hawks, was an accomplished horsewoman, extensively educated and traveled, possessor of incredible wealth and kingdoms, lively and lovely, with exemplary good health and longevity, she ditched a husband she didn’t like for one she did. Her many children, most of whom she outlived, sat on thrones all across Europe.

How can you not love someone who makes you smile? Ellen uses humor to defuse antagonism — deflating ‘us-them’ confrontation tactics hilariously. As the mainstream’s most embraceable gay figure, she encourages respect for all. R-E-S-PE-C-T. Aretha Franklin singing, Ellen dancing — I’m smiling!

The movie “Ninotchka”, has Greta Garbo, as a humorless communist party comrade, taking her first sip of champagne, initiating a divine transformation. Madame Clicquot was the Henry Ford of champagne–mass-producing the elixir after the death of her husband. The clever widow is thankfully immortalized in every bottle of ‘Veuve Clicquot’.

In the 1980’s, it was thrilling to have the humble British grocer’s daughter leading one of the big “8” countries. Ms. Thatcher’s greatest dilemma still remains: How should world leaders react to foreign governments or militarized groups that seek to consolidate their legitimacy by provoking full-scale wars?

Historical, and still fondly remembered, Queen of Angola. While acting as a negotiator with the Portuguese, who were sitting in European-style chairs, Nzinga had been given a floor mat to sit on. She immediately instructed one of her retinue down on all fours so she could sit on his back — at parity. Wonderful lesson in ‘keeping your power’.

By flouting Jim Crow discrimination laws and not moving to the rear of the bus, there’s no knowing what Rosa could have encountered that day. From verbal bully to angry psychopath, the ethically dysfunctional are ever present, ready to act with impunity, when racist notions, gender discrimination and narrow ideologies flourish.

Queen Victoria was a short, shy woman, painfully aware of her plain looks. She used photographs of herself (newly invented medium) in the newspapers to create a sense of her presence, in order that she could live the retired life she preferred. The era named after her became synonymous with pre-Freudian repressed behavior. Victoria was widowed at 40, afterwards, in mourning for 40 years.