by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Paul I, Emperor of All Russia (Pavel Petrovich) was born on October 1, 1754, at the Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth in St. Petersburg, Russia. As the son of Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeievna (born Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, later Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia), Paul was recognized by Catherine’s husband Grand Duke Peter Feodorovich (born Karl Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp, later Peter III, Emperor of All Russia) as his son. Peter and Catherine’s marriage was not a happy one. Peter took a mistress and Catherine had many lovers. It is possible that Paul’s father was Sergei Vasilievich Saltykov.  If this is true, then all subsequent Romanovs were not genetically Romanovs. Catherine later claimed that her son and successor Paul had not been fathered by Peter and that they had never consummated their marriage.

Including Paul, Catherine gave birth to three children during her marriage to Peter and to a possible four others after Peter’s death.

Catherine’s other children born during her marriage to Peter:

• Anna Petrovna (1757 – 1759), died in early childhood, recognized as Peter’s daughter but she probably was the daughter of Stanisław August Poniatowski
• Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky (1762 – 1813), son of Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, Catherine’s lover who helped overthrow her husband Peter III

Paul was taken from his mother immediately after birth and spent the first eight years of his life at the court of his great-aunt, Elizabeth I, Empress of All Russia, the daughter of Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia and the younger sister of Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna, Peter III’s mother who died shortly after his birth. The unmarried and childless Empress Elizabeth had named her nephew Peter as her heir when he was ten-years-old. However, Peter had grown up to be boastful, cruel, and selfish and there are suspicions that Empress Elizabeth intended to replace him as her heir with Paul.

Empress Elizabeth controlled all aspects of Paul’s life, starting with naming him. Catherine and Peter were only allowed weekly visits. When he was four-years-old, Paul got his first tutor, Russian diplomat Feodor Dmitrievich Behteev, who began to teach Paul basic math and to read in Russian and French. Behteev used a method that combined fun with teaching and quickly taught Paul to read and count with the help of toy soldiers and a folding fortress. When Paul was six-years-old, Bekhteev was replaced with a governor, Russian diplomat Nikita Ivanovich Panin, who was responsible for Paul’s education. Panin outlined a wide range of subjects that he believed Paul needed to understand and arranged for Paul’s tutors.

In 1762, when Paul was eight-years-old, Empress Elizabeth died and she was succeeded by her nephew as Peter III, Emperor of All Russia. However, the reign of Peter III lasted only six months. Paul’s mother engineered a coup that not only deposed her husband but also got him killed by her supporters. In the summer of 1762, Paul’s mother began her 34-year-reign as Catherine II, Empress of All Russia, known in history as Catherine the Great.

When Catherine was finally able to retrieve her eight-year-old son after the death of Empress Elizabeth, it was too late to repair their relationship. Paul’s early isolation from his mother created a distance between them which would only be reinforced by later events. As Paul reached adolescence, he became more convinced that the deposed Peter III was his father. He asked people about Peter’s death and why Catherine had succeeded to the throne instead of him. He heard rumors that Alexei Orlov, the brother of his mother’s lover Grigory Orlov, was responsible for Peter’s death. The Orlov brothers had been very active in deposing Peter. The true circumstances of Peter’s death are unclear. It is possible that Peter was murdered by Alexei Orlov. Another story is that Peter had been killed in a drunken brawl with one of his jailers. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to see why Paul was suspicious of his mother and resented her.

• Unofficial Royalty: Assassination of Peter III, Emperor of All Russia

In 1773, Empress Catherine began the search for a bride for her 18-year-old son and heir Paul. Catherine the Great asked Friedrich II (the Great) of Prussia for recommendations and his thoughts immediately turned to the three unmarried daughters of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Countess Karoline of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken: Amalie, Wilhelmine, and Luise. The three sisters went to St. Petersburg with their mother and it did not take Paul long to choose Wilhelmine. Wilhelmine converted to Russian Orthodoxy, took the name Natalia Alexeievna and was created a Grand Duchess of Russia. On September 29, 1773, 17-year-old Natalia Alexeievna and 19-year-old Paul Petrovich were married at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in St. Petersburg which stood on the site where the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan now stands. Catherine was happy to hear that after two-plus years of marriage, Natalia Alexeievna was pregnant with a possible heir. She went into labor on April 10, 1776, but sadly on April 15, 1776, 19-year-old Natalia and her baby boy died after six days of agonizing labor.

Through the machinations of Catherine the Great and Friedrich the Great of Prussia, another marriage was quickly arranged for Paul. The bride was to be Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg, the eldest daughter of Friedrich II Eugen, Duke of Württemberg and Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt. The 16-year-old Sophia Dorothea was pleased with the prospect of becoming Empress of All Russia. She arrived in Russia in August 1776 and converted to Russian Orthodoxy the next month, receiving the name Maria Feodorovna. The next day Maria was formally betrothed to Paul and was created a Grand Duchess of Russia. On October 7, 1776, less than six months after the death of Paul’s first wife, 17-year-old Maria Feodorovna and 22-year-old Paul Petrovich were married in St. Petersburg. The couple had a happy marriage for many years.

Maria Feodorovna and Paul had ten children including two Emperors of All Russia. Only one of their children did not survive childhood.

• Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia (1777 – 1825), married Luise of Baden (Elizabeth Alexeievna), had two daughters who both died in childhood
• Grand Duke Konstantine Pavlovich (1779 – 1831), married (1) Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Anna Feodorovna), no children, marriage annulled (2) Joanna Grudzińska, no children, a morganatic marriage that cost Constantine the crown
• Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna (1783 – 1801), married Archduke Joseph of Austria, Count Palatine of Hungary, had one daughter who died at birth, Alexandra died of childbirth complications a week later
• Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna (1784 – 1803), married Friedrich Ludwig, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, had two children
• Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1786 – 1859), married Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, had four children including Augusta who married Wilhelm I, German Emperor, King of Prussia
• Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna (1788 – 1819), married (1) Georg of Oldenburg, had two sons (2) King Wilhelm I of Württemberg, had two daughters including Sophie who married King Willem III of the Netherlands
• Grand Duchess Olga Pavlovna (1792 – 1795), died in early childhood
• Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna (1795 – 1865), married King Willem II of the Netherlands, had five children including King Willem III of the Netherlands
• Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia (1796 – 1855), married Charlotte of Prussia (Alexandra Feodorovna), had ten children including Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia
• Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich (1798 – 1849), married Charlotte of Württemberg (Elena Pavlovna), had five children

At first, Maria Feodorovna and Catherine had a good relationship but the situation deteriorated when Maria’s first child was born in 1777. Just as Empress Elizabeth had done to her, Catherine the Great took away Maria’s firstborn child Alexander to raise him without interference from his parents. When a second son, Constantine, was born in 1779, Catherine also took him away. Maria and Paul were allowed to visit their sons only once a week. As their reward for producing an heir to the throne, Maria and Paul were given Pavlovsk Palace near Tsarkoye Selo. All of Maria and Paul’s remaining children were allowed to stay with them but the couple had a great feeling of animosity toward Catherine. When their eldest daughter Alexandra was born, Catherine presented the couple with Gatchina Palace near St. Petersburg which had been built for Count Grigori Grigoryevich Orlov, who had been a favorite of Catherine.

Empress Catherine never considered inviting her son Paul to share her power in governing Russia. Once Paul’s son Alexander (the future Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia) was born, it appeared that Catherine had found a more suitable heir. It is possible that Catherine intended to bypass Paul and name her grandson Alexander as her successor but she never got the chance. On November 4, 1796, Catherine suffered a stroke. Despite all attempts to revive her, she fell into a coma from which she never recovered. Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia died on November 6, 1796, at the age of 67, after a reign of 34 years. Paul was now Emperor of All Russia.

Now as the Emperor of All Russia, Paul sought to seek revenge for the deposed and disgraced Peter III and for the coup of his mother Catherine II. Upon his death in 1762, Peter had been buried without any honors at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg. Immediately after the death of Catherine II, Paul ordered the remains of Catherine’s husband, the deposed and murdered Peter III, Emperor of All Russia, transferred first to the church in the Winter Palace and then to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, the burial site of the Romanovs. 60-year-old Alexei Orlov, who had played a role in deposing Peter III and possibly also in his death, was made to walk in the funeral cortege, holding the Imperial Crown as he walked in front of Peter’s coffin. Peter III was reburied in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg at the same time as the burial of his wife Catherine II. Peter III had never been crowned so at the time of his reburial, Paul I personally performed the ritual of coronation on his father’s remains.

On the day of his coronation, Paul further sought revenge by negating the succession decree issued by Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia in 1722, which stated that the reigning emperor may appoint a successor during his lifetime and that anyone may be named as his heir. Paul personally read out the new Act of Succession of April 5, 1797, also known as the Pauline Laws. The new succession act substituted a strict order of succession by proclaiming that the eldest son of the emperor shall inherit the throne followed by other dynasts according to primogeniture in the male-line. The throne could only pass to a female and through the female-line upon the extinction of all legitimately-born, male dynasts. This succession law remained in effect until the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917.

Ironically, Paul I, Emperor of All Russia suffered a fate similar to Peter III. Paul’s reign lasted five years, ending with his assassination by conspirators. As Emperor, Paul agreed with the practices of autocracy and tried to prevent liberal ideas in the Russian Empire. He did not tolerate freedom of thought or resistance against autocracy. Because he overly taxed the nobility and limited their rights, the Russian nobles, by increasing numbers, were against him. Paul’s reign was becoming increasingly despotic. Eventually, the nobility reached their breaking point. As early as the end of 1797, rumors began swirling of a coup d’état being prepared by the nobility. It is probable that Paul’s son and heir Alexander knew of the coup d’état plans and that Paul’s wife Maria Feodorovna knew about the existence of plans.

Afraid of intrigues and assassination plots, Paul disliked the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg where he never felt safe. He ordered his birthplace, the dilapidated Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth in St. Petersburg to be demolished and replaced it with a new fortified residence, the Mikhailovsky Castle. In February 1801, Paul and his family moved into the Mikhailovsky Castle. On the night of March 23, 1801, only forty days after moving into the castle, a group of conspirators charged into Paul’s bedroom, forced him to abdicate, and then strangled and trampled him to death. Paul’s eldest son, who probably knew about the coup but not the murder plot, succeeded as Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia. Paul I, Emperor of All Russia was buried at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

• Unofficial Royalty: Assassination of Paul I, Emperor of All Russia

Romanov Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Tsardom of Russia/Russian Empire Index
• Romanov Births, Marriages and Deaths
• Romanov Burial Sites
• Romanovs Killed During the Russian Revolution
• Romanovs Who Survived the Russian Revolution

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Paul I of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_I_of_Russia [Accessed 25 Jan. 2018].
• Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1981). The Romanovs: Autocrats of  All the Russias. New York, NY.: Doubleday
• Massie, R. (2016). Catherine the Great. London: Head of Zeus.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Павел I. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BB_I [Accessed 25 Jan. 2018].

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