Grigory Orlov - His Serene Highness Prince, the favorite of Empress Catherine II. He helped his beloved to ascend the throne. Grigory Orlov was awarded the rank of General Feldzheikhmeister.
Childhood, adolescence
Grigory Orlov was born on September 6, 1734 in the village of Lyutkino, Tver region. His father was the governor of Novgorod, and Lyutkino was the family estate of the family. In total, the Orlovs had 6 sons. Gregory was the second oldest. One of the children died in infancy.
Despite the fact that the family was quite famous and wealthy, Grigory Orlov did not receive a good education. He did not know French very well. At the same time, he was endowed with beauty, prowess and many other valuable qualities. When Grigory was 15 years old, his father took him along with the rest of his sons to St. Petersburg and assigned him to the Semenovsky regiment. The brothers began their service as ordinary soldiers and at the same time underwent training. After 8 years of service, Gregory was promoted to the rank of officer and sent to the Seven Years War.
Career
Participation in the Seven Years War was the beginning of the career of Grigory Orlov. In the battle of Zorndorf, he received 3 wounds, but did not leave the battlefield. This made him very popular among the officers. In 1759 he was transferred to serve in one of the artillery regiments. In 1760, Gregory attracted the attention of General Feldzheichmeister Count Pyotr Shuvalov. The Count liked the young man so much that he took Orlov to his service as an adjutant. During this period, Orlov was reunited with his brothers who served in the guard.
The Orlov brothers became famous for their love of noisy parties and a riotous lifestyle. Grigory Orlov was unusually handsome and earned a reputation as a conqueror of women's hearts. He showed recklessness by having an affair with Princess Kurakina, who was the mistress of Peter Shuvalov. This entailed expulsion from the adjutants and transfer to the grenadier regiment.
Transfer to the grenadier regiment was fateful for Gregory. During his service, he met Ekaterina Alekseevna, the future Empress Catherine II. A romance broke out between them. Catherine's favorite was the father of her son Alexei, who was later given the surname Bobrinsky. Grigory Orlov and his brothers helped Catherine ascend the throne, becoming her loyal allies in the struggle for power. They removed from her path the spouse of Emperor Peter III, who wanted to imprison his wife in a monastery and marry his mistress.
In the summer of 1762, Grigory Orlov and his brothers helped carry out a palace coup, drawing the military to their side, who soon swore allegiance to Catherine. Having ascended the throne, Catherine II generously thanked the Orlov brothers. Gregory became a major general, received the rank of a real chamberlain. He was presented with the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky and presented with a sword studded with diamonds.
Until a certain time, Grigory Grigorievich Orlov was the main man in the life of Catherine II. He was given the titles:
- Count of the Russian Empire (since 1762);
- Adjutant General of Her Imperial Majesty (since 1762);
- His Serene Highness Prince of the Russian Empire (since 1772).
Grigory Orlov became the owner of several estates:
- The Great Gatchina Palace;
- the estate "Ligovo";
- estate "Neskuchnoe".
But poor education played a cruel joke with Grigory Orlov. Having become Catherine's lover, he could not remain her right hand. He was a brave, bold and loyal favorite. But for an advisor who could do something for the development of the Russian state, he lacked education and knowledge. He was too simple and even rude.
The Orlov brothers wanted to see Gregory as the empress's legal spouse, but this was not destined to come true. According to one version, Catherine's inner circle rebelled. These people convinced her that there should be a more worthy man next to her. And Orlov's place was soon taken by Grigory Potemkin.
At the end of his fame, Grigory Grigorievich once again managed to prove his devotion to Catherine. He was sent to Moscow in 1771, where there was a plague epidemic and the residents staged a riot. Orlov managed to smooth out popular unrest and did everything to stop the epidemic.
The personality of Grigory Orlov is still of interest to historians, creators of feature films. His image was used in the creation of films:
- "The Slutty Empress" (1934);
- "Musketeers of Catherine" (2007);
- "Great" (2015).
Personal life
According to some historians, true love came to Grigory Orlov at the end of his life. He married his cousin Ekaterina Zinovieva. The girl at that time was only 18 years old. Before that, she had been in his care for 4 years. The news of Orlov's marriage made a lot of noise. The church strongly condemned this marriage. For such an act, Gregory was threatened with prison, but the queen stood up for him. She even gave his wife the title of lady of state.
Orlov's family life was happy, but not long. Just 4 years after the marriage, his wife fell ill with consumption. He took her to Switzerland, but Catherine was not cured.
The death of his beloved wife was a huge blow for Grigory Orlov. With grief, he was moved by his mind. The brothers took him to the Neskuchnoye estate, where Grigory died a few months later. He was buried in the Otrada estate, but in 1832 his coffin was reburied at the western wall of St. George's Cathedral in Nizhny Novgorod, where the bodies of his brothers Alexei and Fyodor were already buried.
