Grigori Grigoryevich Orlov
Grigori Grigoryevich Orlov was a prominent figure in 18th-century Russia, known for his role in the political upheaval that led to the rise of Empress Catherine the Great. Born into a military family, he gained attention when he became the lover of Catherine, who at the time was navigating a tumultuous marriage to Czar Peter III. Their romantic relationship began around 1759 and was marked by Orlov's charm and physical presence, which captivated Catherine.
In June 1762, Orlov played a crucial role in the coup that deposed Peter III, facilitating Catherine's ascension to the throne. Despite their long relationship that lasted until 1774, Orlov's intellect was overshadowed by Catherine's ambition and desire for intellectual companionship, leading to his eventual replacement as her favorite by Grigori Potemkin.
Orlov and his brothers maintained influential positions in Catherine's court, significantly impacting Russian history by supporting her reforms compared to Peter's unpopular German-centric policies. Their legacy includes not only their contributions to the political landscape of Russia but also the enduring fascination with their lives, particularly their romantic entanglements, which have been depicted in various cultural narratives over the years.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Grigori Grigoryevich Orlov
Russian military leader
- Born: October 17, 1734
- Birthplace: Lyutkino, Tver Province, Russia
- Died: April 24, 1783
- Place of death: Neskuchnoyne, near Moscow, Russia
Orlov was the favorite of Catherine the Great as well as the principal conspirator in the coup d’état that made her the ruling empress of Russia. He remained loyal to Catherine and her government long after their romantic affair—which produced a child—came to an end, and he worked to improve Russia’s armed forces.
Early Life
Grigori Grigorievich Orlov (gryih-GAWR-yuhih gryih-GAWR-yihv-yich uhr-LAWF) was the second of five sons of a military officer. His grandfather had been a colorful figure, one of the streltsy, or sharpshooters, who had engaged in a rebellion against Peter the Great when he attempted a program of reform in 1698. When the czar returned from his European tour and crushed the revolt, he ordered the rebellious soldiers executed. Peter himself wielded the headsman’s ax in Moscow’s principal square. He was quite impressed with one condemned rebel, who coolly approached the block, kicking aside the head of a fellow insurgent and saying, “Make room for me.” After asking the man’s name, he pardoned Ivan Orlov on the spot and reenlisted him in the army.
Ivan’s son Grigori Ivanovich Orlov married late and fathered nine children, five of whom lived to adulthood. These five sons remained close throughout their lives, with little of the sibling rivalry that often marks relationships between brothers. They soon sold their family’s estate and used the money to buy a house in St. Petersburg, then the imperial capital, as well as memberships in the capital’s elite guards unit. The brothers lived boisterously and amassed enormous debts. However, they were always able to extract themselves from these debts by their skill and luck at cards. Grigori was said to be the best looking and most charming of the brothers, but rather slow-witted.
Life’s Work
Grigori Grigoryevich Orlov came to the attention of the young Grand Duchess Catherine sometime in 1759, shortly after she had a particularly unpleasant argument with her husband, the ugly and hopelessly incompetent heir apparent, Grand Duke Peter. According to a common story, she was coming out of the room where the fight had occurred and noticed a gallant-looking young officer escorting a high-born Prussian prisoner who had been taken in one of the battles of the Seven Years’ War. Another story claims instead that she saw him while looking out a window and ordered him upstairs to present himself.
Tradition has it that Peter was either physically or psychologically incapable of consummating his marriage, and Catherine had grown increasingly frustrated with her inability to produce an heir, as the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna had sternly instructed her. At length, she had taken other lovers, but her latest beau had been sent to the front to get him away from her. Taken by Orlov’s physique and daredevil reputation, she soon invited him into her bedchamber, and their romantic relationship began. Shortly thereafter, she installed him in a room directly beside her bedchamber, where he could come and go without difficulty.
January 5, 1762 (December 25, 1761, Old Style), Empress Elizabeth breathed her last breath, and Grand Duke Peter ascended the throne as Czar Peter III. Immediately, he began planning a way to dispose of his hated wife, even as he behaved with an astonishing lack of decorum during the funeral of his late aunt. However, political necessity meant that he had to move carefully to get rid of the woman he had just acknowledged as his consort, which gave Catherine time to make her own plans. Such plans would inevitably involve her lover and his four brothers, all of whom felt an intense loyalty to this beautiful and intelligent woman and nothing but disgust for the czar.
Catherine, too, had to wait until she safely delivered Grigori Orlov’s son, whom she was then carrying. Only then could the plan move ahead. The boy, given the name Aleksey Grigoryevich Bobrinsky, would later become the father of a line of Russian nobility who would enjoy distinguished careers through the remaining century and a half of the Romanovs’ rule.
On Sunday, June 9, 1762, matters came to a head. During a formal state dinner, Peter became outraged when Catherine did not rise for the ceremonial toast to the czar. She responded that, as a member of the royal family, it was not appropriate for her to rise for the toast. Peter responded with the most horrific abuse and ordered her placed under arrest. Catherine could wait no longer, and she retreated to the safety of a palace in one of the outlying towns while the guards regiments, loyal to her rather than Peter, made the final preparations.
On June 28, Grigori and his brothers rallied the guards to take Peter prisoner and make Catherine empress in his place. Grigori secured a handsome carriage with which Catherine was able to make her triumphant entry into the city after Peter was deposed. In St. Petersburg, Grigori led the guards officers in making their declarations of loyalty to her.
Grigori Orlov remained Empress Catherine the Great’s lover for another twelve years, until 1774. During that time, he and his brother Aleksey delivered a savage beating to a handsome young upstart by the name of Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin, intending to remind him of his place. Although they badly disfigured him, and he withdrew from society for a time, Potemkin would ultimately replace Grigori as Catherine’s favorite. Virile as Grigori Orlov might be, he was no match for Catherine in intellect, and she was growing hungry for a man with whom she could converse about philosophy and literature. However, Grigori Orlov and his brothers were not banished altogether from Catherine’s court. All five of the brothers would continue to hold responsible positions throughout their lives.
Significance
By helping to depose Peter III and install Catherine the Great on the throne, Grigori Grigoryevich Orlov and his brothers changed the course of Russian history. Peter III was at heart a German Lutheran who saw Frederick the Great of Prussia as his natural ally and wished to impose German Lutheran cultural and religious observances on the Russian people, even over their violent opposition. Although Catherine, too, was a German princess by birth, she had so thoroughly embraced her adopted homeland that she was effectively accepted as a Russian leader by the people and continued the process of incorporating Western ideas and concepts into Russian culture in a manner acceptable to Russian traditionalists.
Catherine’s relationship with Grigori Orlov and his successors to her bedchamber fired the salacious imagination, and even during her own lifetime stories were circulated about her supposed sexual antics. For a century and a half after her death, the Russian imperial censors were kept busy keeping foreign accounts of her alleged sexual dissoluteness from entering Russia and corrupting the imaginations of the czar’s subjects. This was, in fact, little more than a symbolic effort, since domestic gossip often produced far more lurid tales than any foreign pen. In the twentieth century, with the development of cinema, Catherine’s torrid affair with Grigori Orlov would be featured in several films.
Bibliography
Alexander, John T. Catherine the Great: Life and Legend. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. A useful examination of the relationship between Catherine’s reign and her posthumous reputation.
De Madariaga, Isabel. Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great. New York: Phoenix Press, 2002. An attempt to separate fact from fiction in understanding Catherine, her reign, and her lasting impact on Russian history.
Dixon, Simon. Catherine the Great. New York: Longman, 2001. A readable biography that studies the developing concept of rulership across Catherine’s rule, from her ascension in the coup against her husband to her death.
Nikolaev, Vsevolod A., and Albert Parry. The Loves of Catherine the Great. New York: Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, 1982. A frank account of the empress’s relationships with her first three lovers, including Grigori Orlov. Discusses Aleksey’s role in the death of Peter III.
Troyat, Henri. Catherine the Great. New York: Plume, 1994. A reprint of a classic biography, including discussion of the significance of the coup led by the Orlov brothers.