Editing Paul I of Russia (section)

==Under Catherine II==
[[File:Natalia Alexeievna of Russia by A.Roslin (1776, Hermitage).jpg|thumb|left|Natalia Alexeievna by [[Alexander Roslin]] 1776]]

Empress Elizabeth died in 1762, when Paul was eight years old, and he became crown prince with the accession of his father to the throne as Peter III. However, within a matter of months, Paul's mother engineered a coup to depose her husband. Peter soon died in prison, either being killed by Catherine's supporters or due to a fit of apoplexy when exerting himself in a dispute with Prince Feodor, one of his jailers. The 8-year-old Paul retained his position as [[Tsesarevich]], or heir apparent.<ref>Sebag Montefiore, p. 309-310</ref>

[[File:Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna by Roslin (1777, Hermitage).jpg|thumb|[[Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)|Maria Feodorovna]], portrait by [[Alexander Roslin]]]]

In 1772, Paul took a mistress, named [[Sophia Razumovskaya]], and had a child with her, named Semyon Veliky (1772 - 1794).
Learning about this, Catherine sent Sophia to marry the son of a field marshal, and went to find Paul a wife.

When her son and heir, Paul, turned eighteen. Paul and his adviser, Panin, believed he was the rightful tsar of Russia, as the only son of Peter III. His adviser had also taught him that the rule of women endangered good leadership, which was why he was so interested in gaining the throne. Distracting him, Catherine took trouble to find Paul a wife among the minor princesses of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. She chose Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt, who acquired the Russian name "[[Natalia Alexeievna of Russia|Natalia Alexeievna]]", a daughter of [[Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt|Ludwig IX]], [[Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt|Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt]]. The bride's older sister, [[Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt|Frederika Louisa]], was already married to the [[Frederick William II of Prussia|Crown Prince of Prussia]]. Around this time, Catherine allowed Paul to attend the council in order that he might be trained for his work as Emperor. Wilhelmina and their child died in childbirth on 15 April 1776, three years after the wedding. It soon became even clearer to Catherine that Paul wanted power, including his separate court. There was talk of having both Paul and his mother co-rule Russia, but Catherine narrowly avoided it. A fierce rivalry began between them, as Catherine knew she could never truly trust her son, as his claim to the throne was superior to hers.<ref>Sebag Montefiore, p. 321-322</ref> Paul coveted his mother's position, and by the laws of succession prevalent then, it was rightfully his.

After her daughter-in-law's death, Catherine began work forthwith on the project of finding another wife for Paul, and on 7 October 1776, less than six months after the death of his first wife and their child, Paul married again. The bride was the beautiful [[Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)|Sophia Dorothea]] of [[Kingdom of Württemberg|Württemberg]], who received the new Russian name Maria Feodorovna. Their first child, [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander]], was born in 1777, within a year of the wedding, and on this occasion the Empress gave Paul an estate, [[Pavlovsk Palace|Pavlovsk]]. Paul and his wife gained leave to travel through western Europe in 1781–1782. In 1783, the Empress granted him another estate, [[Gatchina Palace]], where he was allowed to maintain a brigade of soldiers whom he drilled on the [[Prussia]]n [[Prussianism|model]], an unpopular stance at the time.<ref>E. M. Almedingen, ''So dark a stream; a study of the Emperor Paul I of Russia, 1754-1801'' (1959) pp 56–59.</ref>

===Relationship with Catherine the Great===
Catherine and her son and heir Paul maintained a distant relationship throughout her reign. Empress Elizabeth had taken up the child and proved an obsessive but incapable caretaker, as she had not raised children of her own.<ref name="McGrew1992">McGrew, Roderick E. (1992), ''Paul I of Russia''. (Oxford: Clarendon Press) {{ISBN|0-19-822567-9}}</ref>{{rp|28}} Paul was supervised by a variety of caregivers. Roderick McGrew briefly relates the neglect to which the infant heir was sometimes subject: "On one occasion he fell out of his crib and slept the night away unnoticed on the floor."<ref name="McGrew1992"/>{{rp|30}} Even after Elizabeth's death, relations with Catherine hardly improved. Paul was often jealous of the favours she would shower upon her lovers. In one instance, the empress gave to one of her favourites 50,000 rubles on her birthday, while Paul received a cheap watch.<ref name="Sorokin, 185">Sorokin, 185.</ref> Paul's early isolation from his mother created a distance between them that later events would reinforce. She never considered inviting him to share power in governing Russia. Once Paul's son Alexander was born, it appeared that she had found a more suitable heir. The use made of his name by the rebel [[Yemelyan Pugachev]], who impersonated his father Peter, tended no doubt to render Paul's position more difficult.

Catherine's absolute power and the delicate balance of courtier status greatly influenced the relationship at Court with Paul, who openly disregarded his mother's opinions. Paul adamantly protested{{clarifyme|date=July 2024}} his mother's policies, writing a veiled criticism in his ''Reflections'', a dissertation on military reform.<ref name="Sorokin, 185"/> In it he directly disparaged expansionist warfare in favour of a more defensive military policy. Unenthusiastically received by his mother, the ''Reflections'' questioned her authority and added weight to her suspicion of an internal conspiracy with Paul at its centre. For a courtier to have openly supported or shown intimacy towards Paul, especially following this publication, would have meant political suicide.

Paul spent the following years away from the Imperial Court, content to remain at his private estates at Gatchina Palace with his growing family and perform Prussian drill exercises. As Catherine grew older, she became less concerned that her son attend court functions; her attentions focused primarily on the future Emperor Alexander I.

It was not until 1787 that Catherine may have in fact decided to exclude her son from succession.<ref name="McGrew1992"/>{{rp|184}} After Alexander and his brother [[Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia|Constantine]] were born, she had them placed under her charge, just as Elizabeth had done with Paul. That Catherine grew to favour Alexander as successor rather than Paul is unsurprising. She met secretly with Alexander's tutor, [[Frédéric-César de La Harpe]], to discuss his pupil's ascension, and attempted to convince Alexander's mother Maria to sign a proposal authorizing her son's legitimacy. Both efforts proved fruitless, and though Alexander agreed to his grandmother's wishes, he remained respectful of his father's position as immediate successor to the Russian throne.