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==Early years==
Paul was son of Emperor [[Peter III of Russia|Peter III]], nephew and anointed heir of the Empress [[Elizabeth of Russia|Elizabeth]] (second-eldest daughter of Tsar [[Peter the Great]]), and his wife [[Catherine The Great|Catherine II]], born Sophie of [[Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst|Anhalt-Zerbst]], daughter of a minor German prince
Paul was taken almost immediately after birth by the Empress Elizabeth, and had limited contact with his mother. As a boy, he was reported to be intelligent and good-looking, but sickly. His pug-nosed facial features in later life are attributed to an attack of [[typhus]], from which he suffered in 1771.{{cn|date=November 2023}} Paul was put in the charge of a trustworthy governor, [[Nikita Ivanovich Panin]], and of competent tutors. Panin's nephew went on to become one of Paul's assassins. One of Paul's tutors, Poroshin, complained that he was "always in a hurry", acting and speaking without reflection.
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Catherine suffered a [[stroke]] on 17 November 1796, and died without regaining consciousness. Paul's first act as Emperor was to inquire about and, if possible, destroy her testament, as he feared it would exclude him from succession and leave the throne to Alexander. These fears may have contributed to Paul's promulgation of the [[Pauline Laws]], which established the strict principle of [[primogeniture]] in the House of Romanov, leaving the throne to the next male heir.
The army, then [[Persian Expedition of 1796|poised to attack Persia]] in accordance with Catherine's last design, was recalled to the capital within one month of Paul's accession. In a remarkable poem, the Russian court poet [[Gavrila Derzhavin|Derzhavin]] commented bitterly on the inglorious return from that expedition of its commander Count [[Valerian Zubov]], who was the youthful brother of [[Platon Zubov|Prince Platon Zubov]], the lover of the Empress Саtherine.
Upon his death in 1762, Peter III had been buried without any honors in the [[Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra|Annunciation Church]]{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} at the [[Alexander Nevsky Monastery]] in [[St. Petersburg]]. Immediately after the death of his mother, Paul ordered his father's remains transferred, first to the church in the [[Winter Palace]] and then to the [[Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg]], the burial site of the Romanovs.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} 60-year-old Count 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 of Russia as he walked in front of Peter's coffin.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} Peter III had never been crowned so at the time of his reburial, Paul personally performed the ritual of coronation on his remains.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} Paul responded to the rumour of his illegitimacy by parading his descent from Peter the Great. The inscription on the [[Monument to Peter I (St. Michael's Castle)|monument to the first Emperor of Russia]] near the [[St. Michael's Castle]] reads in Russian "''To the Great-Grandfather from the Great-Grandson''". This is an allusion to the [[Latin]] "PETRO PRIMO CATHARINA SECUNDA", the dedication by Catherine on the '[[Bronze Horseman]]' statue of Peter the Great.
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|27 April 1779
|15 June 1831
|m. first [[Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld|Juliane, Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Anna Feodorovna)]]
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|[[Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia|Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna]]
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[[Category:Deaths by strangulation]]
[[Category:Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp]]
[[Category:Grand
[[Category:House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov]]
[[Category:Knights of Malta]]
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