Grigory Orlov

Grigory Orlov (1734–1783) was a Russian guards officer and favourite of Empress Catherine the Great. Wounded at Zorndorf in 1758, he became Catherine's lover and, with his brothers, led the coup of 1762 that deposed her husband Peter III and placed her on the throne. Made a count and then, in 1772, a prince of the Holy Roman Empire, he headed the Free Economic Society and organized Moscow's response to the plague of 1771.

He patronized scholars and painters and commissioned the Great Gatchina Palace. After failed peace talks at Focșani he lost favour and died in Moscow in 1783.