– Estates in Kazan and Moscow governorates – Ropsha manor (since 1764) – Gatchina manor with villages (since 1765) – Lode Castle (since 1771) Prince Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov (Russian: Григорий Григорьевич Орлов; 17 October 1734 – 24 April 1783[a]) was a favourite of the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (1772), state and military figure, collector, patron of arts, and General-in-Chief.

He collected paintings (including Rembrandt, P. P. Rubens, Titian), sculpture, Chinese, Japanese and Russian porcelain, hunting weapons, etc.

Grigory Orlov was educated in the corps of cadets at Saint Petersburg, began his military career in the Seven Years' War, and was wounded at Zorndorf.

[1] While serving in the capital as an artillery officer in the summer of 1761, he caught the fancy of the then Grand Duchess Catherine Alekseyevna, became her favourite (until 1772), and was the leader of the conspiracy which resulted in the dethronement and death of her husband, Emperor Peter III (1762).

[2] Orlov had a quick wit, a fairly accurate appreciation of current events, and was a useful and sympathetic counselor during the earlier portion of Catherine's reign.

He also led the investigation of Lieutenant Vasily Mirovich, who tried to free the former Russian Emperor Ivan VI Antonovich from the Shlisselburg Fortress (1764).

[4] By the time he returned — without permission — to his Marble Palace at Saint Petersburg, Orlov found himself superseded in the empress's favor by the younger Grigory Potemkin.

In 1777, at the age of 43, he married his 18-year-old relative, Catherine Zinovyeva, variously described by sources as either a niece or a cousin, but left no children by that marriage.