Sergei Saltykov

Count Sergei Vasilievich Saltykov (Russian: Сергей Васильевич Салтыков, IPA: [sʲɪrˈɡʲej vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ səltɨˈkof]; c. 1722 – 1784) was a Russian officer (chamberlain) who became the first lover of Empress Catherine the Great after her arrival in Russia.

[3] However, Paul greatly resembled his official father Peter III of Russia in character and appearance.

Saltykov was also descended from several branches of the Rurikid and Gediminid dynasties through the female line, as well as from Tatiana Feodorovna, the sister of the first Romanov tsar Michael I.

[citation needed] Tsarina Praskovia, the mother of Empress Anna, also came from this clan, although her branch was only distantly related to the grandfather of Sergei.

Modesta (better known under her Russian name Matryona) had been publicly whipped in 1718 and exiled to Siberia after Peter the Great had learned about her brother Willem's affair with his wife Catherine.

Sergei Saltykov, miniature portrait, Hermitage Museum , Saint Petersburg