Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov

Count Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov (Russian: Алексей Григорьевич Орлов) (5 October 1737 – 5 January 1808) was a Russian soldier and statesman, who rose to prominence during the reign of Catherine the Great.

Orlov served in the Imperial Russian Army, and through his connections with his brother, became one of the key conspirators in the plot to overthrow Tsar Peter III and replace him on the Russian throne with his wife, Catherine. The plot, carried out in 1762, was successful, and Peter was imprisoned under Alexei Orlov's guard. He died shortly afterwards in mysterious circumstances, and it was popularly believed Orlov had either ordered, or personally carried out, his murder. Handsomely rewarded by Catherine after her accession, the Orlovs became powerful at court. Alexei was promoted and took part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–74, commanding a naval expedition to the Mediterranean in 1770, which destroyed the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Chesma. For his success he was granted the honorific Chesmensky. The Russian victory sparked off the Orlov Revolt in the Greek territories of the Ottoman Empire soon afterwards.

Orlov remained in the Mediterranean, and received the unusual commission of seducing and then capturing 'Princess Tarakanoff', a pretender to the Russian throne. Orlov was successful in doing so, and tricked her into boarding a Russian ship at Livorno, where she was arrested and transported to Russia. Alexei's brother, Grigory, Catherine's lover before and after the coup took place, fell from favour soon afterwards, and the Orlovs' power at court diminished. Alexei became a renowned breeder of livestock at his estates, developing the horse breed known as the Orlov Trotter, and popularising the Orloff breed of chicken. He left Russia after the death of Catherine and the accession of her son, Tsar Paul I, but returned after Paul's death and lived in Russia until his death in 1808.