Who dated Yekaterina Nelidova?

Yekaterina Ivanovna Nelidova (Russian: Екатери́на Ива́новна Нели́дова; 1756–1839) was a Russian noblewoman and lady-in-waiting. She was the royal mistress of Paul I of Russia.

Nelidova graduated from the Smolny Institute in 1776 and became a lady-in-waiting, first to Grand Duchess Natalya and then to Grand Duchess Maria alongside her friend and fellow graduate Natalya Borshchova. She had a relationship with Grand Duke Paul, the future monarch, and acted as a successful mediator between him and people he was in conflict with. Nelidova was also noted for her dramatic talents, which endeared her to the crown prince, who liked to stage operas with the participation of people he was close with.

She was an important courtier and her position also led to her relatives' acquiring positions at court. Paul's defense of Nelidova was even documented amid issues of social conformity at Catherine the Great's court. She left her position at court in 1798.

Paul I (Russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич, romanized: Pavel I Petrovich; 1 October [O.S. 20 September] 1754 – 23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1801) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination in 1801.

Paul remained overshadowed by his mother, Catherine the Great, for most of his life. He adopted the laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules that lasted until the end of the Romanov dynasty and of the Russian Empire. He also imposed the first limitations on serfdom with the Manifesto of three-day corvee, sought to curtail the privileges of the nobility, pursued various military reforms which were highly unpopular among officers and was known for his unpredictable behavior, all of which contributed to the conspiracy that would take his life.

In 1799 he brought Russia into the Second Coalition against Revolutionary France alongside Britain and Austria; the Russian forces achieved several victories at first but withdrew after facing setbacks. Paul then realigned Russia with France and led the creation of the Second League of Armed Neutrality to oppose Britain after Napoleon's rise to power. Toward the end of his reign, he added Kartli and Kakheti in Eastern Georgia to the Russian Empire. He was planning a joint invasion of British India with the French before being killed in a fight with his own officers who were trying to force his abdication. He was succeeded by his son Alexander I.

He was Grand Master of the Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller from 1799 to 1801 and ordered the construction of a number of priories of the Order of Malta.