Paul I (Russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич; Pavel Petrovich) (1 October [O.S. 20 September] 1754 – 23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1801) reigned as Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III (reigned January to July 1762) (whom he resembled physically and by character) and of Catherine the Great (reigned 1762–96), though Catherine hinted that he was fathered by her lover Sergei Saltykov, who also had Romanov blood, being a descendant of the first Romanov Tsar's sister, Tatiana Feodorovna Romanova.

Paul remained overshadowed by his mother for much of his life. His reign lasted five years, ending with his assassination by conspirators. 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 was de facto Grand Master of the Order of Hospitallers from 1799 to 1801, and ordered the construction of a number of Maltese thrones.

Paul was born in the Palace of Empress Elizabeth, Saint Petersburg. His father, the future Emperor Peter III, was the nephew and heir apparent of the Empress. His mother, born the daughter of a minor German prince, was later to depose her own husband (Paul's father) and reign in her own right as Catherine II, known to history as Catherine the Great.

Paul was taken almost immediately after birth from his mother by the Empress Elizabeth, whose overwhelming attention may have done him more harm than good. Some claim that his mother, Catherine, hated him and was restrained from putting him to death. Robert K. Massie is more compassionate towards Catherine; in his 2011 biography of her, he claims that once Catherine had done her duty in providing an heir to the throne, Elizabeth had no more use for her and Paul was taken from his mother at birth and only allowed to see her during very limited moments. In all events, the Russian Imperial court, first of Elizabeth and then of Catherine, was not an ideal home for a lonely, needy and often sickly boy. As a boy, he was reported to be intelligent and good-looking. His pug-nosed facial features in later life are attributed to an attack of typhus, from which he suffered in 1771. Paul was put in the charge of a trustworthy governor, Nikita Ivanovich Panin, and of competent tutors. Panin's nephew went on to become one of Paul's assassins. One of Paul's tutors, Poroshin, complained that he was "always in a hurry", acting and speaking without reflection.

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