Paul I of Russia
Paul remained overshadowed by his mother for most of his life. His reign lasted four 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 also intervened in the French Revolutionary Wars and, toward the end of his reign, added Kartli and Kakheti in Eastern Georgia into the empire which was confirmed by his son and successor Alexander I.
Mariya Svistunova
After her marriage to N. P. Svistunov, the couple occupied the purchased house in St Petersburg, where one after another their children were born. After the death of Paul I of Russia, Nikolai Petrovich immediately resigned because he could not reconcile himself with the rule of Alexander I. He was a mystically minded person, an admirer of the Masonic mystic Aleksandr Labzin and an active participant in the Masonic lodge.
The interests of husband and wife differed. Mariya was one of the numerous Russian women of that era, who in passionate pursuit of truth, or for fashion, converted to Catholicism. Mariya became friends with Sophie Swetchine, a zealous supporter of Joseph de Maistre. In 1812 at the urging of his friend Vyazmitinov, Nikolai Svistunov returned to the service and worked as a director of the department in the Ministry of Police. But his health began to deteriorate, so he sought treatment by the mineral waters of the Caucasus, and died there of a fever on August 16, 1815.