Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia

Elena Pavlovna (; – ) was a grand duchess of Russia as the daughter of Paul I, the Russian emperor, and later became the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin as the wife of the Hereditary Grand Duke Frederick Louis (1778–1819). Early life Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna Romanova was born in Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire as the fourth child and second daughter of Tsesarevich Paul Petrovich of Russia (1754–1801) and his second wife, Tsesarevna Maria Feodorovna, born Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg (1759–1828). Out of her nine siblings, Elena was closest to her elder sister Alexandra Pavlovna, whom their paternal grandmother Catherine the Great compared unfavourably to Elena. Elena was deemed smarter and more charming than her two-year-old sister Alexandra. However, as the sisters matured, Catherine loved both of them equally.