What sort of relationship did Paul I have with his mother? It is common knowledge that they did not get along with each other. Was Paul I a good ruler?
Paul was seriously mistreated by his mother as he was growing up. They rarely saw each other, in fact, as Catherine preferred to keep Paul tucked away in some distant castle.
Paul also grew up with the burden of knowing that his mother was complicit in the murder of his father, Peter III.
That Catherine was motivated to treat Paul so badly is powerful evidence that Peter III was indeed Paul's father. There is really no other way of explaining Catherine's attitude toward her son. This fact is often overlooked by those who claim that Paul's father was someone other than Peter III.
Probably as a result of these early life stresses, Paul developed serious psychoemotional problems. He was mentally unstable in an extreme way, although not insane or psychotic as many historians and diarists from the era have made him out to be.
According to today's psychological nomenclature, Paul would be regarded as an "obsessive-compulsive".
As to Paul's intellectual ability, he was definitely of above-average intelligence, and if he hadn't been burdened with such heavy psychological damage, he probably would have proven to be a very capable ruler.
As to how well Paul actually did rule, the answer is that he didn't do a good job. Paul made many irrational, reckless decisions regarding matters of state.
At first the influential nobles and men of state surrounding the throne tolerated Paul's whims and erratic behavior. After several years, though, when it became clear that Russia's best interests were being threatened by Paul, St. Petersburg's leading citizens formed a committee to remove him from power.