Nyora kupfuurira kweiyi ndima - Orlov akaberekerwa muSt. Petersburg kuMuchinda, ipapo Count, Alexei Grigoryevich Orlov nemukadzi wake Olga Alexandrovna (nee Zherebtsova). Akadzidza zvemitemo, uye muna 1843, akava mutevedzeri wemutongi weRussia. Muna 1845, akaendeswa kuLife Guard Horse Regiment. Muna 1846, akabatanidzwa nevashandi veGrand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, mwanakomana waTsar. Muna 1849, akazviratidza mukudzvinyirirwa kwekumukira kweHungary kwa1848
, uye akasimudzirwa kuva kaputeni. Kubva muna 1851 kusvika muna 1854 akashanda muGeneral Staff uye muHurumende yeHondo. Akakwidziridzwa kuva colonel, akaendeswa kuArmy of the Danube pasi peField Marshal Paskevich, uko pakurwisa maTurkey pakukombwa kweSilistria akatungamira mhosva yakatora nhare, yakataurwa mumatare sekuratidzira kushinga kwakasarudzika, uye akapihwa Order yeSt. George; asi maronda ake akaomarara, akarasikirwa neziso uye ruoko, akamugadza pazororo rekurapa uye akapedza mwedzi gumi nematanhatu achinaya muItari. Ikoko ndiko kwaakanyora rake "Oserk 3-weekльного похода Наполеона I против Пруссии в 1806 году" ["Sketch of the 3-week campaign of Napoleon I against Prussia in 1806"]. Pakudzoka kwake, muna August 1856, akasimudzirwa kuva mukuru mukuru. Kutanga muna 1858, akatanga kubudisa mabhuku aitaura nezvokugadziridzwa kwezvematongerwo enyika, achikurudzira kubvumirana pane zvechitendero uye tsika dzakanaka. Muna 1861 akapa Tsar wake "On the abolition of corporal punishment in Russia and in the Kingdom of Poland" iyo yakazoguma nemutemo waApril 17, 1863, uchibvisa zvakanyanya.