text: During their visit to Italy, the couple proved to be much in love since Paul couldn't stop giving kisses in public to his wife, surprising their travelling companions. On their way back to St. Petersburg, Maria went to Württemberg to visit her parents. At the end of 1782, the couple returned to Russia and devoted their attention to Pavlovsk Palace, where Maria gave birth to Alexandra Pavlovna, the first of six daughters she would bear during the next twelve years. To celebrate Alexandra's birth, Catherine II gave them the Palace of Gatchina, which would occupy their attention until they were called to the throne. She let the parents raise their daughters and younger sons. From then on the Russian Imperial house would be a large family.
  Last years
  During the long years of Catherine's reign, Maria and Paul were forced to live in isolation in Gatchina with a tight income. Unlike the Romanovs, Maria was frugal, a rare virtue in a princess of that time only developed because of her large family that for a long time was only a minor royal branch. She
  continued to beautify Pavlovsk, dedicated herself to charitable work among its inhabitants, planned theatrical events for her husband, who delighted in that amusement, and participated in musical evenings for family and friends in which she adeptly played the harpsichord. She was devoted to expanding her modest literary salon, which was frequented by poet Vasily Zhukovsky, fabulist Ivan Krylov, and historian Nikolai Karamzin. Maria prided herself in being more clever than her mother-in-law and never lost the opportunity of contrasting her impeccable virtue with the failings of the reigning Empress. She was equally watchful to attack Catherine's favourites, Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin and Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov.