Louis XV and Madame Pompadour used the predictions and advice of Count Saint-Germain. He repaired defects on the king's diamonds and grew pearls for the favorite. Grigory Orlov paid “dear father” large sums of money for predicting the future victories of Catherine II and for helping her accession to the Russian throne. Theosophists and mystics from different countries considered him a prophet, the keeper of the secrets of the world. They said that he personally knew Pontius Pilate and Julius Caesar, and that his next incarnation in the 19th century was H. P. Blavatsky.