by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia;  Credit – Wikipedia

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia was one of the conspirators in the murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin and also a first cousin of both Nicholas II, the last Emperor of All Russia and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He was born on September 18, 1891, at Ilyinskoye, the country estate outside of Moscow of his paternal uncle Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia.

Dmitri was the only son and the second of the two children of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna). Grand Duke Paul was the youngest child of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna). Princess Alexandra was the eldest daughter of King George I of Greece (born Prince Vilhelm of Denmark) and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia, a granddaughter of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia.

Grand Duke Dmitri’s parents at the time of their engagement in 1888; Credit – Wikipedia

Dmitri’s parents were visiting Grand Duke Sergei and his wife Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (born Elizabeth of Hesse and by Rhine). His mother Alexandra, who was seven months pregnant with her second child, took a walk with her friends, jumped into a boat and fell. The next day, she collapsed from violent labor pains in the middle of a ball. Alexandra gave birth prematurely to Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and then she lapsed into a coma. She did not recover consciousness and died six days later on September 24, 1891, at the age of 21. Alexandra probably died from eclampsia, a condition that causes a pregnant woman, usually previously diagnosed with preeclampsia (high blood pressure and protein in the urine), to develop seizures or coma.

Born two months premature, Dmitri was not expected to live. It was through the efforts of his uncle Grand Duke Sergei that Dmitri survived. Sergei gave his nephew warm baths and kept him wrapped in cotton blankets in a cradle filled with hot water bottles. Dmitri’s father Grand Duke Paul was grief-stricken and depressed after the tragic death of his wife. For a period of time, his childless brother Grand Duke Sergei and his wife Grand Duchess Elizabeth took care of Dmitri and his seventeen-month-old sister Maria Pavlovna:

• Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1890 – 1858), married (1) Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, had one son, divorced (2) Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Putyatin, had one son who died in infancy, divorced

Grand Duke Sergei, Grand Duchess Elizabeth with Grand Duchess Maria and Grand Duke Paul with Grand Duke Dmitri; Credit – Wikipedia

Dmitri Pavlovich was well-connected to royalty throughout Europe. Among his other first cousins were King Christian X of Denmark, King Haakon VII of Norway, King George V of the United Kingdom, Queen Maud of Norway, King Constantine I of Greece, Queen Marie of Romania and Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna (Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) who married Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, who was both Dmitri’s first cousin and his wife’s first cousin.

Eventually, Grand Duke Paul recovered from his grief and Maria and Dmitri went to live with him in St. Petersburg. The two children were brought up by English nannies. Christmas holidays and some periods during the summer were spent with their uncle and aunt, Grand Duke Sergei and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.

In 1895, Dmitri’s father Grand Duke Paul began an affair with a married woman Olga Valerianovna Karnovich. Olga gave birth in 1897 to a son. After Olga divorced her husband, Paul asked for permission to marry her from his nephew Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia but Nicholas refused. Despite this, Paul morganatically married Olga in 1902. Because he married without Nicholas II’s permission, Paul was banished from Russia, dismissed from his military commissions, and all his property was seized. His brother Grand Duke Sergei was appointed the guardian of Maria and Dmitri. Grand Duke Paul and his wife Olga settled in France. He was periodically allowed to visit his children in Russia. Grand Duke Paul was allowed to return to Russia for good in 1914. His titles and property were restored and Nicholas II granted his wife and children the titles Princess/Prince Paley.

Grand Duke Paul had three children with Olga, Dmitri’s half-siblings:

• Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (1897–1918), one of the five Romanovs executed on July 18, 1918, along with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna
• Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley (1903–1990), married (1) Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia, had one son, divorced  (2) Count Hubert Conquere de Monbrison, had one daughter
• Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley (1905–1981), married (1) Lucien Lelong, a French fashion designer, no children (2) John Chapman Wilson, an American theatre director and producer, no children

Grand Duke Paul with his second wife Olga, and their children in 1916; Credit – Wikipedia

Since the children’s guardian Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was the Governor-General of Moscow, Dmitri and his sister Maria lived with their aunt and uncle at the Nicholas Palace in the Moscow Kremlin and at Dmitri’s birthplace Ilyinskoye, Sergei’s country estate. When Grand Duke Sergei was assassinated by a bomb in 1905, his brother Paul was allowed to return to Russia to attend the funeral. He asked Nicholas II to restore the custody of his children but instead, Nicholas named Sergei’s widow Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna as the children’s guardian.

Dmitri and his sister Maria Pavlovna with their uncle and guardian Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich; Credit – Wikipedia

Until he was ready to go to military school and his sister married, Dmitri, along with his sister Maria, continued living with Grand Duchess Elizabeth at the Nicholas Palace in the Moscow Kremlin and the country estate Ilyinskoye. In 1907, Dmitri’s sister Maria Pavlovna became engaged to Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland, the second son of King Gustav V of Sweden. They were married at the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo on May 3, 1908, and then Maria was off to a new life in Sweden. The marriage was unhappy and in 1913, Maria left her husband and son and returned to Russia which caused a great scandal in Sweden. On March 13, 1914, her marriage was officially dissolved.

In 1909, Dmitri went to St. Petersburg accompanied by his tutor, where he was enrolled in the Nikolaevskoe Cavalry School to prepare for a military career in the Life Guards Horse Regiment. In St. Petersburg, Dmitri first lived in his father’s vacant palace and then in the Belosselsky-Belozersky Palace. The palace had been owned by Grand Duke Sergei. When Sergei’s widow Grand Duchess Elizabeth sold all her jewelry and with the proceeds opened the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary and became its abbess, she gave the ownership of the palace to Dmitri.

Dmitri in 1910; Credit – Wikipedia

Grand Duke Dmitri participated in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm in the Equestrian Individual and Team Jumping events. He placed ninth in Individual Jumping and fifth in Team Jumping. Disappointed in the performance of the Russian team, Dmitri started the idea of a national Russian sports competition, the very beginning of what under Soviet rule became the Spartakiad.

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich competing in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics; Credit – Wikipedia

During World War I, Dmitri served with the Life Guards Horse Regiment, participated in the campaign in East Prussia, and was awarded the Order of St. George. During the war, a situation with Dmitri’s first cousin Nicholas II, and his family caused Dmitri to take action.

In the fall of 1916, the Romanov family was increasingly worried about Grigori Rasputin’s influence on Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. After working with many physicians to help her son Tsarevich Alexei relieve his hemophilia, Alexandra turned to mystics and faith healers. This led to her close, and politically dangerous, relationship with Grigori Rasputin. Several times Rasputin appeared to have brought the Tsarevich back from the brink of death, further cementing Alexandra’s reliance. Rasputin became an influential figure in Saint Petersburg, especially after August 1915, when Nicholas II took supreme command of the Russian armies fighting in World War I. Eventually, a group of conspirators plotted to murder Rasputin hoping to end his influence over the Imperial Family.

Rasputin with Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, her children and their governess; Credit – Wikipedia

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich was one of the conspirators along with Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov, a Russian aristocrat, wealthier than any of the Romanovs. Felix married Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia, Nicholas II’s only niece, the daughter of his sister Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia.

Along with Dmitri and Felix, Vladimir Purishkevich, a deputy of the Duma, the Russian legislature, was one of the main conspirators. Dr. Stanislaus de Lazovert, a physician, and Sergei Mikhailovich Sukhotin, a lieutenant in the Preobrazhensky Regiment, also were participants. On the night of December 29-30, 1916, Felix invited Rasputin to Moika Palace, his home in St. Petersburg, promising Rasputin that his wife Irina would be there, although she was not there.

Basement in the Moika Palace where Rasputin was murdered; Credit – Wikipedia

According to his memoir, Felix brought Rasputin to a soundproof room in a part of the wine cellar and offered Rasputin tea and petit fours laced with a large amount of cyanide but the poison had no effect. Felix then offered Rasputin wine, and after an hour Rasputin was fairly drunk. The other conspirators were waiting in a room on another floor of the palace and Felix then went upstairs and returned with Dmitri’s revolver. Felix shot Rasputin in the chest and the wounds appeared to be serious enough to cause death. However, Rasputin escaped, struggling up the stairs and opening an unlocked door to the courtyard. Purishkevich heard the noise, went out to the courtyard, and shot Rasputin four times, missing three times. Rasputin fell down in the snow. Again, Rasputin should have been dead, but he was still moving. One of the conspirators shot him in the forehead. Rasputin’s body was thrown off the Bolshoy Petrovsky Bridge into an ice hole in the Malaya Neva River. Rasputin’s body was found a few days later.

After Rasputin’s murder, the St. Petersburg authorities refused to arrest the conspirators because the murder they committed was considered acceptable. Instead, Dmitri was exiled to Persia (now Iran), a move that most likely saved his life during the Russian Revolution. Felix was exiled to his estate in Rakitnoje, near Belgorod, Russia, and the Ukraine border.

The Russian Revolution was disastrous to Dmitri Pavlovich’s family. Prince Vladimir Paley, Dmitri’s half-brother was arrested in St. Petersburg on March 26, 1918, along with three sons of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, a grandson of Nicholas I: Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, and Prince Igor.  On July 18, 1918, the day after the execution of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his family, Dmitri’s half-brother Prince Vladimir Paley, Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, Prince Igor, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, Dmitri’s aunt and his former guardian, were murdered by the Bolsheviks. See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Five Other Romanovs for more information.

Grand Duke Dmitri with his father Grand Duke Paul and his sister Grand Duchess Maria in 1914; Credit – Wikipedia

Dmitri’s father Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich was arrested on August 13, 1918. On January 28, 1919, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, along with three other Grand Dukes, was executed by a firing squad in the courtyard of the Peter and Paul Fortress. See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Four Russian Grand Dukes for more information.

In exile in Persia (now Iran), Dmitri served briefly with General Nikolai Nikolaevich Baratov who headed the 1st Caucasus Cossack Corps on the Caucasus Front. However, after the February 1917 Revolution which resulted in the abdication of Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire, General Baratov could no longer guarantee that Dmitri would be safe among the Russian troops. Dmitri was taken in by the British Minister to Persia, Sir Charles Murray Marling. In 1918, Sir Charles persuaded the British Foreign Office that Dmitri could be the next Emperor of Russia and helped Dmitri to gain admission into the United Kingdom where he lived for two years.

Coco Chanel and Grand Duke Dmitri; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Dmitri’s sister Maria Pavlovna had escaped Russia and settled in Paris, France. Like many exiled aristocratic Russians, Maria found a place for herself in the Paris fashion industry by starting a Russian embroidery shop called “Kitmir” that specialized in embroidery with beads and sequins. Her brother Dmitri made his way to Paris and the two siblings were reunited. Dmitri began a love affair with the fashion designer Coco Chanel. This proved to be a great advantage to Maria’s business and soon Chanel became Maria’s main client.

Audrey Emery and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich on their wedding day; Credit – Wikipedia

On November 21, 1926, in the Russian Orthodox Church in Biarritz, France, Dmitri married the rich American heiress Audrey Emery. Audrey, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, was the youngest daughter of John Josiah Emery, a real-estate millionaire. Since this marriage did not comply with the rules of the House of Romanov, Dmitri’s cousin Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, head of the Romanov family, gave Audrey and any children from the marriage the princely title Romanovsky-Ilyinsky. The couple lived in Europe, where Dmitri participated in various Russian monarchist and patriotic movements and had a significant role in the creation of the Union of Mladoross (Union of Young Russia). Dmitri and Audrey divorced in 1937.

Dmitri and Audrey had one son, named after Dmitri’s father Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich:

• Prince Paul Dmitriievich Romanovsky-Ilyinsky, later known as Paul Ilyinsky (1928 – 2004), married (1) Mary Evelyn Prince, no children (2) Angelica Philippa Kauffmann, had four children

Grand Duke Dmitri with his son and wife; Credit – Wikipedia

Dmitri’s son Paul was an American and a British citizen. He was born on January 27, 1928, in the Embassy of the United States in London, England, United Kingdom. After his parents divorced, Paul lived with his mother. He attended the Woodberry Forest School in Virginia and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England and was a graduate of the University of Virginia. During the Korean War, Paul served in the United States Marine Corps as a combat war photographer. After the Korean War, Paul served for about twenty years on the board of Emery Industries, his mother’s family company. In 1980, Paul moved to Palm Beach, Florida where he served three terms as Mayor of Palm Beach. Paul Ilyinsky died at his Palm Beach home on February 10, 2004, at the age of 76. Paul’s youngest son Michael was active with the Romanov Family Association.

After his divorce, Dmitri lived at the Château de Beaumesnil in Beaumesnil, Eure, France, which he had bought in 1927. Over the years, Dmitri became disappointed with the prospects for the restoration of the monarchy in Russia and withdrew from public life. He lived at the Château de Beaumesnil until 1938 when, due to the deterioration of his health, Dmitri sold the château to Jewish financier and bibliophile Hans Fürstenberg, a refugee from Nazi Germany. In 1982, when Fürstenberg died, the chateau was left to a foundation entrusted to conserve the property and Fürstenbergs library.

Chateau de Beaumesnil; Photo Credit – CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1055782

It is believed that Dmitri’s ill health was caused by tuberculosis. His doctors estimated that he first contracted tuberculosis around 1929. In 1939, Dmitri entered Schatzalp Sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland and he died there on March 5, 1942, at the age of 50. Because the sanatorium’s medical records were destroyed when the sanatorium was converted into a hotel in the 1950s, there is no definite cause for Dmitri’s death. Both tuberculosis and uremia have been cited.

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich was initially buried at Waldfriedhof, a cemetery in Davos, Switzerland. In the late 1950s, his remains were transferred to the Mainau Palace Church, on Mainau Island in Lake Constance, Germany, on the estate of Count Lennart Bernadotte of Wisborg, his nephew, the only child of his sister Maria Pavlovna. There Dmitri Pavlovich and Maria Pavlovna rest in peace next to each other.

Dmitri’s burial place in the Mainau Palace Church; Credit – www.findagrave.com

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Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. (2018). Dmitri Pawlowitsch Romanow. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Pawlowitsch_Romanow [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Dmitri_Pavlovich_of_Russia [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. (2018). Dimitri Pavlovitch de Russie. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitri_Pavlovitch_de_Russie [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].
• Manger, H. (1998). Elizabeth, Grand Duchess of Russia. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.
• https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87
• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). Murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/murder-of-grigori-yefimovich-rasputin/ [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].
• Warwick, C. (2006). Princess, Saint and Martyr. Chichester: Wiley.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia was one of the four Grand Dukes executed by a firing squad at the Peter and Paul Fortress on January 28, 1919. His son from his first marriage, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, was one of the conspirators involved in the murder of Grigori Rasputin. Paul’s son from his second morganatic marriage, Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, was one of the five Romanovs executed on July 18, 1918, with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.

Grand Duke Paul was born at the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo near St. Petersburg on October 3, 1860. He was the eighth of the eight children and the sixth of the six sons of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna) and the paternal uncle of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. Paul was only eight years older than his nephew Nicholas and the two had a close relationship.

Paul had seven siblings including Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia:

• Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna (1842 – 1849), died of meningitis at the age of six
• Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich (1843 – 1865), engaged to Dagmar of Denmark (the future wife of his brother Alexander III), died of meningitis at the age of 21
• Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia (1845 – 1894), married Dagmar of Denmark (Maria Feodorovna), had issue
• Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847 – 1909), married Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Maria Pavlovna), had issue
• Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich (1850 – 1908), had illegitimate issue via an affair with Alexandra Vasilievna Zhukovskaya
• Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna (1853 – 1920) married, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had issue
• Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1857 – 1905), married, Elisabeth of Hesse of Hesse and by Rhine (Elizabeth Feodorovna), no issue

Seated: Emperor Alexander II with his daughter-in-law Maria Feodorovna and his grandson Nicholas Alexandrovich (future Nicholas II). In the back row. Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich (future Alexander III) and Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich.

Paul was educated with his brother Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich who was assassinated in 1905 when a bomb was thrown into his carriage. In 1881, Paul’s father Alexander II had also been assassinated in the same way. Paul served in the Russian Army as a general in the Cavalry and an adjutant general to his brother Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia.

Paul and Sergei maintained their closeness even after Sergei’s marriage to Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna) in 1884. Paul accompanied the couple to England to visit Elizabeth’s grandmother Queen Victoria and lived for some time with his brother and his sister-in-law, who also became very close to him.

Paul and Sergei; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Paul’s health was delicate as a child and as an adult, he suffered from a lung ailment (perhaps asthma) and spent time in warmer climates to recuperate. On medical advice, Paul spent the first of several winters in Greece in 1887. Paul’s first cousin was Queen Olga of Greece, wife of King George I of Greece. Queen Olga had been born Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinova, daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia, the second son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. King George I had been born Prince Vilhelm of Denmark, son of King Christian IX of Denmark. He was the brother of Paul’s sister-in-law Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark. The Greek royal family also frequently visited with the Romanov family on visits to Russia or Denmark. With all the family connections, Paul felt quite comfortable with the Greek royal family and it was no surprise that he grew closer and fell in love with the eldest daughter Princess Alexandra.

Princess Alexandra and Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich in 1888; Credit – Wikipedia

Paul and Alexandra’s engagement was announced on November 10, 1888, and the couple was married in the Grand Church at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia on June 17, 1889. Alexandra took the name Alexandra Georgievna. The couple had two children:

• Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1890–1958), married (1) Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, had one son, divorced (2) Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Putyatin, had one son
• Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (1891–1942), married morganatically Audrey Emery, had one son, divorced

The newlyweds lived in a palace in St. Petersburg on the English Embankment and were given rooms at the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo. Paul and Alexandra’s marriage was a happy one but sadly, it was to be a short marriage. In the summer of 1891, Paul and Alexandra decided to spend some time at Ilinskoe, Sergei and Elizabeth’s country estate outside Moscow.

Paul’s palace on the English Embankment in St. Petersburg; Credit – Wikipedia

While there, Alexandra, seven months pregnant with her second child, took a walk with her friends on the bank of the Moskva River and jumped directly into a boat that was permanently moored there and fell. The next day, she collapsed from violent labor pains in the middle of a ball. Alexandra gave birth prematurely to a son, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, and then she lapsed into a coma. Alexandra did not recover consciousness and died six days later on September 24, 1891, at the age of 21. Her parents arrived from Greece shortly before her death. In all the commotion, the premature Dmitri was nearly forgotten and was found in a heap of blankets. He was not expected to live.

It seems that the fall in the boat was not the actual cause of the premature labor.  An autopsy showed that Alexandra’s premature labor was caused by eclampsia, a condition that causes a pregnant woman, usually previously diagnosed with preeclampsia (high blood pressure and protein in the urine), to develop seizures or coma. Nephritis, a kidney disorder, and heart damage were also detected.

Alexandra was initially interred in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. At her funeral, Paul could not bear to have the coffin closed and his brother Sergei had to take him in his arms and lead him away. For some time, his brother Sergei and his wife Elizabeth took care of little Maria and Dmitri. Paul never returned to his St. Petersburg palace and mostly lived at Tsarskoye Selo.  In 1939, Alexandra’s remains were brought to Greece and reinterred at the traditional burial site of the Greek royal family, the Royal Cemetery on the grounds of Tatoi Palace. Paul was grief-stricken and depressed.

Sergei Alexandrovich, Elizabeth Feodorovna. Maria Pavlovna, and Dmitri Pavlovich sitting on the lap of his father Paul Alexandrovich; Credit –  Wikipedia

In 1895, Paul began an affair with a married woman Olga Valerianovna Karnovich. Olga gave birth in 1896 to a son who was then known as Vladimir von Pistohlkors because his mother was still married to Major General Erich Gerhard von Pistohlkors, an aide to Paul’s brother Grand Duke Vladimir. After Olga divorced her husband, Paul asked for permission to marry Olga from his nephew Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia but Nicholas refused. Paul made a morganatic marriage to Olga on October 10, 1902, in a Greek Orthodox church in Livorno, Italy. Because he married without Nicholas II’s permission, Paul was banished from Russia, dismissed from his military commissions, and all his property was seized. His brother Grand Duke Sergei was appointed the guardian of Maria and Dmitri. The couple settled in Boulogne-sur-Seine, France near Paris.

Paul and Olga had three children:

• Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (1897–1918), one of the five Romanovs executed on July 18, 1918, with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna
• Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley (1903–1990), married (1) Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia, had one son, divorced  (2) Count Hubert Conquere de Monbrison, had one daughter
• Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley (1905–1981), married (1) Lucien Lelong, a French fashion designer, no children (2) John Chapman Wilson, an American theatre director and producer, no children

Paul and his family in 1916; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In 1904, Grand Duke Paul arranged with Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria for Olga and their children to be granted the hereditary title of Count and Countesses de Hohenfelsen. Paul was allowed to return to Russia for the funeral of his brother Grand Duke Sergei who was assassinated by a bomb in 1905. At that time, he tried to regain custody of his children Grand Duke Dmitri and Grand Duchess Maria but Nicholas II made Sergei’s widow Elizabeth Feodorovna the children’s guardian. Nicholas II allowed Paul to visit his children in Russia but not to live there permanently.

Paul, Olga, and their three children continued to live in their mansion near Paris. In 1908, Paul’s daughter Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna married Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, the son of King Gustav V of Sweden. Although Paul was not consulted about the wedding, he was allowed to attend the wedding in Tsarskoye Selo. Later in the same year, Paul, Olga, and their three children visited Russia for the first time together. Eleven-year-old Vladimir was enrolled in the Corps des Pages, a military academy in St. Petersburg that other sons of Grand Dukes had attended.

In 1912, Nicholas II finally relented and decided to pardon his only surviving paternal uncle. Grand Duke Paul’s titles and properties were returned and Nicholas II recognized Paul’s marriage to Olga. Paul decided to continue living in France at that time. He returned to Russia again in 1913 for the 300th-anniversary celebration of the Romanov dynasty. At that time, Paul decided to move back to Russia and made plans for a house to be built at Tsarskoye Selo. Upon its completion in May 1914, Paul and his family moved back to Russia – a decision that would prove fatal to Paul and his son Vladimir.

Paul and Olga’s house at Tsarskoye Selo; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Three months after Paul and his family moved back to Russia, World War I began. Paul received the command of the First Corps of the Imperial Guard, Dmitri and Vladimir fought with the Russian Army, and Maria Pavlovna became an army nurse. In 1915, Nicholas II gave Olga the title Princess Paley which would also be extended to her children. Paul’s command did not last long due to his ill health. He was transferred to the General Headquarters (Stavka) as Inspector General and Vladimir was transferred with him.

Paul (tall man in the front) with his son Vladimir (on left without a mustache) during World War I; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In the fall of 1916, the Romanov family was increasingly worried about Grigori Rasputin’s influence on Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna. After working with many physicians to help her son Tsarevich Alexei relieve his hemophilia, Alexandra turned to mystics and faith-healers. This led to her close, and disastrous, relationship with Grigori Rasputin. Several times he appeared to have brought the Tsarevich back from the brink of death, which further cemented Alexandra’s reliance. To many historians and experts, this relationship would contribute greatly to the fall of the Russian monarchy.

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and her son-in-law Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich knew Paul had a close relationship with his nephew Nicholas II and they asked him to persuade Nicholas and Alexandra to stop seeing Rasputin. Paul tried but he was unsuccessful. On December 30, 1916, Rasputin was murdered and Paul’s son Dmitri was one of the conspirators. Dmitri was exiled to Persia (Iran), a blessing in disguise as the exile possibly saved him from being killed during the upcoming Russian Revolution. For more information see Unofficial Royalty: Murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin.

The February Revolution was the first of two revolutions in Russia that took place in 1917. Later in 1917, the October Revolution occurred, paving the way for the establishment of the Soviet Union. The February Revolution was caused by military defeats, economic issues, and scandals surrounding the monarchy. The immediate result of the February Revolution was the abdication of Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire. By March 12, 1917, all the remaining regiments of the Russian Imperial Army had mutinied. A Provisional Government was formed which issued a demand that Nicholas must abdicate.

Portraits of Emperors of Russia torn from the walls during the February Revolution in 1917; Credit – Wikipedia

On March 15, 1917, aboard the Imperial Train headed to Tsarskoye Selo, Nicholas signed the abdication manifesto. At first, he decided to abdicate in favor of his son Alexei, but he changed his mind after conferring with doctors who said the hemophiliac Alexei would not survive without his parents, who would surely be exiled. Nicholas then decided to abdicate in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. However, Michael declined to accept the throne unless the people were allowed to vote for the continuation of the monarchy or for a republic.  Grand Duke Paul was the one to tell Empress Alexandra Feodorovna that her husband had abdicated.

After the fall of the Russian empire, Paul and his family continued to live in their Tsarkoye Selo home. However, with the rise of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution, the situation became much worse for the Romanovs. Paul could no longer afford to keep up his home and family moved to a nearby dacha (cottage) that belonged to his nephew Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich.

The account of Grand Duke Paul’s execution below is from our article Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Four Russian Grand Dukes.

In March 1918, all male members of the Romanov family were ordered to register at Cheka headquarters and then they were sent into exile in internal areas of Russia. Paul’s son Prince Vladimir Paley was arrested in St. Petersburg on March 26, 1918, along with three sons of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, a grandson of Nicholas I: Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, and Prince Igor. Paul and his family never saw Vladimir again. On July 18, 1918, the day after the execution of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his family, Prince Vladimir Paley, Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, Prince Igor, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the widow of Paul’s brother Sergei, were murdered by the Bolsheviks. See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Five Other Romanovs for more information.

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich had avoided the exile order because he was too ill to travel. He remained in the dacha near Tsarskoye Selo. The Bolsheviks were determined to round up all the Grand Dukes still in Russia and so Paul was arrested on August 13, 1918. He joined Grand Duke Dmitri Konstantinovich, Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich at Shpalernaia Prison in St. Petersburg. Each Grand Duke was held in a cell, only seven feet by three feet. Each day, they were all allowed to gather in the courtyard for exercise which allowed the Grand Dukes to exchange a few words. On December 6, 1918, Grand Duke Paul’s health, which was already bad, declined sharply, and he was transferred to a prison hospital.

The writer Maxim Gorky had been a supporter of Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks but after seeing the terror of the new regime, he was changing his mind. Princess Paley, Grand Duke Paul’s wife, asked Gorky to intercede on behalf of the four Grand Dukes. In January 1919, Gorky went to Lenin to plead the case of the four Grand Dukes. Gorky pleaded the merits of each Grand Duke. When Gorky came to Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, he said, “Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich is a historian.” Lenin replied, “The Revolution does not need historians.” Gorky did not give up and eventually, Lenin promised to release the four Grand Dukes. Gorky, with the release document signed by Lenin, rushed to the station in Moscow to catch the train to St. Petersburg. When he reached St. Petersburg, Gorky saw the headline in the newspaper, “Four Grand Dukes Shot” and he nearly fainted.

Unlike the execution of Nicholas II and his family and the execution of Elizabeth Feodorovna and the five other Romanovs, there are no written eyewitness accounts of the execution of the four Grand Dukes. What is known is based on versions of second-hand information.

Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg; The Peter and Paul Cathedral with its golden spire can be seen in the middle; Photo Credit – By Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51488758

On January 27, 1919, Grand Duke Paul was transferred from the prison hospital to another prison and was kept there until 10 pm, when he was driven to the Peter and Paul Fortress, originally built by Peter the Great to protect his new city of St. Petersburg and the site of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the burial place of the Romanovs. At 11:30 pm on January 27, 1919, Grand Dukes Dmitri, Nicholas, and George were awakened in their cells at Shpalernaya Prison and were driven to the Peter and Paul Fortress. When Dmitri, Nicholas, and George arrived at the Fortress, they were roughly pushed from the truck into the Trubetskoy Bastion where prisoners arrested by the Bolsheviks were held. The Grand Dukes were told to remove their shirts and coats, despite the frigid temperature.

The Trubetskoy Bastion in the late 1920s; Photo Credit – Автор: Анонимный автор – http://encspb.ru/object/2804023013, Общественное достояние, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26266039

Grand Duke Dmitri Konstantinovich, Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich were escorted toward a ditch that had been dug in the courtyard. As they passed the Peter and Paul Cathedral where their ancestors were buried, they each made the sign of the cross. Guards appeared carrying Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich on a stretcher. The three Grand Dukes were lined up before the ditch, in which there were already bodies. Nicholas Mikhailovich, who had been carrying his cat, handed it to a soldier, asking him to look after it. Grand Duke Paul was shot on his stretcher. Grand Dukes Nicholas, George, and Dmitry were all killed by the same blast, causing them to fall into the ditch.

Most likely, the ditch is the burial place of the four Grand Dukes. In 2004, in the Grand Ducal Mausoleum adjoining the Peter and Paul Cathedral, a commemorative plaque was placed with the names of four Grand Dukes shot nearby in the Peter and Paul Fortress. In 2009, during the construction of a road to a parking lot at the Peter and Paul Fortress, nine unmarked mass graves were discovered and a total of 112 remains were unearthed.  Perhaps eventually the remains of the four Grand Dukes will be identified.

In 1981, Grand Duke Paul, Grand Duke Dmitri, and Grand Duke George were canonized as New-Martyrs of Russia by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Grand Duke Nicholas was the only Romanov who had been executed by the Bolsheviks not to be canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Angelfire.com. (2018). ROYAL RUSSIA NEWS. THE ROMANOV DYNASTY & THEIR LEGACY, MONARCHY, HISTORY OF IMPERIAL & HOLY RUSSIA. [online] Available at: http://www.angelfire.com/pa/ImperialRussian/blog/index.blog/1450058/excavations-for-grand-dukes-remains-to-resume-at-peter-and-paul-fortress/ [Accessed 19 Feb. 2018].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Paul_Alexandrovich_of_Russia [Accessed 19 Feb. 2018].
• Flantzer, S. (2018). Execution of Four Russian Grand Dukes. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/execution-of-four-grand-dukes/ [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018].
• Hall, Coryne. (2006). Little Mother of Russia – A Biography of Empress Marie Feodorovna. Teaneck, N.J.: Holmes & Meier.
• Perry, J. and Pleshakov, K. (2008). The flight of the Romanovs. New York: Basic Books.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Расстрел великих князей в Петропавловской крепости. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BB_%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%85_%D0%BA%D0%BD%D1%8F%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%B2_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8 [Accessed 19 Feb. 2018].
• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). 100 Years Ago: Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia Abdicates. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/100-years-ago-tsar-nicholas-ii-of-russia-abdicates/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2018].

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Princess Olga Paley by Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret, 1904; Credit – Wikipedia

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Olga Valerianovna Karnovich, the second, morganatic wife of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, was born on December 2, 1865, in St. Petersburg, Russia, the daughter of Valerian Gavrilovich Karnovich (1833-1891) and Olga Vasilyevna Meszaros (1830-1919). Her father was a doctor attached to the Imperial Court and Olga spent her childhood near the imperial palaces in Tsarskoye Selo. Pretty and sociable, Olga was noticed by the circle of army officers at the Imperial Court. She became acquainted with an officer of the Imperial Guard, an aide to Grand Duke Vladimir, Major General Erich Augustinovich von Pistohlkors (1853-1935), and the couple married on May 30, 1884.

Olga and Erich had four children:

• Alexander Erikovich von Pistohlkors (1885–1944), married Alexandra Taneyeva, the sister of Anna Vyrubova, the lady-in-waiting of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
• Olga Erikovna von Pistohlkors (1886–1887), died in infancy
• Olga Erikovna von Pistohlkors (1888–1963), married (1) Count Alexander Belzig von Kreutz (2) Prince Sergius Kudaschew
• Marianna Erikovna von Pistohlkors (1890–1976), married (1) Peter Durnowo (2) Christoph von Derfelden (3) Count Nicolaus von Zarnekau

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich was the youngest child of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, the brother of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, and the uncle of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. In 1889, Paul married Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark. Their marriage was a happy one but sadly, a short one. Alexandra died shortly after giving birth to her second child in 1891. Paul was grief-stricken and depressed. For a period of time, his brother Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and his wife Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (born Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine) took care of Paul’s children Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.

As a friend of Erich von Pistohlkors, Paul often spent his evenings with Pistohlkors and his wife Olga in Tsarskoye Selo to help console his grief. He appreciated Olga’s elegance and lively spirit and an affair began. At first, Olga thought the affair was unscrupulous but little by little she became flattered by it. Pistohlkors too became flattered by the attention a Grand Duke was giving his wife and turned a blind eye to the affair.

Olga gave birth in 1897 to a son who was then known as Vladimir von Pistohlkors because his mother was still married to Pistohlkors. Eventually, Olga divorced her husband and Paul asked for permission to marry Olga from his nephew Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. This was scandalous to the imperial court, especially to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna who could not conceive that a Grand Duke would marry a divorced woman. She lobbied against the marriage with her husband and Nicholas II refused to allow Paul and Olga to marry.

Olga in the 1890s; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Paul made a morganatic marriage to Olga on October 10, 1902, in a Greek Orthodox church in Livorno, Italy. Because he married without Nicholas II’s permission, Paul was banished from Russia, dismissed from his military commissions, and all his property was seized. His brother Grand Duke Sergei was appointed the guardian of Maria and Dmitri. Paul and Olga settled in Boulogne-sur-Seine, France near Paris.

Paul and Olga had three children:

• Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (1897–1918), one of the five Romanovs executed on July 18, 1918, with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna
• Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley (1903–1990), married (1) Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia, had one son, divorced  (2) Count Hubert Conquere de Monbrison, had one daughter
• Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley (1905–1981), married (1) Lucien Lelong, a French fashion designer, no children (2) John Chapman Wilson, an American theatre director and producer, no children

Olga and Paul and their three children in 1916; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In 1904, Grand Duke Paul arranged with Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria for Olga and their children to be granted the hereditary title of Count and Countesses de Hohenfelsen. Paul was allowed to return to Russia for the funeral of his brother Grand Duke Sergei who was assassinated by a bomb in 1905. At that time, he tried to regain custody of his children Grand Duke Dmitri and Grand Duchess Maria but Nicholas II made Sergei’s widow Elizabeth Feodorovna the children’s guardian. Nicholas II allowed Paul to visit his children in Russia but not to live there permanently.

Olga’s family, circa 1914 – Princess Olga Paley, Alexander von Pistohlkors, Olga von Pistohlkors, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, Princess Irina Paley, Princess Natalia Paley, Prince Vladimir Paley, and Marianne von Pistohlkors; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Paul, Olga, and their three children continued to live in their mansion near Paris, France. In 1908, Paul’s daughter Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna married Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, the son of King Gustav V of Sweden. Although Paul was not consulted about the wedding, he was allowed to attend the wedding in Tsarskoye Selo. Later in the same year, Paul, Olga, and their three children visited Russia for the first time together. Eleven-year-old Vladimir was enrolled in the Corps des Pages, a military academy in St. Petersburg that other sons of Grand Dukes had attended.

In 1912, Nicholas II finally relented and decided to pardon his only surviving paternal uncle. Grand Duke Paul’s titles and properties were returned and Nicholas II recognized Paul’s marriage to Olga. Paul decided to continue living in France at that time. He returned to Russia again in 1913 for the 300th-anniversary celebration of the Romanov dynasty. At that time, Paul decided to move back to Russia and made plans for a house to be built at Tsarskoye Selo. Upon its completion in May 1914, Paul and his family moved back to Russia – a decision that would prove fatal to Paul and his son Vladimir.  In 1915, Nicholas II gave Olga the title Princess Paley which would also be extended to her children.

Olga and Paul’s house at Tsarskoye Selo; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

After the February Revolution in 1917, Nicholas II abdicated and the Romanov dynasty ended. Paul and his family continued to live in their Tsarkoye Selo home. However, with the rise of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution in 1917, the situation became much worse for the Romanovs. Paul could no longer afford to keep up his home, so the family moved to a nearby dacha (cottage) that belonged to his nephew, Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich.

In March 1918, all the male members of the Romanov family were ordered to register at Cheka headquarters, and then they were sent into exile in internal areas of Russia. Olga and Paul’s son Prince Vladimir Paley was arrested in St. Petersburg on March 26, 1918, along with three sons of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, a grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia:  Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, and Prince Igor. Olga and her family never saw Vladimir again. On July 18, 1918, the day after the execution of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his family, Prince Vladimir Paley, Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, Prince Igor, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the widow of Paul’s brother Sergei, were murdered by the Bolsheviks. See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Five Other Romanovs for more information.

Olga and Paul in the 1910s; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich had avoided the exile order because he was too ill to travel. He remained in the dacha near Tsarskoye Selo. The Bolsheviks were determined to round up all the Grand Dukes still in Russia and so Paul was arrested on August 13, 1918. Olga was forced to live with friends. She desperately tried to save her husband from prison and execution but to no avail. On January 28, 1919, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich along with three other Grand Dukes were executed by a firing squad in the courtyard of the Peter and Paul Fortress. See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Four Russian Grand Dukes for more information.

Later in 1919, after Paul’s execution had been confirmed, Olga, accompanied by her two daughters Irina and Natalia, fled Russia, hoping that Vladimir was still alive. With the help of a White Army officer, they walked for three days, crossing the frozen Lake Ladoga, the largest lake entirely in Europe. The Bolsheviks had installed light projectors around the lake which they used to find people attempting to escape. Many times Olga and her daughters had to lie down on the ice and be covered with a white sheet to avoid being seen. Olga, her daughters, and the White Army officer walked across the lake to Finland and continued on to the safety of the city of Helsinki.

Grave of Olga, Princess Paley; Credit – www.findagrave.com

In 1920, Olga settled in Paris, France. She sold the house she and Paul had lived in at Boulogne-sur-Seine and bought another in one of the upper-class neighborhoods of Paris. With her few remaining jewels, Olga bought a villa in Biarritz where the family would often gather. Later, she would sell her homes and buy a much smaller one in Neuilly. Olga published her memoirs about her life in Russia during the years 1916-1919. She used her own resources to help other Russian exiles. In 1926, she organized an annual charity bazaar to raise funds for Russian exiles. Olga Valerianovna Karnovich, Princess Paley died in exile in Paris on November 2, 1929, at the age of 64. She was buried at Colombes Gabriel Peri Cemetery in Colombes, France.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Princess Olga Paley. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Olga_Paley [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018].
• Flantzer, S. (2018). Execution of Four Russian Grand Dukes. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/execution-of-four-grand-dukes/ [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. (2018). Olga Karnovitch Paley. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Karnovitch_Paley [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018].
• Hall, Coryne. (2006). Little Mother of Russia – A Biography of Empress Marie Feodorovna. Teaneck, N.J.: Holmes & Meier.
• Perry, J. and Pleshakov, K. (2008). The flight of the Romanovs. New York: Basic Books.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Палей, Ольга Валериановна. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B9,_%D0%9E%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B3%D0%B0_%D0%92%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0 [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018].

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Photo Credit – Wikipedia

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, the fourth of the six sons and the fifth of the eight children of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna), is most well-known for his coast to coast official visit to the United States in 1871 where one of the highlights was buffalo hunting with Buffalo Bill Cody, General George Armstrong Custer, and General Philip Sheridan.  Alexei was born at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia on January 14, 1850.

Alexei had seven siblings including Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia:

• Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna (1842 – 1849), died of meningitis at the age of six
• Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich (1843 – 1865), engaged to Dagmar of Denmark (the future wife of his brother Alexander III), died of meningitis at the age of 21
• Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia (1845 – 1894), married Dagmar of Denmark (Maria Feodorovna), had issue
• Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847 – 1909), married Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Maria Pavlovna), had issue
• Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna (1853 – 1920) married, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had issue
• Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1857 – 1905), married, Elisabeth of Hesse of Hesse and by Rhine (Elizabeth Feodorovna), no issue
• Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich (1860 – 1919), married (1) Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (Alexandra Georgievna), had issue (2) Olga Karnovich, had issue

Alexander II and his children (left to right) Maria, Alexander II, Sergei, Alexander III, Nicholas; (left to right, standing in back) Vladimir, Alexei (Paul is not in the photo); Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Alexei was destined for a career in the Russian Imperial Navy. At the age of seven, he received the rank of midshipman and in 1858,  Admiral Konstantin Nikolayevich Posyet became his tutor. Alexei’s winters were devoted to the scientific and theoretical study of naval matters and during the summers, he served, under the guidance of Admiral Posyet, on board various ships in the Baltic Sea. 1866, Alexei was elevated to the rank of Lieutenant and continued his career as an officer on the frigate Alexander Nevsky.

Alexei with three of his brothers (from left to right: Alexander, Alexei, Vladimir, and Nicholas); Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In 1868, while Alexei was serving on the ship, the Alexander Nevsky hit a coastal spit in the North Sea off Thyborøn, a fishing village in Jutland, Denmark. Apparently, both Admiral Posyet and the ship’s captain miscalculated the ship’s position due to incorrect drift information recorded in the pilot book. The ship sank and three sailors and an officer were killed. The captain and admiral were convicted of dereliction of duty at a court-martial but Alexei’s father Alexander II intervened and pardoned them due to their long service to the navy. At the time of the shipwreck, Alexei refused to be among the first to be sent ashore although in later life he often claimed that he almost drowned and enjoyed telling the story about the shipwreck.

The shipwreck of the Alexander Nevsky by A.P. Bogolyubov; Credit – Wikipedia

Alexei was ultimately promoted to Admiral-General and Chief of the Fleet and Naval Department and Chairman of the Admiralty Board. He was instrumental in the modernization of the Russian navy. At the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, when the Russian naval fleet was defeated, Alexei was dismissed from all naval posts. He was considered one of the people responsible for the defeat of Russia in the war.

From 1869 – 1870, Alexei had an affair with his mother’s maid of honor Alexandra Vassilievna Zhukovskaya, daughter of the poet and playwright Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky who had been a tutor to Emperor Alexander II. Some historians say that the couple married and that the marriage was then annulled because it occurred without the consent of the emperor. Whether the couple married or not, their union resulted in a son Alexei Alexeievich_Belevsky-Zhukovsky, born on November 26, 1871, in Salzburg, Austria. Alexander II was furious about the affair and refused to give Alexandra Vassilyevna a noble title. However, the emperor did officially recognize the paternity of Alexei Alexeievich but not his legitimacy. In 1875, Alexandra Vassilyevna married Baron Christian Heinrich von Wörman and lived out her life in the Kingdom Saxony in the German Empire. She was later awarded a life pension by Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia.

Alexandra Vassilievna Zhukovskaya; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In 1884, Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, Alexei’s brother, agreed to grant Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich’s son Alexei Alexeievich the title of Count Belevsky-Zhukovsky. Alexei Alexeievich married Princess Maria Petrovna Trubetskoi, the maid of honor of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, and they had four children. In 1904, the couple divorced and Alexei Alexeievich later married Baroness Natalia Vladimirovna Shooping. He served in the Sumy Hussar Regiment and was the aide-de-camp of his uncle Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. During World War I, Alexei Alexeievich held the post of Chief Quartermaster of the Supreme Court. After the Russian Revolution, he stayed in the Soviet Union, while his former wife and children left. Arrested in Tbilisi, now the capital of the country of Georgia, then part of the Soviet Union, Alexei Alexeievich was shot by the Soviets around 1932.

Alexei Alexeievich, Count Belevsky-Zhukovsky; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

On August 20, 1871, a squadron of Russian Imperial Navy ships left Kronstadt, on an island near St. Petersburg, the base of the Russian Baltic Fleet, on a sixteen-month voyage that would take Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich around the world. Alexei first visited Denmark meeting King Christian IX and England where he met his brother-in-law Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. He then sailed across the Atlantic Ocean where he visited many cities in the United States including Washington, D.C. where he met President Ulysses S. Grant. Alexei visited New York City and Boston and then crossed the Canadian border and visited Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Niagara Falls. Back in the United States, he visited Buffalo, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and St. Louis.

On his 22nd birthday, January 14, 1872, Alexei went buffalo hunting with Buffalo Bill Cody, General George Armstrong Custer, General Philip Sheridan, and Spotted Tail, chief of the Brulé Lakota. On January 28, 1872, Alexei’s train left for Louisville, Kentucky, where he visited the Mammoth Cave. He then traveled to Memphis, Vicksburg, and New Orleans, where he attended the 1872 Mardi Gras celebrations. The Russian fleet met Alexei at Pensacola, Florida where it started its voyage to the Far East.

General Custer with Alexei; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

The fleet first stopped in Havana, Cuba, and then sailed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where Alexei entertained Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and the imperial court aboard his ship. Sailing back across the Atlantic Ocean and then around Africa, Alexei visited stopped in Cape Town in South Africa, Jakarta in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Canton and Shanghai in China.

On October 15, 1872, Alexei arrived in Nagasaki, Japan. He also visited other cities in Japan and met Emperor Meiji and his wife. On November 26, 1872, the Russian fleet set sail for Vladivostok, the base of the Russian Pacific fleet, and arrived there on December 5, 1872.  Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich traveled by train through Siberia back to St. Petersburg

Upon his return to Russia, Alexei bought an older building on the Moika River Embankment and had it redesigned and renovated. The Alexeevsky Palace became Alexei’s St. Petersburg home where he enjoyed entertaining and collecting art. Today the palace is the home of the St. Petersburg Music House where many classical concerts are held.

Alexeevsky Palace in St. Petersburg; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In the 1880s, Alexei conducted an open, long-term affair with Zinaida Dmtrievna Skobelyeva, the wife of his cousin Eugen Maximilianovich Romanowsky, 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg, Prince Romanowsky.  His cousin did not seem to mind as he was cash-poor and lived off Alexei’s generosity and even continued to live in Alexei’s palace after Zinaida’s death.

Alexei and Zinaida; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

After he was dismissed from his naval positions in 1905, Alexei spent most of the time in Paris, France in a house he had bought in 1897. There he welcomed writers, painters, actors, and actresses. He loved living in Paris and was a familiar figure in restaurants and theaters. Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich died of pneumonia on November 27, 1908, in Paris at the age of 58. His body was returned to Russia on a funeral train. After his funeral, which was attended by his nephew Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, Nicholas’ wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas’ mother Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Alexei was the first to be interred in the newly built Grand Ducal Mausoleum adjacent to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

Grand Ducal Mausoleum in St. Petersburg; Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. (2018). Alexei Alexandrowitsch Romanow. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Alexandrowitsch_Romanow [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Alexei_Alexandrovich_of_Russia [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. (2018). Alexis Alexandrovitch de Russie. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Alexandrovitch_de_Russie [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Алексей Александрович. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Born in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia on April 22, 1847, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich was the third of the six sons and the fourth of the eight children of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna). The most recognized claimant as the Head of the Imperial Family of Russia is through Vladimir’s line.

Vladimir had seven siblings:

• Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna (1842 – 1849), died of meningitis at the age of six
• Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich (1843 – 1865), engaged to Dagmar of Denmark (the future wife of his brother Alexander III), died of meningitis at the age of 21
• Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia (1845 – 1894), married Dagmar of Denmark (Maria Feodorovna), had issue
• Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich (1850 – 1908), had illegitimate issue via an affair with Alexandra Vasilievna Zhukovskaya
• Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna (1853 – 1920) married, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had issue
• Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1857 – 1905), married, Elisabeth of Hesse of Hesse and by Rhine (Elizabeth Feodorovna), no issue
• Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich (1860 – 1919), married (1) Alexandra of Greece and Denmark  (Alexandra Georgievna), had issue (2) Olga Karnovich, had issue

Alexander II and his children (left to right) Maria, Alexander II, Sergei, Alexander III, Nicholas; (left to right, standing in back) Vladimir, Alexei (Paul is not in the photo); Credit – Wikipedia

At the time of his birth, Vladimir’s grandfather Nicholas I was the Emperor of All Russia. In 1855, when he was eight-years-old, Vladimir’s grandfather died and his father became Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia. Along with his brothers, Vladimir was well educated by Count Sergei Grigoryevich Stroganov who played a significant role in the development of Russian education during the nineteenth century. Vladimir showed an interest in the arts and literature but like all Romanov men, he was destined for a career in the military and he enlisted in the Preobrazhensky Regiment. Vladimir rose in rank until, in 1880, he was made General of the Infantry.

As the third son, Vladimir was considered distant from the throne but in 1865, the death of his eldest brother Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich at the age of 21 changed that. Vladimir was then the second in the line of succession after his elder brother Alexander, the future Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, married and had sons.

Engagement Photo: Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Vladimir: Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In 1871, while traveling with his family through Germany, twenty-year-old Vladimir met his seventeen-year-old second cousin Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the daughter of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and his first wife Augusta of Reuss-Köstritz. Vladimir and Marie quickly fell in love and Marie broke off her engagement with Georg Albrecht, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. However, Marie, who was Lutheran, refused to convert to Russian Orthodoxy. This caused a three-year delay in the marriage until Vladimir’s father Alexander II allowed Marie to remain Lutheran and ruled that Vladimir could still retain his succession rights. The engagement was announced in April 1874. The wedding was held at the Grand Church of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia on August 28, 1874, After marriage, the bride was known as Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna.

Marriage of Vladimir and Maria Pavlovna; Credit – Wikipedia

Vladimir and Maria had five children:

• Grand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich (1875 – 1877), died in early childhood
• Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich (1876 – 1938), married his first cousin Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had three children
• Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich (1877 – 1943), married (1919) his mistress Zinaida Rashevskaya, no children
• Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich (1879 – 1956), married (1921) his mistress, the famous ballerina Matilde Kschessinskaya (known as Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya after her marriage), her son Prince Vladimir Romanovsky-Krasinsky could be the son of Andrei or his cousin Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich
• Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna (1882 – 1957), married Prince Nicholas of Greece, had three daughters including Princess Marina of Greece who married Prince George, Duke of Kent, son of King George V of the United Kingdom

Grand Duke Vladimir’s family in 1899, from left to right: Grand Duke Andrei, Grand Duke Vladimir, Grand Duchess Elena, Grand Duke Kirill, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, and Grand Duke Boris; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Vladimir and Maria moved into the new 360-room Vladimir Palace on the Palace Embankment facing the Neva River just down the road from the Winter Palace. The yellow facade of the palace is in the Florentine Renaissance style and the interior is a mixture of Moorish, Gothic and Rococo styles. It was the last imperial palace built in St. Petersburg. Across the Neva River was a view of the Peter and Paul Fortress and within the Fortress, the Peter and Paul Cathedral with its gilded spire with a flying angel at the very top. Vladimir and Maria enjoyed entertaining and Vladimir Palace became the heart of St. Petersburg’s social life. Today the building is the home of the Russian Academy of Science.

Vladimir Palace; Photo Credit – Von A.Savin (Wikimedia Commons · WikiPhotoSpace) – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21506331

On March 13, 1881, Vladimir’s father Alexander II fell victim to assassination when a bomb was thrown into his carriage. He asked to be returned to the Winter Palace to die. For 45 minutes, those in the room watched as Alexander II’s life ebbed away. Vladimir’s older brother succeeded Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia. Because he had retained his composure, Vladimir was the one to announce his father’s death to the public. The heir to the throne was Alexander III’s eldest son 13-year-old Nicholas (the future Nicholas II). Vladimir was appointed regent in the event of the death of Alexander III before Nicholas had reached the age of majority.

Always interested in the arts, Vladimir was a talented painter and had a valuable collection of ancient paintings and icons. He also had a great interest in ballet and financed ballet impresario Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev’s ballet troupe’s tour of Russia. Vladimir was appointed the president of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and was a trustee of the Moscow Public Museum and Rumyantsev Museum. He presided over the commission for the construction of the beautiful Cathedral of the Savior on Spilled Blood, built on the site where his father Alexander II was fatally wounded by a bomb.

Cathedral of the Savior on Spilled Blood; Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

In 1894, Vladimir’s brother Alexander III became ill with nephritis, a kidney disorder. Alexander’s condition rapidly deteriorated and he died on November 1, 1894, at the age of 49. His 26-year-old son Nicholas became the last Emperor of All Russia, and married Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (Alexandra Feodorova) just eight days after Alexander III was buried at the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

From 1884 – 1905, Vladimir served as commander-in-chief of the Preobrazhensky Guards and the St. Petersburg Military District. In January 1905, workers’ strikes broke out in St. Petersburg. On January 22, 1905, a peaceful procession of thousands of workers carrying religious icons and singing “God Save the Tsar” was led by a priest, Father Georgy Apollonovich Gapon. The workers marched towards the Winter Palace hoping to present their request for reforms directly to Emperor Nicholas II. However, Nicholas was at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, outside St. Petersburg.

The Preobrazhensky Guards were ordered to use military force to prevent the workers from reaching the Winter Palace. Official records showed 96 dead and 333 injured while anti-government sources claimed more than 4,000 dead. More moderate estimates are that 1,000 were killed or wounded, both from being shot and being trampled during the panic. It is unclear if Vladimir was the one who gave the order to use military force but nevertheless, his reputation was tarnished.

Bloody Sunday in 1905 by Wojciech Kossak; Credit – Wikipedia

The massacre, known as Bloody Sunday, was followed by a series of strikes in other cities, peasant uprisings, and mutinies in the armed forces, all of which seriously threatened the imperial regime and became known as the Revolution of 1905. A month after Bloody Sunday, Vladimir’s brother Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, Governor-General of Moscow, was killed by a terrorist bomb while driving in his carriage, just like his father Alexander II.

Later in 1905, Vladimir’s eldest son Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich married his first cousin, Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in Germany. Victoria Melita was the daughter of Prince Alfred of the United Kingdom, Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (second son of Queen Victoria) and Vladimir’s sister Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. Because Kirill married his first cousin, which was prohibited by the Russian Orthodox Church, and because he had not received the consent of Nicholas II to marry, he was stripped of his imperial titles, military appointments, and funding. The couple was banished from Russia and settled in France. Vladimir went into a rage after a brief interview with his nephew Nicholas II and resigned from all his posts in the army.

Grand Duke Vladimir; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

On February 17, 1909, 61-year-old Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich died suddenly at Vladimir Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia after suffering a major cerebral hemorrhage. Three days later, his body was transported from Vladimir Palace across the Neva River to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress. His funeral and burial, held on February 21, 1909, was attended by Nicholas II, Vladimir’s widow Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, other members of the Imperial Family, government ministers, and Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria. Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich was buried in the Grand Ducal Mausoleum, adjacent to the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Grand Ducal Mausoleum; Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

In 1909, following several deaths within the Imperial Family including Vladimir’s, Kirill was third in line to the Russian throne after Nicholas II’s hemophiliac son Alexei and Nicholas’ younger brother Michael. Nicholas II relented and allowed Kirill to return to Russia, restoring his Imperial titles, his military positions, and his funding. Following the abdication of Nicholas II in 1917, Kirill and his family left Russia. They settled first in Finland, before moving to Munich, Germany, and then Zurich, Switzerland. Eventually, they settled permanently in Saint-Briac, France.

Bolstered by a group of supporters and the laws of the former Imperial Family, under which Kirill was the rightful heir to the throne, Kirill declared himself Emperor of All Russia on August 31, 1924. This claim was later taken by his son Vladimir Kirillovich, and then by Vladimir Kirillovich’s only child Maria Vladimirovna, who declared herself Head of the Imperial House in 1992.  Maria Vladimirovna is the most widely acknowledged claimant to the headship of the Imperial Family of Russia.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Vladimir_Alexandrovich_of_Russia [Accessed 24 Feb. 2018].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. (2018). Vladimir Alexandrovitch de Russie. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Alexandrovitch_de_Russie [Accessed 24 Feb. 2018].
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Владимир Александрович. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%80_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 [Accessed 24 Feb. 2018].
• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/alexander-ii-emperor-of-all-the-russias/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2018].
• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/grand-duke-kirill-vladimirovich-of-russia/ [Accessed 24 Feb. 2018].

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Although he was born to succeed his father as Emperor of All Russia, it was not to be. Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich was born on September 20, 1843, at Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo near St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the eldest of the six sons and the second of the eight children of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna). Nicknamed Nixa, he was named after his grandfather Nicholas I who was Emperor of All Russia at the time of his birth. According to the memoirs of his aunt Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, Nicholas I was so moved that his grandson, now second in the line of succession, was given his name that he ordered his three youngest sons to kneel before the newborn Nicholas’ cradle and swear an oath of allegiance to him.

Nicholas had seven siblings:

• Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna (1842 – 1849), died of meningitis at the age of six
• Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia (1845 – 1894), married Dagmar of Denmark (Maria Feodorovna), had issue
• Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847 – 1909), married Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Maria Pavlovna), had issue
• Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich (1850 – 1908), had illegitimate issue via an affair with Alexandra Vasilievna Zhukovskaya
• Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna (1853 – 1920) married, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had issue
• Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1857 – 1905), married, Elisabeth of Hesse of Hesse and by Rhine (Elizabeth Feodorovna), no issue
• Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich (1860 – 1919), married (1) Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (Alexandra Georgievna), had issue (2) Olga Valerianovna Karnovich, had issue

Alexander II and his children (left to right) Maria, Alexander II, Sergei, Alexander III, Nicholas; (left to right, standing in back) Vladimir, Alexei (Paul is not in the photo); Credit – Wikipedia

Nicholas’ tutors thought him to be intelligent and humane and saw him as the ideal person to be Emperor of All Russia. He was closest to his next brother Alexander, the future Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, who was two years younger. In 1855, when he was twelve-years-old, Nicholas’ grandfather died. His father became Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and Nicholas became Tsesarevich, the title of the heir apparent to the Russian throne.

In 1860, Count Sergei Grigoryevich Stroganov became Nicholas’ tutor. Stroganov played a significant role in the development of Russian education during the nineteenth century. In the early 1860s, Nicholas, accompanied by Stroganov, made exploratory trips around Russia to prepare him for his future role as Emperor of All Russia. Starting in 1863, Boris Nikolayevich Chicherin, professor of law, instructed Nicholas in governmental matters. Chicherin’s assessment of Nicholas was that he showed the promise to become the most educated and liberal monarch, not only in Russian history but all over the world.

Unfortunately, Nicholas’ travels and the harsh Russian climate were hard on him physically. He increasingly complained of back pain. The doctors could not agree on the cause of the pain. Some said the pain was caused by an injury to Nicholas’ spine when he fell off his horse and others suspected some kind of rheumatic Illness.

Princess Dagmar of Denmark had been on the list of possible brides for Nicholas since she was twelve-years-old when Nicholas had been given a photo of her. Her Highness Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, known as Princess Dagmar and called Minnie in her family, was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1847. Dagmar was the daughter of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel. Prince Christian became heir to the childless King Frederik VII of Denmark in 1852. In 1853, he was given the title Prince of Denmark and his children then became Princes and Princesses of Denmark. Christian succeeded to the Danish throne in 1863 and reigned as King Christian IX. Dagmar’s sister was Queen Alexandra, wife of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. Her eldest brother would succeed their father as King Frederik VIII of Denmark. In 1852, another brother had been elected King of Greece and reigned as King George I.

Nicholas and Dagmar, Summer 1864; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1864, Nicholas was to visit the Danish Royal Family at Fredensborg Palace in Denmark during a European tour. Nicholas had fallen in love with her after seeing her photo and had been collecting photos of her since he had received that first photo in 1860. During an afternoon walk on September 28, 1864, Nicholas proposed to Dagmar. The newly betrothed couple spent a couple of idyllic weeks together before Nicholas had to leave for Germany and Italy.

One cloud over Dagmar’s happiness was her concern for Nicholas’ health. She was aware of the fall from his horse and of the pain he was experiencing in his spine. When the couple had been riding together in Denmark, Nicholas was forced to slow down because of the pain in his back. On November 22, 1864, Nicholas arrived in Florence, Italy where he was bedridden for six weeks.

On January 1, 1865, Nicholas traveled to Nice, France where his mother was spending the winter. Empress Maria Alexandrovna thought the climate of the French Rivera was beneficial to her health and so she hoped it would benefit her son’s health. Nicholas and Dagmar corresponded but as his condition worsened his letters to Dagmar arrived less frequently. On April 7, 1865, Dagmar wrote that she could not understand why she had not heard from him since March 20. She joked that perhaps he had fallen in love with a beautiful Italian girl and had forgotten about her.

On April 17, 1865, the Danish Royal Family received a telegram saying that Nicholas’ condition had deteriorated. He had suddenly become nervous, feverish, and complained of blurred vision. Nicholas then suffered a cerebral hemorrhage leaving one side of his body temporarily paralyzed. After six doctors consulted with each other, they determined that Nicholas had cerebrospinal meningitis and that his condition was serious. It was the same disease that had claimed the life of his elder sister Alexandra Alexandrovna when she was just six years old.

Another telegram arrived a few hours later with the news that Nicholas had been given the Last Rites. Dagmar and her mother prepared to leave for Nice and at the same time, Alexander II and his sons Vladimir and Alexis left Russia. Nicholas’ next brother Alexander was already on his way to Nice. All the regular passenger trains were stopped to allow the royal trains to pass.

Within a few days, Dagmar was sitting by the bed of her dying fiancé. A doctor arrived from Vienna on April 23, 1865, and confirmed the diagnosis of cerebrospinal meningitis. There is an uncorroborated story that shortly before he died, Nicholas clasped together the hands of Dagmar and his brother Alexander, begging them to marry. The couple did marry in 1866 and had six children including Nicholas II, the last Emperor of All Russia, who was named in honor of his deceased uncle.

Death of Nicholas Alexandrovich; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 24, 1865, Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia died at the age of 21 at the Villa Belmont in Nice, France. After an Orthodox Mass in the room where Nicholas had died, his coffin was carried by torchlight for a funeral service at the Church of St. Nicholas and St. Alexandra which had been built in Nice to honor the deceased Nicholas I and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, Nicholas’ grandparents. On April 28, 1865, Nicholas’ coffin was placed on board the Russian frigate Alexander Nevsky and transported to St. Petersburg, Russia where he was buried at the Peter and Paul Cathedral near his sister Alexandra Alexandrovna, and later his parents.

The green and pink tombs are those of Alexander II and his wife Maria Alexandrovna. The two white tombs on the left side are those of their children Alexandra Alexandrovna and Nicholas Alexandrovich; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

Nicholas’ parents bought the grounds and villa in which their son had died. They tore down the villa and built a memorial chapel in the exact location where Nicholas’ deathbed had been.

Nicholas’ memorial chapel in Nice, France; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Alexandrowitsch_Romanow_(1843%E2%80%931865) [Accessed 22 Feb. 2018].
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Alexandrovich,_Tsesarevich_of_Russia
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Nicholas Alexandrovich, Tsesarevich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Alexandrovich,_Tsesarevich_of_Russia [Accessed 22 Feb. 2018].
• Hall, Coryne. (2006). Little Mother of Russia – A Biography of Empress Marie Feodorovna. Teaneck, N.J.: Holmes & Meier.

• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). Dagmar of Denmark, Maria Feodorovna, Empress of All Russia. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/dagmar-of-denmark-empress-maria-feodorovna/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2018].