Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia

Infobox Russian Royalty|grand duke
name = Alexei Mikhailovich
title =Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia

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imgw = 200px
caption =
imperial house = House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
father =Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia
mother =Princess Cecilie of Baden
spouse =
issue =
date of birth =birth date|1875|12|28
place of birth = Tiflis , Georgia
date of death =death date and age|1895|03|02|1875|12|28
place of death = Sanremo, Italy
place of burial=|

Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia (Russian: Алексей Михайлович) (December 28, 1875 - March 2, 1895) was the youngest son of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and a first cousin of Alexander III of Russia. He died in his youth of tuberculosis. Alexander, " Once a Grand Duke", p. 151 ]

Life

Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia was born in Tiflis on December 28, 1875, the sixth son and last child of the seven children of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and his wife Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna, born Princess Cecile of Baden. He was the cadet member of the Mikhailovichi branch of the Romanov family and the only Grand Duke to bear the name and patronymic of a Tsar: Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia. Chavchavadze, " The Grand Dukes ", p. 205 ]

Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia spent his early childhood in Georgia while his father was the Governor-General of Russian provinces of Transcaucasia.Alexei was seven years old in 1882 when his father was named as President of the Council of the Empire and the whole family moved to St. Petersburg. At the age of eight, he attended a ceremony in the winter Palace and was interested in seeing all the foreign uniforms, particularly the one from the oriental envoys. As all the male members of the Romanov family, Alexei was destined to follow a military career. Chavchavadze, " The Grand Dukes ", p. 205 ] He received a Spartan upbringing that included sleeping in army cots and taking cold baths and was educated at home by private tutors. His father, occupied in military and governmental endeavors, remained a distant figure. His mother was a strict disciplinarian and the dominating force in the family. Alexei was brought up strictly and was overwhelmed by his older bothers. He yearned the company of children of his own age and frequently played with Alexander III’s youngest children, Michael and Olga. Chavchavadze, " The Grand Dukes ", p. 205 ]

A brilliant boy of liberal heart and absolute sincerity, according to his brother Alexander, Alexei was intelligent and lively. At the age of eighteen, he was a tall; thin, good looking young man, always dressed in his uniform. Chavchavadze, " The Grand Dukes ", p. 205 ] He had almost completed his naval officer’s training, when he came down with what appeared to be a chill but was really tuberculosis. Zeepvat , " The Camera and the Tsars", p. 182 ] His health had never been good. His cousin, Kiril would later say that Alexei’s father refused to let him recuperate, insisting that it was his duty to finish his training. Alexei’s condition became so severe that he was sent to San Remo, where he died on March 2 1895. Chavchavadze, " The Grand Dukes" , p. 206 ] Zeepvat , " The Camera and the Tsars", p. 182 ] He was nineteen years old. “ The first time he wore his midshipman’s uniform”, Kiril wrote, “ was in his coffin” Zeepvat , " The Camera and the Tsars", p. 182 ] . His brother Alexander who wrote in his book of memoirs that he felt closer to Alexei than to any other member of his family, Alexander, " Once a Grand Duke", p. 24 ] said that he did not regret his passing, because Alexei suffered acutely in the oppressive atmosphere of the palace and his early death perhaps spared him a worse fate.

Ancestry

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1= 1. Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia
2= 2. Grand Duke Michael Nicolaevich of Russia
3= 3. Cecilie of Baden
4= 4. Nicholas I of Russia
5= 5. Charlotte of Prussia
6= 6. Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden
7= 7. Sophie of Sweden
8= 8. Paul I of Russia
9= 9. Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg
10= 10. Frederick William III of Prussia
11= 11. Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
12= 12. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden
13= 13. Luise Karoline Geyer von Geyersberg
14= 14. Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden
15= 15. Frederica of Baden
16= 16. Peter III of Russia
17= 17. Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst
18= 18. Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg
19= 19. Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt
20= 20. Frederick William II of Prussia
21= 21. Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt
22= 22. Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
23= 23. Friederike Caroline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt
24= 24. Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Baden
25= 25. Amelia of Nassau-Dietz
26= 26. Ludwig Heinrich Philipp Geyer von Geyersberg
27= 27. Maximiliane Christiana von Sponeck
28= 28. Gustav III of Sweden
29= 29. Sophia Magdalena of Denmark
30= 30. Margrave Charles Louis of Baden
31= 31. Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt

Notes

Bibliography

*Alexander, Grand Duke of Russia, "Once a Grand Duke", Cassell, London, 1932.
*Cockfield, Jamie H, "White Crow", Praeger, 2002.
*Chavchavadze, David, "The Grand Dukes", Atlantic, 1989, ISBN 0938311115
*Zeepvat, Charlotte, "The Camera and the Tsars", Sutton Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7509-3049-7.