Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia
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| Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia | |
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| Born | May 11, 1857 Tsarskoye Selo |
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| Died | February 17, 1905 (aged 47) Moscow |
| Spouse | Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine |
| Parents | Alexander II of Russia (father) Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (mother) |
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia (Сергей Александрович) (May 11, 1857 - February 17, 1905) was a son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. He was an influential figure during the reigns of his brother Tsar Alexander III of Russia and his nephew Tsar Nicholas II, who was also his brother in law.[1]
Between 1891 and 1905, he was Governor General of Moscow. A radical conservative, his policies made him a polarizing figure. In 1892, as governor of Moscow, he had the Jewish population expelled from the city. The Khodynka Field tragedy, in 1896, tarnished his reputation. Highly controversial, he was targeted by revolutionaries and he was assassinated by a terrorist bomb at the Kremlin.
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[edit] Early life
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was born on May 11, 1857 in the Zubov wing of the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, some twenty miles outside Saint Petersburg. He was the seventh child and fifth son among the eight children of Alexander III of Russia and his wife Maria Alexandrovna, born Duchess Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt. [2]
Until he was old, enough to begin lessons, Serge’s earlier years were spent with his younger brother Paul, from who he was inseparable, and their sister at Livadia, the family’s Crimean retreat, at Tsarskoye Selo and at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. By the time Serge was born, his mother was already in declining health. Although she was not a particularly affectionate mother, except to her daughter, her three youngest children, Marie, Serge and Paul, were close to her and especially to one another. [2] As time passed and the Empress’s health dictated her to avoid the harsh Russian climate, they spent long sojourns abroad in Jugeneheim outside Darmstadt and the winters in the South of France. [3] A family tragedy hit them there. In April 1865, shortly before, Sergei’s eight birthday, his eldest brother and godfather Nicholas the heir to the crown died in Nice. [4] As a child, Sergei was shy, studious and withdrawn. As influence of his mother’s, whose reserved character he resembled, he became very religious.
From the 1870s, Sergei and his younger brother Paul were kept in Russia by their studies. They were destined to follow a military career, but their tutor, Admiral Arseniev, encouraged Serge’s linguistic, artistic and musical abilities. He was fluent in several languages and learned Italian in order to read Dante in the original. [5] His interest in Italian art and culture intensified, as he grew older. He painted well and was musical, playing the flute in amateur orchestra. He enjoyed acting and steeped himself in the early history culture and traditions of Russia. He liked to read and in time became to know many of Russia’s great writers personally among them Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, whose work the grand duke read and admired. [5] Dostoevsky who he met over dinner at the Winter Palace invited by Serge's Professor.
[edit] Military Career
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich started a military career early in his life. He was from birth colonel in chief of the 38th Tobolsk Infantry Regiment, he also became Colonel in chief of the 2nd battalion Guards Rifles and towards the end of his life, colonel in chief of the 5th Kievsky Grenadier Regiment. [6] On his twentieth birthday in April 29 1877, the grand duke took the solemn oath of allegiance to the Emperor. [5] An educational tour that had been propose for him, was postponed due to the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. Sergei took part in the war with his father and brothers, the Tsarevich Alexander and Grand Dukes Vladimir and Alexei. He spent the greater part of his time serving as Poruchik in the Leib Guard under the Tsarevich in southeast Romania. [7] He was consequently promoted to Colonel. On October 12, following the battle of Meyk, The Emperor decorated him with the Order of St George, for courage and bravery in action with the enemy, for a reconnaissance expedition at Kara Loma near Koshev. At the end of December 1877, Sergei Alexandrovich returned to Saint Petersburg with his father.
Alexander II had started a new family with his mistress and Sergei’s sided with his neglected mother in the breaking of the family’s harmony.[8] Empress Maria died in June 1880 and in March 1881 Alexander II, who had married his mistress, Princess Catherine Dolgoruki, was assassinated by terrorists. Sergei was then in Italy with his brother Paul and Admiral Arseniev. Three moths later in June 1881 the grand duke went to Palestine accompanied by Paul and his cousin Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich. They visited Jerusalem and the sacred sites. He assisted in the founding of a society devoted to upkeep of the Orthodox shrines in the Holy Land and to the service of Russian pilgrims. He became his chairman.
From 1882 on Serge’s military career occupied increasing amount of his time in Saint Petersburg and on maneuvers at Kranoe Selo and advanced still further. [9] On January 15 1882, his brother Alexander III appointed him commander of the 1st Battalion Preobrazhensky Life Guard Regiment, with the rank of colonel, the elite regiment, founded by Peter the Great. Seven years later, he was promoted to the rank of major general. On February 26, 1891, he was made Adjutant General of the Svita. He became the commanding officer of in the village of Preobrazhenskoy. Serge commanded this regiment until 1891, when his brother the Emperor appointed him Governor-general of Moscow. [6]
[edit] A Russian Grand Duke
At twenty-six, the fair-haired Grand Duke was reserved intelligent, well read and refined. [6] Over six feet tall, his extremely slim figure was accentuated by the fact that he wore a corset in the manner of Prussian officers. [6]
With his closely cropped hair and neat beard, Serge Alexandrovich cut an impressive figure. [10] When she met him in Moscow, Consuelo Vanderbilt, then Duchess of Marlborough, considered him to be One of the handsomest men I have ever seen. Described by his brother in law Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse as tall and fair with delicate features and beautiful light green eyes. Very self-conscious he held himself very stiffly and with a hard expression on his eyes. [10]
He stood very straight and had a habit of playing with one of his jeweled rings, turning it around his finger. He kept his feelings rigidly in check and many mistook his reserve for pride. Few had the chance to know him well. He was noted for his sincere adherence to the church. He had a connoisseur’s knowledge of Russian antiques and art treasures and was interested in archaeology attending and sometimes chairing meetings of the Archeological congress.
Shy and reserved he made no secret of the fact that he disapproved of society and its lax ways, and he defied all criticism. He found it hard to cope with opposition and lost his temper too easily. In his home, he demanded tidiness, order and discipline, and expected to be obeyed. His nice, Marie Queen of Romania remembered him “ Dry, nervous, short of speech, impatient, he had none the rather careless good humor of his three elder brother… but for all that we loved him, felt irresistible attracted to him, hard though he could be. Few perhaps cherish his memory, but I do. Many other family members including his nephew Kyril, Princess Marie of Greece and Prince Gabriel left good impression about him in their books of memoirs.
[edit] Marriage
In 1881 there had been talks of a possible marriage to Princess Caroline Mathilde of Shleswig Holstein.[11] Emperor Alexander II had hoped that at least one of his sons would marry with a princess of Hesse as he has done. Sergei eventually chose as his bride, Princess Elizabeth of Hesse, a daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom. She was an older sister of both Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Alexandra of Hesse, Empress consort of Nicholas II of Russia. They were first cousins once removed and have known each other all their lives.[2] There were hesitations on both sides and Elizabeth first rejected his proposal of marriage.[11] Queen Victoria, who had Anti-Russian sentiments, opposed the marriage of her motherless granddaughter.[12] Elisabeth and her sisters were not pressured into follow political marriages; they were allowed to follow their own inclination.[11] After the couple spent some time together in Wolfgasten in Darmstadt in September 1883, Elisabeth accepted to marry him.[13] Their engagement was announced publicly on February 26 1884 when Sergei returned to visit her in Darmstad.[14] Upon her marriage, Princess Elizabeth took the name of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia.[15] The wedding took place on June 15 1884 in the Winter Palace.[16]
They spend their honeymoon in Iliskoye, Sergei’s 2,400 acre country estate forty miles west of Moscow on the left bank of the Moskva river, a 90 minutes carriage drive from the city, that Sergei had inherited from his mother. The couple settled in Saint Petersburg in a mansion occupying the southeast corner of the Fontana canal and the Nevsky Prospekt, a short drive from his former apartments in the Winter Palace.[14] The Beloselsky Belozerzky mansion, bought by Sergei to live with his wife, was renamed Sergeivsky Palace.[17] The couple also had Ferme, a villa located in the grounds of Peterhoff that Sergei had inherited from his mother.[18] They usually arrived each August to Ilinskoe entertaining there during the summer months with guest occupying the various wooden villas that were dotted around the park. On the opposite bank of the Moskva River, Sergei built Usovo, a large three-story stone and brick house with a heating system.
Sergei and his wife were very close to Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna. Alexander III trusted him more than he trusted his other brothers and in 1886, he appointed Sergei commander of the Preobrajensky Life Guard regiment, entrusting him with introducing the Tsarevich, the future Nicholas II, to army life. The gr