Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia

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Alexander Mikhailovich
Tiflis, Tiflis Governorate, Caucasus Viceroyalty, Russian Empire
Died26 February 1933(1933-02-26) (aged 66)
Villa Sainte Thérèse, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France
Burial
Cimetière de Roquebrune-Cap-Martin
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1894)​
Issue
Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
FatherGrand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia
MotherPrincess Cecilie of Baden

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia (

Emperor Nicholas II
and advisor to him.

Early life

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich

Alexander was born in Tiflis, in the Tiflis Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Georgia). He was the son of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia, the youngest son of Nicholas I of Russia, and Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna (Cecilie of Baden). He was mostly known as "Sandro".

He was a naval officer. In his youth, he made a good-will visit to the

Nicholas II
.

Together, Alexander and Xenia had seven children:

Before the revolution, the Grand Duke liked to spend his vacation in

Hôtel Carlton, in Cannes
.

Naval career

Autochrome portrait by Georges Chevalier, 1923

In 1885 Alexander graduated from the

auxiliary cruisers of the Volunteer Fleet. Alexander took part in the development of programs aimed at rebuilding the fleet, brought them to the attention of governments and the public, and avidly supported the construction of new battleships. In 1909 he was promoted to the rank of vice admiral.[3]

Signed drawing of Grand Duke Alexander by Manuel Rosenberg
for the Cincinnati Post 1926

World War I

Alexander played a major role in the creation of Russian military aviation. He was the initiator of the officer's aviation school near Sevastopol in 1910 and later the chief of the Imperial Russian Air Service during the First World War. From December 1916 Alexander was the Field Inspector General of the Imperial Russian Air Service. At the beginning of 1917 he advocated the formation of a government with the participation of public figures, speaking out against the "responsible ministry".

The Revolution and after

His impact on Nicholas has been both criticized and appreciated. His memoirs document that he openly challenged Empress

dynasts was rejected, and all seven of his children married titled but non-royal Russian aristocrats, but only his daughter obtained permission of Nicholas to do so. When Alexander's eldest son, Andrei Alexandrovich, married at Yalta in the Crimea on 12 June 1918,[4] Nicholas, who had abdicated on 15 March 1917, was a prisoner at Yekaterinburg
with his family. They would be executed by the Bolsheviks just over a month later.

Alexander left the Crimea with his eldest son,

Maria Fyodorovna and his sons as well as other Romanovs, were rescued from the Crimea by the British battleship HMS Marlborough
in 1919.

Alexander lived in

Ras Tafari. He talks about why he was invited to the Ethiopian Empire in his sequel, Always a Grand Duke. He died in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. He was the last surviving legitimate grandchild of Nicholas I of Russia. He was buried there in Roquebrune. His wife, Xenia, died in Hampton Court Palace
in 1960.

While in exile after 1917, he became fascinated with archaeology and conducted a number of successful expeditions.[3]

Freemasonry

Alexander was a "

rosicrucian and philalethes. Was in the masonic "Velikoknyiajeskaia Lodge" (St. Petersburg, after 1907 to 1917), the founder of the "Admiralty Lodge" (St. Petersburg, 1910), who worked on the ritual Philalethes.[5][6] According to the Encyclopaedia by Serkov, Alexander was a master of the lodge "Karma", who worked in the years 1910–1919 Swedish Rite.[7]

Honours and awards

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ "Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia in the history of the Hotel du Palais, 1910". Grand Hotels of the World.
  2. ^ "Michael Mikhailovich of Russia in the history of the Hotel Carlton". Grand Hotels of the World.
  3. ^ a b N. Berezovsky, VD Dotsenko, VP Tyurin. Russian Imperial Navy. 1696–1917. Moscow, 1996. (in Russian)
  4. ^ Romanoff, Olga. My Father and His Family. p. 15.
  5. ^ Берберова Н. Н. Люди и ложи. Русские масоны XX столетия. – М., 1997.
  6. ^ Архив Гуверовского института (США), фонд Б. И. Николаевского
  7. ^ Серков А. И. Русское масонство 1731–2000. Энциклопедический словарь. – РОССПЭН, 2001.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Shilov, D.N. (2002). Statesmen of the Russian Empire, 1802-1917. Saint Petersburg: Dimitri Bulanin. p. 48.
  9. ^ "Königliche Orden", Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg, 1896, p. 28
  10. ISBN 978-87-7674-434-2
    .
  11. ^ "St. Stephans-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1918, p. 55, retrieved 15 November 2021
  12. Royal Thai Government Gazette (22 January 1898). "พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์ ที่ประเทศยุโรป" (PDF) (in Thai). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 8 May 2019. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
  13. ^ Italy. Ministero dell'interno (1920). Calendario generale del regno d'Italia. p. 57.
  14. ^ "Den kongelige norske Sanct Olavs Orden", Norges Statskalender (in Norwegian), 1910, pp. 909–910, retrieved 17 September 2021 – via hathitrust.org
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