Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia (; 11 May 1857 – 17 February 1905) was the fifth son and seventh child of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. He was an influential figure during the reigns of his brother Emperor Alexander III of Russia and his nephew Emperor Nicholas II, who was also his brother-in-law through Sergei's marriage to Elisabeth, the sister of Empress Alexandra.

Grand Duke Sergei's education gave him lifelong interests in culture and the arts. Like all male members of the Romanov dynasty, he followed a military career, and fought in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, receiving the Order of St George for courage and bravery in action. In 1882, his brother, Tsar Alexander III, appointed him commander of the 1st Battalion Preobrazhensky Life Guard Regiment, a position he held until 1891. In 1889, Grand Duke Sergei was promoted to the rank of major general. In 1884, Sergei married Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Their marriage remained childless, but they became the guardians of the two children of his brother, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia: Grand Duchess Maria, and Grand Duke Dmitri. Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and his wife promoted the marriage of Sergei's nephew, Tsar NicholasII, with Princess Alix of Hesse, Elisabeth's youngest surviving sister.

Between 1891 and 1905, Grand Duke Sergei served as Governor-General of Moscow. His reputation was initially tarnished as he was partially blamed for the Khodynka Tragedy during the festivities following the coronation of Emperor NicholasII. As Governor of Moscow, he pursued very conservative policies that made him a polarizing figure. At the start of his tenure, he expelled Moscow's 20,000 Jews and repressed a student movement to prevent the spread of revolutionary ideas. Because of this, he was often regarded as a reactionary. In 1894, Grand Duke Sergei was made a member of the State Council. In 1896, he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed as commander of Moscow Military District. After thirteen years of service, Grand Duke Sergei resigned from the Governorship on 1 January1905, though he remained head of the Moscow Military District. Targeted by the SR Combat Organization, he was assassinated later that year by a terrorist bomb at the Kremlin during the 1905 Russian Revolution.

Early life

left|thumb|160px|Grand Duke Sergei with his parents and his sister, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna

Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was born on in the Zubov wing of the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo. He was the seventh child and fifth son among the eight children of Alexander II of Russia and his first wife Maria Alexandrovna, née Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine.

right|thumb|160px|Grand Duke Sergei with his younger brother Grand Duke Paul

Until he was old enough to begin lessons, Sergei's earlier years were spent with his younger brother Paul, from whom 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 Sergei 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, Sergei and Paul, were close to her and especially to one another. As time passed and the Empress's health made it necessary for her to avoid the harsh Russian climate, they spent long sojourns abroad in Jugenheim outside Darmstadt and winters in the South of France. A family tragedy hit them there. In April 1865, shortly before Sergei's eighth birthday, his eldest brother and godfather Nicholas, the heir to the crown, died in Nice. As a child, Sergei was shy, studious, and withdrawn. Under the influence of his mother, 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 Sergei's linguistic, artistic, and musical abilities. He was fluent in several languages and learned Italian in order to read Dante in the original. His interest in Italian art and culture intensified as he grew older. He painted well and was musical, playing the flute in an amateur orchestra. He enjoyed acting and steeped himself in the early history, culture, and traditions of Russia. He liked to read and in time came to know many of Russia's great writers personally, among them Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, whose work the Grand Duke read and admired.

Military career

left|thumb|160px|Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in his youth

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. On his twentieth birthday on 29 April1877, the Grand Duke took the solemn oath of allegiance to the Emperor. He was consequently promoted to colonel. On 12 October, following the battle of Meyk, the Emperor decorated him with the Order of StGeorge, 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 sided with his neglected mother in the breaking of the family's harmony. Empress Maria died in June 1880, and in March 1881 AlexanderII, 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 months 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 helped to found the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society dedicated to the upkeep of Orthodox shrines in the Holy Land and the provision of services to Russian pilgrims. He became its chairman, and his status as patron of the Russian presence in Jerusalem is believed to have given him more pleasure than any of his other duties.

From 1882 on, Sergei's military career, which occupied an increasing amount of his time in Saint Petersburg and on maneuvers at Krasnoe Selo, advanced still further. On 15 January 1882, his brother, Alexander III, appointed him commander of the 1st Battalion Preobrazhensky Life Guard Regiment, the elite regiment founded by Peter the Great, with the rank of colonel. Seven years later, he was promoted to the rank of major general. On 26 February 1891, he was made adjutant general of the H. I. M. Retinue. He became the commanding officer in the village of Preobrazhenskoy. Sergei commanded this regiment until 1891, when his brother the Emperor appointed him Governor-General of Moscow. When Consuelo Vanderbilt, then Duchess of Marlborough, met him in Moscow, she considered him to be "One of the most handsome men I have ever seen".

He was 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 in his eyes. a condition he strove to conceal, but it caused all his joints to waste away.

Marriage

left|thumb|170px|Grand Duke Sergei and his wife, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna

In 1881 there had been talks of a possible marriage to Princess Caroline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein. Emperor Alexander II had hoped that at least one of his sons would marry a princess of Hesse as he had 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 Alix of Hesse, later the Empress consort of Nicholas II of Russia and a niece of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, who married his older sister Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. They were first cousins once removed (i.e., Elizabeth's great-grandfather, her father's paternal grandfather, Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse, was Sergei's maternal grandfather) and had known each other all their lives. Elizabeth and her sisters were not pressured into following political marriages; they were allowed to follow their own inclination. Their engagement was announced publicly on 26 February 1884 when Sergei returned to visit her in Darmstadt. Upon her marriage, Princess Elizabeth took the name of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia. The wedding took place on 15 June 1884 in the Winter Palace.

They spent their honeymoon in Ilinskoye, Sergei's country estate forty miles west of Moscow on the left bank of the Moskva River, that he inherited from his mother. The couple later settled in Saint Petersburg in a mansion occupying the southeast corner of the Fontanka Canal and the Nevsky Prospekt, a short drive from his former apartments in the Winter Palace. The couple also had Ferme, a villa located in the grounds of Peterhof that Sergei had inherited from his mother. They usually entertained at Ilinskoe during the summer months, with guests occupying various wooden villas dotted around the park. There was also Usovo, a substantial stone and brick house with an innovative central heating, that Sergei had built on the opposite bank of the Moskva River.

The couple was close to Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna, and the Tsar trusted Sergei more than his other brothers. In 1886, Alexander III appointed him commander of the Preobrazhensky Life Guard Regiment, entrusting him with introducing the Tsarevich (the future Nicholas II) to army life. Sergei and Ella represented Russia in 1887 during Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee and in 1888, they were sent to the Holy Land on the occasion of the consecration of the Church of Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem built in memory of Empress Maria Alexandrovna. By 1892, eight years into the marriage, Sergei was already certain that they would not have children and he left a will making the children of his brother Paul his heirs after his and his wife's deaths.

Sexuality

It was likely that Sergei was gay or bisexual. Count Witte wrote that Sergei "was always surrounded by comparatively young men, who were excessively affectionate towards him." In her memoirs, Countess Lily de Nostitz said: "It was well known that the Grand Duke Sergei was one of those unhappy men cursed with the failing of loving only their own sex."

The diary of prominent St. Petersburg hostess Alexandra Bogdanovich refers to Sergei's alleged affairs with his aide-de-camps Martynov and Balyasny; while after Sergei was appointed Governor of Moscow, Count Vladimir Lamsdorf punned: "Moscow used to stand on seven hills, and now it has to stand on one hillock" – (the Russian word for 'hillock' sounding similar to the French word for bugger). Some reports suggest his sexuality might have conflicted with his intense religious beliefs and the expectations of his position.

Although it was a great honour, Grand Duke Sergei accepted his new appointment with reluctance. He had hoped to stay longer in command of the Preobrazhensky, where he was popular; and he and his wife loved the quiet life they were living in Saint Petersburg.

The vice-regal role of Governor-General ruling Prince of Moscow was one that was answerable only to the emperor. Grand Duke Sergei was a political hardliner who shared his brother's inalienable belief in strong, nationalist government. In counting the cost, Moscow lost 100 million rubles in trade and production, 25,000 Russians employed by Jewish firms lost their livelihoods, while the manufacture of silk, one of the city's most lucrative industries, was all but wiped out.

To meet the needs of students, Sergei ordered the start of the construction of new dormitories in the city. At the same time, however, severe restrictions were imposed on the students and professors in the universities as a part of the state's policy of conspiracy prevention and elimination of revolutionary ideas. This made Sergei Alexandrovich very unpopular in Moscow among intelligentsia, though the more conservative citizens were pleased. In private, he and his wife were concerned about the poverty they saw in Moscow and the surrounding countryside, discussing ways to improve it.

Welfare organizations and charities always attracted Sergei's attention and he became either chairman or patron of scores of them.

He was, for example, chairman of the Moscow Society for the Care, Upbringing, and Education of Blind Children; of the Society for Homeless, Neglected Children, and Convicted Adolescents; and the Moscow Department of the Russian Department Society of National Health Protection. Around 6 am, a rumor swept through the massive crowd that the booths had already opened and the souvenirs were being given out. Suddenly moving as one, that great body of people began to surge forward in the direction of the booths.

While Grand Duke Sergei had not directly participated in the planning for Khodynka Field, he was blamed for the lack of foresight and as Governor-General, held as ultimately responsible. However, he did not assume his part of the responsibility for the tragedy. He laid the blame on others, most notably on Ilarion Count Voronzov-Dashkov, head of the Ministry of the Imperial Court, with whom there had been some dispute over the management of the coronation festivities, and Colonel Alexander Vlasovsky (1842–1899), the city of Moscow's Chief of Police. In the eyes of public opinion Sergei had done himself great harm by not going to the scene of the incident or at least putting in appearances at the victims' funerals, though it also reported that Sergei did feel deeply saddened by the disaster.

thumb|left|200px|Victims of the stampede at Khodynka

After the tragedy, many members of the Romanov family, headed by Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich and his brothers, thought that the remaining festivities should be canceled. On the other hand, Sergei Alexandrovich and his brothers thought that a historical event, such as a coronation, should not be disrupted or marred by a conspicuous period of mourning. The latter opinion believed that the crowds who came long distances should not be disappointed and that the tightly scheduled events for foreign dignitaries not be slighted and should go forward. There was also division among the Romanov family as to whether Grand Duke Sergei should have resigned. Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich and his brothers called for his resignation, while Sergei's own brothers Grand Dukes Vladimir Alexandrovich and Alexei Alexandrovich closed ranks supporting him and threatened to retire from public life if Sergei was made the scapegoat for the Khodynka tragedy. Ultimately, Sergei offered to resign while Vorontzov-Dashkov did not. In the end, the Tsar did not support a thoroughly proposed investigation, the Chief of Police was dismissed, and Grand Duke Sergei retained his office.

The night of the tragedy Tsar Nicholas II, for diplomatic reasons, attended a ball in honor of the French; because of that, his reputation also suffered for what was perceived to be his lack of sympathy for the victims.

Controversy

thumb|160px|right|Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich

In 1894 Sergei was made a member of the State Council. In 1896, he was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed as Commander of Moscow military district. Because Sergei was devoted to the policies of his nephew, the Tsar regarded him as a useful counterweight to some of his ministers and officials and would always readily take his side. When, in 1896, disturbances broke out in the universities, Nicholas II was grateful for his prompt action and that of the authorities that quickly restored order.

Although Sergei was often condemned as a complete reactionary during his governorship, according to his brother-in-law Ernest, Grand Duke of Hesse, he wanted and strove for improvements, which angered conservatives, but blocked revolutionary reforms, which infuriated radicals, because he considered them impractical or thought that Russia was not ready for them.

Sergei's enigmatic personality and harsh manners made him appear arrogant and disagreeable. Shy by nature, he dreaded personal contact. When courtesy demanded a handshake, he solved the problem by wearing a white glove. Puritan and humourless, at least in public, he had a total disregard for public opinion. He never seemed to be at ease with himself and others. He became a focus for serious opponents of the regime as well as for malicious gossip. His cousin Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich left a damaging description about him: "Try as I will", he wrote, "I cannot find a single redeeming feature in his character… Obstinate, arrogant, disagreeable, he flaunted his many peculiarities in the face of the entire nation…". Later writers have accused him of sadism.

A great deal of controversy around Sergei Alexandrovich has centered on the nature of his personal life. Conjecture about the perhaps unhappy nature of the relationship with his wife has abounded.

Sergei's marriage is barely documented. His private papers, including his correspondence with his wife, have not survived, and the evidence that does exist in the Moscow State Archives, the most important repository of Romanov papers, is open to interpretation. Contrary to this belief, the marriage was happy, in its own way. They slept in the same bed for all of their married life. Forced to defend Sergei against rumors of discord, Elizabeth Feodorovna was devoted to her husband and treasured his memory after his death. Sergei's niece and foster-daughter Maria wrote about them: "she [Ella] and my uncle seemed never very intimate. They met for the most part only at meals and by day avoided being alone together. They slept, however, up to the last year of their life together, in the same great bed."thumb|160px|left|Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia with his foster children: Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna Jr. and Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich

Although their marriage remained childless, the two children of Grand Duke Paul, Grand Duchess Maria and Grand Duke Dimitri, often joined their household, spending Christmases and later some summer holidays with Sergei and his wife. The couple set aside a playroom and bedrooms for the youngsters at their home. In 1902, Paul was banished from living in Russia after he contracted a morganatic marriage and Sergei asked for and obtained the guardianship of his niece and nephew.

While Sergei had their best interests at heart, his preoccupation with the smallest detail of their education and upbringing were not appealing to the two difficult adolescents, especially the obstinate Maria.

By the end of 1904, Russia had suffered disastrously in the Russo-Japanese War and the country was in turmoil. As discontent and demonstration multiplied, so did the pressure on Sergei to maintain order. He was of the opinion that only the utmost severity could put an end to the revolutionary ferment, but in the wake of civil disorder Nicholas II was forced to make concessions. Sergei did not support the Tsar's security policies of vacillations and evasions. According to Marie Pavlovna, "it appeared to my uncle little less than monstrous ... he expressed deep sorrow for the state of affairs in Russia, of the necessity for serious measures, and of the criminal weakness of the Tsar's ministers and councilors". Thoroughly disillusioned with the whole situation and deciding it was the right time to retire into private life, he informed the Tsar that new times needed new faces. After thirteen years of service, Sergei resigned from the governorship on 1 January 1905 and was succeeded by Dmitri Feodorovich Trepov. However, he continued as commander of the Moscow military district.

Assassination

thumb|upright=0.9|Assassin [[Ivan Kalyayev]]

thumb|upright=0.9|The assassination

thumb|upright=0.9|Remains of the carriage

Following his resignation, Grand Duke Sergei moved to the Neskuchnoye Palace with his wife and foster children. Shortly thereafter, they moved to the Nicholas Palace within the safety of the Kremlin, under the cover of night. Sergei took every precaution advised by his detectives. Sergei and his wife rarely ventured outside. At home, they only received their closest friends. A terrorist organization that knew his route, the Socialist Revolutionary Party's combat detachment, had planned to assassinate him that day. However, one of their members, Ivan Kalyayev, noticed the children in the carriage and decided to call off their attack. To kill the Grand Duchess and the children would surely have sparked a wave of apprehension throughout the empire, and would have set back the revolutionary cause by years. Because of the looming threat, Sergei had refused to take his adjutant, Alexei, since he was married and a father. The arrival of the Grand Duke's recognizable carriage, drawn by a pair of horses and driven by his coachman Andrei Rudinkin, alerted the terrorist who had been waiting in the Kremlin with a bomb wrapped in newspapers.

Just before 14:45, the carriage of the Grand Duke passed through the gate of Nikolskaya Tower of the Kremlin and turned the corner of the Chudov Monastery into Senatskaya Square. From a distance no more than away and still some inside the Nikolsky Gate, Ivan Kalyayev stepped forward and threw a nitroglycerin bomb directly into Sergei's lap. The explosion disintegrated the carriage and the Grand Duke died immediately. Some of the Grand Duke's fingers, still adorned with the rings he habitually wore, were found on the roof of a nearby building.

On impact, the carriage horses had bolted towards the Nikolsky Gate, dragging with them the front wheels and coachbox as well as the semi-conscious and badly burned driver, Rudinkin, whose back had been riddled with bits of bomb and stones. He was rushed to the nearest hospital, where he died three days later. Kalyayev, who by his own testimony had expected to die in the explosion, survived. Sucked into the vortex of the explosion, he ended up by the remains of the rear wheels. His face was peppered by splinters, pouring with blood.</blockquote>Deeply affected by the Grand Duke's death, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna retired from the royal family and founded the Russian Orthodox convent of Martha and Mary, where she dedicated herself to the care of Moscow's poor and suffering. Elizabeth Feodorovna was murdered during the Russian Civil War in 1918, together with many other Romanov relatives. Her body and that of a fellow nun was smuggled to China and eventually reached Jerusalem. The wooden coffins were met at the railway station by the deputy British governor, Sir Harry Charles Luke, and taken for burial at the Church of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives.

On 4 May 2017, Sergei's memorial cross was restored in a ceremony that was attended by President Vladimir Putin and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

Orders and decorations

;National

  • Knight of St. Andrew, 1857
  • Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky, 1857
  • Knight of the White Eagle, 1857
  • Knight of St. Anna, 1st Class, 1857
  • Knight of St. Stanislaus, 1st Class, 11 June 1865
  • Knight of St. George, 4th Class, 20 October 1877
  • Knight of St. Vladimir, 4th Class, 15 May 1883; 3rd Class, 30 August 1890; 1st Class, 15 May 1893
  • Silver Commemorative Medal for the Reign of Emperor Alexander III, 17 March 1896
  • Commemorative Medal for the Coronation of Emperor Nicholas II, 13 June 1896

;Foreign

  • Commemoration Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph I
  • : Knight of St. Hubert
  • : Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold
  • :
  • Order of Noble Bukhara, in Diamonds
  • Order of the Sun of Alexander
  • : Grand Cross of St. Alexander
  • : Knight of the Elephant, 3 August 1876
  • Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, 1878
  • : Grand Cross of the Seal of Solomon
  • : Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, 20 June 1891
  • Greece: Grand Cross of the Redeemer
  • Hesse and by Rhine:
  • Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 8 June 1857
  • Knight of the Golden Lion, 15 June 1884
  • : Knight of the Annunciation, 15 April 1881
  • : Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion
  • : Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, 8 September 1900
  • Mecklenburg:
  • Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore
  • Military Merit Cross, 1st Class (Schwerin)
  • : Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Danilo I
  • : Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion
  • : Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, with Golden Crown and Collar
  • : Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class with Diamonds
  • Prussia:
  • Knight of the Black Eagle, 10 June 1871
  • Pour le Mérite (military), 22 March 1879
  • : Grand Cross of the White Eagle
  • Siam: Knight of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 4 July 1897
  • Sweden-Norway: Knight of the Seraphim, 19 July 1875
  • :
  • Honorary Grand Cross of the Bath (civil), 21 June 1887
  • Commemoration Medal for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria
  • : Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1871

Ancestry

See also

  • Russian Compound

References

Bibliography

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  • Chavchavadze, David. The Grand Dukes, Atlantic, 1989,
  • Cowles, Virginia. The Romanovs, Harper & Row, 1971,
  • Croft, Christina. Most Beautiful Princess Hilliard & Croft 2008,
  • King, Greg. The Court of the Last Tsar, Wiley, 2006, .
  • King, Greg. The Last Empress, Citadel Press Book, 1994.
  • Mager, Hugo. Elizabeth: Grand Duchess of Russia, Da Capo Press, 1999,
  • Lincoln, W. Bruce. The Romanovs: Autocrats of All the Russias, Anchor, .
  • Mikhailova, Valeria. Elizabeth and Sergei: A Story of Love, A History of Lies. Royal Russia. N 10, 2016. .
  • Marie,Grand Duchess of Russia. Education of a Princess, Viking Press, 1931;
  • Maylunas, Andrei and Mironenko, Sergei. A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas and Alexandra Their Own Story Dukes, Doubleday, 1997, .
  • Perry, John and Pleshakov, Constantine. The Flight of the Romanovs, Basic Books, 1999, .
  • Van der Kiste, John. The Romanovs 1818–1959, Sutton Publishing, 1999, .
  • Warwick, Christopher. Ella: Princess, Saint and Martyr, Wiley, 2007
  • Zeepvat, Charlotte. The Camera and the Tsars, Sutton Publishing, 2004, .
  • Zeepvat, Charlotte. Romanov Autumn: stories from the last century of Imperial Russia. Sutton Publishing, 2000.