Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (; 6 June 1859 – 5 December 1909) was the eldest of the two surviving sons of Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and of Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia. He was a great-grandson of Emperor Paul I of Russia and a cousin of Emperor Alexander III of Russia. Although he was a German prince of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, he was raised in Russia, where he lived all his life.

He followed a career as an officer in the Russian army; he received the rank of major general and was commander of the . Georg Alexander was a music lover, a skillful cellist and composer. In 1896, he formed a private string quartet called the Mecklenburg Quartet. He contracted a morganatic marriage and his rights and inheritance passed to his younger brother, Charles Michael, Duke of Mecklenburg. His four children received the title of counts of Carlow, but after Duke Georg Alexander's death, his unmarried brother adopted his son Georg, Count of Carlow, who became the heir to the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1934.

Early life Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia surrounded by her children: Duchess Helene, Duke Georg Alexander and Duke Karl Michael (c. 1870) Georg Alexander Michael Friedrich Wilhelm Franz Carl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was born on at Remplin, a family estate acquired by his parents in Mecklenburg shortly before his birth. His father, Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg (1824–1876), was the second son of Grand Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. His mother, Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia, was a granddaughter of Emperor Paul I of Russia. Although Duke Georg Alexander was, by birth, a German prince of the house of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, his father had settled in Russia within his wife’s family. Georg and his siblings were raised in Russia, but kept the Lutheran religion of his paternal ancestors. He was known in Russia as George Georgievich jr, to distinguish him from his father who had the same name and patronymic.

He received a military education and followed a career in the Russian service. Raised in the Mikhailovsky Palace, the household of his maternal grandmother Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, he took a great interest in music from an early age under her grandmother's guidance. From age 12 his teacher was Karl Davydov, a composer, professor of the St Petersburg Conservatory and Russia’s most prominent cellist of the time. She was a member of the Russian nobility who came from Germany in 17th century whose name was originally von Lahr. Vanljarskya was a skillful singer and the couple was brought together by their shared passion for music. Grand Duchess Catherine Mikahilovna opposed their union and fired Natalia, hoping that his son would forget the affair and would marry a bride of royal background. However Georg Alexander persisted and in June 1889 he went to Germany to obtain the permission to marry from the head of the family, his uncle, Grand Duke Frederick William (1819-1904). With his uncle's consent, George Georgievich married Natalia Vanliarskya on 14 February 1890 in Saint Petersburg.

Countess Catherine von Carlow (25 July 1891 – 9 October 1940, victim of a German air aid on London), married Prince Vladimir Galitzine in 1913. Countess Maria von Carlow (31 October 1893 – 5 September 1979), who married Prince Boris Dmitrievich Golitsyn (1892–1919) in 1916, became a widow in 1919, and married Count Vladimir Petrovich Kleinmichel (1901–1982). Countess Natalia von Carlow (20 November 1894 – 4 December 1913). George, Duke of Mecklenburg (5 Oct 1899 – 6 Jul 1963).

Later life

Georg Alexander was head of the committee for the fiftieth anniversary of the career of Anton Rubinstein celebrated in 1889. After Rubinstein’s death in 1894, his family gave his conducting baton to Duke Georg Alexander. Grand Cross of the Order of the White Falcon, 1881 Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order Knight of the Imperial Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle the First-called Knight of the Imperial Order of Saint Prince Vladimir, 3rd and 4th Classes

Ancestry