Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia

Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia (Russian: Алексей Михайлович) (28 December 1875 – 2 March 1895) was the sixth son and youngest child of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and a first cousin of Alexander III of Russia. He was destined to follow a career in the Russian Navy, but he died in his youth of tuberculosis.

Life Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia was born in Tiflis on 28 December 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.

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. 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 2 March 1895. He was nineteen years old. “The first time he wore his midshipman’s uniform”, Kiril wrote, “was in his coffin.” 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