GRAND DUKE MICHAEL ALEXANDROVICH OF RUSSIA

'Grand Duke Michael of Russia', '''Mikhail Aleksandrovich Romanov''' () (St. Petersburg, November 22, 1878 (O.S.) –– Perm, Ural, about June 12, 1918) was the controversial younger brother of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Nicholas abdicated in favour of Michael on , but Michael declined the throne.

Contents

Family

Marriage and Career

Heir to the Russian throne

Michael during the Revolution

Murder

Ancestry

See Also

External link

Further reading

Family

Michael was a son of Alexander III of Russia and Dagmar of Denmark. His paternal grandparents were Alexander II of Russia and his first wife Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. His maternal grandparents were Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel.
Michael was a younger brother of Nicholas II of Russia, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich of Russia, Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia. He was also an elder brother of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia.

Marriage and Career

Michael began a relationship with Natalya Sergeyevna Wulffert (''née'' Sheremetevskaya), a twice-divorced commoner. Their only child, George, was born in 1910, whom Michael named for his elder brother, George. The couple married in secret on October 30, 1912 (N.S.) in Vienna, for which action he was exiled and removed from imperial succession by his brother Nicholas. Natalya was not entitled to be known as Grand Duchess.
Nicholas II later titled Natalya and her son Countess Brasova and Count Brasov, and legitimitized George, although he still held no claim to the throne. Count Brasov died in a car crash at age 21 on July 22, 1931. On July 28, 1935, Countess Brasova was granted the title of HSH Princess Romanovskaya-Brasova by Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia, the pretender to the Russian throne.
Upon the outbreak of World War I, Mikhail Alexandrovich requested Tsar Nicholas II permission to return to Russia and to the army, with the understanding that his wife Natalya Sergeyevna Wulffert and son would come too. He returned home as a Russian general, leading the Savage Division formed from Chechens and Daghestani.

Heir to the Russian throne

At the time of his birth, his paternal grandfather Alexander II was still the reigning Emperor of Russia. Michael was fourth-in-line heir to the throne following his father and elder brothers Nicholas and George. His elder brother, Maria Fyodorovna and Alexander III's second son, Alexander was already deceased, having died as a toddler.
His paternal grandfather was assassinated by Ignacy Hryniewiecki of the Narodnaya Volya on March 13, 1881. His father succeeded him as Emperor of Russia. Nicholas became heir apparent while George was second-in-line to the throne. Michael was third-in-line to the throne at this point.
Their father Alexander III died on November 1, 1894. Nicholas II became the new Emperor of Russia while George was his heir presumptive. Now Michael was second-in-line to the throne.
George suffered from poor health and died of tuberculosis on August 9, 1899. Michael became Heir Presumptive to his still reigning elder brother Nicholas II. He was considered likely to become Emperor of Russia in his own right. Nicholas II and his Empress consort Alexandra Fyodorovna of Hesse were parents to four daughters: Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, and Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia. The eldest daughter (Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaievna), followed by her sisters, could only succeed to the throne provided that no other legitimately-born male Romanov dynast survived.
Michael continued as Heir Presumptive until August 12, 1904, when the birth of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia to Nicholas II and Alexandra resulted in the newborn becoming Heir Apparent to his father. Michael again became the second-in-line heir to the throne.

Michael during the Revolution

At 3.05 pm on , Emperor Nicholas II, under pressure from generals and Duma representatives, abdicated in favour of his son, Alexei. However, he reconsidered his decision, given that Alexei was not an adult, and in poor health, which would have meant a regency. Nicholas decided to nominate his brother, Michael, and in the second abdication document, signed at 11.15 pm but marked as having been issued at 3.05 pm, the time of the earlier one, Nicholas II announced
The abdication was countersigned by the Minister for the Imperial Court, Count Freedericksz.
Michael's accession was accepted by conservatives in the newly-formed Provisional Government under the Prime Minister, Prince Lvov. However the representative of the government, Alexander Kerensky feared revolution by the newly-formed Petrograd Soviet (workers' and soldiers' council) and persuaded the government to withdraw from supporting Michael as Tsar. He and two lawyers (including Vladimir Nabokov, father of the future writer) drafted a declaration of conditional acceptance for Michael to sign, which he duly did the following day, on . The manifesto did not renounce the throne, but laid conditions for its acceptance. It stated
Any hopes that Michael might be able to assume the throne, following the election of the Duma, were overtaken by events. His renouncement of the throne, though conditional, marked the end of the Tsarist regime in Russia. Given that he never ruled, was never crowned, and never had his accession publicly promulgated, and given the fact that he reigned for at most a few hours, his brother Nicholas II is regarded as the last actual, or ''de facto'' Tsar, while Michael's "reign" is relegated to a largely forgotten footnote of history.
Michael's diary entry of 15 March 1917 shows great insight:
: 'We woke up this morning to hear Russia declared a Republic. What does it matter which form the government will be as long as there is order and justice.'
This diary entry is mentioned in ''Before the Revolution — A view of Russia under the last Tsar'' by Kyril Fitzlyon (Allan Lane Publication 1977, 256 pages, ISBN 0713908947). Fitzlyon does not mention where the diary is located, but the book contains some images from the British Royal archives, which suggests the diary might have also ended up there. Grandduke Michael had a British secretary who the Bolsheviks let go.

Murder

The best source material, both archival from Russia and elsewhere, seems to indicate that on June 12 1918 Michael was ordered by a group of men to get out of the hotel in Perm where he lived. Then he and his secretary were taken by a car to the outskirts of town where they were shot and their bodies were burnt. The official Soviet point of view was that those men were local workers who hated the Tsarist regime and were annoyed by Michael's "luxury" lifestyle. The documents, however, show that the order to execute him appears to have been given by the Perm Cheka.

Ancestry

'Michael Alexandrovich's ancestors in three generations'

'Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia'	'Father:' Alexander III of Russia	'Paternal Grandfather:' Alexander II of Russia	'Paternal Great-grandfather:' Nicholas I of Russia
			'Paternal Great-grandmother:' Charlotte of Prussia
		'Paternal Grandmother:' Marie of Hesse	'Paternal Great-grandfather:' Legally, Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse.
			'Paternal Great-grandmother:' Wilhelmine of Baden
	'Mother:' Dagmar of Denmark	'Maternal Grandfather:' Christian IX of Denmark	'Maternal Great-grandfather:' Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
			'Maternal Great-grandmother:' Louise Caroline of Hesse-Kassel
		'Maternal Grandmother:' Louise of Hesse-Kassel	'Maternal Great-grandfather:' Prince William of Hesse
			'Maternal Great-grandmother:' Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark

See Also

★ George Buchanan (diplomat)

External link

★ Virtual Museum of Michael Romanov in Perm, with information about his last days in Perm.

Further reading

★ Biography: ''Michael and Natasha, The Life and Love of the Last Tsar of Russia'', Rosemary & Donald Crawford, Widenfeld & Nicholson, London. 1997