Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia
Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia (Russian Константин Николаевич; * 9 Septemberjul / September 21 1827greg in Saint Petersburg, .. .. † 13 Januarjul / January 25 1892greg in Pavlovsk ) was a son of the Russian Tsar Nicholas I Pavlovich and his wife, Charlotte, daughter of King Friedrich Wilhelm III. of Prussia.
Life
Education Constantine was under the strict supervision of Friedrich von Liitke. Regardless of his rank as Grand Duke, he received a naval training like all the other cadets and so had insight into the normal Russian daily life. He spoke fluent English in addition to Russian, German and French.
On the part of the Austrians, he was involved as a young officer in 1849 during the suppression of the uprising in Hungary and was awarded the St. George Cross. A year later, he was included in the government. 1855 his brother was a Russian Tsar Alexander II and Constantine responsible for all naval affairs. He had a very intimate relationship with the brother and supported him in his will to reform, especially with the guarantee of the Constitution of 1881.
In 1863 he was wounded viceroy of Poland and on the second day after his arrival in an assassination attempt. Despite his efforts to the Polish people revolted Poles against Russian domination and Constantine imposed martial law.
After his return to Russia he was 16 years President of the Government and stepped back as his nephew Alexander III. , Which ranks his uncle as too liberal, the Constitution repealed. He spent his last years in the Crimea. In 1889 he suffered a stroke and died two years later.
Progeny
Constantine married 1848 Alexandra of Saxe- Altenburg ( ' Alexandra Iosifowna ' ), daughter of Duke Joseph with whom he had the following children:
- Nikolai Konstantinovich (1850-1918)
- Olga Konstantinovna (1851-1926), Queen of Greece
- Vera Konstantinovna (1854-1912)
- Konstantin Konstantinovich (1858-1915)
- Dimitri Konstantinovich (1860-1919)
- Vyacheslav Konstantinovich (1862-1879)
Although Konstantin his wife dear, he began the beginning of the 1870s to an affair with a ballerina named Anna Wassiljewna Kuznetsova. Also, they gave him a number of children, of which only two girls survived infancy.