Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia

Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia (25 October 1832 – 18 December 1909) was the fourth son and seventh child of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia. He was the first owner of the New Michael Palace on the Palace Quay in Saint Petersburg.

Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich
Michael Nikolaevich, c. 1880–90
Born	(1832-10-25)25 October 1832 Peterhof Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died	18 December 1909(1909-12-18) (aged 77) Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France
Spouse	Princess Cecilie of Baden ​ ​ (m. 1857; died 1891)​
Issue	Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich Anastasia Mikhailovna, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich
House	Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Father	Nicholas I of Russia
Mother	Charlotte of Prussia
Military career
Allegiance	Russian Empire
Service / branch	Imperial Russian Army
Years of service	1846–1909
Rank	Generalfeldmarschall
Commands	Caucasus Military District

Marriage and issue

On 16 August 1857, he married Princess Cecilie of Baden (1839–1891), daughter of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden and Sophie of Sweden. Cecily adopted the name Olga Feodorovna, and had the following children with him:

	Name	Birth	Death	Spouse (dates of birth & death) and children[1][2]
	Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia	184026 April 1859	191928 January 1919	Unmarried. He was killed by the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution; no issue
	Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia	186028 July 1860	192211 March 1922	Married 1879 (24 January), Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1851–1897); 1 son, 2 daughters; 1 illegitimate son.
	Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia	186116 October 1861	192926 April 1929	Married 1891 (26 February), Sophie of Merenberg (1868–1927); 1 son, 2 daughters.
	Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia	186323 August 1863	191928 January 1919	Married 1900 (12 May), Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark (1876–1940); 2 daughters. He was killed by the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution.
	Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia	186613 April 1866	193326 February 1933	Married 1894 (6 August), Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia (1875–1960); 1 daughter, 6 sons.
	Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia	18697 October 1869	191818 July 1918	Unmarried. He was killed by the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution; no issue
	Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia	187528 December 1875	18952 March 1895	Unmarried; no issue

Career

Michael Nicolaevich as a young man

He served 20 years (1862–1882) as the Governor General of Caucasia, being seated in Tbilisi, the town which most of his children remembered as the home of their childhood. In the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), he was nominal Commander-in-Chief of the Russian troops in the Caucasus and was appointed Field Marshal General in April 1878.

In the course of his life, four members of his family ruled as Emperors of Russia: his father, Nicholas I; his brother, Alexander II; his nephew, Alexander III; as well as his grand-nephew, Nicholas II, whose second daughter, Grand Duchess Tatiana, the Grand Duke was godfather to.

He died in Cannes, France, on 18 December 1909. He was the last surviving legitimate grandchild of Paul I of Russia.

Legacy

He was remembered by Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, granddaughter of his eldest brother, in her memoirs: "My great-uncle, Grand Duke Michael came from time to time to pay us visits. He was an old gentleman of great height and unforgettable elegance; he fascinated us by the perfection and harmony of his gestures, by his affability and his air of a grand seigneur of an epoch already vanished. He was the last of the Grand Dukes who, according to the custom of my grandfather's time, tutoi-ed the men, and in spite of his age he bowed with touching grace before the women as he kissed their hands."^[3]

Honours

National orders and decorations^[4]

• Knight of St. Andrew, 1832
• Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky, 1832
• Knight of the White Eagle, 1832
• Knight of St. Anna, 1st Class, 1832
• Knight of St. George, 4th Class, July 1854; 2nd Class, February 1864; 1st Class, September 1877
• Knight of St. Vladimir, 1st Class, January 1863
• Golden Saber "For Bravery", 1863; Golden Sword "For the conquest of the Caucasus", in Diamonds and Emeralds, February 1864
• Knight of St. Stanislaus, 1st Class, November 1865

Foreign orders and decorations^[4]

• Prussia:
  • Knight of the Black Eagle, 14 June 1838^[5]
  • Grand Cross of the Red Eagle, 14 June 1838
  • Pour le Mérite (military), 8 December 1871; with Oak Leaves, 28 November 1877^[6]
•  Württemberg:^[7]
  • Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1846
  • Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order, 10 September 1878
•  Netherlands: Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion, 1849
•  Austria: Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, 1851^[8]
•  Grand Duchy of Hesse: Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 7 June 1852^[9]
•  Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Grand Cross of the White Falcon, 19 June 1852^[10]
•  Baden:^[11]
  • Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1852
  • Grand Cross of the Zähringer Lion, 1852
  • Grand Cross of the Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order, 1864
•  Bavaria: Knight of St. Hubert, 1852^[12]
•  Parma: Senator Grand Cross of the Constantinian Order of St. George, 1852^[13]
•  Saxony: Knight of the Rue Crown, 1852^[14]
•  Two Sicilies: Grand Cross of St. Ferdinand and Merit, 1852
•  Oldenburg: Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, with Golden Crown, 26 July 1853^[15]
• Sardinia: Knight of the Annunciation, 11 January 1857^[16]
•  Nassau: Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau, 1860
• Persia: Order of the August Portrait, 1865
•  France: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, June 1876^[17]
•  Mecklenburg-Schwerin: Military Merit Cross, 2nd and 1st Classes, November 1877
•  Denmark: Knight of the Elephant, 10 September 1881^[18]
• Sweden-Norway: Knight of the Seraphim, 15 February 1892^[19]
•  Emirate of Bukhara: Order of the Sun of Alexander, 1898

Ancestors

Ancestors of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia

8. Peter III of Russia 4. Paul I of Russia 9. Catherine II of Russia 2. Nicholas I of Russia 10. Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg 5. Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemburg 11. Margravine Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt 1. Grand Duke Michael Nicolaevich of Russia 12. Frederick William II of Prussia 6. Frederick William III of Prussia 13. Landgravine Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt 3. Princess Charlotte of Prussia 14. Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 7. Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 15. Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt

References

1. Whitaker's Almanack (1900) Facsimile Reprint 1998, London: Stationery Office, ISBN 0-11-702247-0, p. 86
2. Whitaker's Almanack, 1993, Concise Edition, (ISBN 0-85021-232-4), pages 134–136
3. Pavlovna Romanova, Grand Duchess Maria (1930). The Education of a Princess, A Memoir. Blue Ribbon Books, New York.
4. Russian Imperial Army - Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich (In Russian)
5. Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler (1851), "Von Seiner Majestät dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm IV. ernannte Ritter" p. 20
6. Lehmann, Gustaf (1913). Die Ritter des Ordens pour le mérite 1812–1913 [The Knights of the Order of the Pour le Mérite] (in German). Vol. 2. Berlin: Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Sohn. p. 532.
7. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1907), "Königliche Orden" p. 27, 64
8. "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
9. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Hessen (1879), "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen" p. 10
10. Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1855), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 11 Archived 2019-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
11. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1868), "Großherzogliche Orden" pp. 50, 54, 60
12. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Bayern (1908), "Königliche Orden" p. 8
13. Almanacco di corte. 1858. p. 242.
14. Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen: 1865/66. Heinrich. 1866. p. 4.
15. Staat Oldenburg (1854). Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg: für ... 1854. Schulze. p. 27.
16. Cibrario, Luigi (1869). Notizia storica del nobilissimo ordine supremo della santissima Annunziata. Sunto degli statuti, catalogo dei cavalieri (in Italian). Eredi Botta. p. 115. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
17. M. Wattel, B. Wattel. (2009). Les Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur de 1805 à nos jours. Titulaires français et étrangers. Paris: Archives & Culture. p. 516. ISBN 978-2-35077-135-9.
18. Bille-Hansen, A. C.; Holck, Harald, eds. (1900) [1st pub.:1801]. Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1900 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1900] (PDF). Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish). Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 30 April 2020 – via da:DIS Danmark.
19. Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish). 1905. p. 440. Retrieved 2018-01-06 – via runeberg.org.