Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia


Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia was a Russian field marshal, 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.

Marriage and issue

On 16 August 1857, he married Princess Cecilie of Baden, daughter of Leopold, [Grand Duke of Baden] and Sophie of Sweden. Cecily adopted the name Olga Feodorovna, and had the following children with him:
NameBirthDeathSpouse 'and children'
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 Russia186028 July
1860		192211 March
1922		Married 1879,
Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin ;
1 son, 2 daughters; 1 illegitimate son.
Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia186116 October
1861		192926 April
1929		Married 1891,
Sophie of Merenberg ;
1 son, 2 daughters.
Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia186323 August
1863		191928 January
1919		Married 1900,
Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark ;
2 daughters.
He was killed by the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution.
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia186613 April
1866		193326 February
1933		Married 1894,
Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia ;
1 daughter, 6 sons.
Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia18697 October
1869		191818 July
1918		Unmarried. He was killed by the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution;
no issue
Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia187528 December
1875		18952 March
1895		Unmarried;
no issue

Career

He served 20 years 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 of 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."

Honours

;National orders and decorations
;Foreign orders and decorations