Duke Constantine Petrovich of Oldenburg

Duke Constantine Petrovich
Duke Constantine Petrovich of Oldenburg
Spouse	Agrippina Djaparidze, Countess von Zarnekau
Issue
Aleksandra Konstantinovna, Princess Yurievsky Countess Ekaterina Konstantinovna von Zarnekau Count Nikolai Konstantinovich von Zarnekau Count Aleksai Konstantinovich von Zarnekau Count Petr Konstantinovich von Zarnekau Countess Nina Konstantinovna von Zarnekau
Full name
Konstantin Friedrich Peter of Holstein-Gottorp
House	House of Holstein-Gottorp
Father	Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg
Mother	Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg
Born	9 May 1850(1850-05-09) St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	18 March 1906(1906-03-18) (aged 55) Nice, France

Duke Constantine Petrovich of Oldenburg (Konstantin Friedrich Peter; 9 May 1850 - 18 March 1906) was a son of Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg and his wife Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg.^[1]

Family

As the seventh-born child in his family, Duke Constantine Petrovich was a junior member of a cadet branch of the House of Holstein-Gottorp, a small ducal house based on Germany's border with Denmark.

During the 18th Century, the Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp gained influence through a carefully planned series of marital alliances with the royal houses of Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Prussia. The childless Empress Elizabeth of Russia proclaimed her nephew,Charles Peter Ulrich of Holstein-Gottorp heir to the throne and when he became Peter III of Russia in 1762, the Holstein-Gottorps,themselves a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg, became the Imperial house of Russia which they ruled until 1917 under the name of Romanov.

On 3 August 1809, Constantine's grandfather Duke George of Oldenburg married to Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, daughter of Paul I. The marriage was arranged hastily, as a means of avoiding a forced marriage with Napoleon Bonaparte, but it turned out to be a happy one. Catherine Pavlovna was a favorite sister of Tsar Nicholas I, and Duke George of Oldenburg became a favorite at court.

By the time that Constantine Petrovich was born in 1850, the Russian branch of the Oldenburg family was thriving. Constantine's father, Duke Peter Georgievich, had won respect serving as a Colonel in the Tsar's Semenovsky Life Guards Regiment in the 1820s, had become a Russian senator in 1834, had founded the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in 1835, and had played a leading role in funding education and hospitals throughout Russia.

Early Life

The record indicates Constantine Petrovich was baptised as a Protestant (his mother's faith) with the name Konstantin Friedrich Peter. But at court he was called by his Russian name and patronymic, Constantine Petrovich. He grew up in St. Petersburg during the 1850s. He had three brothers and four sisters.^[2] The family spent summers at their residence in Kamenoi-Ostroff and retired to Peterhof during the winters.

Little has been written about Constantine's early career. He was registered from birth until 1869 as an Ensign in his father's honor unit, the Semenovsky Regiment of the Life Guard Infantry. He received his education at home and attended lectures at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence before entering military service on May 21, 1869.^[3]

From 1869 to his death in 1906, he was registered in the Life Guard's Preobrazhensky Regiment. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, the Preobrazhensky regiment distinguished itself in battle. Duke Constantine Petrovich served as an Adjutant stationed on the Caucasian Front in Georgia as part of the Russian Caucasus Corps under the overall command of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich, the Governor General of the Caucasus.

Constantine eventually rose to the rank of Lt. General of Kuban Cossacks.^[4]

The Kuban Cossacks constituted 90 percent of the cavalry on the Caucasian front. These legendary horsemen won fame for numerous battles during the Russo-Turkish war, namely the Battles of Shipka Pass, the defense of Doğubeyazıt, and the final and victorious Battle of Kars, a decisive Russian victory over the Ottoman Empire.

Post War Years

At the end of the war, between 1881 and 1887, Constantine Petrovich commanded the 1st Cavalry Regiment of the Hopersky Kuban Cossacks, stationed near Kutaisi, a town in the Georgian province of Imeretia, just north of the battlefield at Kars. He most likely remained under the command of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich, who, as Governor General of the Caucasus, lived nearby in Tbilsi (then known as Tiflis).

At this time, the Black Sea coast in Georgia became the "Riviera of Russia," a popular place for wealthy Russians to visit on vacation, and the arts scene in Tiflis began to thrive. Constantine Petrovich became a guest at the social salon of Barbara Bonner Baratashvili ("Babalu"), nee Princess Cholokashvilii, whose mansion at 9 Reutov Street attracted many poets, painters and writers.

It was here that Constantine Petrovich first saw the Imeretian princess Agrippina Djaparidze, his future wife. She was starring in the lead role of the play "The Knight in Panther's Skin," a production mounted by Princess Cholokashvilii in order to raise funds for a monument to one of Georgia's greatest poets, Shota Rustaveli.

Agrippina played Tinatin, an Arabian princess who sends her suitor on a quest to find a mysterious Knight in Panther's skin. The scenes and backdrops for the show were painted by the famous Hungarian court painter Mihaly Zichy, and the play was a tremendous success, winning "endless applause."

After the show, Constantine Petrovich began a wreckless flirtation with Agrippina and his attentions to the wife of a fellow officer caused people to gossip. Agrippina's husband, Prince Tarieli "Daniel" Dadiani, was one of the officers under Duke Constantine's command^[5] It was considered very bad form to take advantage of one's rank in such a manner.

The Dadiani were a highly respected noble family in Georgia, claiming descent from the House of David, and they had been enobled in Russia under the name Davidov. Agrippina was Dadiani's second wife, and she had already given him three children: Mikelo, Levanti and Nino Dadiani.

It is rumored that Constantine Petrovich finally won Agrippina from her husband while playing cards. The Duke allegedly agreed to cancel Dadiani's debts in exchange for his wife. When Prince Dadiani agreed, Agrippina left him.

On June 28, 1882, Agrippina divorced Dadiani. According to the memoirs of Counte Witte, Constantine Petrovich "had to marry her after she divorced her husband."^[6] They wed that fall.

Marriage and issue

Constantine's morganatic wife Agrippina Djaparidze, Countess von Zarnekau.

On 20 October 1882, Constantine entered into a morganatic marriage with Agrippina Djaparidze, described by one source as wealthy and an "exceedingly lovely girl".^[1][7] Duke Peter, head of the House of Oldenburg, created her Countess von Zarnekau on the day of their wedding, with the same title passing to their children. Between 1883 and 1892 they produced six children, all of them born in Kutais, the Caucasus:

• Aleksandra Konstantinovna von Zarnekau, Countess von Zarnekau (10 May 1883 - 28 May 1957); married Prince George Alexandrovich Yurievsky, a son of Alexander II of Russia.
• Ekaterina Konstantinovna von Zarnekau, Countess von Zarnekau (16 September 1884 - 24 December 1963)
• Nikolai Konstantinovich von Zarnekau, Count von Zarnekau (7 May 1885 - 1976)
• Aleksai Konstantinovich von Zarnekau, Count von Zarnekau (16 July 1887 - 16 September 1918)
• Petr Konstantinovich von Zarnekau, Count von Zarnekau (26 May 1889 - 1 November 1961)
• Nina Konstantinovna von Zarnekau, Countess von Zarnekau (13 August 1892 - 1922)

Professional and military career

After their marriage in 1882, the couple lived on the Djaparidze family estate in Kutaisi. An able manager, Constantine Petrovich helped Agrippina to build her lands into productive vineyards and a winery. He established himself as a person interested in helping the region to develop its agriculture, especially the study of balneology and viticulture.

In 1884, they bought a local wine cellar established by the Frenchman Shote in 1876 for bottling champagne. They developed this into a thriving business that sold sparkling wines.

They also began an export company. Constantine Petrovich bought stock in local mines and oil wells, and began selling fruit, melons, vegetables and other farm goods abroad.

In his capacity as a cavalry general, Constantine Petrovich oversaw the local stables, gradually becoming an expert horse-trader, providing services to Russian officers and aristocrats in the region. The record indicates Constantine Petrovich became a member of the Veterinary Council of the Russian Empire, and he eventually became the "director general of all the Imperial horse-breeding establishments."^[8]

By the early 1890s, they were doing business in Odessa, Ukraine. Duke Constantine made regular visits to Alexandrovsk (Zaporozhe), home of the Zaparozhian cossacks, in order to buy and sell horses.

The Memoirs of Count Witte indicate that Duke Constantine and his family spent their vacations visiting with his sister, the Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna, at her summer palace in Kiev.

The Nakachidze Affair: Secret Wedding of Grand Duke George

Between 1890 and 1903, a series of strange events took place that permanently destroyed the reputation of Duke Constantine Petrovich in the eyes of Tsar Alexander III, the Empress Marie Feodorovna and their son, the young Tsarevich Nicholas Romanov.

In 1890, the Tsar Alexander III sent his sons Nicholas and George Alexandrovich on a world tour. Nicholas and his younger brother travelled through Athens and Egypt, and all went well until they reached Bombay, India. There, George fell ill with fever, and when he returned to Athens to see the Imperial doctors, the family discovered that HIH George Alexandrovich, third in line for the throne, had contracted tuberculosis.

In order to recover his health, the family decided that George should move south, to the warmer climate of the Caucasus. The young Grand Duke built an estate there, called Abbas Tuman, and became the royal neighbor of Constantine Petrovich.^[9]

According to a story titled "A Czarowitch's Sons: Secret Marriage of Emperor Nicholas' Dead Brother George" published in the 18 April 1906 New York Daily Tribune, "George spent much of his time in the company of . . . Oldenburg and of the latter's wife, who bears the title of Countess Zarnekau, and it was under their roof that he met a very beautiful girl, a daughter of the princely Caucasian house of Nakachidze.

"George became infatuated with the young princess, and, in defiance of the commands of his brother and the entreaties of his mother, persisted in marrying her, although he was at the time Czarewitch and next heir to the crown.

"Duke Constantine of Oldenburg and his wife, Countess Zarnekau, had furthered, instead of hindered the match, the princess being a cousin of the countess, and the latter, together with Constantine, was present at the wedding."^[10]

The secret wedding was reportedly a Greek Orthodox service that took place at George's Abbas Tuman estate in 1893. "The ceremony was legally performed in the presence of witnesses."^[11]

"The couple lived together until George's death in 1899. They had two sons and one daughter."^[12]

"As George's condition at the time [of the marriage in 1893] was such as to render it impossible to live at St. Petersburg, and as the doctors expressed the conviction that he could not live for many years, the Emperor [Alexander III]refrained from inflicting upon him those penalties of banishment and public deprivation of rank and honors that fall to the share of members of the imperial house rendering themselves guilty of disobedience of this kind to the sovereign . . . "

While the royal family did not banish GD George Alexandrovich, the marriage certainly did cause a rupture in their once happy relations.

"At St. Petersburg Duke Constantine of Oldenburg was held responsible for all the matrimonial imbroglio of Czarewitch George, and also for the latter's estrangement from his mother, brothers and sisters during the closing years of his life."^[10]

From this time forward, the Emperor and his family began to look down upon Duke Constantine Petrovich. He remained "in bad odor" at court the rest of his life.

Palaces in Petersburg and Tiflis

In November 1894, Tsar Alexander III became ill with nephritis and died. When Tsar Nicholas II acceded to the throne, he allowed Duke Constantine Petrovich and his family to return to St. Petersburg.

Duke Constantine took a house at 36 Tavritcheskaia. His eldest son, Count Nicholas Zarnekau, a Cornette in His Supreme Majesty's Garde a Cheval (Horse Guards),^[13] lived at 4 Konnogvardeisky Boulevard. Count Alexis Zarnekau settled at 3 Alexandrovsky Prospekt.^[14]

In 1895, Duke Constantine also bought from Amelia Titel a palace on what was then called Garden Street in Tiflis. On this land, Titel had commissioned a famous architect, Karl Stern, to build a large luxury villa. Designed in the "Brick Gothic" style, the Prince of Oldenburg's Palace served as the family's main residence in the Caucasus for the next ten years. Recently, in 2009, it was renovated and became an Art Palace, the Georgian State Museum of Theatre, Music, Cinema and Choreography at 6 Kargareteli Street, Tbilsi.

Death of Grand Duke George

During the Summer of 1895, the royal family made an effort to mend its relations with the Tsarevich George Alexandrovich. Photos show the dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna paying a visit to George at Abbas Tuman, and the Grand Duke sailing with his mother on a vacation trip to Denmark, where they visited with her relatives.

Outwardly, everything looked happy enough.

"But the two brothers became entirely estranged, and at the time of George's death [in 1899] the Czar had not seen him or held any direct communication with him for more than three years, while the widowed Empress saw this formerly favorite son of hers only once during the entire period."

The vacation trip to Denmark was Marie Feodorovna's last contact with George. In other words, it appears negotiations centered on a renewed request that George break off relations with the Nakachidze woman, and the results were not happy.

In 1899, while riding his motorcycle in the countryside, George died of a massive hemorrhage in his lungs. He was given a large state funeral, at which Marie Feodorovna reportedly broke down with grief.

As a direct result of these events, Duke Constantine Petrovich found himself in a very precarious position. His relations to the Tsar's family became highly charged with emotion, and he was now responsible for looking after the children of Grand Duke George (the heir to the throne after Tsar Nicholas) at a time when the Tsar had only daughters (Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia) and no male heir (Alexei was not born until 1904).

Controversial Wedding of Daughter

Constantine Petrovich did not improve matters in the year 1900, when he celebrated the wedding of his eldest daughter, Countess Alexandra von Zarnekau, to Prince George Yourievsky.

Prince Yourievsky was the only son of Tsar Alexander II and his mistress, Catherine Dolgoroukov. In other words, Constantine Petrovich made a match between his daughter and a family who had directly challenged Alexander III (the father of Nicholas II) for the crown.

Fatal Error: Promotion of Nakachidze Claimants

Matters finally reached a crescendo in 1903.

Countess Catherine Zarnekau and her mother Agrippina were both invited to appear at the Hermitage costume ball of 1903, with the result that we have good photographs of them in traditional dress.^[15]

Unfortunately, it seems Duke Constantine Petrovich made the fatal error of using this occasion to press the claims of the Nakachidze children at court.

"Princess Nakachidze presented Czarewitch George with three children, and as he had neglected to make provision for either of them, or for himself, his death left her without resources. Duke Constantine thereupon appealed in their behalf both to Nicholas II and to the widowed Empress, urging that the wife be recognized as a morganatic consort and that the children receive titles and their future be assured.

"When his entreaties met with no response, he allowed his indignation to get the better of his discretion, and expressed himself so freely about the Court of St. Petersburg as still further to embitter the Czar and the widowed Empress against him."^[16]

The international press ran the story repeatedly for almost four straight months, from September 1903 to January 1904. Headlines announcing a rival claimant appeared in major newspapers across the globe, including the New York Times, The Washington Post, and Vanity Fair.

The response from the court of Tsar Nicholas II was swift, brutal, and effective. The marriage contracted by Grand Duke George Alexandrovich and Princess Nakachidze was declared illegitimate, void on the grounds that it had not received the legally required permission of the Tsar.

Furthermore, Constantine Petrovich was declared to be insane.^[17]

"He was deprived of many of his offices and dignities, was ordered to keep away from St. Petersburg, and, about four years, was summarily divested by an imperial decree of the control of his property, especially of his estates in the Caucasus, and of the immense wine industry that he had built up there, the management of these various interests being assigned to a trustee appointed by the Emperor.

"This was a blow from which Constantine never recovered. He died abroad in disgrace, tended by his wife and his children."^[10]

Constantine Petrovich of Oldenburg died of cancer at Nice, France, on 18 March 1906.^[18]

Titles, styles, honours, and arms

Titles and styles

• 27 April 1850 – 18 March 1906 His Imperial Highness Duke Constantine Petrovich of Oldenburg

See also

• Line of succession to the Oldenburger throne

Ancestry

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Lundy, Darryl. "The Peerage: Konstantin Friedrich Peter von Holstein-Gottorp, Duke of Oldenburg". http://thepeerage.com/p11050.htm#i110498. Retrieved 7 December 2010. 
2. ^ McIntosh, David. The Grand Dukes of Oldenburg, p. 372
3. ^ Shernick, Mark. "Duke Constantine Petrovich, Father of the Counts and Countesses von Zarnekau". http://zarnekau.blogspot.com/2008/06/duke-constantine-petrovich-oldenburg.html. Retrieved 7 December 2010. 
4. ^ Ruvigny et Raineval, Melville H. The Titled Nobility of Europe. Harrison & Son, 1914, "Zarnekau"
5. ^ Harcave, Sidney, Trans. The Memoirs of Count Witte. New York: M.E. Sharp, 1990. Ch. IX Kiev in the 1880s, p. 79
6. ^ Witte, p. 80
7. ^ "Kings Servants Of The Poor Today", The Washington Post, 12 April 1906 
8. ^ Washington Post, 2 Feb 1917, p. 6
9. ^ Anon. "A Czarowitch's Sons: Secret Marriage of Emperor Nicholas's Dead Brother George" 18 April 1906 New York Daily Tribune, p. 7
10. ^ ^{a b c} 18 April 1906 New York Daily Tribune, p. 7
11. ^ Anon. "New Claimaint to Russian Throne: Prince Cyril, Young Son of Czar's Second Brother, Will Press His Rights." 24 Sep 1903 Oswego (NY) Times, p. 1
12. ^ Anon. "New Heir to Crown Stirs Russians." 25 Sep 1903 Trenton (NJ) Times, p. 9.
13. ^ Ferrand, Jacques. Noblesse Russe: Portraits. Vol. 4, p. 41, Plate 78. "Nicholas Zarnekau"
14. ^ Ruvigny. "Zarnekau" pp. 1583 - 1584.
15. ^ Ferrand, Jacques. Noblesse Russe: Portraits. Vol. 3, Plate 270. "Catherine Zarnekau, Le Bal de L'Hermitage, Fev 1903."
16. ^ 18 April 1906, New York Daily Tribune, p. 7
17. ^ 24 Sep 1903 Oswego (NY) Times, p. 1
18. ^ 19 March 1906 New York Times

Persondata
Name	Constantine Petrovich Of Oldenburg, Duke
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	9 May 1850
Place of birth	St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Date of death	18 March 1906
Place of death	Nice, France