Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia

Infobox Russian Royalty|grand duke
name = Vladimir Alexandrovich
title =Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia


imgw = 200px
caption =
spouse = Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
issue = Grand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich
Cyril Vladimirovich, Grand Duke of Russia
Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich
Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich
Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna
imperial house =House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
father =Alexander II of Russia
mother =Marie of Hesse and by Rhine
date of birth = birth date|1847|4|22|mf=y
place of birth = Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
date of death =death date and age|1909|2|17|1847|4|22|mf=y
place of death =Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
place of burial=|

Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, in Russian Владимир Александрович / Влади́мирович(22 April, 1847 - 17 February, 1909) was the Senior Grand Duke of the House of Romanov during the reign of his nephew, Tsar Nicholas II.

Biography

He was the third, but second surviving son of Emperor Alexander II (who ascended 1855, when Vladimir was 8 years old, and was assassinated in 1881) and his wife Princess Marie of Hesse, legal daughter of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse, yet it was openly rumoured her father was actually Baron Augustus de Senarclens, her mother's chamberlain.

He was the next brother of Emperor Alexander III (reigned 1881-1894) and the senior uncle of Tsar Nicholas II, who afterwards was murdered in 1918.

Marriage and children

Vladimir Alexandrovich married, on 28 August 1874 in Saint Petersburg, Princess Marie Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (May 14, 1854 - September 6, 1920), daughter of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Augusta of Reuss-Köstritz. Maria was a great-granddaughter of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia, herself a daughter of Emperor Paul I of Russia. Therefore, Vladimir was a second cousin of Maria's father Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. However, in descent from Frederick William III of Prussia, the couple were second cousins.

Vladimir's wife was known as Maria Pavlovna of Mecklenburg and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna. When she converted to the orthodox confession in her later life, Emperor Nicholas II bestowed her the title "the Orthodox Grand Duchess".

The couple had five children:
** Grand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich of Russia (31 August 1875 - 16 March 1877)
** Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia (October 12 (N.S.), 1876—October 12, 1938).
** Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia (1877-1943)
** Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia (1879-1956)
** Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia (1882-1957) who married Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, third son of George I of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia.

Vladimir's eldest son and heir Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia married 1905 his first cousin Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, daughter of Vladimir's sister Maria. This marriage was disapproved by Nicholas II and Cyril was stripped of his imperial titles. The treatment of his son created a strife between Vladimir and the Emperor. However, after several deaths in the family put Cyril third in the line of succession to the Imperial Throne, Nicholas agreed to reinstate Cyril's imperial titles, and the latter's wife was given the title Grand Duchess Viktoria Fedorovna. Vladimir died 1909. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 Cyril was in 1924 proclaimed Emperor in Paris, in exile. Vladimir's line has thus received the headship of the imperial house. Vladimir was the paternal grandfather and namesake of the future pretender claimant Grand Duke Vladimir of Russia, born 1917.

Ancestry

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1= 1. Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia
2= 2. Alexander II of Russia
3= 3. Marie of Hesse and by Rhine
4= 4. Nicholas I of Russia
5= 5. Charlotte of Prussia
6= 6. Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse
7= 7. Wilhelmine of Baden
8= 8. Paul I of Russia
9= 9. Sophie Dorothea of Württemburg
10= 10. Frederick William III of Prussia
11= 11. Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
12= 12. Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse
13= 13. Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt
14= 14. Charles Louis of Baden
15= 15. Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt
16= 16. Peter III of Russia
17= 17. Catherine II of Russia
18= 18. Friedrich II Eugen, Duke of Württemberg
19= 19. Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt
20= 20. Frederick William II of Prussia
21= 21. Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt
22= 22. Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
23= 23. Friederike Caroline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt
24= 24. Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
25= 25. Karoline of Zweibrücken
26= 26. Georg Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt
27= 27. Luise of Leiningen-Heidesheim
28= 28. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden
29= 29. Karoline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt
30= 30. Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
31= 31. Karoline of Zweibrücken

External links