Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia

Grand Duke Michael of Russia, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Romanov (Russian: Михаи́л Александрович Рома́нов) (St. Petersburg, November 22, 1878 (O.S.) –– Perm, Ural, about June 12, 1918) was the controversial younger brother of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Nicholas abdicated in favour of Michael on March 15 [O.S. March 2] 1917, but Michael declined the throne.

Family

Michael was a son of Alexander III of Russia and Dagmar of Denmark. His paternal grandparents were Alexander II of Russia and his first wife Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. His maternal grandparents were Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel.

Michael was a younger brother of Nicholas II of Russia, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich, Grand Duke George Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna. He was also an elder brother of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna.

Marriage and Career

Michael began a relationship with Natalya Sergeyevna Wulffert (née Sheremetevskaya), a twice-divorced commoner. Their only child, George, was born in 1910, whom Michael named for his deceased brother, George. The couple married in secret on October 30, 1912 (N.S.) in Vienna, for which action Michael was exiled and his renunciation of the imperial succession (unsuccessfully) demanded by his brother, the Tsar. Natalya was not entitled to be known as Grand Duchess, and instead used the style, "Countess Brasova".

Nicholas II later legitimated George, who took the style "Count Brasov", although he never obtained any rights to the throne. Brasov died in a car crash at age 21 on July 22, 1931. On July 28, 1935, Countess Brasova was granted the title-in-exile of HSH Princess Romanovskaya-Brasova by her late husband's cousin Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich, pretender to the Russian throne.

Upon the outbreak of World War I, Mikhail Alexandrovich requested the Tsar's permission to return to Russia and to the army, with the understanding that his wife and son would come too. He returned home as a Russian general, leading the Savage Division, formed of Chechens and Daghestani troops.

Heir to the Russian throne

At the time of his birth, his paternal grandfather Alexander II was still the reigning Emperor of Russia. Michael was fourth-in-line to the throne following his father and elder brothers Nicholas and George. His elder brother Alexander had died as a toddler.

His paternal grandfather was assassinated by Ignacy Hryniewiecki of the Narodnaya Volya on March 13, 1881. His father succeeded him as Emperor. Nicholas became heir apparent while George was second-in-line to the throne, and Michael Alexandrovich was third. When their father died on November 1, 1894, his oldest brother became Nicholas II, while George Alexandrovich became heir presumptive, and Michael stood second-in-line to the throne.

George suffered from poor health and died of tuberculosis on August 9, 1899. Michael became heir presumptive to his still reigning elder brother Nicholas II, expected to become Emperor in his own right since Nicholas and his Empress Consort Alexandra had several daughters, but no son. Under Russian law, the eldest daughter, Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaievna, could only succeed to the throne if all male Romanovs, no matter how distantly related to the Emperor, pre-deceased her.

Michael continued as heir presumptive until August 12, 1904, when the birth of Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich to Nicholas II and Alexandra resulted in the newborn becoming heir apparent to his father. Michael again became the second-in-line heir to the throne.

Michael during the Revolution

At 3.05 pm on March 15 [O.S. March 2] 1917, Emperor Nicholas II, under pressure from generals and Duma representatives, abdicated in favour of his son, Alexei. However, he reconsidered his decision, deciding that the 12 year-old boy's haemophilia rendered him too vulnerable to be separated from his parents. In a second abdication document, signed at 11.15 pm but marked as having been issued at 3.05 pm, the time of the earlier one, Nicholas II declared

We bequeath Our inheritance to Our brother the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and give him Our Blessing on his accession to the throne." [1]

The abdication was countersigned by the Minister for the Imperial Court, Count Freedericksz. According to Russia's Fundamental Laws, Michael became Emperor on the day the abdication of his predecessor was lawfully promulgated. Michael was, in fact, proclaimed as "Emperor Michael II" to Russian troops and in some cities, though not in most.

Michael's accession was accepted by the newly-formed Provisional Government, with the exception of the representative of the newly-formed Petrograd Soviet, Alexander Kerensky. He anticipated rejection of the monarchy's continuance by the Soviet's members, and, along with most other leaders of the Provisional Government who met with Michael the next morning, Kerensky sought to dissuade Michael from attempting to reign. He and two lawyers (including Vladimir Nabokov, father of the future writer) drafted a declaration of conditional acceptance for Michael to sign, which he duly did the following day, on March 16 [O.S. March 3] 1917. In it, Michael neither abdicated nor refused acceptance of the throne, but deferred exercise of the Crown's authority, conferring the Tsarist imprimatur upon the Provisional Government's regime until, and for the purpose of, democratically ascertaining whether the Russian people wished to retain or replace the monarchy. The manifesto stated, in part:

I am firmly resolved to assume supreme power only if such is the will of our great people, who must now by universal suffrage and through their representatives in the Constituent Assembly establish a form of government and new fundamental laws of the Russian State. [2]

Michael's diary entry of 15 March 1917 (mentioned in Before the Revolution — A view of Russia under the last Tsar by Kyril Fitzlyon {Allan Lane Publication 1977, 256 pages, ISBN 0713908947}) is noteworthy, though it did not prove prescient:

'We woke up this morning to hear Russia declared a Republic. What does it matter which form the government will be as long as there is order and justice.'

Any hopes that Michael might be able to assume the throne, following the election of the Constituent Assembly, were overtaken by events. His renunciation of the throne, though conditional, marked the end of the Tsarist regime in Russia. Given that he never ruled, and reigned for at most a few hours, his brother Nicholas II is regarded as the last actual, or de facto Emperor, while Michael's "reign" is relegated to a largely forgotten footnote of history.

Murder

The best source material, both archival from Russia and elsewhere, seems to indicate that on June 12 1918 Michael was ordered by a group of men to get out of the hotel in Perm where he lived. Then he and his secretary were taken by a car to the outskirts of town where they were shot and their bodies were burnt. The official Soviet point of view was that those men were local workers who hated the Tsarist regime and were annoyed by Michael's "luxury" lifestyle. The documents, however, show that the order to execute him appears to have been given by the Perm Cheka.

Ancestry

**Michael Alexandrovich's ancestors in three generations**
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia	Father: Alexander III of Russia	Paternal Grandfather: Alexander II of Russia	Paternal Great-grandfather: Nicholas I of Russia
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Charlotte of Prussia
		Paternal Grandmother: Marie of Hesse	Paternal Great-grandfather: Legally, Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse.
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Wilhelmine of Baden
	Mother: Dagmar of Denmark	Maternal Grandfather: Christian IX of Denmark	Maternal Great-grandfather: Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Louise Caroline of Hesse-Kassel
		Maternal Grandmother: Louise of Hesse-Kassel	Maternal Great-grandfather: Prince William of Hesse
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Louise Charlotte of Denmark

External links

Virtual Museum of Michael Romanov in Perm, with information about his last days in Perm.