On this day — 15th (O.S. 2nd) June 1915 — Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich died at Pavlovsk.
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich was born on 23 August [O.S. 10 August] 1858 at the Constantine Palace, in Strelna. He was the fourth of six children born to Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich (1827-1892) and his wife Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg (1830-1911).
From his early childhood Konstantin was more interested in letters, art, and music than in the military upbringing required. He was to become a poet and playwright of some renown. He wrote under the pen name «K.R.», initials of his given name and family name, Konstantin Romanov.
Konstantin was sent to serve in the Imperial Russian Navy, however, he was unsatisfied, and left the navy to join the elite Izmailovsky Regiment of the Imperial Guard, where he served with distinction.
In 1884 KR married his second cousin Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg, in St. Petersburg. Upon her marriage, Elisabeth became the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Mavrikievna. The couple would have a total of nine children. KR was, by all accounts, devoted to his wife and children, and a loving father. He and his family made their home at the suburban palace Pavlovsk, and the Marble Palace in St. Petersburg.
The first year of the First World War took a cruel toll on KR’s immediate family. Five of his six sons served in the Russian Army, and in October 1914, his fourth and most talented son, Prince of the Imperial Blood Oleg Konstantinovich, was mortally wounded fighting against the Germans. The following March, his son-in-law Prince Bagration-Muhransky was killed on the Caucasus front.
KR’s health and spirit were broken by these blows, he died in his study in Pavlovsk, in the presence of his nine-year-old daughter Vera (1906-2001). He was the last of the Romanovs to die before the 1917 Revolution and the last Romanov to be buried in the grand ducal tomb of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.
Memory Eternal! Вечная Память!
