Emperor Alexander III's three sons rendered Vladimir and Vladimir's own three sons remote in the line of succession to Russia's throne. Nevertheless, Vladimir seemed unexpectedly close to becoming Emperor in 1888 when Alexander III with his wife and all of their children were involved in a train accident at Borki (in present-day Ukraine). Vladimir and his wife, then in Paris, did not bother to come back to Russia. This annoyed Alexander III, who commented that if he had died with his children, Vladimir would have rushed to return to Russia to become Emperor. At Alexander III's death in 1894 there were unfounded rumors that the army intended to proclaim Grand Duke Vladimir emperor in place of his nephew Nicholas II. Vladimir tried to influence the new Emperor, particularly at the beginning of Nicholas II's reign.