page_title: Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia
section_title: Love affair with Alexandra Zhukovskaya
hierarchical_section_title: Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia / Love affair with Alexandra Zhukovskaya
caption_attribution_description: Белевский-Жуковский Алексей Алексеевич
context_page_description: Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia was the fifth child and the fourth son of Alexander II of Russia and his first wife Maria Alexandrovna. Chosen for a naval career, Alexei Alexandrovich started his military training at the age of 7. By the age of 20 he had been appointed lieutenant of the Imperial Russian Navy and had visited all Russia's European military ports. In 1871, he was sent as a goodwill ambassador to the United States and Japan.
  In 1883 he was appointed general-admiral. He had a significant contribution in the equipment of the Russian navy with new ships and in modernizing the naval ports. However, after the Russian defeat in the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, he was relieved of his command. He died in Paris in 1908.
context_section_description: In 1869/1870, Alexei had an affair with Alexandra Zhukovskaya, daughter of poet Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky, who was eight years older than he was. They had a son, Alexei, born on 26 November 1871. Tsar Alexander II was strongly opposed to this relationship.
  Some historians claim that they were morganatically married and that the marriage was annulled by the Russian Orthodox Church, because, according to the "Fundamental Laws of the Imperial House", this marriage was illegal. However, articles 183 and 188, which prohibited marriages without the consent of the emperor, were included in the Fundamental Laws only by the 1887 revision under Tsar Alexander III. The rules valid in 1870 did not prohibit morganatic marriages, but simply excluded their offspring from the succession to the throne. There is no evidence either to the marriage or to the divorce. There is also no evidence that Alexei even requested the permission to marry. As Alexandra Zhukovskaya was not an aristocrat and, besides, the daughter of an illegitimate son of a Russian landowner and a Turkish slave, such a marriage would have been unthinkable.
  Upset by his son's affair, Alexander II even refused to grant Alexandra Zhukovskaya a title, which would have officially recognized the Grand Duke's paternity, even if illegitimate. Other European courts also refused to grant her a title. As a solution of last resort, on 25 March 1875 Alexandra was able to secure the title of Baroness Seggiano from the Republic of San Marino, with the right to transmit the title to her son and his firstborn male descendants. It was only in 1883, that Alexander III, Alexei's elder brother, granted the Baron Seggiano the title of Count Belevsky, and in 1893 approved his coat of arms.
caption: Count Alexey Alexeevich Belevskiy-Zhukovskiy 1871-1931
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