page_title: Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia
section_title: Education
hierarchical_section_title: Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia / Education
caption_attribution_description: English: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna jr, and Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich
context_page_description: Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich of Russia was a son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and a first cousin of Tsar Nicholas II.
  His early life was marked by the death of his mother and his father's banishment from Russia after marrying a commoner in 1902. Grand Duke Dimitri and his elder sister Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, to whom he remained very close throughout his life, were raised in Moscow by their paternal uncle Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and his wife Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia, a sister of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. His uncle was killed in 1905 and as his aunt entered religious life, Dimitri spent a great deal of his youth in the company of Tsar Nicholas II and his immediate family at the Alexander Palace as they viewed him almost like a foster son.
  Grand Duke Dimitri followed a military career, graduating from the Nikolaevskoe Cavalry School. He was commissioned as a cornet in the Horse Guards Regiment. An excellent equestrian, he competed in the Olympics games of 1912 in Stockholm.
context_section_description: In 1895, Grand Duke Paul began an affair with a married woman, Olga Valerianova Pistolkors. He was able to obtain a divorce for her and he eventually married Olga in 1902, while the couple was staying abroad. As they had married defying Nicholas II's opposition, the Tsar forbade them to return to Russia and Grand Duke Paul was not allowed to take the children with him into exile. Left fatherless, eleven-year-old Dmitri and his twelve-year-old sister were sent to live with their uncle, Grand Duke Sergei, and his wife Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (the Empress's sister), in Moscow.
  The loss of their father and the sudden move to Moscow caused the children great distress. In her memoirs, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger) describes Grand Duke Sergei as a stern disciplinarian, and his wife, Grand Duchess Elizabeth as a cold and unwelcoming presence.
  Grand Duke Dimitri was educated at home by private tutors. Like all male members of the Romanov family, he was destined to follow a military career which traditionally began for a Grand Duke at the age of seven. This was delayed in Dimitri case until he was nine years old. In the spring of 1901, his education was entrusted to General George Mikhailovich Laiming. Laiming was a warm affectionate man who became devoted to his charge. He moved into the place with his wife and their four-year-old son Boris. In their apartments, Dimitri and his sister enjoyed a warm family environment. In 1903, at the age of twelve, Dimitri was enrolled in the Chevalier Guard regiment following studies at the Calvary Academy.
  On 4 February 1905, Grand Duke Sergei, who had recently resigned from the post of Governor-General of Moscow, was assassinated by Ivan Kalyaev, a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party. Kalyaev, armed with a homemade bomb, had aborted his first attempt to kill the Grand Duke when he spotted Dmitri and Marie with their uncle in his carriage. His uncle's death was only one of several assassinations that robbed Dimitri of close family members. After Sergei's death, Dimitri's father, Grand Duke Paul was allowed to return to Russia to attend the funeral. He asked Nicholas II to restore the custody of his children but instead, Nicholas named Sergei's widow Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna as the children's guardian.
  Maria Pavlovna continued to have some feelings of anger toward her aunt, whom she would blame for her overly hasty marriage to Prince Wilhem of Sweden in 1908, but Dmitri formed a very strong bond with Elizabeth and came to admire her personal fortitude.
caption: Grand Duke Dimitri and his sister Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna jr with their uncle Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, who was their guardian and foster father.
exif: {"Image Make": "SAMSUNG", "Image Model": "SAMSUNG ES73 / VLUU ES73 / SAMSUNG SL605", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:03:20 19:22:45", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "COPYRIGHT, 2010", "Image Padding": "[]", "Image ExifOffset": "2356", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5114", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5431", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:05:17 00:01:42", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:05:17 00:01:42", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "1866229/941760", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5", "EXIF ApertureValue": "361/100", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "361/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "49/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1392", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1908", "EXIF RelatedSoundFile": "RelatedSound", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "5000", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "1", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4156"}