page_title: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia
section_title: A Russian Grand Duke
hierarchical_section_title: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia / A Russian Grand Duke
caption_attribution_description: English: Sergei Alexandrovich, Grand Duke of Russia
context_page_description: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was the fifth son and seventh child of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. He was an influential figure during the reigns of his brother Emperor Alexander III of Russia and his nephew Emperor Nicholas II, who was also his brother-in-law through Sergei's marriage to Elizabeth, the sister of Tsarina Alexandra.
  Grand Duke Sergei's education gave him lifelong interests in culture and the arts. Like all male members of the Romanov dynasty, he followed a military career, and he fought in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, receiving the Order of St George for courage and bravery in action. In 1882, his brother, Tsar Alexander III, appointed him Commander of the 1st Battalion Preobrazhensky Life Guard Regiment, a position he held until 1891. In 1889, Grand Duke Sergei was promoted to the rank of Major General. In 1884, Sergei married Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Their marriage remained childless, but they became the guardians of the two children of his brother, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia: Grand Duchess Maria, and Grand Duke Dmitri.
context_section_description: At twenty-six, the fair-haired Grand Duke was reserved, intelligent, well-read and refined. Over six feet tall, his extremely slim figure was accentuated by a corset, worn in the manner of Prussian officers.
  With his closely cropped hair and neat beard, Sergei Alexandrovich cut an impressive figure. When Consuelo Vanderbilt, then Duchess of Marlborough, met him in Moscow, she considered him to be "One of the most handsome men I have ever seen."
  Described by his brother-in-law Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, as "tall and fair with delicate features and beautiful light green eyes". Very self-conscious, he held himself very stiffly and with a hard expression in his eyes.
  His health was seriously compromised as he suffered from osteoarticular tuberculosis. A condition he strove to conceal, but it caused all his joints to waste away.  He had to take salts and hot baths to get some relief.  He could not ride a  horse and had to wear a spinal corset at all times.  He stood very straight and had a habit of playing with one of his jeweled rings, turning it around his finger. He kept his feelings rigidly in check, and many mistook his reserve for pride. Few had the chance to know him well. He was noted for his adherence to the Church, took a deep interest in Russian antiques and art treasures, and was interested in archaeology, music and acting and sometimes chairing meetings of the Archaeological Congress.
  While shy and reserved, he made no secret of his disapproval of fashionable society and its lax ways, and he defied all criticism. He found it hard to cope with opposition and easily lost his temper. In his home, he demanded tidiness, order, and discipline, and he expected to be obeyed. His niece, Marie, Queen of the Romanians, remembered him: "Dry, nervous, short of speech, impatient, he had none of the rather careless good humor of his three elder brothers ... but for all that we loved him, felt irresistibly attracted to him, hard though he could be. Few perhaps cherish his memory, but I do." Many other family members, including his nephew Kiril, Princess Marie of Greece and Prince Gabriel, included their good impressions of him in their memoirs.
caption: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia.
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