father house death_date mother birth_place death_place image_size title birth_date issue spouse image article_title
duke peter georgievich of oldenburg house of holstein-gottorp 6 september 1932 princess therese of nassau-weilburg st. petersburg , russian empire biarritz , france 200px duke alexander petrovich of oldenburg 2 june 1844 duke peter alexandrovich of oldenburg princess eugenia maximilianovna of leuchtenberg duke jpg alexander petrovich of oldenburg -lrb- 1844-1932 -rrb- . duke alexander petrovich of oldenburg

duke alexander petrovich of oldenburg

duke alexander petrovich of oldenburg -lrb- 2 june 1844 - 6 september 1932 -rrb- was the second son of duke peter georgievich of oldenburg and his wife princess therese of nassau-weilburg .
though he had a german title and ancestry , alexander and his siblings were born and raised in st. petersburg as the grandchildren of grand duchess catherine pavlovna of russia .
alexander served as adjutant general to alexander iii of russia , and also as commanding general of the imperial guard .
alexander was the russian candidate submitted to succeed alexander , prince of bulgaria , though this nomination failed to gain the support of the other great european powers .
at the outbreak of world war i , nicholas ii of russia appointed alexander , a medical doctor , as supreme chief of the medical service of the military and naval forces .
alexander and his wife princess eugenia maximilianovna of leuchtenberg were noted for their philanthropy , establishing schools , hospitals , orphanages , and other charitable organizations in russia .
during world war i , the duke famously invited wounded british and french soldiers to stay for free in a sanatorium he founded in the crimea .
when the russian revolution broke out , alexander was reported to have been one of the imperial family killed by the newly emerged bolshevik government , though this turned out to be only a rumor as the duke was able to escape and hide away in finland and eventually to france , where he died at biarritz on 6 september 1932 .
