Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich was born on 22 April 1847 at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. He was fourth among the eight children of Alexander II of Russia and his wife Maria Alexandrovna, born Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. He was eight years old when at the death of his grandfather Nicholas I, his father became Russian tsar. Relations between the two brothers, although cordial, were never warm. ==A Russian Grand Duke==

In 1867 Grand Duke Vladimir was named honorary president of the Russian ethnographic society, the same year he accompanied his father and his brother Alexander to the World Fair in Paris, where his father was shot by a Polish nationalist. In 1871 he visited the Caucasus region, Georgia, Chechnya and Dagestan with his father and his brothers. In 1872 he accompanied his father to Vienna at the reunion of the three emperors: Russia, Germany and Austria. A member of the European beau monde, he made frequent trips to Paris. He became portly as a young man, although in later life he slimmed down. He was a skillful painter and gathered an important book collection. He was a well known gourmet, accumulating a collection of menus copied after meals, adding notations with his impressions about the food. ==Marriage==

While traveling through Germany with his family in June 1871, Grand Duke Vladimir met Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (14 May 1854 – 6 September 1920), daughter of Grand Duke Frederick Francis II and of Augusta of Reuss-Köstritz. She was seventeen years old and was already engaged to a distant relative, Prince George of Schwarzburg. This delayed the couple's engagement for almost two years. Finally, Emperor Alexander II consented to Marie's continued adherence to her Lutheran faith, allowing Vladimir to marry her without loss of his rights to the Russian throne. The engagement was announced in April 1874. on 13 April 1908 Emperor Nicholas II commanded the use of the style "the Orthodox Grand Duchess". - «именовать Ея Императорское Высочество Благоверною Великою Княгинею» The Grand Duke Vladimir and his wife were described as witty and ambitious. They enjoyed entertaining and their residence in Saint Petersburg became popular among the Imperial capital's socialites. ==Vladimir's palace==

By the time of his marriage, construction had already been completed on Vladimir's own residence and he moved there with his wife. A team of architects assisted Rezanov: Vasily Kenel, , and Vladimir Shreter. The foundation stone was laid on 15 July 1867. Construction work lasted five years, from 1867 to 1872. The furniture was designed by architect Victor Schröter. The site chosen for the palace was the Embankment near the Winter Palace in the center of St Petersburg. The façade, richly ornamented with stucco rustication, was patterned after Leon Battista Alberti's palazzi in Florence. The main porch is built of Bremen sandstone and adorned with griffins, coats-of-arms, and cast-iron lanterns. Other details are cast in Portland cement. The palace and its outbuildings contain some 360 rooms, all decorated in eclectic historic styles: Neo-Renaissance (reception room, parlor), Gothic Revival (dining room), Russian Revival (Oak Hall), Rococo (White Hall), Byzantine style (study), Louis XIV, various oriental styles, and so on. This interior ornamentation, further augmented by Maximilian Messmacher in 1881–1891, is considered by art historians, such as Nikolay Punin, a major monument to the 19th-century passion for historicism. Grand Duke Vladimir decorated his apartments with his collection of Russian paintings by the best artists of his time, such as ==Issue==

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna had five children: • Grand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich of Russia (31 August 1875 – 16 March 1877). He died in infancy. • Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia (12 October (N.S.), 1876 – 12 October 1938). He married his first cousin Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They had three children. • Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia (24 November 1877 – 9 November 1943). He married his mistress Zinaida Rashevskaya. He did not leave legitimate descendants. • Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia (14 May (N.S.) 1879 – 30 October 1956). He married his mistress Matilda Kchessinska. They had one son. • Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia (29 January 1882 – 13 March 1957). She married Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, third son of George I of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia. They had three daughters. ==During three reigns==

Grand Duke Vladimir occupied important military positions during three reigns. He experienced battle in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, taking part in the campaign alongside his father and his brothers Alexander and Sergei. He fought against the Turkish troops as the commanding officer of the XII Corps of the Russian army. However, his military career interested him less than art and literature. In 1880 his father appointed him President of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. Grand Duke Vladimir was in the Imperial capital when his father was assassinated and succeeded by Alexander III in 1881. It fell upon Vladimir, who regained his composure more quickly than his brother, to announce their father's death to the public. Vladimir inherited his father's personal library, which the Grand Duke added to his large book-collection that was arranged in three libraries at the Vladimir Palace. (After the Russian Revolution of 1917 these books were sold off randomly by weight and currently form part of several American university-collections. He later took a great interest in ballet. He financed the tour of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. 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. Although the Grand Duke was conservative in his political views, he did believe in human virtues. Something of a rascal himself, he preferred the company of amusing witty people - regardless of their ideology or background. The more liberal members of Russian society were invited to lavish parties at his residence. He often intimidated people with his coarseness, rudeness and hot temper. Vladimir was also a devoted family man, close to his children. ==Last years==

In January 1905 a wave of strikes broke out in St. Petersburg. On 9 January (O.S.)/22 (N.S.) a peaceful procession of workers led by a priest, Father Georgy Gapon, marched towards the Winter Palace from different points in the city hoping to present requests for reforms directly to Emperor Nicholas II. The Tsar, however, was not in the capital. General Ivan Fullon, St Petersburg Governor, tried to stop the march. In October 1905, Vladimir's eldest son and heir Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia married his first cousin Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, daughter of Vladimir's sister Maria. Nicholas II was enraged by the marriage, which was contracted without his permission and was in violation of the Russian Orthodox ban on marriages between first cousins. Nicholas stripped Kirill of his imperial titles and banished him. Vladimir protested the treatment given to his son and resigned from all his posts in protest. Vladimir “shouted so violently at his nephew that the court chamberlain, waiting outside the door, feared for his master’s safety and almost ran off to summon the imperial guards.” Vladimir slammed his fists on Nicholas' desk and ripped off the military decorations from his uniform, shouting, "I have served your father, your grandfather and you. But now as you have degraded my son I no longer wish to serve you.” Eventually, Nicholas II relented and forgave his cousins for marrying without his consent, but he did not allow them to return to Russia. Vladimir's widow and their four children survived the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1924 in exile, Kirill proclaimed himself Emperor de jure, Vladimir's line thereby claimed headship of the Imperial House. Vladimir was the paternal grandfather and namesake of the future pretender claimant Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia. His granddaughter Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark became a British princess by marriage to Prince George, Duke of Kent, fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary, in 1934. Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich's great granddaughter, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, is the current claimant and his great grandson Prince Michael of Kent is an honorary member of the Romanov Family Association. ==Honours and awards==

The Grand Duke received the following Russian and foreign decorations: ;Russian • Knight of St. Andrew, 22 April 1847 • Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky, 22 April 1847 • Knight of St. Anna, 1st Class, 22 April 1847 • Knight of the White Eagle, 22 April 1847 • Knight of St. Stanislaus, 1st Class, 11 June 1865 • Knight of St. George, 3rd Class, 14 November 1877 • Knight of St. Vladimir, 4th Class, 22 April 1868; 2nd Class with Swords, 15 September 1877; 1st Class, 15 May 1883 ;Foreign ==Notes==