Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich: biography. Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich Romanov: biography, family, awards, military service Prince Alexei Alexandrovich Romanov

Alexey Alexandrovich is a well-known domestic statesman and military figure. He was the fourth son in the family of Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna. He was a member of the State Council, led the Naval Department and the Navy, the Admiralty Council. Repeatedly took part in wars and battles, was awarded a large number of Russian and foreign awards.

early years

Grand Duke Alexey Alexandrovich was born in 1850. He was born in St. Petersburg. As was customary in those days, in fact, at birth, he was enrolled in the army, so that by adulthood he would already have officer ranks for long service. Initially, he was assigned to the Preobrazhensky, Moscow and Jaeger regiments. In 1853 he was enrolled in the Ulansky regiment.

Since 1855, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich was part of the newly created Imperial Rifle Regiment. At the age of seven, the hero of our article had already received his first chief officer ranks, took patronage of the Yekaterinburg Infantry Regiment. In 1860 he went to sea practice, which he took place on various ships. The sea has always attracted him, so he chose his paths to serve in the navy. His immediate mentor and mentor in this field was Rear Admiral Konstantin Nikolaevich Posyet.

In 1866, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich was promoted to lieutenant of the guard and lieutenant of the fleet.

Shipwreck

In 1868, the young prince was on the verge of death when he set sail on the frigate "Alexander Nevsky" to the Baltic from Poti. The ship is commanded by Posyet, but on the night of September 13, it crashes, running aground in the Jutland Strait. A rescue operation was urgently organized, during which one officer and three sailors died. According to the memoirs of the captain of the first rank Oscar Karlovich Kremer, the hero of our article behaved with dignity when he refused to be among the first to go ashore from a sinking ship. This was the first strength test in the biography of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich.

Swimming around the world

Four days after this event, the hero of our article was promoted to staff captain, he was appointed adjutant wing. In the same year, he took patronage over the Tengin regiment. In 1870 he made his first independent voyage as a watch officer. On the Varyag corvette, he traveled by water system from St. Petersburg to Arkhangelsk, and from there he returned by sea to Kronstadt.

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich Romanov set sail around the world in 1871. He was appointed senior officer on the frigate "Svetlana". It was on it that he went to North America, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, visited Japan and China on an official visit. He returned to Vladivostok in December 1872. From there I went to the capital by land through all of Russia, stopping in many Siberian cities. In Tomsk, in honor of his visit, a real school and one of the streets of the city were renamed.

It is known that during his visit to the United States he took part in a buffalo hunt along with the famous American showman and military man Buffalo Bill and General Philip Henry Sheridan. On this trip, he looked at almost the whole world, tested himself for strength, learned and understood a lot.

In 1873, the hero of our article was appointed commander of the Guards Naval Crew. As a member of the artillery and shipbuilding departments of the Marine Technical Committee, he is directly involved in the work of the maritime department. Since 1876 - the chief of the East Siberian linear battalion.

Russo-Turkish War

The first military conflict, in which Alexey Alexandrovich takes part, is the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878. During the hostilities, he was appointed head of naval teams on the Danube.

He himself takes a direct part in the battles, carries out a successful operation to organize a crossing across the Danube. For the successes shown in the service, awarded the order Saint George of the fourth degree. Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Sr., who at that time was the commander-in-chief of the army, notes the successful diligence and tirelessness of the young officer. Emphasizes the successful adoption of all necessary measures to prevent the enemy from harming our crossings. This allowed the main forces to calmly and non-stop conduct military operations.

In 1877, Alexei Alexandrovich was promoted to rear admiral, and five years later he became vice admiral. Shortly before that, he was a member of the State Council, became the head of the Naval Department and the Navy, replacing his uncle Konstantin Nikolaevich in these posts.

In 1883 he received the rank of Admiral General. At that time, Alexei Alexandrovich, of course, could not even suspect that he would be the last general-admiral in the history of the Russian fleet, soon this position would be abolished, changing the army itself, and the whole country.

Head of the Maritime Department and Fleet

Since 1890, Alexey Alexandrovich has been a member of the Berlin Orthodox St. Prince Vladimir Brotherhood. A few years later, he receives another appointment, raising him in the service. He becomes the chief of the Marine cadet corps and the Fifth Naval Crew.

It is worth noting that during the time in which he headed the fleet and the Naval Department, he relied on his direct assistants, that is, the heads of the maritime ministries, in most decisions and matters of principle. At different times, these were Peshchurov, Ivan Alekseevich Shestakov, Nikolai Matveevich Chikhachev, Pavel Petrovich Tyrtov and Fedor Karlovich Avelan. The latter retired in 1905. Many contemporaries highly appreciated the ability of Alexei Alexandrovich to listen to the opinion and position of the highest officer command staff.

Under him, a naval qualification was introduced in the Russian fleet, a provision appeared on remuneration and encouragement for the command of ships of the first and second rank for a long time, the corps of mechanical engineers and ship engineers were transformed and improved. The number of crews in the Russian fleet increased, a large number of cruisers and battleships, the ports of Alexander III in Libau, Port Arthur, Sevastopol were equipped. The number of slipways increased, the docks in Vladivostok, Kronstadt, and the Sevastopol seaport were significantly expanded.

Aleksey Alexandrovich had a direct influence on the development of these cities. It was under him that a sea fishing and trading port appeared in the Crimea. The Sevastopol seaport remains one of the most significant and influential on the Black Sea coast today. In this it is necessary to recognize the merit of the hero of our article.

Russo-Japanese War

A strong blow to his reputation was the crushing defeat that the Russian fleet suffered during the Russo-Japanese War. In the eyes of the public, it was he who turned into the main culprit and responsible for what happened.

The Russo-Japanese War began in January 1904. The struggle was for the right to establish control in Korea, Manchuria and the Yellow Sea. It was the largest conflict in the world in the last few decades, in which ironclads, long-range artillery and destroyers were actively used.

Already at the beginning of the 20th century, issues related to the Far East became one of the main ones in the policy of Emperor Nicholas II. He was attracted by the so-called "big Asian program". In particular, during his meeting with the German Emperor Wilhelm II, he unequivocally stated that Russia plans in the very near future not only to strengthen, but also to strengthen its influence in East Asia.

Japan has become the main obstacle to solving this problem. It is believed that Nicholas II foresaw this clash, preparing for it on all fronts - both diplomatic and military. However, many in government circles expected that Japan would not at all decide on an armed conflict with such a strong adversary. Russo-Japanese relations escalated in 1903 over a dispute over timber concessions in Korea. For Russia, this was a matter of principle, since it could secure access to non-freezing seas and take possession of the vast uninhabited territory of Manchuria. Japan sought to establish complete control over Korea, demanding that Russia back down.

Already in December 1903, thanks to undercover data, Nicholas II knew that Japan had completed preparations for war, waiting for an opportunity to strike. But there were no immediate responses. The indecisiveness of senior officials led to the fact that the plan for preparing a campaign against an aggressive neighbor was never able to be implemented.

The Japanese fleet attacked the Russian squadron suddenly and without declaring war on the outer roadstead of Port Arthur on the night of January 27, 1904. This led to the disabling of several powerful ships, allowing the Japanese to land unhindered in Korea. In May, the Japanese took advantage of the passivity of the Russian command to land on the Kwantung Peninsula, effectively cutting off Port Arthur from Russia by land. By December, the unsupported garrison was forced to capitulate. The remnants of a powerful Russian squadron, which stood on its defense, were sunk by the crews themselves or blown up by Japanese artillery.

The general battle took place in February 1905 at Mukden. In it, the Russian army was forced to retreat. One of the most famous was the battle near the island of Tsushima, in which another Russian squadron deployed to Far East, was destroyed.

The second squadron of the Pacific Fleet was commanded by Vice Admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky. The Imperial Japanese Navy, led by Admiral Togo, inflicted the last crushing defeat on Russia in this war. In the Battle of Tsushima Island, the last hopes of the Russian leadership for a favorable outcome collapsed. The failure was due to many factors. Among them, they noted the remoteness of the theater of operations from the main centers of the country, unfinished military-strategic training, limited communications, as well as a significant technological gap between the Russian fleet and the enemy army. Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich and his fleet, of which he actually was, became the main responsible for this failure.

After the defeat in the Battle of Tsushima, he resigned, was dismissed from all naval posts.

Personal life

There are many assumptions about the personal life of Alexei Alexandrovich. According to some reports, he was in a morganastic marriage with the maid of honor Alexandra Vasilievna Zhukovskaya, who was the daughter of the famous Russian poet. It is impossible to say for certain whether this marriage existed, but even if so, it was not officially recognized.

It is believed that the 19-year-old hero of our article secretly married 27-year-old Alexandra Vasilievna Zhukovskaya, either somewhere in Italy, or in Geneva. The emperor did not approve of the marriage, and it was annulled by the Synod. According to other sources, the lovers maintained only extramarital relationships.

In 1871, Zhukovskaya gave birth to the prince's son Alexei. He grew up in Germany, received the title of baron in San Marino and the surname Seggiano. He served in a dragoon regiment, until 1914 he remained at his villa in Baden-Baden, but returned to Russia with the outbreak of World War I.

After the October Revolution, he worked as a biologist. His children emigrated, and he himself decided to stay in Russia. In 1932 he was shot in Tbilisi.

After a relationship with Zhukovskaya, Alexei Aleksandrovich was close to Zinaida Skobeleva. Although she was married, their relationship continued from 1880 to 1899, until her death. After her death from throat cancer, the hero of our article became interested in the French ballerina Eliza Balletta, who danced in the troupe of the Mikhailovsky Theater. The Palace of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich was located in St. Petersburg on Palace Embankment, 30.

Awards

The Grand Duke had a huge number of awards. He had all major orders Russian Empire, named weapon. In 1874 he received the Legion of Honor in France. This is a national award, which is considered the most prestigious and significant for France. Alexey Alexandrovich himself considered the Order of the Legion of Honor to be his main foreign award.

Death

In November 1908 supreme manifesto his death was announced. He died in Paris, the body of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich (1850-1908) was taken to Russia by train. The burial took place in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

The farewell ceremony was attended by: Emperor Nicholas II with his wife, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. The cause of his sudden death at the age of 58 was pneumonia, which he caught on a foreign trip. At the same time, his inner circle noted that the prince was dejected by his resignation, a crushing defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, because of which he was very worried.

Mentions in popular culture

The personality of Alexei Alexandrovich is extremely popular in popular culture. For example, he is the main character of Zlotnikov's cycle of novels "General-Admiral". These are classic examples of alternative history books. Zlotnikov's novels "General-Admiral", which also contain a lot of fantasy, have long gained their fans.

The hero of our article occupies an important place in the work of Andrey Velichko, in particular in his series of books "The Caucasian Prince". The mention of the Grand Duke is found in Vasily Shukshin's story "Aliens", the attempt on his life is described by Conan Doyle in the collection "The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes".

Buffalo hunter. Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich. Part 1.

“In life one must experience everything” - such was the motto of Grand Duke Alexei.

The fourth son of Emperor Alexander II, brother of Emperor Alexander III, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich was born on January 2, 1850. By the will of his grandfather, Emperor Nicholas I, on the day of his birth, the boy was enrolled “in the Guards crew, i.e. from birth ... intended for naval service.

At the age of 7 he already had the rank of midshipman, and at the age of ten he began to sail the seas and oceans under the guidance of his tutor, the famous admiral and navigator K. N. Posyet.

Konstantin Nikolaevich Posyet (1819-1899) - Russian admiral, navigator, Minister of Railways, prominent statesman.

The Grand Duke, despite his title, was taught hard - together with the rest of the sailors, he climbed the masts and yards, setting and removing the sails, scrubbed the deck and performed other ship service duties. At the age of 17, he already served as a watch officer - this was already his seventh “campaign”.

During his naval service, he showed determination and considerable courage. In 1868, the frigate Alexander Nevsky, on board of which Alexei was, fell into a severe storm while sailing in the North Sea, ran into a reef off the coast of Jutland and was wrecked. The Grand Duke in this situation behaved in the highest degree with dignity. To Posyet's offer to be the first to leave the ship, he responded with a decisive refusal, until all the sailors were saved, he remained with the admiral on board until the last. Courage Alexei in his younger years was not to take. Even earlier, he saved on Lake Onega young man and his sister who fell out of the boat. For this feat, he received from his father the gold medal "For Bravery", which he was proud of all his life.

A.P. Bogolyubov. Exit of the Grand Duke from the boat in breakers

A.P. Bogolyubov. Thanksgiving prayer in the evening after the wreck on the shore

Most of the childhood and youth of the Grand Duke, however, passed not at sea, but on land, in the summer residences of the Crimea, in the Winter Palace and travels around Europe, where numerous Romanov relatives were scattered. He was very friendly with his older brother Alexander (the future Emperor Alexander III) and his wife Maria Feodorovna, Minnie, as she was called at home. After the death of Alexander III in 1894, Minnie always patronized Alexei until his death, more than once saving his shattered reputation.

On the day of Alexei's twentieth birthday, a ceremony was held in the Winter Palace to take the oath of allegiance to the throne and the Fatherland. In the year of the oath, education officially ended, because since then it was believed that the most august children knew life and its laws. General N. A. Epanchin described the Grand Duke as follows: “Alexey Alexandrovich was ... a benevolent person, but there was little seriousness in life and work; there were strange gaps in his upbringing ... While sailing on the frigate Svetlana, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, upon arrival in New York, played cards with his colleagues ... after playing during the calculation, the Grand Duke, pointing to one of the coins, asked what it was . They answered him: "Piglet" ... copper five kopecks; then the Grand Duke ... looked at her with curiosity and said: “I see it for the first time.” Surely this was not a joke, but proof of how far he was kept from life." Note that in the future he not only did not count copper nickels, but even millions of gold rubles that disappeared in his bottomless pockets.

Alexandra Zhukovskaya

They often met at the Anichkov Palace - the residence of his brother Alexander and Minnie, where both took part in home performances. This Zhukovskaya was the daughter famous poet, friend of A. S. Pushkin and educator of Alexander II. She answered him in kind. What was to be done? He was not allowed to marry the title, and she - the position of the maid of honor. Now, if they were ordinary people ... Knowing about the side families of his father and both uncles, Konstantin Nikolayevich and Nikolai Nikolayevich, as well as about the cupids of his aunt Maria Nikolaevna with Count Stroganov, Alexei decided to run away with his beloved abroad, marry her, and there let it be.

Realizing that they would not be allowed to marry in Russia anyway, they secretly fled to Italy. There they secretly got married, but their marriage in Russia was not recognized by the Synod, so formally Alexei continued to be considered single. By the way, Alexey was the only one from the Romanov dynasty who remained a bachelor. Due to lack of money, the lovers returned to their homeland. Alexandra Zhukovskaya asked the Empress to allow her to marry Alexei in Russia, but she did not receive permission

In 1884, Alexander III granted him the title of Count Belevsky-Zhukovsky. Sashenka Zhukovsky herself was given in marriage with a rich dowry to Baron Verman, who turned out to be a very decent person and caring husband. She lived permanently in Germany and died in 1899, while her son remained in Russia. His father helped him and patronized him in everything, like the entire imperial family - the grandson of Alexander II, nevertheless, albeit illegitimate. He served as adjutant to his uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, married, and had four children.

Wife Princess Maria Petrovna Trubetskaya (1872-1954), Count Alexei Alekseevich Belevsky-Zhukovsky

And then the revolution came. His wife and children managed to leave through Constantinople to Germany, while Alexei remained in Russia. Under Soviet rule, he became a prominent biologist, but died during the Stalinist repressions in 1932 in Tbilisi.

Count Alexei Alekseevich Belevsky-Zhukovsky

Alexei's father sent him to America for such a rash act. Alexander II, then, just in time, received an invitation from US President Ulysses Simpson Grant to pay a state visit in gratitude for Russia's support of the northerners during civil war. So he ordered Alexei to go to America instead of himself. Nothing to do, Alexey agreed. In 1871, on the frigate "Svetlana" as a lieutenant, he went on a long voyage. By the way, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich was on the same ship.

Alexey and Konstantin K R

Suffering from the loss of love, Alexei in Marseilles with a company of officers made a riot in one "fun" establishment with ladies. The police arrested the Buyans, but the Grand Duke managed to be “dismissed” by presenting to the authorities another officer named Alekseev (he was the half-brother of Alexei, was the natural son of Emperor Alexander II.). Aleksey Alexandrovich sent sorrowful letters to his mother from distant seas - just a cry from the heart: “I feel that I do not belong to myself, that I cannot leave them (Zhukovskaya and the unborn child. -M. P.).There is a feeling in this world that nothing can overcome - this feeling is love ... Mom, for God's sake, don't ruin me, don't sacrifice your son, forgive me, love me, don't throw me into that abyss where I can't get out ... "Later he still writes: “I do not want to be the shame and shame of the family ... Do not ruin me for God's sake. Do not sacrifice me for the sake of some prejudices that will disintegrate themselves in a few years ... To love this woman more than anything in the world and to know that she is forgotten, abandoned by everyone, she suffers, waits for a birth from minute to minute ... And I must remain some a creature who is called the Grand Duke and who therefore must, and can be, in his position, a vile and nasty person and no one dares to tell him this ... Help me, return honor and life to me, it is in your hands "

Apparently, his feeling for Zhukovskaya was actually serious. This feeling was also facilitated by the age of the Grand Duke - twenty years; at this age, love is especially strong, and if someone says that his beloved is not a couple, then this will be an insult for life. However, the parents stood their ground, the father was especially persistent, although he himself was not without sin in such matters. The brothers are another matter - they supported poor Alexei in everything and tried to help his grief. They spoke of his suffering to his parents; Alexander and Minnie tried to leave Zhukovskaya in Russia, and she was sent abroad to give birth. Useless. Vladimir then took matters into his own hands. He sent a letter to Zhukovskaya: “Dear Alexandra Vasilievna! I often talked a lot with the empress about everything that happened ... Neither she nor the sovereign agree to the wedding, this is their unchanging decision, neither time nor circumstances will change it, believe me. Now, dear Alexandra Vasilievna, let me, relying on our old friendship and your long-standing disposition towards me, turn directly to your heart ... Do you remember when I, having seen off my brother, stopped by to you. Saying goodbye to you, I took both your hands and, looking you straight in the eyes, I asked - do you really love your brother? You answered that you truly love him. I believed you, and how could I not believe? Now you know what position he is in. You also know the determined will of my parents. All this prompts me, if you definitely love your brother, to beg you on your knees, do not destroy him, but voluntarily, sincerely, give him up ... ”And Zhukovskaya, knowing that she and Alexei would never be united, heeded this request. They didn't meet again.

The collapse of all hopes, the loss of a beloved, the inability to start a full-fledged family broke Alexei's faith in justice and forced him to decide never to marry. Officially, the Grand Duke remained single, but in terms of the number of love affairs and novels, both in Russia and abroad, he was the undisputed champion. However, God did not give him repeated true love. Love failure broke him, changed everything that was good in him that had been laid down since childhood.

Let's get back to Alexei's trip to America. On August 20, 1871, the tsar himself accompanied his son to America on the frigate Svetlana, and already in November the ship anchored off the coast of Manhattan in New York. The distinguished guest was accommodated in the Claredon, the most luxurious hotel. There was a real stir about the visit of the distinguished Russian guest in America. Journalists tracked his every step and deed, and then scrupulously painted all this in the newspapers.

So, one of the newspapers wrote that Alexei likes women of small stature. Then all fashionistas and socialites abandoned shoes on high heels and high hair. In every hotel, young ladies strolled along the lobby in the hope of capturing the eyes of the Grand Duke. Rumors that he was sent on a trip to America for having a relationship with the woman he loved, who did not come to the Court, further inflamed the imagination of American women - everyone was ready to jump into his bed. Alexei was literally besieged everywhere by a crowd of enthusiastic admirers.

He visited Niagara Falls Maritime Academy, West Point, the Admiralty, weapons and shipbuilding factories, Harvard University and many other noteworthy places, until January 1, 1872 he arrived in the Wild West in the city of Chicago. Just the day before, there was a huge fire that destroyed part of the city, and Alexey donated 5 thousand dollars to the victims of the fire, which aroused even greater sympathy for the Americans.

How could one surprise and entertain a distinguished guest here? Of course, hunting for buffalo and seeing wild Indians! General Sheridan, the hero of the Civil War, took up the organization of this entertainment. He instructed General Custer and the famous St. John's wort Buffalo Bill to organize a grand buffalo hunt.

George Custer and Alexei became so close that they fought, danced and sang songs like boys. A photograph of 1872 has been preserved, which depicts both of these characters in hunting suits. Near Fort McPherson, near the Red Willow Creek, "Aleksei's camp" of 40 tents was pitched. The dining tent was decorated with the flags of both states. The menu included the meat of a wide variety of animals and birds - the inhabitants of the prairies, there was no shortage of a wide variety of drinks. Alexei was followed everywhere by a bed designed for his tall stature and powerful body. The hunt has begun. Prince Alexei was given the fastest horse and the best gun. On his 22nd birthday, Alexey killed his first bison, which he proudly wrote to his father about.

Then the Indians were invited to the "camp of Alexei", led by a leader named Spotted Tail. They performed their war dances before him and exercised their marksmanship against buffaloes. At a feast given in honor of the Indians, Alexei flirted with Spotted Tail's squaw, and it was so sweet that the ferocious leader of the redskins did not even think of skinning the pale-faced stranger.

There was even a Hollywood action film Maverick starring Mel Gibson and Judy Foster about the Grand Duke Alexei's hunt in the Wild West. True, he looks like a fool there, but still ... Americans are all Russian fools, this is already such a Hollywood standard. At the site of the royal hunt, local residents arrange a theatrical performance every year in memory of this event.

Buffalo Bill himself with the leader of the Sioux tribe.

The next point of stay of Alexei in the United States was the city of New Orleans. The choice of this city was not accidental. The fact is that back in New York, he met actress Lydia Thompson, a musical comedy star. The Russian prince was delighted with her game.

Alexei was especially worried about the song in her performance "If I stop loving." After the performance, he invited Lydia to dinner and begged her to sing this ballad again and again. Now that the hunting passions had cooled down, the Grand Duke remembered the pretty actress. When asked what other cities he would like to visit, Alexei did not hesitate to name New Orleans, it was there that the Lydia Thompson troupe went on tour.

Admirers of Alexei were upset - they so wanted to see him on the throne! For the Americans, the arrival of the Russian Grand Duke was, of course, exotic; It was under this sauce that he was perceived. From a meeting with Alexei, they tried to make a show, but this time they did not succeed.

On the evening after the festival, he went to a variety show in which Lydia Thompson was performing, and was so fascinated by the prima that he extended his stay in New Orleans by four days. She gave him a night of love, for which Alexey awarded his little girlfriend with a diamond bracelet and pearls of unprecedented beauty, and then left this city forever. The day of his visit to New Orleans became an official holiday! It is not known how much Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich is remembered in Russia, but in this city he is always remembered. America has a poor history, and even the visits of distinguished guests are a holiday for them.

The American press created the myth of Alexei the heartthrob.In fact, he rightly wrote home: “Regarding my success with American women, which the newspapers rang about, I can honestly say that all this is nonsense. They looked at me the way people look at a crocodile in a cage or a huge monkey, but after examining me, they became indifferent. So indifferent! Alexei was cunning, oh cunning! He was pleased with the attention of American women, and the attention of Lydia Thompson ...

In February 1872, Alexey returned to his frigate Svetlana and headed for Havana. It was supposed to return home through Europe, but suddenly Alexander II ordered to turn this voyage into a round-the-world trip. He probably thought that three months was not enough for Alexei to recover from unhappy love. I had to follow the royal order. Having visited Cuba, Brazil, the Philippines, Japan and China, "Svetlana" moored in Vladivostok, from which Alexei returned by land, through Siberia, to St. Petersburg. Thus, his journey dragged on for two years. Upon returning to the capital in 1874, Alexei was appointed commander of the Guards crew and captain of the Svetlana, conferring the rank of captain of the 1st rank on him.

Alexander Karlovich Beggrov (1841-1914) On the deck of the frigate "Svetlana"

After he became the captain of the Svetlana, Alexei immediately set sail around Europe. In 1875-1876 he called at the ports of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. His next visit to the USA was interrupted Russian-Turkish war 1877-1878, in which Alexei took an active part. Largely due to the actions of the sailors under his command, Russian troops successfully crossed the Danube, and then ensured stability on this vital waterway.

The crossing of the Russian army across the Danube at Zimnitsa on June 15, 1877., Nikolay Dmitrievich Dmitriev

For this campaign, Grand Duke Alexei was granted the rank of rear admiral, awarded the St. George Cross IV degree and the golden weapon "For Courage".

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich.With Musee D'Orsay

In 1882, he was promoted to vice admiral, although Alexander III believed that his brother was indifferent. Why? Yes, because Alexei was already fed up with the seas and oceans with their long-distance voyages and found himself a hobby in another - communicating with the fair sex. Admiral I. A. Shestakov wrote in his diary: “It seems that my Grand Duke is indifferent not only to the fleet, but to everything, and does he care if Russia is well ...”

In 1883, Alexei received a promotion from the hands of his brother-emperor - now he has become an admiral general. But he didn't give a damn about it - he became indifferent to the maritime business. He fell out of love with the sea, he did not delve into the affairs of his department. His mind was frozen in the days of the sailing fleet, in the golden days of his campaigns on the Svetlana. Meanwhile, Russia had to build armadillos; another time has come - the time of steam, electricity and radio. And if, nevertheless, the Russian fleet was managed to be kept in a more or less decent condition, it was not thanks to, but in spite of, Admiral General Alexei Alexandrovich.

Since then, the amorous adventures of the Grand Duke have become a constant topic of high-society gossip. In the late 1870s, the life of Alexei Alexandrovich lit up with love for his distant relative, Countess Zinaida Beauharnais. She was a married lady, the wife of his cousin Duke Eugene Maximilianovich of Leuchtenberg (again those Leuchtenberg!). Recall that the Dukes of Leuchtenberg clung to the Romanov dynasty in 1839 as a result of the marriage union of Eugene Beaugrane, the son of Napoleon's stepson, and the daughter of Nicholas I, Maria Nikolaevna. They were worthless, arrogant and arrogant people.

Daria Konstantinovna Opochinina

And if we add that Alexei was a cousin of the duke, then we get a close family tangle. From his first marriage, the duke had a daughter, Daria Beauharnais, or Dolly. The duke had no children from his second marriage.

Countess Daria Evgenievna Beauharnais

Zinaida Skobelev

According to contemporaries, Duke Eugene of Leuchtenberg was a kind man, distinguished by poor health and led a dispersed lifestyle. He was constantly in the company of his cousins Alexei and Vladimir Alexandrovich. He had a reputation as a drunkard and a cuckold, which, however, did not depress him very much. State Secretary A. A. Polovtsov described him as “a scoundrel devoid of any moral sense, working with his wife” and extracting a lot of money from Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich.

Evgeniy Maksimilianovich Leikhtenbergsky

According to General Yepanchin, “the duke was a kind person, not an intriguer, but he had every right to say“ my tongue is my enemy ”and was not always able to keep it in time.” The duke turned a blind eye to his wife’s romance with Grand Duke Alexei, and therefore, during a joint trip to Europe, the inseparable trinity was nicknamed “la menage Royale a trois” (royal love triangle). However, he was beaten more than once by the giant Alexei on the threshold of his own bedroom in the house on the English Embankment, where the Grand Duke got into the habit of going.

The cuckold husband tried in vain to complain to Alexander III about his wife-loving brother. All he could do was to sleep resignedly on the sofa in the office with an offended look, while Zinaida and Alexei made love. Judging by the photos that have come down to us, Alexei, a man of immense size and the same height, chose women to match himself - Zina was a plump, chubby lady. She rode with Alexei around St. Petersburg in an open carriage, openly demonstrated the diamonds given to her by her lover, and he paid the bills of Zina and her drunken husband in Europe and Russia.

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich and Duchess of Leuchtenberg

Countess Beauharnais hosted receptions at the Alekseevsky Palace (built especially for him on the Moika Embankment) and compiled the lists of guests at her own discretion. For her sake, Alexei opened the doors of his palace to the capital's beau monde, where the beautiful Zinaida reigned, with royal grandeur ignoring all the rumors and gossip that spread because of her scandalous connection with the Grand Duke.

St. Petersburg Palace of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich,

According to the assurances of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, whom everyone called Sandro, who left rather frank and caustic memoirs, the Admiral General was ready to sacrifice the entire Russian fleet for the seductive Zina and showered her with unimaginable gifts. Sandro wrote: “I am aware of the complete impossibility of describing physical qualities this amazing woman. I have never seen the like of her in all my travels in Europe, Asia, America and Australia, which is a great happiness, since such women should not often catch the eye.

Where did Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich get the money for all these escapades? He obviously would not have had enough of the Grand Duke's salary ... And he shamelessly stole from the amounts allocated for the shipbuilding program of the Russian fleet. At one time, scandals caused a lot of noise because of Alexei's attempts to maintain the Zina yacht, owned by the Duke of Leuchtenberg, at public expense.

The premature death of Zinaida Beauharnais in 1899 at the age of 44 was a heavy blow for Alexei. Until the end of his days, he kept her portraits and a marble bust. After the death of his wife, the Duke of Leuchtenberg lived either in Paris or in Alexei's palace on the Moika embankment, where his wife once hosted. In 1901, he was buried next to his unfaithful wife in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

bison hunter

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich

“In life you have to experience everything” - that was the motto of Grand Duke Alexei.

Alexei was born in 1850 and on the same day, by order of his grandfather Nicholas I, he was enlisted in the Guards crew, that is, he was to become a sailor, the same as his uncle Konstantin Nikolaevich (he later replaced him as commander of the navy) . At the age of 7, he already had the rank of midshipman, and at the age of ten he began to sail the seas and oceans under the guidance of his tutor, the famous admiral and navigator K. N. Posyet. The Grand Duke, despite his title, was taught hard - together with the rest of the sailors, he climbed the masts and yards, setting and removing the sails, scrubbed the deck and performed other ship service duties. At the age of 17, he already served as a watch commander - this was already his seventh “campaign”. During his naval service, he showed determination and considerable courage. In 1868, the frigate Alexander Nevsky, on board of which Alexei was, fell into a severe storm while sailing in the North Sea, ran into a reef off the coast of Jutland and was wrecked. The Grand Duke in this situation behaved in the highest degree with dignity. To Posyet's offer to be the first to leave the ship, he responded with a decisive refusal, until all the sailors were saved, he remained with the admiral on board until the last. Courage Alexei in his younger years was not to take. Even earlier, he saved a young man and his sister on Lake Onega, who fell out of the boat. For this feat, he received from his father the gold medal "For Bravery", which he was proud of all his life.

In 1870, Alexei celebrated his 20th birthday, which was then considered the age of majority in Russia. Among the eldest sons of Alexander II, he was the largest and most beautiful. As a child, he was called Seichik. Already at the age of 12 he was fluent in German, French and English. Alexei grew up as a cheerful, truthful, trusting and affectionate young man. Playful Seichik was his father's favorite - he was allowed to do things that were not allowed to other children of his age. So, his cousin Marie of Battenberg wrote that seven-year-old Alexei was allowed to sit at the same table with adults, and this aroused childish envy in them. Most of the childhood and youth of the Grand Duke, however, passed not at sea, but on land, in the summer residences of the Crimea, in the Winter Palace and travels around Europe, where numerous Romanov relatives were scattered. He was very friendly with his older brother Alexander (the future Emperor Alexander III) and his wife Maria Feodorovna, Minnie, as she was called at home. After the death of Alexander III in 1894, Minnie always patronized Alexei until his death, more than once saving his shattered reputation. But we will talk about this in due time.

On the day of Alexei's twentieth birthday, a ceremony was held in the Winter Palace to take the oath of allegiance to the throne and the Fatherland. In the year of the oath, education officially ended, because since then it was believed that the most august children knew life and its laws. General N. A. Epanchin described the Grand Duke as follows: “Alexey Alexandrovich was ... a benevolent person, but there was little seriousness in life and work; there were strange gaps in his upbringing ... While sailing on the frigate Svetlana, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, upon arrival in New York, played cards with his colleagues ... after playing during the calculation, the Grand Duke, pointing to one of the coins, asked what it was . They answered him: "Piglet" ... copper five kopecks; then the Grand Duke ... looked at her with curiosity and said: “I see it for the first time.” Surely this was not a joke, but proof of how far he was kept from life." It should be noted that in the future he not only did not count copper nickels, but even millions of gold rubles that disappeared in his bottomless pockets.

He suffered from fullness, not only natural, but also caused by gourmandism, bordering on gluttony. Despite this, Alexei was always exquisitely and elegantly dressed. Fullness at that time was not considered an obstacle to male charm. Therefore, he often caught the languid glances of high-society young ladies on himself, and then he himself fell in love with his mother's maid of honor, Sashenka Zhukovsky. Their romance was carefully hidden, because she was 27 years old, and he was 19. They often met at the Anichkov Palace, the residence of his brother Alexander and Minnie, where both took part in home performances. This Zhukovskaya was the daughter of the famous poet, friend of A. S. Pushkin and tutor of Alexander II. She answered him in kind. What was to be done? He was not allowed to marry the title, and she - the position of the maid of honor. Now, if they were ordinary people ... Knowing about the side families of his father and both uncles, Konstantin Nikolayevich and Nikolai Nikolayevich, as well as about the cupids of his aunt Maria Nikolaevna with Count Stroganov, Alexei decided to run away with his beloved abroad, marry her, and there let it be.

Alexei's parents did what they always did in such cases. They believed that the best cure for love is separation. Therefore, Sashenka Zhukovsky was urgently sent to Austria. At the same time, it turned out that she was also pregnant by Alexei! Time after time it doesn't get any easier! In 1871, her son was born, named Alexei - in honor of his father. In 1884, Alexander III granted him the title of Count Belevsky-Zhukovsky. Sashenka Zhukovsky herself was given in marriage with a rich dowry to Baron Verman, who turned out to be a very decent person and caring husband. She lived permanently in Germany and died in 1899, while her son remained in Russia. His father helped him and patronized him in everything, like the entire imperial family - the grandson of Alexander II, nevertheless, albeit illegitimate. He served as adjutant to his uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, married, and had four children. And then the revolution came. His wife and children managed to leave through Constantinople to Germany, while Alexei remained in Russia. Under Soviet rule, he became a prominent biologist, but died during the Stalinist repressions in 1932 in Tbilisi.

But Alexei's father for such a rash act, as the people say, drove Mozhai. Well, not specifically for Mozhai, but to America. Alexander II, then, just in time, received an invitation from US President Ulysses Simpson Grant to pay a state visit in gratitude for Russia's support of the northerners during the Civil War. So he ordered Alexei to go to America instead of himself. Nothing to do, Alexey agreed. In 1871, on the frigate "Svetlana" as a lieutenant, he went on a long voyage. By the way, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, whom we have already written about, was also on the same ship, it was then that he first learned the sin of Sodom.

Suffering from the loss of love, Alexei in Marseilles with a company of officers made a riot in one "fun" establishment with ladies. The police arrested the Buyans, but the Grand Duke managed to be “dismissed” by presenting to the authorities another officer named Alekseev (he was the half-brother of Alexei, he was the natural son of Emperor Alexander II. We also already wrote about this). Aleksey Alexandrovich sent mournful letters from distant seas to his mother - well, just a cry from the heart: “I feel that I do not belong to myself, that I cannot leave them (Zhukovskaya and the unborn child. - M. P.). There is a feeling in this world that nothing can overcome - this is a feeling of love ... Mom, for God's sake, don't ruin me, don't sacrifice your son, forgive me, love me, don't throw me into that abyss from which I can't get out ... "Later he still writes: “I do not want to be the shame and shame of the family ... Do not ruin me for God's sake. Do not sacrifice me for the sake of some prejudices that will disintegrate themselves in a few years ... To love this woman more than anything in the world and to know that she is forgotten, abandoned by everyone, she suffers, waits for a birth from minute to minute ... And I must remain some a creature who is called the Grand Duke and who therefore must, and can be, in his position, a vile and nasty person, and no one dares to tell him this ... Help me, return honor and life to me, it is in your hands.

Let's get back to Alexei's trip to America. In 2006, the United States solemnly celebrated the 135th anniversary of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich's visit to their country. He was greeted there with such scope and honor that neither Khrushchev, nor Gorbachev, nor even Putin were honored with! On August 20, 1871, the tsar himself accompanied his son to America on the frigate Svetlana, and already in November the ship anchored off the coast of Manhattan in New York. The distinguished guest was accommodated in the Claredon, the most luxurious hotel. There was a real stir about the visit of the distinguished Russian guest in America. Journalists tracked his every step and deed, and then scrupulously painted all this in the newspapers.

On November 24, 1871, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich was received by US President Ulysses Grant at the White House, and then his long trip around the country began. He visited more than 20 cities in the US and Canada. Every state and every city aspired to excel each other in the honors accorded to the son of Russia. Balls and evenings were held, to which up to four thousand people were sometimes invited. Newspapermen greedily followed Alexei's every step, especially inventing rumors about his connections with women. So, one of the newspapers wrote that Alexei likes women of small stature. Then all fashionistas and socialites abandoned high-heeled shoes and high hairstyles. In every hotel, young ladies strolled along the lobby in the hope of capturing the eyes of the Grand Duke. Rumors that he was sent on a trip to America for having a relationship with the woman he loved, who did not come to the Court, further inflamed the imagination of American women - everyone was ready to jump into his bed. Alexei was literally besieged everywhere by a crowd of enthusiastic admirers.

He visited Niagara Falls, the Naval Academy, West Point, the Admiralty, the weapons and shipbuilding factories, Harvard University and many other remarkable places, until January 1, 1872 he arrived in the Wild West in the city of Chicago. Just the day before, there was a huge fire that destroyed part of the city, and Alexey donated 5 thousand dollars to the victims of the fire, which aroused even greater sympathy for the Americans. How could one surprise and entertain a distinguished guest here? Of course, hunting for buffalo and seeing wild Indians! General Sheridan, the hero of the Civil War, took up the organization of this entertainment. He instructed General Custer and the famous St. John's wort Buffalo Bill to organize a grand buffalo hunt. George Custer and Alexei became so close that they fought, danced and sang songs like boys. A photograph of 1872 has been preserved, which depicts both of these characters in hunting suits. Near Fort McPherson, near the Red Willow Creek, "Aleksei's camp" of 40 tents was pitched. The dining tent was decorated with the flags of both states. The menu included the meat of a wide variety of animals and birds - the inhabitants of the prairies, there was no shortage of a wide variety of drinks. Alexei was followed everywhere by a bed designed for his tall stature and powerful body. The hunt has begun. Prince Alexei was given the fastest horse and the best gun. On his 22nd birthday, Alexey killed his first bison, which he proudly wrote to his father about. Then the Indians were invited to the "camp of Alexei", led by a leader named Spotted Tail. They performed their war dances before him and exercised their marksmanship against buffaloes. At a feast given in honor of the Indians, Alexei flirted with Spotted Tail's squaw, and it was so sweet that the ferocious leader of the redskins did not even think of skinning the pale-faced stranger.

The next point of stay of Alexei in the United States was the city of New Orleans (the one that has now suffered from Hurricane Katrina). The choice of this city was not accidental. The fact is that back in New York, he met actress Lydia Thompson, a musical comedy star. The Russian prince was delighted with her game. Alexei was especially worried about the song in her performance "If I stop loving." After the performance, he invited Lydia to dinner and begged her to sing this ballad again and again. Now that the hunting passions had cooled down, the Grand Duke remembered the pretty actress. When asked what other cities he would like to visit, Alexei did not hesitate to name New Orleans, it was there that the Lydia Thompson troupe went on tour.

In the city, in honor of Grand Duke Alexei, a grandiose music festival "Mardi Grae" was organized. Many high-ranking persons received an invitation to it; personally, Lydia Thomson sent him an invitation card, which the prince was much flattered by. Especially for Alexei, a platform was erected and a throne-like chair was placed on it, but he refused to sit on it, saying that he was only a lieutenant of the Russian Imperial Navy; that is how it should be perceived. Admirers of Alexei were upset - they so wanted to see him on the throne! For the Americans, the arrival of the Russian Grand Duke was, of course, exotic; It was under this sauce that he was perceived. From a meeting with Alexei, they tried to make a show, but this time they did not succeed.

The American press created the myth of Alexei the heartthrob. In fact, he rightly wrote home: “Regarding my success with American women, which the newspapers rang about, I can honestly say that all this is nonsense. They looked at me the way people look at a crocodile in a cage or a huge monkey, but after examining me, they became indifferent. So indifferent! Alexei was cunning, oh cunning! He was pleased with the attention of American women, and the attention of Lydia Thompson ...

After he became the captain of the Svetlana, Alexei immediately set sail around Europe. In 1875-1876 he called at the ports of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. His next visit to the United States was interrupted by the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, in which Alexei took an active part. Largely due to the actions of the sailors under his command, Russian troops successfully crossed the Danube, and then ensured stability on this vital waterway. For this campaign, Grand Duke Alexei was granted the rank of rear admiral, awarded the St. George Cross of the GU degree and the golden weapon "For Courage".

In 1881, after the assassination of Alexander II, Alexei Alexandrovich headed the entire Russian navy, taking the place of his uncle Konstantin Nikolaevich. However, in the most paradoxical way, it was from that moment that he completely ceased to be interested in the fleet. Having started swimming at the age of ten, Alexey Alexandrovich spent almost 20 years at sea. He became a real sailor. However, after 1881 he rarely went to sea. For the next 28 years, he clearly preferred land. In 1882, he was promoted to vice admiral, although Alexander III believed that his brother was indifferent. Why? Yes, because Alexei was already fed up with the seas and oceans with their long voyages and found himself a hobby in another - communication with the fair sex. Admiral I. A. Shestakov wrote in his diary: “It seems that my Grand Duke is indifferent not only to the fleet, but to everything, and does he care if Russia is well ...” In 1883, Alexei received a promotion from the hands of his brother-emperor - now he became a general-admiral. But he didn’t give a damn about it - he became indifferent to the maritime business. He fell out of love with the sea, he did not delve into the affairs of his department. His mind was frozen in the days of the sailing fleet, in the golden days of his campaigns on the Svetlana. Meanwhile, Russia had to build armadillos; another time has come - the time of steam, electricity and radio. And if, nevertheless, the Russian fleet was managed to be kept in a more or less decent condition, it was not thanks to, but in spite of, Admiral General Alexei Alexandrovich. We will talk about this a little below.

Eugene of Leuchtenberg himself was married twice, and both times by morganatic, that is, unequal marriages. For the first time, Evgeny married Daria Opochinina, the great-granddaughter of Field Marshal Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov. The second time he married Zinaida, the younger sister of the famous general M. D. Skobelev (it is clear that Yevgeny's lip was not a fool - both times he married relatives of famous military leaders). Characteristically, both wives of Eugene were given the title of Countess Beauharnais by the Emperor. It is also interesting that Zinaida Beauharnais was the cousin of Eugene's first wife, Daria Opochinina, who died in 1870. And if we add that Alexei was a cousin of the duke, then we get a close family tangle. From his first marriage, the duke had a daughter, Daria Beauharnais, or Dolly, whose incredible fate we described in the chapter on Maria Nikolaevna, Princess Mary. The duke had no children from his second marriage.

The Duke of Leuchtenberg married Zinaida Skobeleva in 1878. Zina Beauharnais, as they called her in the world, was famous for her amazing beauty; judging by the surviving portraits, she was a real Russian beauty, unlike her shabby husband, who had French roots. According to contemporaries, Duke Eugene of Leuchtenberg was a kind man, distinguished by poor health and led a dispersed lifestyle. He was constantly in the company of his cousins Alexei and Vladimir Alexandrovich. He had a reputation as a drunkard and a cuckold, which, however, did not depress him very much. State Secretary A. A. Polovtsov described him as “a scoundrel devoid of any moral sense, working with his wife” and extracting a lot of money from Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich. According to General Yepanchin, “the duke was a kind person, not an intriguer, but he had every right to say“ my tongue is my enemy ”and did not always know how to keep it behind his teeth in time.” The duke turned a blind eye to his wife’s romance with Grand Duke Alexei, and therefore, during a joint trip to Europe, the inseparable trinity was nicknamed “la menage Royale a trois” (royal love triangle). However, he was beaten more than once by the giant Alexei on the threshold of his own bedroom in the house on the English Embankment, where the Grand Duke got into the habit of going. The cuckold husband tried in vain to complain to Alexander III about his wife-loving brother. All he could do was to sleep resignedly on the sofa in the office with an offended look, while Zinaida and Alexei made love. Judging by the photos that have come down to us, Alexei, a man of immense size and the same height, chose women to match himself - Zina was a plump, chubby lady. She rode with Alexei around St. Petersburg in an open carriage, openly demonstrated the diamonds given to her by her lover, and he paid the bills of Zina and her drunken husband in Europe and Russia. Countess Beauharnais hosted receptions at the Alekseevsky Palace (built especially for him on the Moika Embankment) and compiled the lists of guests at her own discretion. For her sake, Alexei opened the doors of his palace to the capital's beau monde, where the beautiful Zinaida reigned, with royal grandeur ignoring all the rumors and gossip that spread because of her scandalous connection with the Grand Duke. According to the assurances of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, whom everyone called Sandro, who left rather frank and caustic memoirs, the Admiral General was ready to sacrifice the entire Russian fleet for the seductive Zina and showered her with unimaginable gifts. Sandro wrote: “I am aware of the complete impossibility of describing the physical qualities of this amazing woman. I have never seen the like of her in all my travels in Europe, Asia, America and Australia, which is a great happiness, since such women should not often catch the eye.

Zina's society was also loved by the future Emperor Nicholas II. During his tenure as Tsarevich, he wrote the following in his diary in 1892: “In b 3/4 I went to the dress rehearsal of Massenet's opera Esclarmonde. Finished at 11 1/2, went to the village of Alexei to have dinner. Zina occupied us with songs.

Where did Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich get the money for all these escapades? He obviously would not have had enough of the Grand Duke's salary ... And he shamelessly stole from the amounts allocated for the shipbuilding program of the Russian fleet, but we will talk about this side of the matter later. And now there is only one nuance - at one time scandals caused a lot of noise because of Alexei's attempts to maintain the Zina yacht, owned by the Duke of Leuchtenberg, at public expense.

And now let's talk about how Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich led the Naval Department and the Russian Navy. First of all, it should be said that in 1884-1885 the luxurious Alekseevsky Palace was built for him on the embankment of the Moika River, in which he lived for his own pleasure.

A well-known scientist and shipbuilder, Professor Krylov, described the leadership of the Grand Duke in his department as follows: “Over the 23 years of his management of the fleet, the budget has grown on average almost five times; many battleships and armored cruisers were built, but this "set" was only a collection of individual ships, and not a fleet. So, the armored cruisers "Vladimir Monomakh" and "Dmitry Donskoy" were laid down at the same time of the same type. At the end of the construction, it turned out: one - like a corvette, the other - a frigate, one - a twin-screw, the other - a single-screw, etc. An even greater variety reigned between the battleships "Alexander II" and "Nicholas I", although they should be exactly the same, however, they came out different ... In the sense of creating a fleet, the activities of General Admiral Alexei were a typical example of unplanned waste of public funds, emphasizing the complete unsuitability of the very organization and management system of the fleet and the Maritime Department. Alexei's nephew, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, observing the maneuvers of the German fleet in Kiel in 1895, noted: “I must admit that at the end of the 90s our fleet made a miserable impression: most of the ships were completely outdated and were not usable - the fleet has been completely refurbished." Prime Minister S.Yu. Witte wrote in his memoirs: "Alexey Alexandrovich, being very nice, honest and noble, at the same time was not a particularly serious business person." As for Witte's revelation that Alexei was an "honest" person... He compares this with himself: it was hard to find a more dishonest person than the prime minister himself. How can an embezzler be an honest person? But about the "frivolity" he is right - the Grand Duke frankly shied away from business. All his colleagues speak about it in unison. Here are just a few of those statements. Admiral Shestakov: "Alexey, apparently, is indifferent to the fleet and its fate ... He is all tryn-grass." Secretary of State A. A. Polovtsov: “Aleksey Alexandrovich only thinks about how, without violating decorum, to sneak away (from the meeting of the State Council) and return to Zina's bed. Boredom is expressed in large features on his face.

All his leadership of the Russian fleet boiled down to the fact that once a week he invited the admirals to dine at his palace. This action was called a meeting of the Admiralty Council. Since the cook was a master of his craft, and the Grand Duke's cognac would always be first-class, the guests did not complain. They hardly bothered him with business, because they knew that it was useless. At these meetings, as a sailor, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich also visited. This is how he described them: “After the Napoleonic cognac got into the stomach of his guests, the hospitable host opened the meeting of the Admiralty Council with a traditional story about an incident from the history of the Russian sailing navy ... I learned by heart all the details of this intricate story and always moved back out of caution a little with a chair from the table at the moment when, following the scenario, Uncle Alexei should be hitting the table with his fist and exclaiming in a thunderous voice: “And only then, my friends, did this stern commander recognize the outlines of the rocks of Skagen.” The Admiral General would have nothing against limiting the debate of the Admiralty Council in the redistribution of the case with the Alexander Nevsky.

And the Grand Duke's cognac was really wonderful. Let's digress a little from his adventures and describe the wine cellar in the Alekseevsky Palace. The names of wines, vodkas and cognacs today sound like music. That would be a try! So, the wine cellar contained hundreds of brands of spirits and wines, placed in barrels, decanters, bottles and jugs. From here cognacs "Napoleon", "Naryshkin", "Kyuba", "Belle Vue", "Monte Carlo", "Clisson", "Cuvilliers" were served on the table of the Grand Duke. The liqueurs Curacao, Benedectin, Maria Christina were stored here and, upon request, were brought to the guests; port wines "Count Guryev", "Marsala"; sherry "Deprez", "Gonzales"; Madeira "Cuvelle", "Old Malvasia". In the wine cellar, there were up to forty varieties of vodka, among which one could not only see, but also taste such varieties as Seventh Heaven, Yacht Club, and Eliseev. There were also whiskey, rum, all kinds of liqueurs and liqueurs. Just a song, not a wine cellar!

According to S. Yu. Witte, Grand Duke Alexei did not have any state ideas. It is known that he was usually under the influence of another lady with whom he was close. Considering that the Grand Duke really was kind person, one of them could have sent him on the right path, but as luck would have it, he came across some bitches who only needed his money. Many complained about him to Alexander III, but the tsar turned a blind eye to this - if only his brother did not get into politics. And he didn't climb. Indifference and neglect of his duties more and more overcame Alexei.

Such was the Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, who had a reputation as an excellent, noble man who did no harm to anyone. True, he had one feature behind him - he loved stupid practical jokes. Once, in 1882, Prince Alexander of Bulgaria came to St. Petersburg on an official visit. Alexei assured him that Empress Maria Feodorovna, out of patriotism, loves the smell of onions. He, in order to please her, ate herring with onions before the reception, but it turned out that the empress could not stand the stink of onions. Alexander Bolgarsky got into a mess, and Alexei only chuckled.

Since 1880, everyone has noted the growing craving of the sybarite and glutton Alexei for plentiful libations and carousing, usually in the company of the husband of his mistress, the Duke of Leuchtenberg. He became very stout, which gave the right to evil tongues to call him "seven pounds of august meat."

The philanthropy of the Grand Duke made him a scandalous personality. Alexander Mikhailovich once caustically remarked: "Nimble ladies and clumsy ships prevailed in his life." It is not difficult to imagine what kind of hunting was carried out for him by the women themselves. “Every night the ladies of our monde come to him, whom he deigns to invite,” wrote one of his contemporary. Serenity and fun, revels with gypsies, mischievous bachelor parties with abundant libations, balls and receptions made up his leisure in Russia. All this happened in front of the eyes of the capital's society and the Russian press, greedy for sensations. But even more pleasure was brought to him by being in Europe, away from the eyes of the evil-speaking Russian newspapermen. At the resorts in Biarritz and Cannes, his easy, carefree life was mainly held. He went there for a long time to rest, leaving everything in Russia, which even his brother Alexander III resented a lot. No work, no responsibilities - only golf, entertainment and trips to the gambling establishments of Monte Carlo. “A secular man from head to toe, le Beau Brummell (trendsetter) and bon vivant, who was spoiled by women, Alexey Alexandrovich traveled a lot. The mere thought of spending a year away from Paris would have forced him to resign ... The mere mention of modern transformations in the navy caused a painful grimace on his handsome face. He was not interested in anything that did not relate to women, food and drink, ”wrote his cousin Sandro, not without irony. Another contemporary echoed him: “If the Grand Duke had been forced to spend at least a year away from Paris, he would immediately resign - which, of course, would play a positive role for the Russian fleet, where he was listed as Admiral General.”

He always stayed at the luxurious Ritz or Continental hotels, in which entire floors were rented for his retinue, he visited chic restaurants where everyone stood at attention - from the owner to the head waiter with a host of waiters, and the other public was not allowed. When Grand Duke Alexei drove by or went for a walk, the police blocked all the streets. You won’t surprise anyone with this now, but then everything was a curiosity. If he entered the casino arm in arm with another lady and accompanied by a retinue, then the doors were locked and the stakes rose to half a million rubles. The famous courtesan La Goulue, who posed for Toulouse-Lautrec, danced especially for him, and Alexey literally covered her with large bills up to her waist. Felix Yusupov, the killer of Rasputin, recalled how in 1907 he met the courtesan Bibi, already an old and sick old woman, who was proud of her long-standing relationship with Grand Duke Alexei. Such was his life abroad. It was Alexei and his brother Vladimir who made the expression “to live like a grand prince” a household word in France; even in the 1930s, old-timers told legends about them.

How did his superiors treat such a wild life of Alexei? Note that only his brother-emperor was the head of him. He was pleased with the service of Alexei - or pretended to be pleased. When Alexander III died in 1894, he was replaced by Nicholas II, Alexei's nephew. He was frankly afraid of his uncle and did not dare to contradict him. Then the relatives got down to business, outraged by the confusion that reigned in the Maritime Department and the huge waste. During the reign of Nicholas II, they repeatedly attempted to remove Grand Duke Alexei from office, but the intercession of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna saved him from this. Alexei was opposed by his nephew Sandro, who in 1896 submitted a report to Nicholas II on the deplorable state of the fleet and the need for reforms. As a result, Alexander Mikhailovich was forced to resign, as the Admiral General also threatened to resign. Then nothing was done.

Under Alexei, corruption and embezzlement completely decomposed the Maritime Department. It came to the point that the armor of the ships literally sprawled, because the metal rivets were stolen, and the armor plates were fastened with wooden bushings. One of the newest destroyers almost sank halfway between Kronstadt and St. Petersburg, as someone stuck tallow candles into the rivet holes. With such a naval commander, the shells of naval guns did not even explode, but the guns themselves often exploded, killing and maiming people.

Alexei was accused of embezzlement of the treasury and sadly joked that the ladies of Paris cost Russia one battleship a year. He glorified himself with huge theft, under him embezzlement in the fleet reached unprecedented proportions, the amount of money pocketed by him amounted to millions. He did not disdain the sums of the Red Cross intended for wounded soldiers. “In the pockets of“ honest ”Alexey,” contemporaries wrote, “several armadillos and a couple of millions of the Red Cross fit in, and he very wittily presented the ballerina-mistress with a wonderful red cross made of rubies, and she put it on on the very day when it became known about the defect two million." His Highness's career has been tarnished by a series of financial scandals. In 1902, they finally conducted an investigation into abuses in the Naval Department, as a result of which 43 officers were accused of bribery and corruption. No charges were brought against Alexei himself, but a number of his deputies were accused of embezzlement and they were convicted. On the next year a scandal broke out over the maritime budget, for which Alexei was responsible. Additional 30 million rubles, i.e. half of the annual budget navy countries have sunk into the water. Alexei managed to report on these amounts, although during this time not a single ship was launched into the water. At the same time, he bought himself a mansion in Paris. Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich wrote in his diary: "If this is so, then one cannot help but be surprised at such expenses on the part of the Russian Grand Duke."

The carefree existence of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich was interrupted by tragedy. Despite all the signs of an impending war with Japan, the Admiral General continued his daily festivities. Sandro once tried to talk to Alexei about this topic. Here's what came of it: “The date was more of a comical character. All the armed forces of the Mikado on land and at sea could not confuse Uncle Alexei's optimism. His motto was unchanged: “I don’t give a damn about anything.” How our “eagles” were supposed to teach the “yellow-faced monkeys” a lesson remained a mystery to me. Having thus finished with these questions, he spoke of the latest news of the Riviera, which he had given in order to find himself in Monte Carlo. The questions went: did I see Miss X and did I like Miss Y?

In 1904, the Russo-Japanese War began. For 18 months, Russia went from defeat to defeat. On account of Alexei Alexandrovich there were two wars: the Russian-Turkish 1877-1878 and the Russian-Japanese 1904-1905; he lost the last one ignominiously. All meetings of the Maritime Department in 1904 were chaired by Alexei Alexandrovich. According to S. Yu. Witte, the Grand Duke expressed his extreme weakness in the sense of preventing this war, although he realized that it would rather bring trouble. He had a negative attitude towards the idea of sending Rozhdestvensky's squadron to certain death, but did not insist on his opinion. The fateful decision was made against all logic by Emperor Nicholas II himself.

Let me explain for the uninitiated. The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 began with a sudden attack by the Japanese fleet on Port Arthur (our naval base in China). Several ships were damaged and the base itself was blocked from the sea. At the same time, the Japanese attacked the Varyag cruiser in Chemulpo Bay (Korea), as a result of which, after an unprecedented battle, the team itself sank the Russian ship so that it would not go to the enemy. Thus, on pacific ocean Russia did not have any naval forces left, except for the underpowered Vladivostok detachment of cruisers. Under these conditions, it was decided to form a squadron of ships of the Baltic and Black Sea fleets under the command of Admiral Rozhdestvensky, so that she, bypassing around Europe, Africa and Indochina, fought with the Japanese fleet and unblocked Port Arthur. By this time, Port Arthur had already fallen, and the Russian ships were ordered to break through to Vladivostok with a fight. In the naval battle near the island of Tsushima on May 14-15, 1905, the squadron of Admiral Rozhdestvensky suffered a shameful defeat, and he himself was captured.

The fault for sending the squadron to certain death lies with Nicholas II, but Admiral General Alexei was no less to blame. It was his fault that the ships were slow-moving, of different types, weakly armed, outdated, and so on and so forth. In the days of national disgrace, all of Petersburg was embittered against Alexei for the unpreparedness and miserable state of the fleet, for his senseless death. Massive demands began for his resignation. Naval officers gave him the infamous nickname "Prince Tsushima". Glass was broken in the Alekseevsky Palace, a story appeared among the people that allegedly Nicholas II said in their hearts: “It would be better if you, uncle, stole twice as much, but would make the armor twice as thick!” and fired him. But this is just a legend. In fact, Nicholas II wrote the following in his diary: “May 30, Monday. Today, after the report, Uncle Alexei announced that he wanted to leave now. In view of the seriousness of the arguments expressed by him, I agreed. It hurts and is hard for him, the poor one! ..” The “poor” embezzler! It turns out that Alexei Alexandrovich himself asked for his resignation - probably, even such an impenetrable person was tortured by conscience. It is possible that he even suffered and felt guilty.

On June 2, 1905, he was dismissed from all his posts and drove off to Paris, taking with him his mistress, the Frenchwoman Eliza Balletta, an actress of the Mikhailovsky Theater, as fat as a sack of potatoes. She was a mediocre ballerina, but beautiful woman. Eliza used to be a maid in one of the French hotels. Alexey Alexandrovich, being the chairman of the Imperial Society of Ballet Patrons, patronized her so actively that she became a prima with the highest fee. Madame Balletta was directly showered with expensive gifts from the Grand Duke, for which she received the title of "diamond majesty" from Petersburgers.

She flaunted a necklace of diamonds, which the St. Petersburg wits called " Pacific Fleet". In high society, it was believed that the Balletta was worth more than Tsushima. Many contemporaries directly associated the technical backwardness and defeat of the Russian fleet in the Russo-Japanese War with the name of this woman, the last mistress of Grand Duke Alexei. Alexey Alexandrovich spent most of his time on the Cote d'Azur or in Paris, and industrialists, in order to receive orders for the fleet, usually turned to his mistress Eliza Balletta.

Here are just a few examples. Even at the very beginning of the war, the government decided to strengthen the Russian fleet and decided to buy several battleships from the Republic of Chile. But the deal did not take place because of their ... cheapness! The representative of the Maritime Department Soldatenkov, an outright embezzler and bribe-taker, told the Chileans: “You should ask for a price of battleships no less than three times the price assigned. Wrong calculation! The Grand Duke must receive his own from the sale price. Much must be given to Madame Balletta. There should be something left for the share of smaller ranks ... ”As a result, the deal was upset, and the Japanese immediately bought the battleships from the Chileans, outraged by the impudence of Russian bribe-takers.

Another egregious incident in the life of Mrs. Balletta is associated with the acquisition of the latest marine torpedo. Its inventor was a Frenchman, whom the Russian government called to St. Petersburg for experimental firing. However, just to make an experiment, they demanded 25 thousand rubles from the Frenchman for the actress Balletta. The inventor, who himself dreamed of getting rich on a Russian order, of course, did not have that kind of money. He was forced to leave home, and the Japanese bought the novelty, although they already had their own torpedo, superior in quality to the French. They bought it just so the Russians wouldn't get it. All this excited the Russian public, and when Alexei appeared in the theater with Eliza Balletta, hung from head to toe with diamonds, the angry audience threw orange peels at them and ... in general, anything. The well-known historical novelist Valentin Pikul described this episode as follows: “In the evening of the same day, “Seven pounds of the most august meat”, as always, fell apart in the box of the Mikhailovsky Theater, applauding their “fluttering” mistress. The audience gave Elise Balletta a scandal. “Get out of Russia! shouted even from the velvet box. “You don’t have diamonds on you, these are our dead cruisers and battleships”…”. According to another version, when during one of the performances in May 1905 she appeared on stage in a precious necklace, the audience began to shout: “Thief! That's where our fleet is! A shame!"

By the way, regarding diamonds. Alexey Alexandrovich gave her very expensive things, some of which are now in private collections. So, for example, the box “Baletta” by Carl Faberge is known, ordered especially for a French woman and made of gold, enamel and diamonds; it is decorated with an enamel anchor with the initial "A". The favorite of the Grand Duke also possessed a significant amount of other Faberge products, among which was the Balletta vase, the stone-cut figure of the Asking Schnauzer and a miniature jade watering can decorated with gold, enamel and diamonds.

After such scandals, Eliza Balletta had to leave not only the theater, but Russia itself. She left secretly, her luggage amounted to 133 pieces of luggage - valuables and the most fashionable dresses. The furniture left in her St. Petersburg apartment, pieces of artistic decoration, precious Chinese and Saxon dishes, crystal chandeliers and much more - everything was sold at auction. All this brought a lot of revenue, as well-to-do Petersburgers did not skimp, wanting to buy the things of a scandalous person. Of particular value in this regard was the Pate recorder with recordings of intimate conversations between Balletta and the Grand Duke.

	Fleet and Maritime Department Manager
May 20, 1881 - June 13, 1881

During the absence of E. I. V. Admiral General

	Chief Commander of the Fleet and the Maritime Department
July 13, 1881 - June 2, 1905

Predecessor Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich Successor post abolished Birth January 2 (14)

St. Petersburg, Russian empire

Death November 1 (14)(58 years old)

Paris, France

Burial place

Grand Duke's Tomb

Genus Romanovs Father Alexander II Mother Maria Alexandrovna Spouse Alexandra Vasilievna Zhukovskaya Children Belevsky-Zhukovsky, Alexey Alekseevich Religion orthodoxy Awards Military service Years of service 1850-1905 Affiliation Russian empire Russian empire Type of army Fleet Rank Admiral General
Admiral
adjutant general commanded Guards carriage (1873-1877)
Naval teams on the Danube (1877-1878)
Navy of the Russian Empire (1881-1905) battles Russian-Turkish war (1877-1878)
Russo-Japanese War Alexey Alexandrovich at Wikimedia Commons

Biography

He was enrolled in military service at birth - in the Guards crew and the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky and Jaeger regiments, as well as the chief of Moscow. On the namesake of 1853, he was enrolled in the Life Guards Ulansky Regiment. On July 22, 1855, he was enrolled in the newly formed Rifle Regiment of the Imperial Family. On March 13, 1856, he became chief of the 27th naval crew (later abolished). On his seventh birthday, he received the first chief officer ranks: naval - midshipman and guards - ensign, and in the same year, for the namesake - patronage of the Yekaterinburg Infantry Regiment. Since 1860, he underwent maritime practice on various ships, under the guidance of his tutor, Rear Admiral K. N. Posyet. On his twelfth birthday, he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. On September 13, 1866, he was promoted to lieutenant of the fleet and lieutenant of the guard.

In 1868, under the leadership of Vice Admiral Posyet, he was on a voyage from Poti to the Baltic aboard the frigate Alexander Nevsky, which wrecked on the night of September 12-13, running aground in the Jutland Strait. During the rescue operation, three sailors and an officer of the ship were killed. The commander, Captain 1st Rank O. K. Kremer, considered that Aleksey Aleksandrovich behaved with dignity on the ship in distress, refusing to be among the first to be transported ashore. Four days after this event, the Grand Duke was promoted to staff captain and appointed adjutant wing. In the same year, he was appointed chief of the 77th Tenginsky Infantry Regiment.

In 1870, he traveled along the water system from St. Petersburg to Arkhangelsk, from where he returned by sea to Kronstadt as a watch officer on the Varyag corvette.

January 1, 1881 was appointed a member of the Council of State; July 13 of the same year - Chief of the Fleet and the Naval Department (instead of his uncle - Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich) with the rights of Admiral General and Chairman of the Admiralty Council.

On May 15, 1883, he was awarded the rank of Admiral General (the last Admiral General Russian fleet); On January 1, 1888 he was promoted to the rank of admiral.

Since 1890 he was an honorary member of the Berlin Orthodox St. Prince Vladimir Brotherhood. On January 18, 1892 he was appointed chief of the Naval Cadet Corps, and on January 27 of the same year - chief of the 5th naval crew.

During his management of the maritime department and the fleet (in which activities he relied on the managers of the maritime ministry: A. A. Peshchurov (1880-1882), I. A. Shestakov (1882-1888), N. M. Chikhachev (1888-1896 ), P. P. Tyrtov (1896-1903), F. K. Avelan (1903-1905)) a naval qualification was introduced, a regulation on remuneration for long-term command of ships of I and II ranks was issued, the corps of mechanical engineers and ship engineers were transformed, the number of crews was increased, many battleships and cruisers were built, the ports of Sevastopol, Alexander III, Port Arthur were built, the number of boathouses was increased, the docks in Kronstadt, Vladivostok and Sevastopol were expanded.

His death, which followed in Paris on November 1, 1908, was announced by the highest manifesto. The body was taken by funeral train to the Nikolayevsky railway station. The transfer of the body from the Nikolaevsky railway station to the Peter and Paul Cathedral and burial took place on November 8 according to the highest approved ceremonial. Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky) of St. Petersburg and Ladoga performed the Liturgy and funeral service; present were Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, and Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.

He was the first to be buried in the newly built tomb of members of the imperial family at the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

Awards

Ratings

His cousin, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, believed that Alexei Alexandrovich did not have great military abilities:

A secular man from head to toe, "le Beau Brummell", who was spoiled by women, Alexey Alexandrovich traveled a lot. The mere thought of spending a year away from Paris would have forced him to resign. But he was in the civil service and held the position of no more no less than the admiral of the Russian Imperial Fleet. It was hard to imagine the more modest knowledge that this admiral of a powerful state had in maritime affairs. The mere mention of modern transformations in the navy caused a painful grimace on his handsome face.<…>This carefree existence was overshadowed, however, by tragedy: despite all the signs of the approaching war with Japan, the Admiral General continued his festivities and, waking up one fine morning, found out that our fleet had suffered a shameful defeat in the battle with modern Mikado dreadnoughts. After that, the Grand Duke resigned and soon died.

Personal life

According to some reports, he entered into a morganatic marriage with the maid of honor Alexandra Vasilievna Zhukovskaya (1842-1899), the daughter of the poet V. A. Zhukovsky. If the marriage actually took place, then it was not officially recognized.

The second significant woman in his life was Zinaida Dmitrievna Skobeleva, with whom he was close in 1880-1899 until her death, despite the objections of her husband, the Duke of Leuchtenberg. About a year after the death of Zinaida Dmitrievna from throat cancer, the Frenchwoman Eliza Balletta, invited to the French troupe of the Mikhailovsky Theater, became the new mistress of the Grand Duke for many years.

In 1885 he moved to a palace specially built for him on the Moika Embankment (architect M. E. Messmacher).

The Diary

In the summer of 2006, during a planned review of the Yusupovs' fund of the manuscript department of the Russian National Library, the researchers of the Yusupov Palace discovered the "Journal" of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, which is a massive notebook bound in chocolate color with a gilded monogram "AA" on the cover and a gilded lock; he kept a diary in Russian for forty-five years, from 1862 to 1907.

In popular culture

The figure of Alexei Alexandrovich is somewhat popular with the authors of the genre of alternative history. In particular, he is the main character of Roman Zlotnikov's cycle "General-Admiral" (4 books as of September 2012, the cycle is completed), a significant place is occupied by his activities in Andrei Feliksovich Velichko's cycle "The Caucasian Prince" (6 books as of December 2011), as well as the cycle “Mr. from Tomorrow” by a team of domestic authors (A. Makhrov, B. Orlov, etc.). Mentioned in the story of V. Shukshin "Aliens". The attempt on Alexei is described in one of the stories in the collection The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes.

The Grand Duke is also featured in the 1994 film Maverick, where he is played by Paul Smith.

Memory

Alekseevsky real school in Perm.
Bay Port Alexey(now - sec; English Sek Harbor) on the Northeast coast of New Guinea in the Astrolabe Bay of the New Guinea Sea was named in his honor in 1872 by the Russian ethnographer and traveler N. N. Miklukho-Maklai during the first expedition to New Guinea. In 1883, with the participation of Miklukho-Maclay and the support of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, the crew of the Skobelev corvette, a detailed hydrographic survey of the bay was carried out in order to determine the possibility of creating a filling base for the cruisers of the imperial fleet here (later this idea was abandoned). And although the original Russian toponym has fallen into disuse, the Germanized derivative of it is German. Alexishafen, at various times gave international names to a number of objects in the vicinity of the bay and is still used as the name of the settlement (German) Russian

Alexey Alexandrovich, Grand Duke

ALEXEY ALEKSANDROVICH, E.I.V. Vel.Kn.,General-Admiral born Jan 2. 1850 and on the same day b. enrolled Imperial. Nicholas I in the Guards crew, i.e. from birth was intended for naval service. In 1857 Vel. Book. already had the rank of midshipman, and since 1860 he began to sail in the inland and foreign seas, on various ships, under the guidance of his tutor, Admiral Posyet. September 13, 1878 the frigate "Alexander Nevsky", on which Vel. Book. served as a lieutenant and returned to Russia, crashed off the coast of Jutland. In 1870 Vel. Book. made a journey through the water system from St. Petersburg to Arkhangelsk, after which, in the position of watch chief, on the Varyag corvette, he returned by sea to Kronstadt. In 1871-73 Vel. Book. made a long voyage on the frigate "Svetlana", in Sev. America, Japan and China, and returned by land through Siberia. Upon his return to Russia, in the rank of captain of the 1st rank, Vel. Book. commanded the Guards crew and the frigate "Svetlana" and, as a member of the shipbuilding and artillery department of the Naval Technical Committee, began to take part in the activities of the maritime department. During the war with Turkey in 1877-78, Vel. Prince, in the rank of K.-Adm., was on the Danube the head of all naval teams and was awarded a golden saber and the Order of St. George 4 st. In 1880 Vel. Book. A. A. was appointed adjutant general, and in the following year a member of the State Court. Council. In 1882, with the accession to the throne of Emperor Alexander III, Vel. Book. A. A. entered the management of the maritime department, instead of V. Kn. Konstantin Nikolaevich, and in the following year he was elevated to the rank of Admiral General. During Russo-Japanese War, June 2, 1905, dismissed from the post of chief commander of the fleet and the maritime department, with the retention of the rank of admiral general. November 1, 1908 Vel. Book. A. A. died in Paris.

HIS IMPERIAL HIGHNESS

Grand Duke

ALEKS Y ALEKSANDROVICH.

Military encyclopedia. - St. Petersburg: T-vo I.D. Sytin. Ed. V.F. Novitsky and others.. 1911-1915 .

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Books

Admiral General. At the Turn of the Ages (MP3 audiobook on 2 CDs), Roman Zlotnikov. Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich - Admiral General and Head of the Main Artillery Directorate (aka Alexei Korzhin, a former top manager from the 21st century) - continues large-scale ...