Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Romanow (1858–1915)

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Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Romanow (painting by Ilya Jefimowitsch Repin , 1891)

Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov ( Russian Константин Константинович ; born August 10 . Jul / 22. August  1858 greg. In the Konstantin Palace in Strelna , † June 2 jul. / 15. June  1915 greg. In Pavlovsk ) was a member of the House of Romanov -Holstein-Gottorp . As a poet and playwright , he was known by the author's name "KR".

Life

Konstantin was the second son of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolajewitsch Romanow (1829-1892) and his wife Princess Alexandra of Saxony-Altenburg (1830-1911), daughter of Duke Joseph and Princess Amalie of Württemberg . He was a nephew of Queen Marie of Hanover and the grandson of the Russian Tsar Nicholas I. From early childhood on, Constantine was more interested in literature , art and music than in the military . Nevertheless, he was sent to a naval school and later joined the Izmailovsky Life Guard Regiment . He recognized his bisexuality early on .

On April 27, 1884, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Romanow married his German cousin (second degree) Princess Elisabeth von Sachsen-Altenburg (1865-1927), daughter of Prince Moritz von Sachsen-Altenburg and Princess Augusta Luise Adelaide Karoline Ida von Sachsen in Saint Petersburg -Meiningen . The marriage was happy and they had nine children.

The children of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Romanow
⚭ 1911 Princess Elena Karađorđević of Serbia
⚭ 1917 Antonia Nesterovskaya († 1950)
⚭ 1951 Princess Irina Ivanovna Kurakina
⚭ 1911 Prince Konstantin Bagration-Macharinski (1888–1915)
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Romanow

The children of Constantine and Elisabeth were the first to live under the modified house law of the Romanovs (July 14, 1886) of Tsar Alexander III. fell, in which he restricted the title "Grand Duke" or "Grand Duchess" to the children and grandchildren in the male line of a tsar. Distant descendants would in future bear the title of "Imperial Prince" or "Princess".

Grand Duke Constantine was a patron of Russian art. A talented pianist himself, he was president of the Russian Music Association and counted Pyotr Tchaikovsky among his best friends. But first and foremost he was a man of letters and founded several literary associations. He translated works by Schiller and Goethe into Russian and was particularly proud of his translation of Hamlet . He wrote the play "King of Judea" in which he played the role of "Joseph of Arimathea" . The homosexuality of the Grand Duke Constantine became public knowledge after the publication of his diaries . As mentioned, the Grand Duke's first homosexual experiences occurred in the Naval Academy, and he tried to suppress his feelings (between 1893 and 1899 referred to in his diary as the "main sin"). After the birth of his seventh child, he was often a guest in several male brothels in Saint Petersburg. In 1904 he met Jazko, and a long relationship developed between the two men.

He was the regiment chief of the Guard Grenadier Regiment No. 5 in Spandau. When the First World War broke out , the grand dukes were in Germany , where they took a spa stay in Bad Wildungen . Returning to Russia was fraught with obstacles. When he arrived in Saint Petersburg, his health deteriorated rapidly. Five of his six sons served in the Russian army ; Oleg was fatally wounded in October 1914 and his son-in-law in March 1915. Shortly afterwards, Grand Duke Constantine suffered a stroke , from which he died on June 15, 1915.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Andrei Maylunas and Sergei Mironenko (Editor) Darya Galy (translator), A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas and Alexandra: Their Own Story , 1997

literature

  • Andrei Maylunas, Sergei Mironenko (eds.): A lifelong passion. Nicholas and Alexandra. Their own story. Translations from original documents by Darya Galy. Doubleday, New York NY 1997, ISBN 0-385-48673-1 .
  • Charlotte Zeepvat: The Camera and the Tsars. The Romanov Family in Photographs. Sutton, Stroud 2005, ISBN 0-7509-4210-X .

Web links

Commons : Konstantin Konstantinowitsch Romanow (1858–1915)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Romanow, Konstantin Konstantinowitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Константи́н Константи́нович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian nobleman, poet and playwright
DATE OF BIRTH August 22, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Strelna
DATE OF DEATH June 15, 1915
Place of death Pavlovsk