#Alexandra Kossikovkaya (Dina)

[loiladadiani]

Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (1878 -1918): Affairs of the heart

Misha (or "Floppy," as his sister Olga called him) was the youngest son and fifth child of Emperor Alexander III and, without a doubt, his favorite son. He grew up to be handsome and intellectually unremarkable...some, such as Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, thought that this lack of talent was a facade and that the young man was quite intelligent but preferred to live the life of a playboy and remain uninvolved in affairs of state.

Affairs of the heart turned out to be a big problem for Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, as he seemed to have always chosen the "wrong partner" (from a dynastic point of view.) I blame Dagmar (Empress Maria Feodorovna) for that; as second or third in the succession line most of his adult life, she should have secured a proper marriage for him. But her desire to keep her children close to her overruled her mind.

These are the women Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich fell in love with:

Princess Beatrice of Saxe Coburg and Gotha - a beautiful young lady and very appropriate by rank but a first cousin of Michael's (daughter of Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna, only sister of Alexander III.) The Russian Orthodox Church did not permit marriages among first cousins, and Nicholas II refused to authorize the marriage.

Alexandra Kossikovskaya (known as Dina) - a lady in waiting for his sister Olga and definitely out of the question as a marriage prospect.

Natalia Sergeyevna Wulfert (later Countess Natalia Brasova); was a very beautiful, already divorced woman with a daughter. When she met Michael, Natalia was married (second husband) to one of the officers under Mikhail. Natalia eventually divorced her second husband (she was already pregnant with a son by the Grand Duke), and they married without the Tsar's permission.

Given the cruel fate that awaited this young man, I am glad he got to marry and have a son, even if Nicky, Alix, Dagmar, Xenia, and even Olga were scandalized by his choice of bride.

Photographs: 1. Mikhail in a field of flowers; 2. Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; 3. Dina; 4. Natalia Wulfert (later Countess Brasova)