Grand Duke Dimitri Constantinovich of Russia - War and Revolution

War and Revolution

Dimitri had anticipated a clash with Germany for years and was not surprised at the outbreak of World War I. By then, he was almost blind which kept him from participating in the conflict, and he had to content himself with a job training the cavalry regiments away from the field of action.

Never meddling in politics, Dimitri Constantinovich remained silent in the turmoil that preceded the fall of the Romanovs, believing it was not his place to offer unsolicited advice to Nicholas II. Dimitri was at his estate of Kichkine in Crimea when he learned that Rasputin had been murdered. He was outraged that members of the Imperial family, among them his sister Olga, Queen of the Hellenes, had signed and sent a plea for leniency on behalf of Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich to the Emperor. He said that had he been in Petrograd at the time, he would have never signed the letter.

The grand duke was in Petrograd when the revolution broke out in late February 1917. In spite of the uncertainty of the times, he had purchased a large mansion on Petrogradsky Quay in Petrograd. He was staying there when he learned of Nicholas II’s abdication and the declaration of the provisional government. After the fall of his family from power, he lived quietly, in obscurity, depending largely on Alexander Koronchentzov, his trusted Adjutant, for the necessities of daily life. His niece Princess Tatiana, who had lost her husband during the war, was living with him.