Assassination
Following his resignation, Grand Duke Sergei moved to the Neskuchnoye Palace with his wife and two foster children, then shortly thereafter, with surprising suddenness, to the Nicholas Palace within the safety of the Kremlin. This move, caused by the threat of further disturbances in the city, was made under the cover of darkness. Realizing that he was a vulnerable target for revolutionary assassins, he took every precaution that his detectives advised. Doing all he could to protect his wife, nephew and niece as well as his personal staff, the Grand Duke and his wife rarely ventured outside, and at home, they only received their close friends. The Grand Duke adopted a fatalistic attitude where his own safety was concerned. Like his father Alexander II, Sergei was firmly of the belief that, unless it was the will of God, no attempt on his life would succeed, but if it was the will of God, no amount of security would prevent it. One precaution he did take, however, was not for himself but for his adjutants, whom he would no longer allow to travel with him.
On February 15, 1905, the family attended a concert at the Bolshoi Theatre in aid of Elizabeth Feodorovna's Red Cross War charities. A terrorist organization that knew his route had planned to assassinate him that day, but when one of them saw the children in the carriage he thought better of it and decided not to wave the handkerchief which he had agreed to use as a signal to one of the comrades ready to throw the bomb. The aim was to assassinate the Grand Duke, not to kill his wife and two innocent children in cold blood, which would surely send a wave of revulsion through the empire and set back the revolutionary cause by years.
In the morning of February 17, 1905, Grand Duke Sergei was in a particularly good mood because he had received from the Tsar a miniature portrait of Alexander III surrounded by gold laurel leaves, as a personal mark of favor from nephew to uncle. After having lunch with his wife in the Nicholas palace, Sergei Alexandrovich left for the Governor General's mansion, where there was still work to do in closing his personal office. He was unaccompanied because of the possibility of danger, he had refused to take his adjutant Alexei since he was married with small children and he feared for his life. The arrival of the Grand Duke's recognizable carriage drawn by a pair of horses and driven by his coachman Andrei Rudinkin alerted the terrorist who had been waiting in the Kremlin with a bomb wrapped with newspapers.
Just before 2:45 p.m. on February 17, 1905, the carriage of the Grand Duke passed through the gate of Nikolskaya Tower of the Kremlin and turned the corner of the Chudov Monastery into Senatskaya Square. Then, from a distance no more than four feet away and still some sixty feet inside the Nikolsky Gate, Ivan Kalyayev, a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party’s Combat detachment, stepped forward and threw a nitroglycerin bomb directly into Sergei's lap. The explosion disintegrated the carriage and the Grand Duke died immediately, literally blown to bits. Scattered all over the crimson stained snow lay pieces of scorched cloth, fur and leather. The body of the Grand Duke was mutilated, with the head, the upper part of the chest and the left shoulder and arm being blown off and completely destroyed. Surrounded by the splintered bones of the skull was the very little that remained of the face. Some of the Grand Duke's fingers, still adorned with the rings he habitually wore, were found on the roof of a nearby building and were recovered some time later.
On impact, the carriage horses had bolted towards the Nikolsky Gate, dragging with them the front wheels and coachbox as well as the semi-conscious and badly burned driver Rudinkin, whose back had been riddled with bits of bomb and stones. He was rushed to the nearest hospital, where he died three days later. Kalayev, who by his own testimony had expected to die in the explosion, survived. Sucked into the vortex of the explosion, he ended up by the remains of the rear wheels. His face peppered by splinters, pouring with blood. He was immediately arrested. Sentenced to death, he was hanged two months later.
When the blast that ripped her husband to shreds shook Nicholas's palace and rattled the windows, the Grand Duchess rushed to the scene of the explosion. Stunned but perfectly controlled, she gave instructions and kneeling in the snow, helped to gather up Sergei's still-bleeding remains. The bared torso, part of the skull, a hand bone fragment, fingers, a still booted foot, were placed on a stretcher and covered with an army great coat. She also picked the medallions that Sergei wore around his neck and clutched them in the palm of her hand.
Read more about this topic: Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich Of Russia