Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia - A Russian Grand Duke

A Russian Grand Duke

Sergei Mikhailovich loved the military life and served in a number of regiments. Like his father, he was drawn towards ordnance and artillery. After graduating from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School, he started his military service in the Life Guard of the Cavalry Artillery Brigade. In 1891, he became aide-de-camp to the Emperor and in 1899 was promoted to the rank of colonel. In 1904, he was made major general in the House Guards Artillery Brigade of the suite of the Tsar. He replaced his father in 1905 as Inspector General of Artillery, a post he held until 1915 when he was removed under controversy during World War I. In 1908, he became adjutant General. In 1914, he was promoted to the rank of General of Cavalry. From January 1916, he served as Field Inspector General of the Artillery until he resigned his military post at the fall of the monarchy.

Sergei Mikhailovich was tall, reaching six foot three, and was the only among Grand Duke Michael Nicholaievich’s children to inherit father’s blue eyes and blond hair. He became prematurely bald and was considered the least handsome of a very good-looking family. He had a keen sense of the ridiculous, but was pessimistic, as influenced by his tutor Colonel Helmerson. He had the habit of saying “ tant pis!” (so much the worse!) to any bad news. Widely considered rude and moody, he was at the same time sincere, affectionate, loved simplicity and was easily accessible without class distinction.

Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich was, unlike his brothers, interested in mathematics and physics, which coincided with his fondness for artillery. His only artistic inclination was choral singing, and he formed an amateur chorus of more than sixty voices, including some professional singers. They were directed by Kasatchenko, the master of the Imperial Theater. For a decade, the group met at Sergei’s palace every Monday evening from 8:00 pm to 10:30 pm before the Russo-Japanese War stopped it. Like his brothers George and Alexander, Sergei Mikhailovich was also fond of numismatics and gathered a large collection of coins. Like all the Grand Dukes, Sergei was immensely wealthy. Beside his Grand Ducal allowance of 200,000 roubles a year, he received the income from vast personal states, which include a hunting lodge 60 miles (97 km) from St Petersburg. At the death of his father in 1909, his wealth increased even further.

He remained a bachelor, living in the household of his father, and later with his eldest brother on the Neva: the new Michaelovsky Palace in St Petersburg. The halls and corridors were so vast that Sergei used a bicycle to visit his brothers Grand Dukes George and Nicholas Mikhailovich who lived in other wings of the large Palace.