Marriage and Family
His homosexuality notwithstanding, KR believed in putting his duty to the Imperial Family first. He married in 1884 in St Petersburg Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg, his second cousin. Upon her marriage, Elisabeth became the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Mavrikievna. She was known within the family as "Mavra."
The couple would have a total of nine children:
- Prince John (1886–1918)
- Prince Gabriel (1887–1955)
- Princess Tatiana (1890–1979)
- Prince Constantine (1891–1918)
- Prince Oleg (1892–1914)
- Prince Igor (1894–1918)
- Prince George (1903–1938)
- Princess Natalia (died at exactly two months, 1905)
- Princess Vera (1906–2001)
Prince John married Princess Helen of Serbia (daughter of King Peter of Serbia) in 1911. Princess Tatiana married Prince Constantine Bagration-Muhransky, a Georgian prince, that same year. Tatiana's marriage was celebrated with the full approval of the Tsar (as distinct from the numerous morganatic marriages contracted by other Romanovs).
KR's children were the first to fall under the new Family Law promulgated by Emperor Alexander III. It stated that henceforth, only the children and male-line grandchildren of a Tsar would be styled Grand Duke or Grand Duchess with the style of Imperial Highness -- great-grandchildren and their descendants would be styled either "Prince of Russia" or "Princess of Russia" with the style of Highness. The revised Family Law was intended to cut down on the number of persons entitled to salaries from the Imperial treasury.
KR was, by all accounts, devoted to his wife and children, and a loving father. He and his family made their home at Pavlovsk, a suburban palace of St. Petersburg, and a favorite residence of KR's great-grandfather, the Emperor Paul I.
Read more about this topic: Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich Of Russia
Famous quotes containing the words marriage and/or family:
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