Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia - Last Years

Last Years

In 1886, Konstantin was furious when Alexander III restricted the title of Grand Duke to only children and grandchildren of Emperors, as this meant that Konstantin's grandchildren would merely be princes, but there was little he could do. He had been shunned from society and Alexander III only called his uncle to court for the wedding of Konstantin's eldest granddaughter, Alexandra of Greece to his nephew Grand Duke Paul.

At the beginning of August 1889, Konstantin suffered a severe stroke that left his legs paralyzed and him unable to speak. The loss of his health struck the once vibrant Konstantin particularly hard. As an invalid, he depended from then on on the care of adjutants while confined in a bath chair. Konstantin was cared for by his wife, who gained a sort of revenge for his unfaithfulness and past humiliations. Alexandra Iosifovna did not expel Anna Kuznetsova and her children from the nearby house that Konstantin had provided for them, but she made sure that Konstantin's attendants never took him there.

Konstantin tried in vain to convince his attendants to take him to see his second family, but they were under strict orders not to do so and pretended not to understand the invalid's wishes. One day, brought home by his attendants, he grabbed his wife's hair and beat her with a stick before anyone could intervene.

Konstantin died at Pavlovsk on 13/25 January 1892. Before he died his wife invited his mistress and their two daughters to see him for a last time.

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