Early Life
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich was born on April 22, 1847 at Tsarskoye Selo, some twenty miles (32 km) outside Saint Petersburg. He was the fourth child and third son among the eight children of Alexander II of Russia and his wife Maria Alexandrovna, born Duchess Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt.
He was eight years old when at the death of his grand father Nicholas I, his father became Russian Tsar. Grand Duke Vladimir was well educated and through his life he was interested in literature and the arts. However, as all male members of the Romanov family he had to follow a military career. As only the third son in a numerous family, he was far from the succession to the Russian throne. Nevertheless, in 1863, the early death of his eldest brother, the Tsarevich Nicholas, left Vladimir unexpectedly close to the throne as heir presumptive after his second brother Alexander. Unlike Alexander, the new heir, Vladimir was witty and ambitious. Rumors circulated at the time, that Alexander II would have his eldest surviving son removed from the succession placing Vladimir as his heir. Alexander himself would have preferred to step aside from the succession hoping to marry morganatically, but eventually he yielded to family pressure and married a suitable bride. Relations between the two brothers, although cordial, were never warm.
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