Nicholas Alexandrovich (; – ) was
tsesarevich
Tsesarevich (, ) was the title of the heir apparent or heir presumptive, presumptive in the Russian Empire. It either preceded or replaced the Eastern Slavic naming customs, given name and patronymic.
Usage
It is often confused with the much ...
—the
heir apparent
An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...
—of
Imperial Russia
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* ...
from 2 March 1855 until his death in 1865.
Early life

Grand Duke Nicholas was born on 1843, in the
Alexander Palace
The Alexander Palace (, ''Alexandrovskiy dvorets'', ) is a former imperial residence near the town of Tsarskoye Selo in Russia, on a plateau about south of Saint Petersburg. The Palace was commissioned by Catherine the Great in 1792.
Due t ...
in
Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo (, , ) was the town containing a former residence of the Russian House of Romanov, imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the Pushkin, Saint Peter ...
south of central
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, during the reign of his grandfather, Emperor
Nicholas I. Nicknamed "Nixa", he was the eldest son of the Tsesarevich
Alexander Nikolaevich, eldest son of Emperor Nicholas I, and the Tsesarevna
Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (; – 22 October 1920) was the sixth child and only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine; she was Duchess of Edinburgh and later Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Got ...
. In 1855, his paternal grandfather died, and his father succeeded to the throne as Emperor Alexander II.
Nicholas was extremely well-educated and intelligent. His paternal uncle Grand Duke
Konstantin
The first name Konstantin () is a derivation from the Latin name '' Constantinus'' ( Constantine) in some European languages, such as Bulgarian, Russian, Estonian and German. As a Christian given name, it refers to the memory of the Roman empe ...
called him "the crown of perfection." His history teacher said, “If I succeeded in forming a student equal to Nikolai Alexandrovich once in ten years, I’d think I’d have fulfilled my duties."
Nicholas had a close relationship with his younger brother,
Grand Duke Alexander. He called Alexander "Pug." On his deathbed, he told his father, "Papa, take care of Sasha, he is such an honest, good man."
Engagement
In the summer of 1864, Nicholas became engaged to
Princess Dagmar of Denmark. She was the second daughter of
King Christian IX
Christian IX (8 April 181829 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 15 November 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg.
A younger son of Frederick William, Duke of Schleswi ...
and
Queen Louise of Denmark and was a younger sister of the
Princess of Wales
Princess of Wales (; ) is a title used since the 14th century by the wife of the Prince of Wales. The Princess is the apparent future queen consort, as "Prince of Wales" is a title reserved by custom for the heir apparent to the Monarchy of the ...
, later Queen Alexandra and wife of the heir-apparent to the British throne, Albert Edward, who reigned as
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910.
The second child ...
.
Nicholas was besotted with Dagmar after he saw a photograph of her. On 3 August 1863, he wrote to his mother: "I haven’t fallen in love with anyone for a long time. . . You may laugh but the main reason for this is Dagmar whom I fell in love with long ago without even seeing her. I think only about her.” He was tremendously happy after he proposed to Dagmar in her native Denmark: “How can I not be happy when my heart tells me I love her, love her dearly?. . . How can I describe her? Pretty, direct, intelligent, lively yet shy.” As he continued on his European tour, he wrote love letters to Dagmar every day.
Death
Until 1865, Nicholas was thought to have a strong constitution. During a tour in southern Europe, he contracted an ailment that was initially incorrectly diagnosed as
rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...
. Nicholas's symptoms at that time included back pain and a stiff neck, as well as sensitivity to noise and light. He thought little of his ailments, however, and continued his tour in Italy.
His health rapidly worsened, and he was sent to Southern France. This move brought him no improvement. It was eventually determined that he was suffering from cerebro-spinal
meningitis
Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...
, and it was speculated that this illness of his was caused by a previous accident in a wrestling match, in which Nicholas participated and was thrown down. In the spring of 1865, Nicholas continued to decline, and he died on 24 April 1865, at the
Villa Bermond in
Nice
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million[France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...]
.
On his deathbed, Nicholas expressed the wish that his fiancée become the bride of his younger brother and future Tsarevich,
Alexander
Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here ar ...
. He "raised his right hand and took Sasha's
lexander'shand ... and seemed to be reaching for Princess Dagmar's with his left." In 1866, Alexander and Dagmar married.
Nicholas's death at the early age of 21 thoroughly devastated his mother, who was said to have pored obsessively over all aspects of Nicholas's life. Empress Maria never recovered from his death.
In 1867, construction was begun on a chapel named in his honor (
:fr:Chapelle du tsarévitch Nicolas Alexandrovitch) in Nice, on the exact place where Nicholas was said to have died, and in 1868, the chapel was inaugurated, with his brother Alexander and his wife, the re-christened Maria Feodorovna, in attendance.
Honours
Ancestry
Notes
References
* Zeepvat, Charlotte, Romanov Autumn, Sutton Publishing, 2000
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholas Alexandrovich, Tsesarevich of Russia
1843 births
1865 deaths
House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Grand dukes of Russia
Russian heirs apparent who never acceded
Neurological disease deaths in France
Infectious disease deaths in France
Deaths from meningitis
19th-century nobility from the Russian Empire
Tsesarevichs of Russia
category:Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Russia)
Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 1st class
Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain
Children of Alexander II of Russia
Sons of Russian emperors
Burials at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg
Sons of dukes