Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia (25 October 1832 – 18 December 1909) was the fourth son and seventh child of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia. He was the first owner of the New Michael Palace on the Palace Quay in Saint Petersburg.

Marriage and issue

On 16 August 1857, he married Princess Cecilie of Baden (1839–1891), daughter of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden and Sophie of Sweden. Cecily adopted the name Olga Feodorovna, and had the following children with him:

Career

He served 20 years (1862–1882) as the Governor General of Caucasia, being seated in Tbilisi, the town which most of his children remembered as the home of their childhood. In the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), he was nominal Commander-in-Chief of the Russian troops in the Caucasus and was appointed Field Marshal General in April 1878. In the course of his life, four members of his family ruled as Emperors of Russia: his father, Nicholas I; his brother, Alexander II; his nephew, Alexander III; as well as his grand-nephew, Nicholas II, whose second daughter, Grand Duchess Tatiana, the Grand Duke was godfather to. He died in Cannes, France, on 18 December 1909. He was the last surviving legitimate grandchild of Paul I of Russia.

Legacy

He was remembered by Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, granddaughter of his eldest brother, in her memoirs: "My great-uncle, Grand Duke Michael came from time to time to pay us visits. He was an old gentleman of great height and unforgettable elegance; he fascinated us by the perfection and harmony of his gestures, by his affability and his air of a grand seigneur of an epoch already vanished. He was the last of the Grand Dukes who, according to the custom of my grandfather's time, tutoi-ed the men, and in spite of his age he bowed with touching grace before the women as he kissed their hands."

Honours

• Prussia: • * Knight of the Black Eagle, 14 June 1838 • * Grand Cross of the Red Eagle, 14 June 1838 • * Pour le Mérite (military), 8 December 1871; with Oak Leaves, 28 November 1877 • Württemberg: • * Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1846 • * Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order, 10 September 1878 • 🇳🇱 Netherlands: Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion, 1849 • undefined: Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, 1851 • Grand Duchy of Hesse: Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 7 June 1852 • Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Grand Cross of the White Falcon, 19 June 1852 • Baden: • * Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1852 • * Grand Cross of the Zähringer Lion, 1852 • * Grand Cross of the Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order, 1864 • undefined: Knight of St. Hubert, 1852 • undefined: Senator Grand Cross of the Constantinian Order of St. George, 1852 • undefined: Knight of the Rue Crown, 1852 • Two Sicilies: Grand Cross of St. Ferdinand and Merit, 1852 • Oldenburg: Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, with Golden Crown, 26 July 1853 • Sardinia: Knight of the Annunciation, 11 January 1857 • Nassau: Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau, 1860 • Persia: Order of the August Portrait, 1865 • undefined: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, June 1876 • Mecklenburg-Schwerin: Military Merit Cross, 2nd and 1st Classes, November 1877 • 🇩🇰 Denmark: Knight of the Elephant, 10 September 1881 • 🇸🇪 🇳🇴 Sweden-Norway: Knight of the Seraphim, 15 February 1892 • Emirate of Bukhara: Order of the Sun of Alexander, 1898

Ancestors