Konstantin Friedrich Peter Oldenburg (1850 - 1906)

Born 9 May 1850 in St. Petersburg, Russia

Ancestors

Husband of Agrippina Konstantinovna Djaparidze — married 20 Oct 1882 in Kutaisi, Georgia

Descendants

Died 18 Mar 1906 at age 55 in Nice, France

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Duke Konstantin Oldenburg was a member of the aristocracy in Russia.

Biography

Konstantin Friedrich Peter von Holstein-Gottorp, Duke of Oldenburg (Russian: Константина Петровича Ольденбургского) was born 9 May 1850 at St. Petersburg, Russia.

Known in the court of Tsar Nicholas II as Duke Constantine Petrovich, he was the father of the Russian Counts and Countesses von Zarnekau.

He was the seventh child of Duke Peter Georgievich of Oldenburg and Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg. His siblings and cousins became highly influential in the court of the last Tsar.

Duke Constantine Petrovich served as a commander of cavalry during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 to 1878.

He was stripped of his rank and titles and exiled in 1903 for his role in the Nakachidze Affair.

He died 18 March 1906 at Nice, France.

Childhood

From Wikipedia: "Little has been written about the early life of Duke Constantine Petrovich. The record indicates he was baptised as a Protestant with the name Konstantin Friedrich Peter. But at court he was called by his Russian name and patronymic, Constantine Petrovich. He grew up in St. Petersburg during the 1850s. He had three brothers and four sisters. The family spent summers at their residence in Kamenoi-Ostroff and retired to Peterhof Palace during the winters."

Powerful Brothers and Sisters

The duke had seven sisters and brothers. His sister Alexandra married into the House of Romanov while two other siblings married into the House of Leuchtenberg (the Beauharnais family), who were considered part of the Russian Imperial family.

His seven siblings were:

• Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna of Oldenburg (2 June 1838, St. Petersburg – 13 April 1900 Kiev, Ukraine), who married in 1856 to Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1831–1891), the son of Tsar Nicholas I and commander-in-chief of the Russian Armies of the Danube in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878. Their son, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856 - 1929) also served briefly as commander-in-chief of the Russian Army during the first year of World War I.

• Nicholas Friedrich August of Oldenburg (9 May 1840, St. Petersburg – 20 January 1886, Geneva, Switzerland), who married Maria Bulazel created Countess von Osternburg.

• Cecile of Oldenburg (27 February 1842 St. Petersburg – 11 January 1843, St. Petersburg)

• Duke Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg (2 June 1844, St Petersburg, – 6 September 1932, Biarritz, France), the senior son and heir of the Russian Oldenburgs. Alexander Petrovich was once a candidate to the Bulgarian throne. He married in 1868 to Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg. Their only son, Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg, married the sister of Tsar Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, and during World War I Duke Alexander Petrovich served as head of all Russian military hospitals and the Russian Red Cross.

• Katherine of Oldenburg (21 September 1846, St. Petersburg – 23 June 1866, St. Petersburg)

• George of Oldenburg (17 April 1848, St. Petersburg – 17 March 1871, St. Petersburg), and

• Duchess Therese of Oldenburg (30 March 1852, St. Petersburg – 18 April 1883 St. Petersburg) who married George Maximilianovich Beauharnais, the 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg (1852–1912).

Chronological Summary of Military Career and Medals Awarded

To summarize briefly: Duke Konstantin Petrovich was registered from birth (1850) until 1869 as an Ensign in his father's honor unit, the Semenovsky Regiment of the Life Guard Infantry.

In 1856, when he was only six years old, Konstantin's older sister Alexandra married to Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov, a son of Tsar Nicholas I and younger brother of Tsar Alexander II. That meant that Konstantin Petrovich was pre-destined from a very young age for a military career. For a young man so closely related to the Tsar to refuse military service was nearly unthinkable.

Konstantin received his education at home and attended lectures at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence before entering military service on 21 May 1869.

From May 21, 1869 to March 5, 1906 he was enlisted in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment.

In 1874 he attended his brother-in-law, Gen. Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov, as an aide-de-camp on a Russian mission to the Middle East. During this trip he paid a visit to Jerusalem, where he was enlisted as an honorary member of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.

Between 1877 and 1878, Konstantine Petrovich participated in some of the key battles of the Russo-Turkish War, notably the Battle of Kars (17 November 1877). Konstantin received high praise for bravery under fire.

From 1881 to 1887 he commanded the 1st Cavalry Regiment of the Khoperskoe Kuban Cossack army, which suggests he may have spent some time at their headquarters in Alexandrovsk (today called Zaporizhia) Ukraine.

Konstantin married to a Georgian woman, a member of the Georgian nobility, in 1882 and reached the rank of Major General in 1887. After 1887 he was stationed at Kutaisi, Georgia for the remainder of his military career.

Duke Konstantin's long-term posting to Kutaisi, Georgia, was seen, in Petersburg society, as a banishment. The Duke was considered to be "in bad odor" at court. Count Sergei Witte claims, in his memoirs, that Konstantine Petrovich was banished because he was a drunk.

Nevertheless, Duke Konstantin was allowed, on occasion, to return to St. Petersburg. He attended the coronation of Tsar Alexander III in 1883, and he appears on the list of officers and honor guards who attended the royal wedding of Nicholas II to Alexandra in 1894.

In 1900 Konstantin was made a Lt. General and given command of the Russian cavalry's horse-breeding programs in Georgia.

In about 1903, Duke Konstantin was stripped of all rank, titles and military command. Several newspaper stories published in royal gossip columns between 1903 and his death in 1906 indicate that Konstantin had lost favor at court because of his role in the Orkowski Affair of 1893 and the Nakachidze Affair of 1895 (detailed below).

His social status went from bad to worse in 1903. In February of that year, he, his wife and family attended a fancy ball at the Winter Palace. Duke Konstantin used the occasion to promote the interests of the Nakachidze children (potential heirs to the Russian throne) by speaking out loudly in their favor at court. This resulted in a very serious and public dispute with the Tsar (who still had no male heirs until the birth of Alexei in August 1904).

At the insistance of the Tsar's mother, the dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna, Duke Konstantin was banished. He was declared insane and for all practical purposes his military career ended in 1903.

As many of the contemporary newspaper accounts attest, the Duke was most certainly not insane. He was mad at the Tsar and mad at the Tsar's mother for some fairly good reasons explained under the heading "Nakachidze Affair" below.

The long list of military awards and medals awarded to Duke Konstantine Petrovich indicates he was an able, intelligent, and brave officer. When it came to military matters, he was an outstanding cavalry commander, repeatedly decorated for excellence in service, and until 1893 he was well-respected.

The list of Duke Konstantin's medals and advancements in rank may be found in the Seniority List of Generals, St. Petersburg, 1905, an official periodical of the War Ministry of the Russian Empire which lists generals by seniority ranks and conferring titles.

It provides some useful insight.

Awards given at birth:

• Oldenburg coat of Merit Order of Duke Friedrich Ludwig 1 tbsp. (1850)
• Mecklenburg Order Venian Crown tbsp. (1850)

Award at age 15 (as a cadet):

• Order of St. Stanislaus 2 tbsp. (1865)

On May 21, 1869 to March 5, 1906, Konstantine Petrovich was listed in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment.

He advanced to the rank of Lieutenant in the regiment on 17 April 1870 (with high praise).

Lt. Konstantin Petrovich enlisted in the Life Guards Hussar Regiment on 14 September 1870, and he advanced to the rank of Lieutenant-Captain on 16 April 1872 (with high praise for excellence in service to art.)

Awards:

• Dutch Order of the Golden Lion of Nassau (1872)

Lt. Capt. Konstantin Petrovich became an "Attendant en suite" to his brother-in-law, Grand Duke Nicholai Nicholaevich, Sr., during an 1872 visit to the Middle East, Istanbul and Jerusalem (17 September - 20 November 1872). This was a diplomatic mission sponsored by the Russian Palestinian Committee, which later became the Russian Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, an order sponsored by the Russian Imperial family and the Russian Hereditary Knights of Malta that promoted Orthodox pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Because Tsar Paul I (1754 - 1801) served as the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta between 1799 and his death in 1801, and because Konstantin Petrovich of Oldenburg was a descendant of Paul's daughter, Ekaterina Pavlovna Romanov, he was considered an hereditary knight within the Russian hereditary order, and expected to participate in this visit to the Holy Land.

Awards:

• Turkish Order Osmaniye, 1st.
• Order of St. Sepulchre of Jerusalem (patriarch of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Order)

Konstantin's whereabouts between 1872 and 1875 are not known for certain, but it is very possible that he participated in the Khivan Campaign of 1873.

Konstantin Petrovich attained the rank of Captain on 13 April 1875 (with high praise for excellence in service).

He served as Commander, 4th Squadron (8 September 1875 to 1 June 1876) in secondment to the commander of the Caucasian Army (20 May to September 1877). The commander at that time was Field Marshal Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich of Russia, the brother of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich.

The dates suggest Konstantin participated in the Russian actions to support Serbia during the Serbian-Turkish War.

He attained the rank of Colonel on 27 March 1877 (with high praise for excellence in service).

During the first stages of the Russo-Turkish war, he accompanied his regiment in the Balkan Theatre (September 1877), which means he was most likely present at the Battle of Tashkessen.

Award:

• Order of St. Vladimir 4 tbsp. (1877)

To understand the second half of the war, it helps to read the Wikipedia article on the Romanian War of Independence, which clearly indicates that Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich was now serving as the commander-in-chief of the Russian Army of the Danube. Col. Konstantin Petrovich was most likely serving at his side.

On 31 May 1878, Konstantin advanced to the rank of Adjutant (High Praise, for taking Telish).

Awards:

• Golden gun "For Bravery" (1878)
• Light Bronze medal to commemorate the Russian-Turkish war (30 June 1878)
• Romanian Iron Cross "for crossing the Danube" (1879)
• Romanian mark of Military Merit "Virtuti Militari" (1879).

Col. Konstantin Petrovich became the Commander, 1st Regiment (Hospersky) Kuban Cossack Army on 30 Jan 1881 and served until 5 Aug 1887.

The Kuban Cossacks (also known as the Zaporozhian Cossacks) were based at Alexandrovsk (Zaporozhe), Ukraine, which suggests Konstantin and his newly wed wife spent some time in Ukraine.

Certainly Konstantin's sister, the Grand Duchess Alexander Petrovna (the wife of Nikolai Nikolaevich) was living near Kiev, Ukraine during this period. In his memoirs, Count Sergei Witte mentions meeting Konstantin Petrovich at Alexandra's house in Kiev.

During the 1880s, the Russian cavalry were engaged in the conquest of Central Asia. They took western Turkmenistan in 1881 and in in 1884 they took the Merv oasis and eastern Turkmenistan.

Based on his medals list, it appears Konstantin was involved.

Awards:

• Order of St. Anne 2 tbsp. (1884)

Summary of All Foreign Awards:

• Oldenburg Merit Order of Duke Friedrich Ludwig 1 tbsp. (1850)
• Mecklenburg Order Venian Crown tbsp. (1850)
• Dutch Order of the Golden Lion of Nassau (1872)
• Romanian Iron Cross "for crossing the Danube" (1879)
• Romanian Order of Military Merit (1879)
• Bulgarian Order "St. Alexander" 1st st. (1883)
• Light Bronze medal to commemorate the coronation of Emperor Alexander III (15 May 1883)
• Order of St. Anne 2 tbsp. (1884)
• Cross of the Orthodox Palestine Society (6 May 1884)

Konstantin Petrovich became a Major General 5 August 1887 (with high praise for distinguished career).

Finally, Konstantin Petrovich became a Lt. General on 12 June 1900 (with high praise for excellence in service to art), a rank which he held until he was stripped of all military rank and noble titles in 1903.

The Russian Generals List in 1905 indicates he became a "Member of the General Directorate of State Breeding" (the organization in charge of breeding horses for the Russian cavalry) on 1 August 1900 and served in that position until 1 September 1905.

In other words, Konstantin Petrovich was allowed to maintain some honorary memberships even while living in exile in France between 1903 and 1906. As a courtesy, he remained enlisted as a member of the Preobrazhensky Guard until the day of his death.

1882 Marriage to Agrippina Djaparidze

From Wikipedia:

"At the end of the war, between 1881 and 1887, Constantine Petrovich commanded the 1st Cavalry Regiment of the Hopersky Kuban Cossacks, stationed near Kutaisi, a town in the Georgian province of Imeretia, just north of the battlefield at Kars. He most likely remained under the command of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich, who, as Governor General of the Caucasus, lived nearby in Tbilsi (then known as Tiflis).

At this time, the Black Sea coast in Georgia became the "Riviera of Russia," a popular place for wealthy Russians to visit on vacation, and the arts scene in Tiflis began to thrive. Constantine Petrovich became a guest at the social salon of Barbara Bonner Baratashvili ("Babale"), née Princess Cholokashvili, whose mansion at 9 Reutov Street attracted many poets, painters and writers.

It was here that Constantine Petrovich first saw the Imeretian noblewoman Agrippina Japaridze, his future wife. She was starring in the lead role of the play "The Knight in the Panther's Skin," a production mounted by Princess Cholokashvili in order to raise funds for a monument to one of Georgia's greatest poets, Shota Rustaveli.

Agrippina played Tinatin, an Arabian princess who sends her suitor on a quest to find a mysterious Knight in Panther's skin. The scenes and backdrops for the show were painted by the famous Hungarian court painter Mihály Zichy, and the play was a tremendous success, winning "endless applause."

After the show, Constantine Petrovich began a reckless flirtation with Agrippina and his attentions to the wife of a fellow officer caused people to gossip. Agrippina's husband, Prince Tariel "Daniel" Dadiani, was one of the officers under Duke Constantine's command. It was considered very bad form to take advantage of one's rank in such a manner.

The Dadiani were a highly respected noble family in Georgia. As a branch of the Bagrationi Dynasty, they claimed descent from the House of David, and under Russian rule they served as the political figureheads of Georgia's royal family. Agrippina was Tariel Dadiani's second wife, and she had already given him three children: Mikelo, Levanti and Nino Dadiani.

It is rumored that Constantine Petrovich finally won Agrippina from her husband while playing cards. The Duke allegedly agreed to cancel Dadiani's debts in exchange for his wife. When Prince Dadiani agreed, Agrippina left him.

On June 28, 1882, Agrippina divorced Dadiani. According to the memoirs of Count Witte, Constantine Petrovich "had to marry her after she divorced her husband." They wed that fall.

On 20 October 1882, Constantine entered into a morganatic marriage with Agrippina Japaridze, described by one source as wealthy and an "exceedingly lovely girl." Grand Duke Peter II, head of the House of Oldenburg, created her Countess von Zarnekau on the day of their wedding, with the same title passing to their children.

Six Children

Between 1883 and 1892, Konstantine and Agrippina produced six children, three boys and three girls, all of them born in Kutais, the Caucasus. As heirs to their mother's title, they became the Counts and Countessas von Zarnekau.

Konstantin's children were:

• Alexandra Constantinovna von Zarnekau, Countess von Zarnekau (10 May 1883 - 28 May 1957); married Prince George Alexandrovich Yurievsky, a son of Alexander II of Russia.
• Ekaterina Konstantinovna von Zarnekau, Countess von Zarnekau (16 September 1884 - 24 December 1963)
• Nikolai Konstantinovich von Zarnekau, Count von Zarnekau (7 May 1885 - 1976)
• Aleksai Konstantinovich von Zarnekau, Count von Zarnekau (16 July 1887 - 16 September 1918)
• Petr Konstantinovich von Zarnekau, Count von Zarnekau (26 May 1889 - 1 November 1961), and
• Nina Konstantinovna von Zarnekau, Countess von Zarnekau (13 August 1892 - 1922)

Business Interests

After their marriage in 1882, Constantine and Agrippina lived on the Japaridze family estate in Kutaisi. An able manager, Constantine Petrovich helped Agrippina to build her lands into productive vineyards and a winery. He established himself as a person interested in helping the region to develop its agriculture, especially the study of balneology and viticulture.

In 1884, they bought a local wine cellar established by the Frenchman Shote in 1876 for bottling champagne. They developed this into a thriving business that sold sparkling wines.

They also began an export company. Constantine Petrovich bought stock in local mines and oil wells, and began selling fruit, melons, vegetables and other farm goods abroad.

In his capacity as a cavalry general, Constantine Petrovich oversaw the local stables, gradually becoming an expert horse-trader, providing services to Russian officers and aristocrats in the region. The record indicates Constantine Petrovich became a member of the Veterinary Council of the Russian Empire, and he eventually became the "director general of all the Imperial horse-breeding establishments."

1893 Orkowski Affair

During the late 1890s, Duke Konstantin Petrovich was allowed to move back to St. Petersburg. He purchased a residence at 36 Tavritcheskaia street and sent his sons to elite military academies, where they won favor and joined units of the Tsar's Life Guard.

But Duke Konstantin himself remained out of favor at court. He was blamed by the Tsar's mother, the dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna, for causing a rupture between Tsar Nicholas and the Tsar's younger brother, the Grand Duke George Alexandrovich Romanov, in 1893.

The trouble had begun in November 1890, when Tsar Alexander III and Empress Marie decided to send their sons, Nicholas and George, on a diplomatic trip to Japan. All went well and the two brothers had a great time sailing from port to port until their ship reached Bombay, India, where George fell suddenly ill with fever, bronchitis and a mysterious pain in his leg. Sent back to Athens, the Grand Duke George was diagnosed by royal doctors with tuberculosis (consumption) -- then considered a death sentence. On the advice of the royal family's physicians, he moved to Tiflis, a place known for its warm and dry climate, in hopes that he might live a few years longer.

George soon took up residence at the palace of Abbas Tumani, in the scenic hills outside of Tiflis, and he thus became a neighbor to Duke Konstantin Petrovich and the Counts and Countesses von Zarnekau.

Konstantin invited the lonely prince over for dinner often, and whenever George was in downtown Tiflis he made a point of paying a visit to the Duke of Oldenburg's palace on Garden Street (today an art museum located at 6 Kargareteli Street). There he found a warm and welcoming family, whose company he thoroughly enjoyed. They became good friends.

At about this time, in the spring of 1892, George became involved with a local woman who has never been named. At least one report seems to indicate her name was Orkowski. She was reportedly a nurse assigned to help George during his illness, and her compassion, combined with the young man's sadness in the winter of 1892 - 1893 had created a strong bond of sympathy that soon became a love affair.

They were wed in early 1893, and she gave birth to a child in 1894.

In November 1894, Tsar Alexander III died of nephritis while staying at the Livadia palace. That made his oldest son, Nicholas, who had become engaged to Alexandra in April 1894, the new emperor.

According F. Cunliffe-Owen, a well-connected Austrian diplomat who worked as a royal gossip columnist in New York, Tsar Alexander III "is understood to have permitted the alliance [between George and Miss Orkowski] in order to ease the mind of the dying lad, who was his favorite son. When, however, Nicholas came to the throne, and George became ipso facto Czarovitch, and at the same time showed no indications of dying, but on the contrary of recovering, it became necessary that this alliance should be dissolved.

"Indeed, Nicholas called upon his younger brother, who had now become heir to the throne, to repudiate his wife, who was of the most humble origin. This, George, who was in Livadia at the time, refused to do, and in the midst of the dispute between the two brothers telegraphic news was received from the Duke's home at Abbas Tuman, in the Caucasus, to the effect that the girl and her baby had suddenly died.

"George at once returned thither, without waiting for his father's funeral, and from that time forth until his death declined to see his elder brother, expressing his conviction that the latter had not only acted most ungenerously in connection with the affair, but that he was in some way responsible for the young woman's sad end . . . .

"So cruelly did George assail his older brother in the matter, that an irreparable breach ensued between them, which was never healed."

The dowager Empress Marie, who had just lost her husband, was distraught, and blamed Duke Konstantin for the rupture between her sons, because it was Konstantin who had introduced George to the Orkowski woman.

Attended 1894 Wedding of Tsar Nicholas II to Alexandra

According to the official program for the "Ceremony of the Wedding of His Majesty the Emperor Nicholas II with Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna," Duke Constantine Petrovich was amongst the officers who followed the Tsar and his bride in the wedding cortege on November 14 (November 26) 1894.

See: http://www.alexanderpalace.org/wedding/

When Nicholas wed Alexandra on 26 November 1894, George wasn't there. The royal physicians had determined that he was too ill to travel.

In fact right about this time one finds several reports in English newspapers that Duke George had been asked, for health reasons, to step out of the line of succession, and cede his role as heir to his younger brother Michael.

George reportedly agreed to step aside.

But he was not at all happy about it. Later reports indicate he had decided to renew and re-assert his right to the title of Tsarevich. He began resisting the will of his older brother Nicholas in earnest.

The Nakachidze Affair of 1895

The Orkowski Affair was soon followed by another, far more serious romance with far more serious consequences: The Nakachidze Affair.

Konstantin Petrovich had introduced the Grand Duke to his wife's Georgian relatives, who often came over to Abbas Tumani to visit, and George was deeply smitten by the beautiful Princess Nakachidze, a cousin of Konstantin's wife, Agrippina.

The attraction was mutual, and a new romance bloomed. The couple began to talk and to take walks together. They gradually grew closer. Seeing that they were happy, Duke Konstantin decided, once again, not to interfere.

Grand Duke George and Princess Nakachidze secretly married without the Tsar's knowledge or permission, ca. 1895. They were reportedly wed at Abbas Tumani palace, in a private, Orthodox ceremony witnessed by Duke Konstantin and several others.

For obvious reasons, news of this match greatly upset the royal family and created a new crisis. The wedding of the Tsarevich, the official heir to the throne of the Russian empire, was a serious matter of state, not to be taken lightly, and Tsar Nicholas II had not given his brother George permission to wed.

The Empress Marie was especially angry with Duke Konstantin Petrovich for re-opening an old wound. After the Orkowski affair, which Konstantin had permitted, he certainly should have known better than to parade his wife's Georgian cousins in front of George and meddle a second time in the love life of the Tsarevich.

The fact that George's wife was a Georgian princess was also a big problem, not a plus. From the political perspective of St. Petersburg, it encouraged Georgian nationalists and separatists (who wanted their country back) to start making assassination attempts, in an effort to put George and the children of Princess Nakachidze on the Russian throne.

This was not an imaginary threat.

1896 Assassination Attempt by Prince Viktor Nakachidze

In September 1896, the international press reported that an attempt had been made to poison Tsar Nicholas II, with poisoned gloves. ("Nihilists Resort to Borgia's Art: Plot to Kill the Czar by Impregnating His Gloves with Poison Almost Succeeds," [New York] World, 6 September 1896, p. 25, col. 5).

After careful investigation, the Tsar's secret police, the Okhrana, successfully traced the murder attempt back to a cell of nihilist living in Milan, Italy, where they had gathered at the local library to study poisons once used by the Borgias.

The leader of that cell was a Georgian nationalist named Viktor Nakachidze - a cousin of the woman who had just secretly married the Tsarevich.

The royal family's trust in George was deeply shaken. It seemed that he, Duke Konstantin and the Nakachidze family had just worked together to orchestrate the murder of Nicholas.

Over time, the rupture between George and the royal family in St. Petersburg became more and more severe -- a real political headache. George's letters certainly make it clear that he was unhappy about having been repeatedly excluded from family events. He was bitter that circumstances had not permitted him to attend his own father's funeral, and that he had also been excluded from his brother's wedding. He had never even met the Tsar's daughters, his own nieces.

Despite all of the words of sympathy, and a visit from his mother, the dowager empress Marie, whom he accompanied on a trip to Denmark in 1895, George had apparently begun to feel that he, like Duke Konstantin Petrovich, had been exiled to Georgia.

Between their wedding in 1895 and his death in 1899, the Tsarevich George and his wife Princess Nakachidze reportedly had three children: A daughter and two sons. This was at a time when Tsar Nicholas II himself had only daughters, and it looked very much as if the Russian throne might pass to the Tsarevich George and his secret family living in Tiflis.

In other words, the Nakachidze Affair had not only caused a serious emotional rupture within the Tsar's family, but had also threatened to disrupt the line of succession itself.

Had this all been part of a deliberate plot? An act of calculated revenge by George, aided and abetted by Duke Konstantin Petrovich?

The Tsar had begun to view Konstantin through narrowed eyes. The dowager Empress quite simply despised him.

Death of Konstantin's friend, Tsarevich George Romanov

In the summer of 1899, after many years of survival, the Tsarevich George Alexandrovich Romanov suddenly died of a lung hemorrhage. He was found lying next to his motorbike on an abandoned stretch of mountain road a few miles from his palace at Abbas Tumani. He died in the arms of an old peasant woman who found him in the road, choking on his own blood.

The body was transported back to St. Petersburg, and the funeral ceremony that followed was huge: An immense crowd lined the streets. The dowager Empress Marie was said to be almost mad with grief.

Anyone who doubts that the Tsarevich George Alexandrovich was married need only refer to the August 1899 obituary that appeared in the New York Times. The obituary very clearly indicates that the Tsarevich was married: but it does not give the wife's name, omits any mention of children, and does not say what became of her.

The reason why no one wanted to tell the full story eventually made its way into English newspapers a few years later in 1903. It wasn't a pretty story.

Anger after the funeral of Tsarevich George

When the Tsarevich had died in 1899, his wife and children were left without a father, without titles, and without funds or allowance from the royal family.

Ignoring the fact that she had spent years nursing and caring for George, and ignoring the fact that one of George's dying wishes had been that his wife and children should be cared for and protected, the Tsar gave orders that Princess Nakachidze and her children should be banished and permanently disowned.

George's wife and children were not recognized or allowed to attend the Tsarevich's funeral. They were entirely shut out.

Tsar's lawyers stood on court protocol and legal technicalities. Despite the fact that the couple had been properly wed in an Orthodox church, the court of Tsar Nicholas II considered her wedding to George to be null and void, because it had never been approved by the Tsar.

Also, the wedding was in their eyes "morganatic," that is, a wedding between people of unequal rank. Having conquered Georgia and deposed its nobility, Russia no longer recognized the titles of Georgian nobility in Russian court. In the eyes of the lawyers who ran the court of Tsar Nicholas II, the princess had no legitimate claim whatever to a noble title in Russia. Consequently, they could not grant a Russian title to her children.

The Tsar's lawyers were, in effect, declaring the Nakachidze woman to be nothing but a peasant who had once served as George's concubine. During a time of tearful grief over the loss of George, Princess Nakachidze and her children were grimly shown the door and asked to leave.

The Tsar's ministers made it very clear that she and her children should never come back again. They were not welcome at court.

By this decision, Tsar Nicholas effectively declared the Nakachidze children -- his own nephews -- to be illegitimate. He gave orders that they should never be mentioned at court again. He did not ever want to hear their names spoken again.

Their existence was to be erased from the official record.

Hearing this, Duke Konstantin Petrovich became profoundly angry. He viewed this decision by Tsar Nicholas as an outrage. He took it upon himself personally to right the wrong done to George's wife and her children. He provided for them and began a campaign to promote the interests of the Nakachidze children at court in St. Petersburg.

The first step was to correct the record, spread the word of their existence, and tell the story of how badly they had been treated by the Tsar and his family. A report surfaced in the newspaper "Truth" in 1900. It became the buzz of Petersburg society.

Konstantin then began critizing the Tsar's behavior while visiting with important friends in St. Petersburg, in an effort to enlist their sympathy for Princess Nakachidze.

Those remarks were quickly reported back to the Tsar.

1901 Marriage of Daughter Alexandra to rival for Romanov Throne

Konstantin did not improve matters in the year 1900, when he celebrated the wedding of his 17-year-old daughter, Countess Alexandra von Zarnekau, to the Tsar's half-uncle, Prince George Alexandrovich Yuryevsky at Nice, France.

Prince George "Gogo" Yurievsky was the son of Tsar Alexander II and the Tsar's secret mistress, Catherine Dolgorukov, the Princess Yurievskaya. Catherine, her son and two daughters were disliked intensely by Tsar Alexander III, whose mother, the Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna had been hurt and dishonored when Tsar Alexander II took Catherine Dolgorukov as his mistress in July 1866. Because Catherine Dolgorukov urged the Tsar passionately to make liberal reforms, she was also greatly disliked by the political conservatives at court.

After the death of Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna in June 1880, Tsar Alexander II married Catherine Dolgorukov, and made her three children legitimate. He gave each of them the new name Yurievsky and the rank of Prince or Princess. This caused a rumor at court that the Tsar wished for the newly legitimized Prince George Yourievsky to become the next Tsar, instead of his older and legitimate son, Alexander.

When bomb-throwing anarchists killed Tsar Alexander II on 1 March 1881, Tsar Alexander III wasted no time in getting rid of the Yourievsky family. Together with her three children, Princess Catherine was removed from the royal palace, banned from participation in the funeral procession, and eventually banished from Russia. As the new Tsar, Alexander III swiftly rolled back many of the liberal reforms his father had made.

Foreseeing this hostility, Tsar Alexander II had settled a large fortune on Princess Yurievsky—3.5 million rubles parked in Swiss bank accounts. When she had arrived in France, she was reported to be very wealthy and found herself immediately surrounded by a circle of sympathetic Russian émigrés who hoped to receive her financial aid.

During the next 20 years, the Yurievsky circle in Paris and Nice remained under the surveillance of the Russian secret service. The police reports indicate this group of wealthy Russian exiles and Georgian nationalists became involved in a number of secret plots to kill Tsar Alexander III and other members of the royal family.

By allying himself with the Yourievsky circle in Nice, Duke Konstantin had clearly crossed into enemy territory.

Confrontation with the Tsar in 1903

In early 1903, when Konstantin and his family received invitations to a fancy costume ball at the Winter Palace, the Duke saw this occasion as a golden opportunity to be heard by St. Petersburg's high society.

At the court ball, Konstantin Petrovich loudly asserted that the Tsarevich George's children by Princess Nakachidze had every right to be recognized, granted titles and enlisted in the line of succession.

When called to the palace and ordered by the Tsar himself to be silent, he angrily refused. According to one account, in the Washington Times, "Oldenburg defied Nicholas, and even went a step further. In a circular letter addressed to the Kings of Europe, he pledged his word of honor that he was a witness to the marriage between the Grand Duke George and the Princess of Mingrelia."

The letter caused a sensation. The news that a new claimant to the Russian throne, Prince Cyril Nakachidze, had been announced at court went viral. It appeared in newspapers around the world, and was repeatedly printed between August and September of 1903.

Disgrace and Exile

Having infuriated the Tsar, Duke Konstantin Petrovich of Oldenburg was immediately stripped of his rank and titles and declared by an imperial ukase to be insane ("no longer responsible for his behavior"): Which meant that he would not only lose his titles and his job as a military general, but would also forfeit his house, his large estates in Georgia, his horses and stables, his business holdings and his personal property and bank accounts as well.

The Seniority List for Generals 1905 confirms that Constantine Petrovich's brother, Grand Duke Alexander Petrovich of Oldenburg, was appointed as guardian over the "personality, property and affairs" of Duke Konstantin Petrovich.

Konstantin was then banished from Russia -- sent into exile. In the eyes of some, this last move by the Tsar was surprisingly lenient. People had been shot or sent to labor camps in Siberia for giving much less offense to the Tsar.

The Princess Nakachidze and her children were immediately banished as well. (See the article "Dowager Empress Disowns Relatives: Has Wife and Children of Her Dead Son Banished from Russia," The Washington Times, 30 October 1903, page 8, column 5).

Exactly what became of the princess and her children remains a mystery. One thing is certain: They have been stubbornly erased from the family tree.

Many so-called experts on Romanov history insist, to this day, that Grand Duke George never married or fathered children. They base their belief on the "official record" of Russian genealogists, and they insist that any claim to the contrary must be a hoax.

Dozens of contemporary reports that appeared in newspapers across the world for more than 10 years contradict this view. Were they fake news? One may judge for oneself: Articles mentioning the Grand Duke George, the Princess Nakachidze, their son Cyril, and the sad story of Duke Constantine Petrovich are now easily found at digital newspaper archives online.

Many of the relevant articles are cited and linked below.

Death and Burial

Bitter and broken-hearted over the Nakachidze Affair, Duke Constantine Petrovich of Oldenburg made the best of his situation and moved to the south of France. He settled on the Cote d'Azur, at Nice.

He died there on 18 March 1906 at the age of 55.

The occasion of his death caused many of the reporters who wrote his obituary to retell the story of the Nakachidze Affair.

Sources disagree on the place of his burial. Konstantin Petrovich is reported either to have been buried in Nice, or to have been buried near his father's grave in the Coastal Monastery of St. Sergius, the traditional burial ground of the Russian Dukes of Oldenburg and Leuchtenberg.

The royal graves at the monastery are no longer in evidence—they were either desecrated or lost during the Soviet period.

SOURCES

Maps

• Atlas of Georgia - Wikimedia Commons

• Russian Provinces in the Caucasus (1876 - 1914) - Wikimedia Map

• Gubernia of Kutais (1890 - 1906) - Wikimedia Commons

• Georgia (Country) Online Genealogy Records, FamilySearch.org

• Georgian Nobility Index (Search Engine)

Wikipedia Articles

• Wikipedia - Duke Constantine Petrovich of Oldenburg

• Russian Wikipedia - "Ольденбургский, Константин Петрович"

• Wikipedia - Claim of the Biblical Descent of the Bagrationi Dynasty

• Wikipedia - Davidic Line

• Wikipedia - Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia

• Wikipedia - Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia

• Wikipedia - Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia

• Wikipedia - House of Oldenburg

• Wikipedia - "Imperial Guard (Russia)"

• Wikipedia - Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society
• See also: Russian Wikipedia - Императорское православное палестинское общество
• See also: Palestinian Committee Палестинский комитет

• Wikipedia - Order of the Holy Sepulchre

• Wikipedia - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_tradition_of_the_Knights_Hospitaller

Russian tradition of the Knights Hospitaller]

• Wikipedia - Russo-Turkish War (1877 - 1878)

Books

Almanach de Gotha, Volume 144, 1907, p. 64

Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage (Kelly's Directories, 1963) p. 19

Harcave, Sidney. Trans. The Memoirs of Count Witte (New York: M.E. Sharp, 1990). Ch. IX Kiev in the 1880s, p. 77, 79, 80 ff.

McIntosh, David. The Grand Dukes of Oldenburg, p. 372

McNaughton, C. Arnold. The Book of Kings: A Royal Genealogy in 3 volumes (London, U.K.: Garnstone Press, 1973), volume 1, page 214 - 218.

Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Royal Families of the World (London: Burke's Peerage, 1977) Vol. 1

Obolensky, Igor. Forbidden love in the memoirs of a maid of honor (Moscow: AST, 2015) and INDBooks.in online. See Appendix No. 3 Prince of Oldenburg and Countess Zarnekau. Includes several photos. This is the source of the claim that the Prince of Oldenburg won Agrippina's hand at a game of cards.

Ruvigny et Raineval, Melville H. The Titled Nobility of Europe. Harrison & Son, 1914, "Zarnekau" pp. 1583 - 1584.

Stauru, Theophanes G. Russian Interests in Palestine, 1882 - 1914: A Study of Religious and Educational Enterprise (Institute for Balkan Studies: 1963). "Founding the Russian Orthodox Palestine Society," pp. 79 - 80.

Newspaper Articles

(In chronological order):

"The Grand Duke George" [mentions his 1893 marriage], The Pictorial Australian, 1 February 1895

"The Grand Duke George" [reprint of article that mentions his marriage], The Inquirer and Commercial News, Perth, WA, 17 May 1895, p. 3

"Prince is Sent to Prison," (Prince Viktor Nakachidze, 1887 conspiracy mentioned), The Minneapolis Journal, 2 October 1901, p. 16

"Consternation in Russian Court," Standard Union, Brooklyn, New York, 24 September 1903, page 1, col. 3

"New Claimant to Russian Throne," Oswego Daily Times, Oswego, NY, 24 September 1903, page 1, col. 2

"New Heir Appears to Russian Throne," Daily Saratogian, New York, 24 September 1903, page 1.

"New Heir to the Russian Throne," Star Gazette, Elmira, NY, 24 September 1903, page 1.

"Czar's Nephew Wants to be His Successor," The Spokane Press, 9 October 1903, page 8

"Dowager Czarina Disowns Relatives" The Washington Times, 30 October 1903, page 8 (Chronicling America)

"Czarina's Intrigue: Causes Exile of Princess Nakachidze and Children," The Wichita Daily Eagle, 1 November 1903, page 24, column 3, via Library of Congress "Chronicling America" newspaper database.

"A Russian Pretender" Geelong Advertiser, 7 November 1903, p. 5

"Russian Pretender: Son of Secret Marriage Claims Succession," The Northern Star [Australia], 21 November 1903, Trove digitized newspaper archive

"Duke Constantine Petrovich Oldenburg" Obituary. New York Times 19 March 1906.

Washington Post, 17 April 1906.

"A Czarowitch's Sons," New York Tribune, 18 April 1906, page 7, via Chronicling America (free Library of Congress newspaper search database).

Cunliffe-Owen, F. "Secret Marriages of Royalty: Little Known Romances That Have Affected Governments. . . . Grand Duke George's Experience," (Washington D.C.) Evening Star, 12 April 1908, p. 7

[Alexandra von Zarnekau] "Not in favor at Court," Washington Post, 2 February 1917.

Copies of the articles listed above may be viewed at the free digital newspaper archives below by searching on the term "Nakachidze" or searching on the headlines listed above:

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/titles/

http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/

Photographs

Wikimedia Commons:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duke_Constantine_Petrovich_of_Oldenburg_in_1890.jpg

Georgian Wikipedia:

http://ka.wikipedia.org/wiki/ფაილი:Konstantine.jpg

"George Romanov: An Enigma" photo website

http://www.freewebs.com/georgeromanov/

"Grand Duke Georgiy Aleksandrovitch" discussion page, Alexander Palace Time Machine (with photos).

http://forum.alexanderpalace.org/index.php?topic=13095.0;wap2

Nakashidze Results (with photos), MyHeritage.com

http://lastnames.myheritage.com/last-name/Nakashidze

Websites

"Konstantin Friedrich Peter von Holstein-Gottorp, Duke of Oldenburg" The Peerage

Duke Konstantin Petrovich Oldenburg - Geni.com

"Agrippina Djaparidze" - My Heritage

"Konstantin Friedrich Peter" Duke of Oldenburg, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, Alamanach de Gotha.org

http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id27.html

"Nakashidze Genealogy and Family Tree Page," Genealogy Today website

http://www.genealogytoday.com/surname/finder.mv?Surname=Nakashidze

"Rulers of Russia Family Tree," Wikipedia, jpg (downloadable)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rulers_of_Russia_family_tree

"Russian Grand Priory of Malta" Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Knights Hospitaller

Seniority List of Generals, St. Petersburg, 1905 "Список генералам по старшинству. СПб 1905 г."

An official periodical of the War Ministry of the Russian Empire Lists generals by seniority ranks and conferring titles. Russian National Library page:

http://leb.nlr.ru/search/?scope=docs&cid=0&query=%40TI+список+генералам#

Smithsonian Institution, "Salome Dadiani and Her Descendants," Dadiani Dynasty website. (With Photos).

http://achp.si.edu/dadiani/salome.html

Birth Record

Constantin Friedrich Peter Von Oldenburg in the Russia, Select Births and Baptisms, 1755-1917

• Name: Constantin Friedrich Peter Von Oldenburg
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date: 27 апр 1850 (27 Apr 1850)
• Birth Place: Petersburg, St. Petri
• Baptism Date: 21 май 1850 (21 May 1850)
• Baptism Place: Petersburg, St. Petri, Russia
• Father: Peter Von Oldenburg
• Mother: Therese Wilhelmine Charlotte Von Nassan Weilburg
• FHL Film Number: 1882653
• Reference ID: p32-55

Source Information

Ancestry.com. Russia, Select Births and Baptisms, 1755-1917 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

Original data: Russia, Births and Baptisms, 1755-1917. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.

Baptism Record

Constantin Friedrich Peter Von Oldenburg in the Russia, Lutheran Church Book Duplicates Index, 1750-1891

• Name: Constantin Friedrich Peter Von Oldenburg

Gender: Male

• Birth Date: 27 апр 1850 (27 Apr 1850)
• Baptism Date: 21 май 1850 (21 May 1850)
• Baptism Place: St. Petersburg (St. Petri Church), St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Russia
• Father: Friedrich Constantin Peter Von Oldenburg
• Mother: Therese Wilhelmine Charlotte Von Nassau Weilburg
• Page: 32

Source Information

Ancestry.com. Russia, Lutheran Church Book Duplicates Index, 1750-1891 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

Original data: Russia, Lutheran Church Book Duplicates, 1833-1885. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013.

Description

This collection includes Lutheran church records from Russia

Netherland Genealogie Online Index

Constantijn Frederik Peter Prins van Oldenburg in the Web: Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-2015

Go to website: https://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/west-europese-adel/I1074001053.php

• Name: Constantijn Frederik Peter Prins van Oldenburg
• Gender: m (Male)
• Birth Date: 9 mei 1850 (9 May 1850)
• Birth Place: St. Petersburg
• Death Date: 18 mrt 1906 (18 Mar 1906)
• Death Place: Nice, Provence-Alpes-Côte D'azur
• Death Age: 55
• Father: Constantijn Frederik Peter Vorst van Oldenburg
• Mother: Therese Wilhelmina Frederike Isabelle Charlotte van Nassau-Weilburg
• Spouse: Agrippina Djaparidze Gravin van Zarnekau
• Children: Nina van Oldenburg Gravin van Zarnekau
• Catharina van Oldenburg Gravin van Zarnekau
• Nicolaas van Oldenburg Graaf van Zarnekau
• Alexandra van Oldenburg Gravin van Zarnekau
• Alexander van Oldenburg Graaf van Zarnekau
• Peter van Oldenburg Graaf van Zarnekau

Source Information Ancestry.com. Web: Netherlands, GenealogieOnline Trees Index, 1000-2015 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.

Original data: GenealogieOnline. Coret Genealogie. http://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/: accessed 31 August 2015.

Find A Grave Memorial

Constantine Petrovich of Oldenburg in the Global, Find A Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current

Go to Website: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/148062910

• Name: Constantine Petrovich of Oldenburg
• Birth Date: 9 May 1850
• Death Date: 18 Mar 1906
• Cemetery: Trinity-Sergius Monastery
• Burial or Cremation Place: Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg Federal City, Russian Federation
• Has Bio?: Y
• Father: Petr Georgievich Oldenburgsky
• URL: https://www.findagrave.com/mem...

Source Information

Ancestry.com. Global, Find A Grave Index for Burials at Sea and other Select Burial Locations, 1300s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Original data: Find A Grave. Find A Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi.

Description

This database contains an index to cemetery and burial details posted on Find A Grave.