Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia

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The Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovitch Romanov of the Royal Romanov Family of the Great Empire of Russia (14 January 1850- 14 November 1908) was the sixth child and the fourth son of Alexander II of Russia and his first wife Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse).

He was a younger brother of Alexander III of Russia, Maria Alexandrovna of Russia and Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia. He was an older brother of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia and Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich.

In 1868 the grand duke traveled to Greece to celebrate the marriage of his aunt, and on his return voyage, on the warship Alexander Nevsky, he was involved in a shipwreck off the coast of Jutland, which resulted in the loss of the vessel, Alexei Alexandrovich was unhurt.

In 1869/1870, Alexei aspired to marry Alexandra Vasilievna, Countess Zhukovskaja (11 November 1842 - 26 August 1899), a lady in waiting and the daughter of poet Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky but there is no evidence to substantiate even a morganic marriage took place, as his family was opposed to the union. They were parents to a son, Alexei Alexeevich, Count Belevski-Zhukovski (26 November 1871 - 1932). To divert Alexei's attention to Alexandra, his father sent him as a goodwill ambassador to the U.S.

In 1871, Alexei made a trip of good will to the United States, visiting 34 cities. He gave $5000 USD (equivalent to $250,000 today) in gold to the homeless people of Chicago, Illinois after the Great Chicago Fire and liberal sums to others in the slums of Boston, Massachusetts and New York City.

On his 22nd birthday, 14 January 1872, he hunted buffalo on the plains of southwest Nebraska with American celebrities of the day, including:

• Philip Sheridan, second-in-command of the United States Army.
• George Armstrong Custer, who became a fast friend; they continued to correspond by letter until Custer's death at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
• Buffalo Bill, who loaned His Imperial Highness his horse and his rifle and assisted him in bringing down a big buffalo bull.
• Spotted Tail of the Brulé who, with some of his braves, showed the Grand Duke how the Indians killed buffalo without using guns; later he lead all the Sioux when Red Cloud was arrested after Little Bighorn.

Alexis spoke of the hunt many times during the rest of his life. He died in Paris, presumably unmarried, in 1908. His death was said to have devastated the Tsar, Nicholas II, who reportedly claimed Alexei as his favourite uncle.

[edit] Popular Culture

• The Grand Duke's western hunt was alluded to in the film version of Maverick, starring Mel Gibson. In the film, the Duke is hustled into thinking he killed a Native American after he had grown bored of hunting other animals.