Vasily Alexandrovich Dolgorukov

Prince Vasily Alexandrovich Dolgorukov (Russian: Василий Александрович Долгоруков) (1868-1918) was an advisor to Russian Emperor Nicholas II, and a Marshal from 1914-17. After the arrest of the Russian Imperial Family following the February Revolution, he voluntarily accompanied the family into internal exile in Tsarskoe Selo and later Tobolsk. He was barred from joining them in Yekaterinburg in April 1918, and was killed by order of the Bolshevik government in that July.

Early life

Vasily Alexandrovich Dolgorukov was born in 1868 to Prince and Princess Alexander Vasilievich and Mary Sergeyevna Dolgorukov.

Career

In 1907 Dolgorukov became an adjutant, in 1910 a General, and in 1914 a commander of the Imperial Guard cavalry regiment, the Life-Guard Horse Artillery unit. During World War I, he was appointed Marshal of the Imperial Court. In this position, he assisted his stepfather, Count Pavel Benckendorff, in giving military advice to the Tsar. Deeply devoted to the Tsar, on August 14, 1917 he voluntarily accompanied the Imperial family to imprisonment in Tobolsk. He was separated from them when they were transferred to Ekaterinburg, and was arrested on April 18, 1918. Later Dolgorukov, together with General Count Tatishchev, was also moved to Ekaterinburg but not allowed into the Ipatiev House (where the Romanovs were imprisoned). He was shot in the woods on July 10 and was only buried when the town was captured by the White Army.

Canonization

On October 31/November 1, 1981 the Russian Orthodox Church canonized the Prince, even outside of Russia, as The Holy Martyr Warrior, Vasily.