List of grand dukes of Russia

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Imperial Standard of the Grand Duke.

This is a list of those members of the Russian Imperial Family who bore the title velikiy knjaz (usually translated into English as grand duke, but more accurately grand prince). This courtesy title was borne by the sons and male-line grandsons of the Emperor of all the Russias, along with the style of His Imperial Highness. They were not sovereigns, but members and dynasts of the House of the reigning emperor.

The title grand prince is the English translation of the Russian великий князь. The Slavic knyaz and the Baltic kunigaitis (both nowadays usually translated as prince) is a cognate of king.

The title grand prince originated from 9th century when rulers of Kievan Rus' were so styled. In later medieval Russian states (the Rus') it already was used simultaneously by several rulers in the more expanded Rurikid dynasty and additionally by rulers of neighboring Lithuania (Gediminid dynasty). The title velikiy knyaz continued as a courtesy title for all or several members of the dynasty.

Bearing the title velikiy kniaz originally had no specific rules: it traditionally belonged to all dynasts, and additionally, dynasts were created by the act of granting the title to some other heirs. Until the 19th century, the Russian Imperial House was usually in a precarious situation, having often no more than a couple of male dynasts, if even that many. The number to use the title was thus not abundant. Empress Elisabeth of Russia, after all male-line descent had been exhausted, made her sister's son, the future Peter III of Russia a dynast and a grand duke, although he was not of male-line descent.

Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich, future Nicholas I of Russia.

After the births of the numerous sons of Nicholas I of Russia, the number of grand dukes increased into higher orders of magnitude. This afforded Russia a respite from earlier fragility that had plagued Russian succession, having led even as itself the country to instability. The right to the title was not traditionally limited, and in the 1880s (when there existed well over twenty male dynasts) Alexander III of Russia felt that their high number, if all allowed to use grand duke, diminished the prestige of the Imperial House and the weight of the title itself.

The Grand Ducal Mausoleum in St. Petersburg

Alexander III formalized the use of titles in the Imperial House in 1886 (on 2 July 1886 Julian calendar, 14 July 1886 Gregorian) by such amendment to the succession laws. The title grand duke belonged henceforward only to sons and paternal grandsons of the emperors of Russia, and grand duchess correspondingly only to daughters and paternal granddaughters, as well as to legitimate wives of grand dukes.

One male infant only 9 days old at the time of Alexander's edict thus lost the title. Those Russian dynasts who genealogically were distant from emperors (as not to be grand dukes) were entitled to titulary Prince of Russia. Ioann Konstantinovich of Russia (1886–1918) was apparently the only who lost the grand ducal title accorded by convention at birth but removed by Alexander III. Alexander III's own grandchildren, children of his daughter Xenia Alexandrovna, were not yet born at the time of the edict, and accordingly became "only" Princes of Russia from their births, as they were great-grandchildren of Nicholas I (one generation too far) when looking at the male lineage.

The numbers began to decrease for other reasons too. In the last three decades before the revolution, only a couple of boys were born who were entitled to grand ducal title. After the revolution, particularly morganatic marriages axed numbers of dynasts to increasingly low numbers. Alexander III's edict has led to the situation where there is no longer any descendant to be uncontestedly entitled to grand ducal title.

Great prince or grand prince would be a more accurate translation of this Russian title, but that term is neither standard nor widely used in English nor in French. In German, however, a Russian grand duke was known as a Großfürst, and in Latin as magnus princeps. "Grand duke" is the traditional translation of the title velikiy kniaz in languages which do not have different words for prince as a substantive title and prince as a courtesy title. English and French are such languages.

Grand dukes of Russia of the House of Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp[]

Picture	Name	Father	Born	Died	Notes
	Peter Feodorovich	Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp	21 February 1728	17 July 1762	succeeded as Emperor Peter III in 1762
	Pavel Petrovich	Peter Feodorovich	1 October 1754	23 March 1801	succeeded as Emperor Paul I in 1796
	Alexander Pavlovich	Pavel Petrovich	23 December 1777	1 December 1825	succeeded as Emperor Alexander I in 1801
	Konstantin Pavlovich	Pavel Petrovich	8 May 1779	27 June 1831
	Nikolai Pavlovich	Pavel Petrovich	6 July 1796	2 March 1855	succeeded as Emperor Nicholas I in 1825
	Mikhail Pavlovich	Pavel Petrovich	8 February 1798	9 September 1849
	Alexander Nikolaievich	Nikolai Pavlovich	17 April 1818	13 March 1881	succeeded as Emperor Alexander II in 1855
	Konstantine Nikolaievich	Nikolai Pavlovich	21 September 1827	29 January 1892
	Nikolai Nikolaievich	Nikolai Pavlovich	8 August 1831	25 April 1891
	Mikhail Nikolaievich	Nikolai Pavlovich	25 October 1832	18 December 1909
	Nicholas Alexandrovich	Alexander Nikolaievich	20 September 1843	24 April 1865
	Alexander Alexandrovich	Alexander Nikolaievich	10 March 1845	1 November 1894	succeeded as Emperor Alexander III in 1881
	Vladimir Alexandrovich	Alexander Nikolaievich	22 April 1847	17 February 1909
	Alexei Alexandrovich	Alexander Nikolaievich	14 January 1850	14 November 1908
	Nikolai Konstantinovich	Konstantine Nikolaievich	14 February 1850	14 January 1918
	Nikolai Nikolaievich	Nikolai Nikolaievich	18 November 1856	5 January 1929
	Sergei Alexandrovich	Alexander Nikolaievich	10 May 1857	17 February 1905
	Konstantine Konstantinovich	Constantin Nikolaievich	22 August 1858	15 June 1915
	Nikolai Mikhailovich	Mikhail Nikolaievich	26 April 1859	30 January 1919
	Dimitri Konstantinovich	Konstantin Nikolaievich	13 June 1860	30 January 1919
	Pavel Alexandrovich	Alexander Nikolaievich	11 October 1860	30 January 1919
	Michael Mikhailovich	Mikhail Nikolaievich	16 October 1861	26 April 1929
	Viatcheslav Konstantinovich	Konstantin Nikolaievich	13 July 1862	27 February 1879
	George Mikhailovich	Mikhail Nikolaievich	23 August 1863	30 January 1919
	Peter Nikolaievich	Nikolai Nikolaievich	22 January 1864	17 June 1931
	Alexander Mikhailovich	Mikhail Nikolaievich	13 April 1866	26 February 1933
	Nikolai Alexandrovich	Alexander Alexandrovich	6 May 1868	17 July 1918	succeeded as Emperor Nicholas II in 1894
	Alexander Alexandrovich	Alexander Alexandrovich	7 June 1869	2 May 1870
	Sergei Mikhailovich	Mikhail Nikolaievich	7 October 1869	17/18 July 1918
	George Alexandrovich	Alexander Alexandrovich	6 May 1871	9 August 1899
		Vladimir Alexandrovich	31 August 1875	16 March 1877
	Alexei Mikhailovich	Mikhail Nikolaievich	28 December 1875	1 March 1895
	Kirill Vladimirovich	Vladimir Alexandrovich	30 September 1876	13 October 1938
	Boris Vladimirovich	Vladimir Alexandrovich	24 November 1877	9 November 1943
	Mikhail Alexandrovich	Alexander Alexandrovich	22 November 1878	13 July 1918	succeeded briefly and only titularly as Emperor Michael II in 1917
	Andrew Vladimirovich	Vladimir Alexandrovich	14 May 1879	30 October 1956
	Dmitri Pavlovich	Pavel Alexandrovich	18 September 1891	5 March 1941
	Alexei Nikolaievich	Nicholai Alexandrovich	12 August 1904	17 July 1918

Translated contexts[]

The title of sovereign Grand Duke and it as translation of Velikiy Knjaz have clearly different meanings. This occurs particularly in languages which do not have different words for prince (1) signifying the non-ruling relatives of a monarch, i.e. as a courtesy title, and (2) prince signifying a monarch (sovereign or like), i.e. as a substantive title, because there Grand Duke usually is (1) the established translation of the post-medieval courtesy title Velikiy Knjaz (literally: grand prince), and they are not sovereigns, but (2) several other post-medieval grand dukes are, being typically rulers of small states (such as Luxembourg). English and French use the title Grand Duke for both these purposes. In translations and such texts, (2) Grand Duke of Russia may also refer to some or all of the medieval reigning grand princes of the Kievan Rus' and its successor states.

Grand Duke is the usual and established translation in English and French of the Russian courtesy title Velikiy Knjaz (grand prince) of Russia, which from 17th century belonged to members of the family of the Russian tsar, although those Grand dukes were not sovereigns.

Note that a Grand Duke or Grand Duchess as a translation is thus not necessarily associated with a Grand Duchy; see the relevant articles for more information. These post-medieval Russian grand dukes are not associated with a grand duchy.

Any other translation of Velikiy Knjaz of Russia than Grand Duke is neither standard nor widely used in English nor in French. In German, however, a Russian Grand Duke is known as a Großfürst, and in Latin as Magnus Princeps.

A Russian Grand Duke or Grand Duchess was an Imperial Highness.

See also[]

• List of Grand Duchesses of Russia