Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia
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Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia (Сергей Александрович) (April 29, 1857 - February 4, 1905, Old Style) was the seventh child and fifth son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and his first Empress consort Marie of Hesse and by Rhine.
He was a younger brother to Alexander III of Russia and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia, consort of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
A Poruchik of the Leib Guard, he took part in Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, was consequently promoted to Colonel.
In 1884, Sergei married Elizabeth of Hesse (Yelisaveta Fyodorovna), a daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom. She was an older sister of both Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Alexandra of Hesse, Empress consort of Nicholas II of Russia.
Sergei was promoted to Major General in 1887 and made Colonel-in-Chief of the Preobrazhensky Regiment of the Leib Guard. On February 26, 1891, he was made Adjutant General of the Svita and appointed as Moscow Governor General. Sergei was made a member of the State Council in 1894. He was promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed as Commander of Moscow military district in 1896. He supported the police-run trade unions of Colonel Zubatov. He resigned from the Governorship on January 1, 1905 but continued as Commander of the Moscow military district. Sergei was killed by a bomb thrown at him, while on service in the Kremlin, by the Socialist-Revolutionary terrorist Ivan Kalyayev.
 An image of the cross marking the spot of the Grand Duke's assassination |
