Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia

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Grand Duke Konstantin of Russia.

Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich (1827-1892) was the second son of Nikolai I and his wife Charlotte of Prussia. Konstantin married Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg in 1848 and they had six children.

Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich 1859-1918
Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna 1851-1926
Grand Duchess Vera Konstantinovna 1854-1912
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich 1858-1915
Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich 1860-1919
Grand Duke Vyacheslav Konstantinovich 1862-1879

The Grand Duke was a supporter of the liberal (sometimes referred to as "enlightened") bureaucrats during the period of Alexander II's great reforms. He served as chairman of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society (founded in 1845). The Geographical Society was subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was home to a conspicuous number of liberal bureaucrats including Nikolai Miliutin.

In addition to his support of and participation in the liberation of the Serfs, the Grand Duke also instituted reform of the Imperial Navy in 1854.

In the years 1862-63 he served as the Tsar’s governor-general of the Kingdom of Poland. His brother was supposed to have said: “let the Poles have their own court and intrigues.” Though the Grand Duke tried to show a liberal attitude towards the Poles, his efforts came too late and he was recalled with the outbreak of the January Uprising in 1863.

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