Nikolai Kulikovsky
| Nikolai Alexandrovich Kulikovsky | |
|---|---|
Nikolai Kulikovsky with his wife Olga
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| Born |
5 November 1881 Evstratovka, Voronezh guberniya, Russian Empire |
| Died | 11 August 1958 (aged 76) Cooksville, Ontario, Canada |
| Spouse(s) | Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia |
| Children | Tikhon Nikolaevich (1917–1993) Guri Nikolaevich (1919–1984) |
| Parent(s) | Alexander Nikanorovich Kulikovsky and Eudoxia Nikolaevna Kharina |
Nikolai Alexandrovich Kulikovsky (5 November 1881 – 11 August 1958) was the second husband of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, the sister of Tsar Nicholas II and daughter of Tsar Alexander III.
He was born into a military landowning family from the south of the Russian Empire, and followed the family tradition by entering the army. In 1903, he was noticed by Grand Duchess Olga during a military review, and they became close friends. Olga wanted to divorce her first husband, Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg, and marry Kulikovsky, but neither her husband nor her brother, the Tsar, would allow it.
During World War I, Olga eventually obtained a divorce and married Kulikovsky. They had two sons. Her brother was deposed in the Russian Revolution of 1917, and Kulikovsky was dismissed from the army by the revolutionary government. The Kulikovskys were forced into exile, and he became a farmer and businessman in Denmark, where they lived until after World War II. In 1948, they emigrated to Canada as agricultural immigrants, but within four years of their arrival they had sold their farm and moved into a small suburban house. He became increasingly disabled by back pain, and died in 1958 aged 76.
Nikolai Kulikovsky was born into a military family from the Voronezh province of Russia. His grandfather was a general during the Napoleonic Wars, and his family owned two large estates in the Ukraine. He rode from an early age, became an expert horseman, and was educated at Petrograd Real College of Gurevich, followed by the Nikolai Cavalry College, from where he graduated with a degree.
He joined the Blue Cuirassier regiment of the imperial Russian cavalry shortly before 1903. Grand Duke Michael, the younger brother of Tsar Nicholas II, was the regiment's honorary colonel. In April 1903, during a military parade at the Pavlovsk Palace, Grand Duchess Olga, the youngest sister of Nicholas and Michael, saw Kulikovsky and begged Michael to arrange the seating at a casual luncheon so that she and Kulikovsky were adjacent. The Grand Duchess was already married to Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg, who was covertly believed by his friends and family to be homosexual. A few days after her brief meeting with Kulikovsky, Olga asked Oldenburg for a divorce, which he refused with the qualification that he would reconsider his decision after seven years.
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