Prince Gabriel Konstantinovich | |
---|---|
Born |
Pavlovsk Palace, Pavlovsk, Russian Empire |
15 July 1887
Died | 28 February 1955 Paris, France |
(aged 67)
Burial | Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery, Essonne, France |
Spouse | Antonina Rafailovna Nesterovskaya Princess Irina Ivanovna Kurakina |
House | Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov |
Father | Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia |
Mother | Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg |
Prince Gabriel Konstantinovich of Russia (Russian: Гавриил Константинович; 15 July 1887 – 28 February 1955) was the second son of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia and his wife, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna of Russia. A great-grandson of Tsar Nicholas I, he was born in Imperial Russia and served in the army during World War I. He lost much of his family during the war and the Russian Revolution. He narrowly escaped execution by the Bolsheviks and spent the rest of his life living in exile in France.
Prince Gabriel Konstantinovich was born on 15 July 1887 at Pavlovsk Palace in Pavlovsk. He was the second son among the nine children of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia and his wife Grand Duchess Elizaveta Mavrikievna of Russia) (born Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg).
Gabriel and his brother Prince Ivan, born a year earlier, were the first to suffer the effects of the reforms of Emperor Alexander III, his father's cousin, who decreed that in the name of economizing the state budget, only the children and grandchildren of the reigning sovereign would bear the title of grand duke. Gabriel was three days old when Tsar Alexander III issued a manifesto announcing his title as a Prince of the Imperial Blood with the style of Highness. Grand dukes received 280,000 gold rubles annually from the imperial treasury, which guaranteed a comfortable life. Gabriel given a one-time sum of 1 million gold rubles, and he could count on nothing else.