| Alexander Iii Of Russia |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT ALEXANDER III OF RUSSIA | |
| russian emperors | |
| rulers of finland | |
| house of holstein-gottorp-romanov | |
| house of glücksburg | |
| knights of malta | |
| people from saint petersburg | |
| knights of the garter | |
| knights of the golden fleece | |
| 1845 births | |
| 1894 deaths | |
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EARLY LIFE Alexander was born at St. Petersburg , the second son of Tsar Alexander II by his wife Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt . In disposition, he bore little resemblance to his soft-hearted, liberal father, and still less to his refined, philosophic, sentimental, chivalrous, yet cunning grand-uncle Alexander I , who coveted the title of "the first gentleman of Europe ." Although an enthusiastic amateur musician and patron of the ballet, he was seen as lacking refinement and elegance. Indeed, he rather relished the idea of being of the same rough texture as the great majority of his subjects. His straightforward, abrupt manner savoured sometimes of gruffness, while his direct, unadorned method of expressing himself harmonized well with his rough-hewn, immobile features and somewhat sluggish movements. His education was not such as to soften these peculiarities. He was also noted for his immense physical strength. RISE TO POWER During the first twenty years of his life, Alexander had no prospect of succeeding to the throne, because he had an elder brother, Nicholas, who seemed of robust constitution. Even when this elder brother first showed symptoms of delicate health, the notion that he may die young was never seriously entertained; he was betrothed to the charming princess Dagmar Of Denmark . Under these circumstances, the greatest solicitude was devoted to the education of Nicholas as tsarevich, whereas Alexander received only the perfunctory and inadequate training of an ordinary grand-duke of that period, which did not go much beyond secondary instruction, practical acquaintance with French, English and German, and a certain amount of military drill. EDUCATION Alexander became heir apparent by the sudden death of his elder brother in 1865. It was then that he began to study the principles of law and administration under Konstantin Pobedonostsev , who was then a professor of civil law at Moscow State University and who later (in 1880) became Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod . Pobedonostsev awakened in his pupil very little love for abstract studies or prolonged intellectual exertion, but he influenced the character of Alexander's reign by instilling into the young man's mind the belief that zeal for Russian Orthodox thought was an essential factor of Russian patriotism and that this was to be specially cultivated by every right-minded tsar. On his deathbed, Alexander's elder brother Nicholas is said to have expressed the wish that his affianced bride, Princess Dagmar of Denmark, should marry his successor. This wish was swiftly realized, when on November 9 , 1866 , Alexander wed the princess of Denmark . The union proved a most happy one and remained unclouded to the end. During those years when he was heir-apparent— 1865 to 1881 —Alexander did not play a prominent part in public affairs, but he allowed it to become known that he had certain ideas of his own which did not coincide with the principles of the existing government. FOREIGN RELATIONS
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