Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia

Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich
Born(1877-11-24)24 November 1877
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died9 November 1943(1943-11-09) (aged 65)
Paris, France
SpouseZinaida Sergeievna Rashevskaya
IssueBoris Lacroix
HouseHolstein-Gottorp-Romanov
FatherGrand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich
MotherMarie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia (Russian: Борис Владимирович; 24 November 1877 – 9 November 1943) was a son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and a first cousin of Tsar Nicholas II.

He followed a military career. After graduating from the Nicholas Cavalry College [ru] in 1896, he served as cornet in the Life Guards Hussar regiment. He took part in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 and became a major general in the Russian Army in 1914. During World War I, he commanded the regiment of the Ataman Cossacks in 1915. He was known in Imperial Russia for his restless behavior and as a notorious playboy.

After the fall of the Russian monarchy, he was put under house arrest in Petrograd by the provisional government in March 1917, but he managed to escape the former Imperial capital in September that year and joined his mother and younger brother in the Caucasus. He departed revolutionary Russia in March 1919 with his longtime mistress, whom he married in exile. Eventually, he settled in France where he spent the rest of his life. He died in Occupied Paris in 1943.