| Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich | |
|---|---|
 Photograph, 1880s | |
| Born | 26 April 1859 Tsarskoye Selo, Saint Petersburg Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Died | 28 January 1919 (aged 59) Petrograd, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic |
| House | Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov |
| Father | Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia |
| Mother | Princess Cecilie of Baden |
Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia (Russian: Великий князь Никола́й Миха́йлович; 26 April [O.S. 14 April] 1859 – 28 January 1919) was the eldest son of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia and a first cousin of Alexander III.
On 29 January 1919, Nicholas was moved to Peter and Paul Fortress in Petrograd, and in the early hours of the following day he was shot there by a firing squad, along with his brother, Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, and his cousins Grand Dukes Paul Alexandrovich and Dmitri Constantinovich.
According to historians Edvard Radzinsky, their executions had been ordered by Vladimir Lenin as retaliation for the recent summary executions of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg in Berlin, by Freikorps forces loyal to the Weimar Republic.[1]
His brother Sandro described him in his memoirs as "a dreamer, a poet, a historian of out-and-out republican tendencies, a disillusioned bachelor worshipping the memory of his only love, the Queen of a Scandinavian country."[2] This could refer to Queen Victoria of Sweden, Queen Louise of Denmark or Queen Maud of Norway.
- ^ Edvard Radzinsky (1996), Stalin: The First In-Depth Biography Based on Explosive Documents from Russia's Secret Archive, Anchor Books. Page 158-159.
- ^ Mikhailovich Romanov, Grand Duke Alexander (1933). Always A Grand Duke. New York: Garden City. p. 88.