Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich of Russia (1860–1919) was the sixth son and youngest child of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and therefore brother of Tsar Alexander III of Russia, who was married to the Danish-born Tsaritsa Maria Feodorovna. Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich first married (1889) Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (1870–1891). In this marriage he became the father of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Younger, and also of Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, who participated in the murder of Gregory Rasputin in 1916 along with Prince Felix Yusupov. Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich's second marriage (1902) with Princess Olga Valerianovna Paley was morganatic and without the permission of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, who banished the newly married couple from Russia. Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich of Russia first moved back permanently to Russia in 1914. His daughter, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Younger of Russia wrote her memoirs “The Education of a Princess” (1930) and “A Princess in Exile” (1932), mentioning the life of her father. Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich of Russia was executed in January 1919 in the St. Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg together with other members of the Romanov family.

Provenance: Danish private collection.