Our Notes & References

Fine example, with Imperial association and in its original funebre Imperial binding, of this rare ceremonial program with text in Russian and French. The full title reads:

Vysochaishe utverzhdennyi tseremonial perevezeniia tela Ego Imperatorskogo Vysochestva v boze pochivshago Velikogo Kniazia Alekseia Aleksandrovicha iz g. Kann, vo Frantsii, v Petropavlovskii Sobor i pogrebeniia v onom.

A son of Tsar Nicholas I and a brother of Tsar Alexander II, Mikhail Nikolaevich Romanov (1832-1909) made a successful military carrier in Russia. In 1863 he was appointed a Commander of the First Caucasian Artillery regiment that was initially formed in 1837. Under his command the regiment took part in Russo-Turkish War 1877-8 and played significant role in the strategically important capture of the fortress Kars by the Russian forces.

This copy belonged to the own son of Mikhail Nikolaevich, Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich, who lived in exile first in the South of France and then in London, sent by his first cousin Alexander III for his morganatic marriage with the granddaughter of Alexander Pushkin, Countess Sophie of Merenberg.

Funeral ceremonials are the rarest of all.

Provenance

Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich; by descent Private British collection, acquired from the estate.