Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia (; 25 October 1832 â 18 December 1909) was a Russian field marshal, the fourth son and seventh child of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia. He was the first owner of the New Michael Palace on the Palace Quay in Saint Petersburg.
On 16 August 1857, he married Princess Cecilie of Baden (1839âÂÂ1891), daughter of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden and Sophie of Sweden. Cecily adopted the name Olga Feodorovna, and had the following children with him:
He served 20 years (1862âÂÂ1882) as the Governor General of Caucasia, being seated in Tbilisi, the town which most of his children remembered as the home of their childhood. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877âÂÂ1878, he was nominal Commander-in-Chief of the Russian troops in the Caucasus and was appointed Field Marshal General in April 1878.
In the course of his life, four members of his family ruled as Emperors of Russia: his father, Nicholas I; his brother, Alexander II; his nephew, Alexander III; as well as his grand-nephew, Nicholas II, whose second daughter, Grand Duchess Tatiana, the Grand Duke was godfather to.
He died in Cannes, France, on 18 December 1909. He was the last surviving legitimate grandchild of Paul I of Russia.
He was remembered by Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, granddaughter of his eldest brother, in her memoirs: "My great-uncle, Grand Duke Michael came from time to time to pay us visits. He was an old gentleman of great height and unforgettable elegance; he fascinated us by the perfection and harmony of his gestures, by his affability and his air of a grand seigneur of an epoch already vanished. He was the last of the Grand Dukes who, according to the custom of my grandfather's time, tutoi-ed the men, and in spite of his age he bowed with touching grace before the women as he kissed their hands."