Grand Duke Of Russia Nikolai Nikolaevich

Russian Grand Duke as the third son and sixth child of Tsar Nikolai I of Russia and Alexandra Feodorovna. He may also be referred to as Nikolai Nicolaievich the Elder to tell him apart from his son. Trained for the military, as a Field Marshal he commanded the Russian army of the Danube in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878. Nikolai Nikolaievich unwillingly married his second cousin Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna, formerly Princess Alexandra of Oldenburg (1838–1900) in St Petersburg on 6 February 1856. They had two children. The marriage was in trouble from the start and four years later, Nikolai developed a permanent relationship with Catherine Chislova, a dancer from the Krasnoye Selo Theater. Their affair was quite open and they had five children. Shortly after his mistress' death, Nikolai went mad; he had oral cancer that spread to his brain. Suffering from delusion, he was convinced that all women were in love with him. During one ballet performance, the Grand Duke even attacked a young male dancer that he took to be a woman. In 1890, Nikolai Nikolaievich was declared insane and kept locked indoors in Crimea. He died in Alupka, Crimea on 25 April 1891. Link to Wikipedia biography