Prince Esper Konstantinovich Beloselsky-Belozersky (20 October 1870 – 5 January 1921) was a

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

and

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, who represented his native country at the 1912 Summer Olympics in

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Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Beloselsky took the bronze in the 10 Metre. His brother Sergei was member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

Biography

Prince Esper Konstantinovich was an officer of the Baltic Fleet in the elite "Guarde-Marine" corps and had served as an officer on the imperial yachts ' and ' (both had served the Emperor and his family until the '' Standart'' was built, after which the more modern of the older two, the ''Polar Star'' served exclusively the Dowager Empress, Maria Feodorovna, mother of

Nikolai II Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pol ...

). During the violent first mutinies by the Baltic Fleet's sailors, based in

Kronstadt Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for " crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city ...

island naval base outside of Petrograd, Esper Konstantinovich barely avoided capture – and likely murder – by the sailors. Together with his two young sons, Georges and Paul Esperovich, their mother Madeleine Jakovlena (''née Moulin),'' and nannies and household servants, he fled to

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at first, during Revolution of the 1917. Together with the rest of the extended family at that time in Finland, they awaited developments until it was clear that there was little hope to return to Russia. They made their way to

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in late 1919. Meanwhile, Esper Konstantinovich's oldest son Konstantin Esperovich, a freshly promoted 18-year-old ensign of the Horse Guards, was with his detachment in Kiev. He was murdered there on 28 January 1918 by a

Red Guard Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard le ...

ist sailor who shot him in the back of the head, in connection with the first revolutionary and nationalistic waves of fighting in Kiev, where Russian imperial officers were targeted by all.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beloselsky, Esper 1870 births 1921 deaths Male sailors (sport) from the Russian Empire Sailors at the 1912 Summer Olympics – 10 Metre Olympic medalists in sailing Medalists at the 1912 Summer Olympics Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France Nobility from the Russian Empire Imperial Russian Navy officers Olympic sailors for the Russian Empire Olympic bronze medalists for the Russian Empire

Biography

See also

References

Sources