Prince Oleg Konstantinovich of Russia ( – ) was a son of
Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich.
He died of wounds suffered in battle against the Germans during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Early life
Prince Oleg was generally considered to be the brightest of Grand Duke Konstantine's children. He had great curiosity and created complicated fantasy games for himself and his siblings to play.
[Zeepvat, Charlotte, ''The Camera and the Tsars: A Romanov Family Album,'' Sutton Publishing, 2004, p. 66]
Grand Duke Konstantin, a poet himself, arranged for his children to receive lessons from experts in a variety of fields. Well-known archaeologists told the children about their latest expeditions, architects showed the children slides and explained their works, choirs of
Old Believers
Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow bet ...
and peasants from all corners of the empire were brought to sing church music or folk songs to the children.
[Zeepvat, p. 79] Oleg was so intelligent that his father decided to send him to a prestigious school, the
Alexander Lyceum, rather than to give him the standard military education that the other men in the family received. Konstantin's unconventional choice of education for Prince Oleg met with disapproval from his family members.
Oleg was Grand Duke Konstantin's favorite son.
[Zeepvat, p. 197]
At one point he reportedly hoped to marry a cousin,
Princess Nadezhda Petrovna of Russia, but this hope was prevented by the advent of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
Service in World War I and death
Prince Oleg, with four of his brothers, served in the Guards during World War I. He was wounded while fighting against the Germans near Vladislavovas (today
Kudirkos Naumiestis
Kudirkos Naumiestis () is in the Šakiai district municipality, Lithuania. It is located south-west of Šakiai.
History
The settlement was first mentioned in 1561 as a village called ''Duoliebaičiai.'' In 1639 the town was renamed ''Vladislav ...
). Emergency surgery in Vilna (today
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
) could not save him. As he was dying, he said, "I am so happy. It will encourage the troops to know that the Imperial House is not afraid to shed its blood."
Ancestry
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oleg Konstantinovich of Russia, Prince
1892 births
1914 deaths
Princes of royal blood (Russia)
Imperial Russian Army personnel
Russian military personnel killed in World War I
19th-century people from the Russian Empire