Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia was the fifth son and seventh child of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. He was an influential figure during the reigns of his brother Emperor Alexander III of
Photograph by Sergey Levitsky, c. 1894
Grand Duke Sergei with his parents and his sister, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna
Grand Duke Sergei with his younger brother Grand Duke Paul
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich in his youth
Ernest Louis was the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, reigning from 1892 until 1918.
Ernest Louis wearing the collar of the Order of the Garter
Ernest in 1879 with his grandmother Queen Victoria and sisters Victoria, Elizabeth, Irene and Alix two months after the deaths of their mother and youngest sister. All are wearing mourning clothes.
Ernest was still devastated by the memory of his daughter's death thirty years later. "My little Elisabeth," he wrote in his memoirs, "was the sunshine of my life."
Ernest Louis in 1917, as officer during the First World War.