Tsesarevich

Etymologically, the words tsarevich and tsarevich are identical: both go back to the Latin Caesar ( Caesar , Emperor) - the first through the Old Slavic and Old Russian Tsarsar / Tsarsar , where the Tsar comes from, and the second through the secondary Western European loan from the Tsarsar (usually used in Russia for Holy Emperors ).

In Western European languages ​​it is often conveyed by the same word that the prince (tsarevich, etc.), which is unsuccessful; the title “prince” was not officially used in this era, and in pre-Petrine times, all the sons of kings (not only succession heirs) were called princes.

Under Peter I

The title of Tsarevna appeared in the Russian Empire earlier than the title of Tsarevich. It was first introduced by Emperor Peter I on December 23, 1721 ^[2] for his daughters on the day their mother Ekaterina Alekseevna was declared Empress.

S. M. Solovyov in "History of Russia since ancient times" describes:

When Peter took the title of emperor , the question arose of the title of his wife and children. On December 23, 1721, the Synod and the Senate, while in Moscow, had a conference in the Synodal Cross Chamber; since his majesty is titled the emperor and autocrat of all Russia , how would you agree with this title on the title and empress of the tsarina and the children of his majesty; They reasoned for a long time and agreed to call her Majesty the Empress or the Czar’s , and the children were called the Czar’s , and that in the past many years was used in the title: the quietest, chosen, venerable , and then decided to turn it off; also where nobleness was recalled in the titles of the Grand Duke (Peter Alekseevich) and the Crown Princess, it was more respectable to use the word faithful , because it is low to be titled by the nobility of their highness for their current usage, for nobility and nobility are given. Peter agreed with this decision, but instead of the crown prince ordered her empress to declare the crown princess majesty ^[3] .

The title was received by the only three living at that time from Peter's numerous children - his daughter from Ekaterina Anna Petrovna , Elizaveta Petrovna and Natalya Petrovna who died in childhood shortly after her father (1718-1725) . All of them were not considered heirs to the throne, since Peter did not appoint an official heir to himself.

The Tsar’s family was remembered in the churches as follows: “Our pious sovereign Peter the Great, the emperor and autocrat of the All-Russian, pious great sovereign our empress Catherine Alexeyevna. And the noble sovereigns of the princes. The noble Queen and Grand Duchess Paraskeva Feodorovna . And the noble Grand Duke Peter Alekseevich . And the faithful princesses of the great princess ^[4] ” ^[3] .

In the future, the daughters and granddaughters of the monarchs were called not princes, but grand princes. The tsesarevny were called the wives of the tsarevich heirs ^[5] .

Under Paul

Since 1762 it was used as the title of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (future Paul I); after his accession to the throne in November 1796, Alexander Pavlovich was proclaimed crown prince. On an ongoing basis, the title was introduced in accordance with the Law of Succession to Paul I in 1797, which stated that this title belonged to the immediate heir to the throne.

However, already in 1799, Pavel violated his own law by conferring the title of Tsarevich (truth, without words, sovereign heir ) for his “great services” to his second son, Konstantin Pavlovich . Constantine also wore this title under Alexander I, when he really became the next person in the order of succession to the throne, and continued to wear it after 1823, when he renounced the right to succession to the throne. After 1825, the title was awarded in accordance with Pavlovsky law.

The situation with Konstantin Pavlovich

After the accession of Alexander I, his brother Konstantin became the heir to the throne. However, the Grand Duke himself has repeatedly said that he does not want to reign by virtue of his morganatic marriage and inability to public administration. Therefore, Konstantin secretly renounced the inheritance of the throne, which was framed by the manifesto of Emperor Alexander I of 16 (August 28), 1823, which should be announced after his death. According to this document, the next son of Paul I, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich , who, however, was not aware of the existence of the manifesto until its publication in 1825, became the heir to the throne.

At the opening of the manifesto, most of the members of the State Council and Nikolai Pavlovich himself did not find it possible to fulfill the will of the late emperor and swore allegiance to Konstantin Pavlovich as emperor Constantine I, who nevertheless demanded that his elder brother's manifest be respected and confirmed his abdication. After this, on December 13 (25), 1825, Nikolai Pavlovich proclaimed himself Emperor Nicholas I with the beginning of the reign, counted from the date of the death of Alexander I. The next day in St. Petersburg there was a Decembrist uprising , the formal reason for which was the refusal of the oath of allegiance to Nicholas and the protection of the rights of Constantine.

The situation with Mikhail Alexandrovich

On June 18 (30), 1899 (the day after the baptism of the third child of Nicholas II , the third daughter in a row), his younger brother, the Heir to the Cesarevich and Grand Duke George Aleksandrovich, suddenly died of pulmonary hemorrhage. The manifesto of June 28 ( July 10 ), 1899 (published June 30) announced the death of the latter and read further ^[6] :

Henceforth, as long as the Lord still does not want to bless the Birth of the Son, the closest right to the succession of the All-Russian Throne, on the exact basis of the main State Law on the See of the Holy See, belongs to our Most Beloved Brother, Our Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich

- Government Newsletter . June 30 ( July 12 ), 1899 , No. 139, p. 1 (exact spelling of the source)

Thus, the next brother of Nicholas II, who became the heir, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich was not granted the vacant title of Cesarevich, since it was decided at the court that the award of the title of Czarevich in 1894 was erroneous, since the title of Tsarevich should belong only to the direct heir, and not the alleged ^[6] . On July 7 (19), 1899, Mikhail Alexandrovich was simultaneously granted the title of Heir by the revived title of sovereign according to the Highest Nominal Decree and was called, “Until the Lord God blesses us with the birth of a son”, “His Imperial Highness the Sovereign and the Grand Duke”.

The absence in the Manifesto of the words “Heir to the Cesarevich” in the title of Mikhail Alexandrovich aroused bewilderment in society, and friction in the imperial family. According to the author of the text of the Manifesto of Chief Prosecutor K. P. Pobedonostsev , early in the morning of June 29 ( July 11 ) 1899 he drew up the draft in 2 versions (with the words “Sovereign Heir Tsesarevich” and the other without), the emperor approved the second option; according to Pobedonostsev, the Manifesto aroused “rumors in the city and at court, how is it that there is no Heir?” ^[8] Ksenia Alexandrovna wrote in her diary ^[6] : “... what is going on in general with regard to the brainwave caused by the manifesto! God knows that they just don’t speak and blame poor Alix again, as if she didn’t want Misha to be made or named heir! ”

In addition, on July 6 (18), 1899, a new form of offering his name for worship was highly approved (on the basis of a precedent, in the local services they immediately began to use his traditional title as “Heir to the Cesarevich”), on the basis of which July 7 (19) In 1899, the Holy Synod determined: “To prescribe the places and persons of the spiritual ministry so that henceforth during the Divine services, the offering of the Highest Names of the August Family Name will be performed according to the following Highest approved form:“ <...> about the Blessed Sovereign Heir and prince Michael Alexandrovich, and about the entire Royal House "". ^[9]

General A. A. Mosolov , who had been close to the emperor for several years, wrote in his memoirs about the situation with the title of Mikhail Alexandrovich: “He did not receive the title of crown prince, who was worn during his lifetime by his elder brother, Georgy Alexandrovich. This fact was very commented upon at the court of Maria Fedorovna , but it was easily explained by the hope of the young empress that she would soon have a son. ” ^[10]

According to Count S. Yu. Witte, this legal conflict arose due to the fact that in the succession law the appointment of the next person who had the preemptive right to the throne was not directly stipulated by the successor to the throne. It was taken for granted that if the sovereign did not have a son before his death, then the person of the reigning house, who had the primary right to the throne, entered the throne. The announcement of the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich as the Heir to the Tsesarevich was officially inconvenient, because at that moment Nikolay II was already married and could have a son at any moment, which happened in the near future ^[6] .

After the abolition of the monarchy in Russia

In exile, the titles of the Tsarevichs were also used by Vladimir Kirillovich from 1924 to 1938, and his female grandson Georgy Mikhailovich from 1992, although the latter is disputed.

Tsesarevichs

Nicholas I, the only emperor of the 19th century, was not a prince.

Tsesarevny

The title "crown princess" was recreated on the day of the wedding of the future Alexander II.

Of the other Russian empresses of the 19th century, the princes were not the spouses of Nicholas I - who was not the former prince, and Nicholas II - who married after the accession.