Daniil O. Yastrebov Guardianship of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich: Between Familialism and Bureaucratisation, 1874–1881

Abstract

The article examines the mechanisms governing the guardianship of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich from 1874 to 1881. From the moment the grand duke was declared mentally ill — as a consequence of his theft of his mother Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna’s diamonds — until he was sent to Tashkent for permanent residence, the imperial family and government officials were compelled to address the problem posed by this unprecedented scandal. Acting under extraordinary circumstances, officials themselves had to develop new rules, without precedent, governing Nikolai Konstantinovich’s life. These ranged from instructions for the successive chief administrators — E.A. Ukhtomsky, K.K. Vitkovsky and N.Ya. Rostovtsev — to procedures regulating interaction between Minister of the Imperial Court A.V. Adlerberg and the Third Section. Drawing on archival materials from the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the Russian State Historical Archive, the article analyses the complex system of guardianship administration that emerged from the interaction of numerous factors and actors, ranging from Emperor Alexander II and Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich to gendarmes and court physicians. Two principles operated within this system: familialism and bureaucratisation, as well as formal and informal ties, which alternately intersected, complemented and neutralised one another. Throughout the period under consideration, however, the influence of “pre-modern” administrative practices steadily declined, giving way to the formalisation and institutionalisation of supervision. Using this case as an example, the article demonstrates the specific ways and mechanisms through which grand-ducal households interacted with the imperial bureaucracy in the second half of the nineteenth century and traces the evolution of these mechanisms from purely personal arrangements towards more systematic forms of control.

Keywords:

Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich; Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich; Alexander II; guardianship; mental incapacity; medical history; informal networks and bureaucratisation; the Third Section; the Ministry of the Imperial Court; the House of Romanov

For citation:

Daniil O. Yastrebov. Guardianship of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich: Between Familialism and Bureaucratisation, 1874–1881. The Historical Reporter. 2026. Vol. 60. P. 162–183. DOI:

Received 13.11.2025. Revised 21.01.2026. Accepted 19.02.2026.

Daniil O. Yastrebov

Postgraduate student, Faculty of History, European University in St. Petersburg. Bibliographer of the First Category, Department of Bibliography and Local History, National Library of Russia. Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation.

e-mail: dyastrebov@eu.spb.ru

ORCID: 0009-0001-0062-7909

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