On January 26, 1822, Tsarevich Constantine renounced his rights to the throne in a letter to his brother, Emperor Alexander I of Russia:
“Not feeling within myself either the talents, the strength, or the spirit ever to be raised to the dignity to which, by my birth, I might have a claim, I dare to ask Your Imperial Majesty to transfer this right to the one to whom it belongs after me.”
Three years later, the cry “Hurrah for Constantine!” would echo across Senate Square in St. Petersburg.
The reason for Constantine’s abdication was prosaic: he had married the Polish countess Jeanette Grudzińska, a woman not of royal blood. As a result, he could no longer claim the throne. Instead, Constantine gained family happiness.
Legends were told of Jeanette’s love and devotion to her husband, who had given up the throne for her sake. When the prince died in Vitebsk in 1831, his wife cut off her ash-blond curls in mourning and placed them beneath his head in the coffin. 🕊️
From Vitebsk to St. Petersburg, the widow walked on foot behind the coffin.
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