Nicholas I was Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland. He was the third son of Paul I and younger brother of his predecessor, Alexander I. Nicholas's thirty-year reign began with the failed Decembrist revolt. He is mainly remembered as a reactionary whose controversial reign was marked by geographical expansion, centralisation of administrative policies, and repression of dissent both in Russia and among its neighbors. Nicholas had a happy marriage that produced a large family; with all of their seven children surviving childhood.
Frederick William III was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, when the empire was dissolved.
Archduke Franz Karl Joseph of Austria was a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. He was the father of two emperors: Franz Joseph I of Austria and Maximilian I of Mexico. Through his third son Karl Ludwig, he was the grandfather of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – whose assassination sparked the hostilities that led to the outbreak of World War I.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky was a Russian Romantic painter who is considered one of the greatest masters of marine art. Baptized as Hovhannes Aivazian, he was born into an Armenian family in the Black Sea port of Feodosia in Crimea and was mostly based there.
Alexander Sergeyevich Griboyedov was a Russian diplomat, playwright, poet, and composer. His one notable work is the 1823 verse comedy Woe from Wit. He was Russia's ambassador to Qajar Persia, where he and all the embassy staff were massacred by an angry mob in the aftermath of the ratification of the Treaty of Turkmenchay (1828), which confirmed the cession to Russia of Persia's northern territories comprising Transcaucasia and parts of the North Caucasus. Griboyedov played a pivotal role in the ratification of the treaty. The immediate cause for the incident was Griboyedov giving refuge to Armenians who had escaped from the harems of the Persian shah and his son.
Konstantin Pavlovich was a grand duke of Russia and the second son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. He was the heir-presumptive for most of his elder brother Alexander I's reign, but had secretly renounced his claim to the throne in 1823. For 25 days after the death of Alexander I, from 19 November (O.S.)/1 December 1825 to 14 December (O.S.)/26 December 1825 he was known as His Imperial Majesty Konstantin I Emperor and Sovereign of Russia, although he never reigned and never acceded to the throne. His younger brother Nicholas became tsar in 1825. The succession controversy became the pretext of the Decembrist revolt.
Prince Alexander of Georgia was a Georgian royal prince (batonishvili) of the Bagrationi dynasty, who headed several insurrections against the Russian rule in Georgia. He was known as Eskandar Mīrzā (اسکندرمیرزا) in Persia, tsarevichAleksandr Irakliyevich in Russia, and Alexander Mirza in Western Europe.
Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia was the third son and sixth child of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and Alexandra Feodorovna. He may also be referred to as Nicholas Nikolaevich the Elder to tell him apart from his son, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929). Trained for the military, as a Field Marshal he commanded the Russian army of the Danube in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878.
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia was a son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia, a brother of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and the senior Grand Duke of the House of Romanov during the reign of his nephew, Emperor Nicholas II.
Maximilian Joseph Eugene Auguste Napoleon de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, Prince Romanowsky was the husband of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of Russia and first cousin of Emperors Napoleon III of the French and Francis Joseph I of Austria. He was a grandson of Napoleon I's first wife, the Empress Josephine, by her prior marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais.
Count Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov was a notable representative of the Vorontsov family. He served as Minister of Imperial Properties in 1881-97 and the Governor-General of the Caucasus Viceroyalty between 1905 and 1915.
George XII, sometimes known as George XIII, of the House of Bagrationi, was the second and last king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti in eastern Georgia from 1798 until his death in 1800.
Duke Constantine Frederick Peter of Oldenburg was a Duke of the House of Oldenburg. He was the grandfather of Duke Peter of Oldenburg as well as grandfather of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, General of the Imperial Russian Army during World War I. His great-great-grandson, Nicholas Romanov, was the President of the Romanov Family Association until his death in 2014.
Prince Semyon Semyonovich Abamelek-Lazarev was a Russian millionaire of Armenian ethnicity noted for his contributions to archaeology and geology.
Ivan Abramovich Gannibal was a Russian military leader. He was the son of military commander, general and engineer Abram Petrovich Gannibal, as well as the great-uncle of Russia's most famous poet, Alexander Pushkin.
Prince Frederick William Henry Augustus of Prussia was a Prussian royal and general. Born on Friedrichsfelde Palace, he was the youngest son of Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia, the brother of King Frederick the Great, and Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt.
Prince Eugen Maximilianovich Romanowsky, 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg was a son of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia Duke of Leuchtenberg. He succeeded his brother Nicholas Maximilianovich as Duke of Leuchtenberg from 1891 until his death.
Anton II the Great Martyr, born Prince Royal Teimuraz, was a member of the Georgian royal family and churchman. A son of Heraclius II, the penultimate King of Kartli and Kakheti, he was the Catholicos Patriarch of Georgia from 1788 to 1811.
Ivan Nikolaevich Tereshchenko was a Russian landowner, industrialist, art collector and patron of the arts of Ukrainian Cossack origin. He was renowned for his numerous art collections across Europe.
