[1] Though he had a German title and ancestry, Alexander and his siblings were born and raised in St. Petersburg as the grandchildren of Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia.

Alexander and his wife Princess Eugenia Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg were noted for their philanthropy, establishing schools, hospitals, orphanages, and other charitable organizations in Russia.

During World War I, the duke famously invited wounded British and French soldiers to stay for free in a sanatorium he founded in the Crimea.

When the Russian revolution broke out, Alexander was reported to have been one of the Imperial family killed by the newly emerged Bolshevik government, though this turned out to be only a rumor as the duke was able to escape and hide away in Finland and eventually to France, where he died at Biarritz on 6 September 1932.

[9] At the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Emperor Nicholas II appointed Alexander to the post of supreme chief of the medical service of the military and naval forces.

[5] After Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria abdicated on 7 September 1886, various replacement candidates were proposed by the great European powers, particularly by the governments of Russia and Germany.

[2] In several desperate attempts to prevent Russia from gaining control of Bulgaria however, the throne was offered to candidates who lacked Russian ties, such as a prince of Denmark or even the king of Romania.

[11] Alexander and Eugenia founded the Oldenburg Institute at Petrograd, where more than two thousands girls and boys received technical educations while being taught trades and given free lodging and food, all at the expense of the duke and duchess.

[9][13] In his position as chief of head of medical services for the Russian army and navy, Alexander invited hundreds of wounded French and British officers to stay free-of-charge in a sanatorium he founded in the Gagra.

[13] While attending the opening of the Institute of Experimental Medicine as its main benefactor in January 1907, a prominent government official, General von Launitz, was assassinated before Alexander and Eugenia's eyes.

[3] He and his wife's charitable exploits became so well known that a newspaper declared in 1914 that because they devoted their lives and the greater portion of their wealth to philanthropy, "there are probably no two who are so universally beloved as the Duke and Duchess Alexander of Oldenburg".

[16][17] Acting out of labor unrest and what was incorrectly perceived as a fake pronouncement that the Emperor would take back land given to peasants, a mob of angry people traveled throughout southern Russia and caused extensive damage.