[4] He was no intellectual, but he did develop many interests, including numismatics, mechanical engineering, flora and fauna, military science and all kinds of sports.

Among the sports he practiced were gymnastics, sailing, fishing, ice skating, dancing, sharp shooting, archery and horse riding.

[6] Alexander and his older brother William were taught to hunt by court physician Pierre Everard when they were teenagers.

A letter to the Prince's father proves how seriously Alexander took his hunting activities, as he explained his absence from The Hague: "I so desire to stay at Het Loo, where the falconry is wonderful this year.

The Royal Loo Hawking Club was rudderless without its enthusiastic chairman and the new king William III, Alexander’s brother, alienated himself from many of the members with his rude behaviour.

On 23 July 1839, Alexander went to Russia to visit his maternal uncle, Tsar Nicholas I, accompanied by his mentor, Major Rigot de Begnins.

He made a favourable impression on his uncle, who wrote to Anna Pavlovna: “I was pleased to meet your Alexander, who is really a very handsome boy, with such an excellent and decent appearance.

26 August) 1839, at a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino, the Tsar named Alexander Chief of the Novorossiysk Dragoon Regiment.

After the obligatory visit to Queen Victoria, he extensively toured the Scottish Highlands, where he greatly enjoyed his freedom and the relaxed, casual atmosphere.

During the Highland Games at Inverness Alexander placed third in the sharpshooting contest, his best shot from 25 yards only missing the target by a quarter of an inch.

The travel journal Alexander kept (which ended up in the Weimar state archives and for a long time has been incorrectly attributed to his sister Sophie), shows he had great difficulty putting up with Anna Pavlovna’s foul moods and capriciousness.

He chose the Villa Boschlust, just outside The Hague, which had sat empty since the death of its builder Johannes van den Bosch.

Anna Pavlovna stayed at Boschlust for a short time after the death of her husband, because she could no longer bear living at her former home, Kneuterdijk Palace, without him.

[19] That same year his grandfather William I assigned him the rank of Major General and placed him at the head of the brigade of heavy cavalry stationed in Leiden.

Alexander stayed in Leiden for one year only, until his father ascended the throne, promoted him to Lieutenant-General and assigned him the purely ceremonial role of Inspector-General of Cavalry.

The Prince was very unhappy with this decision and for years to come would lament his inability to earn his stripes and be in real contact with the troops whose uniforms he was forced to wear.

Eliza Pieter Matthes, aide-de-camp to King William II, recalled a conversation he had with the Prince: "I had the impression he was quite knowledgeable about that weapon [the Cavalry].

Nothing came of this however, as Victoria remarked to her uncle Leopold I of Belgium, "The Netherlander boys are very plain and have a mixture of Kalmuck (Mongol) and Dutch in their faces, moreover they look heavy, dull, and frightened and are not at all prepossessing.

There seems to be little contemporary evidence to support the theory that Alexander was considered as a possible husband for Queen Isabella II of Spain.

Her father Louis Philippe opposed the match because of Alexander’s protestant religion and age (he was over a year younger than Clementine).

It is therefore more likely he remained unmarried because of his father’s ambitious, unrealistic marital policy and/or his own disinterest in the candidates deemed suitable for him.

[28] Alexander's resulting frail constitution was supposed to have left him vulnerable to pulmonary tuberculosis, which caused him to steadily waste away until he died at the age of 29.

Whether he had been injured in any way by the tree that fell on him, or whether he had done harm to himself by trying to reduce himself to jockey weight, I know not, but he was six feet four inches in height, the latter experience would have needed vigorous treatment.

[30] The surviving doctor's reports, letters and autopsy in the Dutch Royal Archives clearly prove Alexander did not suffer from a lingering pulmonary illness at all.

Court physician Everard diagnosed him with consumption and recommended the healthy forest air of the Veluwe region for his affected lungs.

The steamers Cerberus and Cyclops towed the frigate Prince of Orange, commanded by Alexander's brother Henry, beyond the Channel.

In order to still benefit from the healing climate, Alexander was carried outside daily to rest for a few hours in a hammock or on a day bed.

The physicians, including Everard and Davies, discovered Alexander’s lungs were pretty much healthy, unlike his seriously affected stomach, intestines and liver.

[35] The Queen wrote to her brother Nicholas on 30 March: "Only today I feel strong enough to write some lines to tell you about the terrible disaster that has befallen us.

"[36] The Queen later had many of her son's possession brought to Soestdijk, including his two hunting dogs, Charon and Ditch, whom she visited on his birthday and the anniversary of his death.