Prince George Alexandrovich Yuryevsky[nb 1] (Russian: Гео́ргий Алекса́ндрович Ю́рьевский; 12 May 1872 [30 April 1872 O. S.] – 13 September 1913) was the natural son of Alexander II of Russia by his mistress (and later wife), Princess Catherine Dolgorukova.

The Emperor was devoted to Catherine and promised to marry her as soon as he was "free," meaning when his estranged and sickly wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna finally died.

[4] Alexander had ordered that if the circumstances called for it, Catherine, and not the child, must be saved; but mother and son both lived, and the father happily wrote "The Lord is so generous.

[6] When revolutionary groups like the Nihilist movement increased in power, the Emperor's "first family", as well as the princess and their children, removed themselves to the Winter Palace for security reasons, where their rooms were said to be directly above the dying Empress.

[5][7][8]: 23 The Empress died on 8 June 1880, and her widower promptly married Catherine a month later in a secret, morganatic ceremony in the presence of five witnesses, though none belonged to the Imperial family.

[6][10][11] The marriage was heavily criticized, with one source speculating that it "deprived [Alexander's] image of both the moral and cultural attributes that had come to justify autocratic power".

[18] Emperor Alexander II died on 13 March 1881, when after visiting his cousin Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna he was assassinated on the road leading back to the Winter Palace.

[8]: 7  The couple left, and the widow and children went to another private chapel for a separate mass, as she was not to be allowed to mingle with the Imperial family in the more public funeral planned for later.

[22] After his father's assassination, George, along with his mother and sisters Olga and Catherine (brother Boris died the year he was born), went to live in Paris and Nice, France.

[25] George borrowed money from the other officers so that he could throw gold coins at girls during carnival season, and he did not pay back his debts.

Nicholas II, the new emperor, was more kindly disposed to George, and allowed the prince to move back to Russia, where he transferred from the navy to serve a commission of lieutenant in the regiment of the Hussars of the Guard.

[24][26] Her birth was similar to his own, as she was the daughter of Duke Constantine Petrovich of Oldenburg and his morganatic marriage with Georgian Princess Agrippina Japaridze, Countess von Zarnekau.

[2] The only member of the Russian Imperial family to attend was Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich, himself banished due to his morganatic marriage to Countess Sophie of Merenberg, the sister-in-law of George's sister, Olga.

[26] Emperor Nicholas II disapproved of the union because he disliked Aleksandra's parents, and consequently the couple abandoned their St. Petersburg residence and went to live abroad.

[23] After their marriage, the couple planned to reside in a St. Petersburg palace that had been built by Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich and purchased by his brother Alexander II for his morganatic wife; Catherine in turn passed it down to their son.