Normally the Imperial children were kept under female supervision      
          until they were seven. However, the Emperor gave Constantine a tutor       
          at the age of five because he showed both great spirit and a strong        
          will. Destined for the navy, for his tutor Friedrich von Lutke was         
          chosen. At that time Lutke was the youngest man to have                    
          circumnavigated the globe.                                                 
              During his early education he was treated like all other naval         
          cadets, even to his title of Grand Duke being dispensed with. Also,        
          being brought up outside the Imperial family gave him a better             
          understanding of daily life in Russia. As a child he had spoken only       
          Russian and English but now he had as well to learn both German and        
          French. Within eight months he was able to translate the Odyssey from      
          German; this, perhaps, was not surprising as he loved anything to do       
          with the Homeric age.                                                      
              In 1835 he accompanied his parents to Germany and from age eight       
          onwards was taught to keep a diary. While still a child, he was given      
          a small yacht which he would sail between Peterhof and Kronstadt.          
          However, he also enjoyed music and loved drawing. Once he was ten          
          years old his duties in the navy were taken more seriously. He was         
          treated like all naval cadets, he was placed on watch duty, at             
          midnight as well as in rain and storm.                                     
              In 1846 he went with his sister Olga to Stuttgart then he              
          continued to Altenburg to be introduced to Princess Alexandra of           
          Saxe-Altenburg. After meeting her, Constantine was quite eager to          
          marry her and wrote to his parents: "She or no other". Permission for      
          the marriage was given but they had to wait two years as he was            
          nineteen and she only sixteen. On 12 October 1847 she arrived in           
          Russia and were married on 11 September 1848. Taking the name of           
          Alexandra Iosifovna, she was later on known as "Aunt Sanny". They          
          became the parents of six children.                                        
              In 1849 as a young officer, he took part in a campaign assisting       
          the Austrians to put down an uprising in Hungary. For this he received     
          the St. George's Cross. During this campaign he wrote to his father        
          who maintained they were the best reports he received. A year later        
          Constantine was appointed a member of the Council of State.                
          Constantine had a sharp and loud voice which he enjoyed using, usually     
          for new servants and preferably in the presence of guests. Without any     
          reason he would glare at the new servant and then scream the servant's     
          name. Some would stand, frozen in terror, while one ran out of the         
          palace never to return. Other servants looked forward to these antics      
          as they were regarded an an initiation.                                    
              In 1855 his eldest brother became Emperor as Alexander II and          
          Constantine was appointed to take charge of all naval matters. In 1856     
          Constantine and Alexander II visited the Crimea, both agreeing that        
          the war was lost and peace should be restored. There was a close           
          working relationship between the two brothers which was responsible        
          for many reforms, including the liberation of the serfs. Constantine       
          was also sent on a diplomatic mission to Napoleon III.                     
              In 1863 he was appointed Viceroy of Poland where he and his wife       
          were made most welcome on arrival. However, on the second day he was       
          wounded in an assassin's attack. From then on both he and his wife         
          were always escorted by Cossacks. Under Russian rule, Constantine          
          wanted the Poles to administer their country, so he opened                 
          Universities and did all he could to appease the Poles who                 
          nevertheless revolted. He then had to declare martial law and severely     
          repressed the uprising. While in Poland he was visited by his nephew,      
          the future Alexander III, teasingly calling him 'clumsy Sasha'. This       
          may explain why Alexander III disliked his uncle.                          
              When recalled to St. Petersburg he devoted all his attention to        
          the navy. He improved conditions and abolished corporal punishments.       
          In all he was sixteen years President of the Council of State where,       
          though lacking in tact, he always had the Emperor's ear and defended       
          the council's view. This also made him many enemies.                       
              Constantine and his wife would visit Switzerland accompanied by        
          numerous servants, luggage and even by Alexandra's grand piano. While      
          on these trips they would visit many people and make the acquaintance      
          of many more. However, in St. Petersburg stories about his 'ladies'        
          abounded and this increased when one installed herself in a lovely         
          villa in the Crimea, close to Constantine's palace.                        
              Since 1865 Constantine had been pushing for a constitution in          
          Russia and, in 1881, supported Alexander II when he was to grant a         
          partial constitution, but whose assassination prevented this.              
          Alexander III destroyed the document and, as he never had liked his        
          uncle Constantine whom he regarded a 'liberal' powerhouse, requested       
          and received his uncle's resignation.                                      
              Constantine now spent most of his time abroad or on his Crimean        
          estate. Here he made friends with artists and scientists, which also       
          displeased Alexander III. In the Crimea he did have a second family        
          with Anna Vasilievna Kousnetzov, a ballerina, who gave him five            
          children. When two of these died of scarlet fever, his wife sent a         
          telegram of condolence to him and his 'goverment-issue' wife.              
              Even though he was for reforms he was furious when Alexander III       
          restricted the title of Grand Duke to only children and grandchildren      
          of Emperors, as this meant that Constantine's grandchildren would          
          merely be princes. In 1889 he suffered a stroke and, on 25 January         
          1892, died. His wife survived until 1911.  
 

Source: Leo van de Pas