Editing Alexander III of Russia (section)

==Early life==

Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich was born on 10 March 1845 at the [[Winter Palace]] in [[Saint Petersburg]], [[Russian Empire]], the second son and third child of [[Alexander II of Russia|Tsesarevich Alexander]] (Future Alexander II) and his first wife [[Maria Alexandrovna (Marie of Hesse)|Maria Alexandrovna]] (née Princess Marie of [[Grand Duchy of Hesse|Hesse and by Rhine]]). He was born during the reign of his grandfather [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]].

Though he was destined to be a strongly counter-reforming emperor, Alexander had little prospect of succeeding to the throne during the first two decades of his life, as he had an elder brother, [[Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia|Nicholas]], who seemed of robust constitution. Even when Nicholas first displayed symptoms of delicate health, the notion that he might die young was never taken seriously, and he was betrothed to [[Dagmar of Denmark (Maria Feodorovna)|Princess Dagmar of Denmark]], daughter of [[King Christian IX of Denmark]] and [[Louise of Hesse-Kassel|Queen Louise of Denmark]], and whose siblings included [[Frederick VIII of Denmark|King Frederik VIII of Denmark]], [[Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom]] and [[King George I of Greece]]. Great solicitude was devoted to the education of Nicholas as [[tsesarevich]], whereas Alexander received only the training of an ordinary Grand Duke of that period. This included acquaintance with [[French language|French]], English and [[German language|German]], and [[Foot drill|military drill]].{{sfn|Wallace|1911|p=562}}