Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich of Russia, 1894. Cartoon from Vanity Fair, 4th January 1894. Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich (1861-1929) was the second son of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia and was a cousin of Tsar Alexander III. He was forced into exile in 1891 after he contracted a morganatic marriage with Countess Sophie of Merenberg, and spent the rest of his life in England and on the French Riviera.