The second son of Alexander II was born in St. Petersburg on February 26, 1845. Alexander III became official heir to the throne after the death of his elder brother, Nicholas, in 1865.

He came to the throne on March 1, 1881, at the age 36 after the assassination of his father and was crowned in the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin on May 15, 1883. Alexander III's reign coincided with an industrial revolution in Russia and the strengthening of capitalism. His domestic policy was particularly harsh, directed not only against revolutionaries but other liberal

movements. Fearing an attempt on his life, he refused to live in the Winter Palace; instead, he lived away from St. Petersburg in Gatchina, the palace of his great-grandfather, Paul I, which was designed like a medieval fortress surrounded by ditches and watchtowers.

He married the Danish Princess Dagmar (Maria Feodorovna) and had six children. Alexander III died on October 20, 1894, in Livadia, Crimea, and was buried in the Cathedral of the St. Peter and St. Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

• 1 Nickolas Alexandrovich Romanov = Alix Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice Of Hesse
  
  • 1 Olga Nicholaievna Romanov
    
  • 2 Tatiana Nicholaievna Romanov
    
  • 3 Marie Nicholaievna Romanov
    
  • 4 Anastasia Nicholaievna Romanov
    
  • 5 Tsarevich Alexei Nicholaevich Romanov
    
• 2 Alexander Alexandrovich Romanov
  
• 3 George Alexandrovich Romanov
  
• 4 Xenia Alexandrovna Romanov = Alexander Mikhailovich (Sandro) Romanov
  
  • 1 Irina Romanov = Felix Felixovich Yussoupov
    
    • 1 Princess Irina Felixovna Yussoupov
      
  • 2 Andrew Alexandrovich Romanov of Russia = Elizabeth Fabrizievna Di Sant' Antimo
    
    • 1 Andrew Andrievitch Romanov
      
    • 2 Xenia Romanov Of Russia = Calhoun Ancrum
      
    • 2 Xenia Romanov Of Russia = Geoffrey Tooth
      
  • 2 Andrew Alexandrovich Romanov of Russia = Nadine Sylvia Ada McDougall
    
  • 3 Theodore Alexandrovich Romanov
    
  • 4 Nikita Alexandrovich Romanov
    
  • 5 Dimitri Alexandrovich Romanov
    
  • 6 Rostislav Alexandrovich Romanov Of Russia = Alexandra Pavlovna Galitzine
    
    • 1 Rostislav Romanov = Stephena Verdel Cook
      
    • 1 Rostislav Romanov = Tia Ipsen
      
  • 7 Vassily Alexandrovich Romanov = Nathalie Alexandrovna Galitzine
    
• 5 Michael "Mischa" Alexandrovich Romanov = Natalia Sergievna Sheremetevskaya Countess Brassova
  
  • 1 George Brassov
    
• 6 Olga Alexandrovna Romanov = Peter Of Oldenberg
  
• 6 Olga Alexandrovna Romanov = Nicholas Kulikovsky
  
  • 1 Tikhon Kulikovsky
    
  • 2 Guri Kulikovsky