Prince Ivan or
Prince Ioann Konstantinovich of Russia (
Иоанн Константиович) (
July 5, 1886–July 18, 1918), sometimes also known as
Prince John or
Prince Johan, was the eldest son of
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia by his wife Elisaveta Mavrikievna, née
Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg. He was described by contemporaries as a gentle, religious human being, nicknamed Ioannchik by his relatives.
Ivan Konstantinovich was born (23.6.1886 in Old Calendar, 5.7.1886 Gregorian time) as an
Imperial Highness, Grand Duke of Russia, but at the age of 9 days (on 2 July 1886 Old Calendar/ 14 July 1886 Gregorian) by
Ukaz of his cousin Emperor
Alexander III of Russia was stripped of that birth title, as the Ukaz amended the House Law by limiting the grand-ducal title to grandsons of reigning emperors, and received the title
Prince of the Imperial Blood (Prince of Russia) and qualification His Highness.
He once entertained the possibility of becoming an
Orthodox monk, but eventually fell in love with the fair and strong-willed
Princess Jelena of Serbia. They married on
September 2,1911, and Jelena took the name Princess Elena Petrovna of Russia. They were a very happy couple, blessed with a son,
Prince Vsevolod Ioannovich (
20 January 1914 -
18 June 1973), and a daughter,
Princess Ekaterina Ioannovna (
12 July 1915 -
13 March 2007), who was the last member of the Imperial Family to be born before the fall of the dynasty, and was ultimately to become the last surviving uncontested dynast of the
Imperial House of Russia.
Prince Ioann fought in the
First World War, was decorated as a war hero, and was at the front when the
Russian Revolution of 1917 started. In April
1918 he was exiled to the
Urals by the Bolsheviks, and later murdered in July the same year in an atrocious way in a mineshaft near
Alapaevsk, along with his brothers
Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich and
Prince Igor Konstantinovich, his cousin
Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, and other relatives and friends.
His body was eventually buried in
Beijing, in the cemetery of the Russian Orthodox Mission, which was destroyed years later to build a park.
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