Prince Vasily Dolgorukov

Prince Vasily Dolgorukov, born in Karlsruhe on 13 August 1868, was marshal of the imperial court of Russia and stayed beside the tsar's family to the end; he was shot at Yekaterinburg on 10 July 1918, at the age of 49. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia counted him in 1981 among the New Martyrs of Russia.

He was the son of Prince Alexander Vasilievich Dolgorukov and Princess Maria Sergeevna; after his father's death his stepfather was Count Paul Benckendorff. He graduated from the Corps of Pages in 1880 and served in the guard, in the cavalry regiment; he was aide-⁠de-⁠camp to the emperor from 1896, major general from 1912 and, from 23 July 1914, marshal of the court. During the war he stayed beside the emperor at General Headquarters.

In August 1917 he went of his own will with the emperor and empress to the place of exile. In captivity he stayed constantly beside the tsar: he sawed wood, cleared snow and dug the ground, and he tried to protect him. On 30 April 1918, on arriving at Yekaterinburg, he was arrested and imprisoned; the Chekists tried to accuse him of planning the escape of the imperial family, an accusation that historians regard as groundless.

On 10 July 1918 he was shot in a forest near the Ivanovo cemetery, together with Adjutant General Ilya Tatishchev. The remains were found by the Whites in the autumn of that year and buried by the sisters of the Novo-⁠Tikhvin Convent; the place of the grave was lost in Soviet times. He was canonized by the Russian Church Outside Russia at the end of October (old style) 1981 and rehabilitated in October 2009, among 52 persons close to the imperial family.