Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark)
On the morning of 13 March 1881, her father-in-law Alexander II of Russia, aged 62, was killed by a bomb on the way back to the Winter Palace from a military parade. In her diary, Maria later described how the wounded, still living Emperor was taken to the palace: "His legs were crushed terribly and ripped open to the knee; a bleeding mass, with half a boot on the right foot, and only the sole of the foot remaining on the left." Alexander II died a few hours later. Although the people were not enamoured of the new emperor, they adored Russia's new empress. As Maria's contemporaries said of her: "She is truly an empress." She was not altogether pleased with her new status. In her diary she wrote, "Our happiest and serenest times are now over. My peace and calm are gone, for now I will only ever be able to worry about Sasha." Despite being haunted by her father-in-law's gruesome death and her anxiety over the safety of her husband, at Alexander II's funeral, she was at least afforded the comfort of the presence of her brother-in-law and favourite sister, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the latter of whom, despite her husband's reluctance and Queen Victoria's objections, stayed on in Russia with Maria for several weeks after the funeral.
Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich of Russia
On 1 June 1880, Dmitry Konstantinovich was appointed to the suite of Alexander II and given the rank of Fligel-Adjutant. Six months later, after completing his initial infantry training, the grand duke was appointed lieutenant in the Horse Guards Regiment. He was to serve with the Horse Guards for twelve years as a junior officer, and finally as commander.
After completing a training course with the General Staff Academy in 1880, Dmitry Konstantinovich was promoted to Ordnance Officer and scheduled to make his first official appearance, when he would deliver the report as an Imperial Adjutant in the Guards Sappers Cavalry Regiment. The date for his first appearance was Sunday, 1 March 1881. Two hours after the review, his uncle Alexander II, who had been present at the insistence of Alexandra Iosifovna, was assassinated.