On February 17th, 1905, socialist revolutionaries warned Elizabeth, the Empress of Russias sister: Dont go out in your husbands carriage today. She didnt, but her husband, the Grand Duke Sergei, Governor of Moscow and uncle to Tsar Nicholas II, did. Seconds later there was a terrific explosion which fatally injured the Grand Duke.
The bomb was planted by Ivan Kaliayev, a revolutionary who refused to plead for his life, claiming that his death would further the cause of change in Russia. He was hanged at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, May 23rd, 1905, in St. Petersburg. Elizabeth, who supported the move for democratic change in Russia, was herself murdered by the Communists in July 1918.