Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich, born on October 16, 1861, and died on April 26, 1929, was the son of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich and the grandson of Tsar Nicholas I. He spent his childhood in the Caucasus, living with his family from 1862 to 1881, receiving education from private tutors. Following the traditions of the Romanovs, Michael Mikhailovich chose a military career. He participated in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, rose to the rank of colonel, and served as an aide-de-camp at the imperial court. In 1891, he entered into a morganatic marriage with Countess Sofia von Merenberg, who was the granddaughter of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin and the daughter of Prince Nikolai Wilhelm of Nassau.

Due to this marriage, which was contracted without permission, Emperor Alexander III stripped him of his military titles and exiled him from Russia. Michael Mikhailovich lived for several years in Wiesbaden, Nassau, and Cannes, and in 1900 settled in England, initially renting the Kilhall mansion in Staffordshire and later Kenwood House on the outskirts of London. He became a prominent figure in British society: one of his daughters married a British aristocrat, and another married a great-grandson of Queen Victoria.

After the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1918, Michael Mikhailovich lost his fortune. Three of his brothers were killed by the Bolsheviks, but he escaped the fate of the revolution as he lived abroad. He spent his last years in modest circumstances, receiving financial support from his son-in-law Sir Harold Werner.