Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (; 6 June 1859 – 5 December 1909) was the eldest of the two surviving sons of Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and of Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia. He was a great-grandson of Emperor Paul and a cousin of Emperor Alexander III of Russia. Although he was a German prince of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, he was raised in Imperial Russia, where he lived all his life.
He followed a career as an officer in the Russian army and was Major General, Commander of the Life Guard Dragoon Regiment. Georg Alexander was a music lover, a skillful cellist and composer. In 1896 he formed a private string quartet called the Mecklenburg Quartet. He contracted a morganatic marriage and his rights and inheritance passed to his younger brother Charles Michael, Duke of Mecklenburg. His four children received the title of Counts of Carlow, but after Duke Georg Alexander's death, his unmarried brother adopted his son Georg, Count of Carlow, who became the heir to the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1934.
Early life
Georg Alexander Michael Friedrich Wilhelm Franz Carl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was born on at Remplin, a family estate acquired by his parents in Mecklenburg shortly before his birth. His father, Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg (1824–1876), was the second son of Grand Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. His mother, Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia, was a granddaughter of Emperor Paul I of Russia. Although Duke Georg Alexander was, by birth, a German prince of the house of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, his father had settled in Russia within his wife’s family. Georg and his siblings were raised in Russia, but kept the Lutheran religion of his paternal ancestors. He was known in Russia as George Georgievich jr, to distinguish him from his father who had the same name and patronymic.
He received a military education and followed a career in the Russian service. Raised in the Mikhailovsky Palace, the household of his maternal grandmother Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, he took a great interest in music from an early age under her grandmother's guidance. From age 12 his teacher was Karl Davydov, a composer, professor of the St Petersburg Conservatory and Russia’s most prominent cellist of the time. Georg-Alexander passion for music made him consider for a time to follow a career as a professional cellist. He was a good pianist, an excellent cello player and was fond of writing musical compositions. From 1879 to 1881 he studied fine arts and philosophy at the Universities of Leipzig and Strasbourg.
Marriage
Georg Alexander fell in love with his mother’s lady in waiting Natalia Feodorovna Vanliarskya (Saint Petersburg, 16 May 1858 - Cannes, 14 March 1921), the daughter of Feodor Ardalionovich Vanliarsky (23 December 1833 - 2 February 1903), a Russian State Councillor, who served in the Ministry of Finance, and wife Maria Feodorovna Uvarova, paternal granddaughter of Ardalion Alexeievich Vanliarsky and wife Anastasia Mikhailovna Simanovskaya (? - 26 March 1891) and maternal granddaughter of Feodor Feodorovich Uvarov and wife Maria Petrovna Joukova. She was a member of the Russian nobility who came from Germany in 17th century whose name was originally von Lahr. Vanljarskya was a skillful singer and the couple was brought together by their shared passion for music. Grand Duchess Catherine Mikahilovna opposed their union and fired Natalia, hoping that his son would forget the affair and would marry a bride of royal background. However Georg Alexander persisted and in June 1889 he went to Germany to obtain the permission to marry from the head of the family, his uncle, Grand Duke Frederick William (1819-1904). With his uncle's consent, George Georgievich married Natalia Vanliarskya on 14 February 1890 in Saint Petersburg. As Natalia was not of member of reigning royal family their union was treated as morganatic and she received from the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz the title of Countess von Carlow (the name Carlow came from the estate Karlivka in Poltava province, that belonged to Georg-Alexander) on 18 March 1890 that would pass to their children. Their marriage was a happy one and Natalia eventually became loved by her husband’s family.