His parents' marriage was unhappy and Dmitry was still a child when his father started a new family with his mistress, a Russian ballerina. A second family setback scared him even further. Dmitry was 14 when his eldest brother Nikolai Konstantinovich was disinherited, declared insane and sent into internal Russian exile, after stealing some diamonds from an icon in his mother's bedroom. Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna made her three remaining sons: Konstantin age 16, Dmitry 14, and Vyacheslav 12, promise her that they would never drink, never give themselves to a life of self-indulgence, never forget that all the privileges of their wealth and rank were meant for use and not enjoyment. Brought up under these conditions, the younger Konstantinovich grand dukes grew into thoughtful, introspective men