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| Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and Olga Valerianovna, Princess Paley |
In 1895 the widowed Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia embarked upon an affair with the married Russian noblewoman Olga Valerianovna von Pistohlkors (née Karnovich), the wife Erich Gerhard von Pistohlkors, a major general in the Imperial Russian Army. While still married to her husband, Olga Valerianovna fell pregnant and in 1897 gave birth in St Petersburg to a son named Vladimir Pavlovich, fathered by Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich.
With Olga Valerianovna having obtained a divorce, on 27
September 1902 she and Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich were married in Livorno. The
couple spent the early part of their married life together in Paris where their
two daughters were born, Irina Pavlovna in 1903, and Natalia Pavlovna in 1905.
Russian succession rules
Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich was a member of the Russian
imperial family, the House of Romanov. At the time of his marriage to Olga Valerianovna
he was 7th in the line of succession to the throne.
For the marriage of a Russian dynast to be valid the consent
of the Russian emperor was required. This requirement was set out in a decree on the succession to the Russian throne from the then Tsarevich Paul Petrovich and his wife Maria Feodorovna,
which was confirmed by Paul after his coronation as emperor on 5 April 1797 and
which point it came into force as the statute on the Russian imperial family.[i]
On 20 March 1820 Emperor Alexander I, the successor of
Emperor Paul, amended the Russian imperial family statute and introduced a
formal rule requiring an equal marriage in order for members of the Russian
imperial family to be able to pass onto their children the right of succession to the Russian throne.[ii]
While in Germany disposed ruling houses were ‘mediatised’, i.e. granted equal status with the remaining ruling German houses, in Russia the
opposite was the case. For example after their forced abdications the disposed Caucasus
dynasties of Imereti (Bagration-Imeretinsky), Kartli-Kakheti (Bagration-Gruzinsky),
Abkhazia (Sharvashidze) and Mingrelia (Dadiani), and the Baltic dynasty of
Courland (Biron), were all reduced in status to ordinary nobles. This was also
the status held by branches of the former ruling Rurikid and Gediminids dynasties,
which had ruled Russia in the former case, and Lithuania in the latter.[iii]
There was no possibility therefore of families from the constituent
parts of the Russian Empire equally marrying into the Russian imperial family whose
members predominantly married into German families, which was from where the majority of
‘equal’ families were situated. Prior to Emperor Alexander I’s ruling in 1820,
marriage into Russian noble families had been a possibility as only the permission of
the emperor was required to marry, and indeed historically there was no
equality criteria at all and the tsar’s and their family had married into
Russian noble and, in some cases even non noble, families.
On 24 March 1889 Emperor Alexander III strengthened the
equal marriage rule within the statute on the Russian imperial family via an imperial
ukase (#5868) by explicitly forbidding members of the Russian imperial family
from marrying someone “who is not of the
corresponding dignity, this is, not belonging to any reigning or ruling house”.[iv]
It is clear that because Olga Valerianovna did not belong to
a “reigning or ruling house”, her three children with Grand Duke Paul
Alexandrovich did not acquire membership of the Russian imperial family or the
right of succession to the Russian throne. Nor could Olga Valerianovna herself share
her husband’s Russian imperial title. The couple’s marriage was also without
the consent of the emperor, for which they were initially exiled from Russia.
On 29 October 1904 Olga Valerianovna was granted a Bavarian
title, Countess von Hohenfelsen, by the Prince Regent Luitpold. This title was
also to be borne by any children of her marriage with Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich.
Within the Russian Empire the Hohenfelsen title was recognised in a ukase (#25328)
on 13 November 1904 for Olga Valerianovna and the children of her marriage of
Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich. In the same ukase, Emperor Nicholas II granted
his retrospective consent to the marriage but noted the Fundamental State Laws
prevented the children from acquiring membership of the Russian imperial family.[v]
A decade later during the First World War when the Russian
Empire was at war with the German Empire, on 15 August 1915 Emperor Nicholas II
granted a Russian princely title and the surname Paley to Olga Valerianovna and
her three children with Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, in place of their German
name.[Note 1]
In a ukase (#35731) dated 11 August 1911, Emperor Nicholas
II softened his father’s amendment to the imperial family statute on equal
marriage with an addendum stating “Henceforth, none of the Grand Dukes and
Grand Duchesses may enter into marriage with a person who does not have the
corresponding dignity, that is, who does not belong to any reigning or ruling
house.”[vi]
Only the children and male line grandchildren of an emperor were grand dukes/grand
duchesses, more remote descendants were titled prince/princess of the imperial
blood. It has been argued that this ukase meant princes and princess could
marry unequally and pass on dynastic rights to their children, provided they did
not renounce their rights of succession first.[vii]
The 1911 ukase did not have the desired effect in preventing
grand dukes and grand duchesses from marrying unequally. Despite being
forbidden from doing so, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, without his brother
Emperor Nicholas II’s permission, eloped and married unequally in 1912 while their sister
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, with Nicholas II’s permission, divorced her
equal husband and re-married unequally in 1916.
In 1916 a commission chaired by Grand Duke George
Mikhailovich was said to have been established with the task of reviewing the
old nobility rank books from the reign of Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich (1629-1676)
to compile a list of equal families drawn from within the Russian nobility, but
this work was disrupted and then halted due to the revolution in 1917.[viii]
Such a commission seems a perfectly credible and sensible thing,
given that the Russian Empire was involved in a bitter and bloody struggle in
the First World War against the German Empire from where the overwhelming
majority of 'equal' families were based. So it’s easy to imagine the number of
'equal' families would need to be expanded to widen the pool of suitable
partners for the various young princes and princesses of the imperial blood, as
well the young grand duchess daughters of Nicholas II, who were all coming of
marriageable age and unlikely to be searching for spouses from the German
families as the previous generations had, and in the case of the females
reluctant to have to leave Russia on marriage to a foreign royal regardless of what country they were from.
The strict equal marriage rule and serve limitations of
‘equal families’ was long a source of contention in the Russian imperial family
with Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich quoted as once remarking; “If we are
not allowed to marry young girls from good families, we will marry our
mistresses!”.[ix]
Holstein succession rules
While simply using the designation the House of Romanov, the
Russian imperial family were additionally members of
the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, and the parent House of Oldenburg,
via their male line descent from Emperor Peter III of Russia (1728-1762), who
was born Duke Charles Peter Ulrich of Schlewsig-Holstein-Gottorp.
In addition to their Russian titles and rights, the
Romanov’s therefore also retained hereditary titles and rights associated with this
Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and Oldenburg heritage. The hereditary titles
derived from this heritage were Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig, Holstein,
Stormarn, Dithmarschen and Oldenburg. These titles however were never used
other than as part of the full title of the Russian emperor.[x]
The House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, which forms the
most junior house of the entire House of Oldenburg, divided into two branches. The
senior Romanov branch descending from Duke Frederick IV (1671-1702), the
grandfather of Emperor Peter III, and the junior branch descending from his
younger brother Duke Christian August (1673-1726).[xi]
Three of the sons of Duke Christian August would marry and found
their own distinct lines. Duke Adolphus Frederick (1710-1771) ascended the
Swedish throne in 1751, Duke Frederick Augustus (1711-1785) became
prince-bishop of Lübeck in 1750 and Duke George Louis (1719-1763) became a
Prussian lieutenant-general and a Russian field marshal.
In the Treaty of Tsarskoye Selo of 1 June 1773 the Tsarevich
(later Emperor) Paul Petrovich of Russia, in his capacity as sovereign duke of
Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, ceded his share of the duchy of Holstein to Denmark
in return for the Danish owned counties of Oldenburg and Delmonhorst.[xii]
In order to provide for the non-reigning (i.e the
non-Swedish) lines of the junior branch of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp,
the counties of Oldenburg and Delmonhorst were in turn ceded by the Tsarevich Paul
Petrovich on 14 December 1773 to his great uncle Duke Frederick August, Prince Bishop
of Lübeck,[xiii]
who ruled the territory as count of Oldenburg, and after its elevation by
imperial decree to a duchy on 29 December 1774, as duke of Oldenburg.[xiv]
After the childless death of Duke Frederick August’s son and
successor Duke William (1754-1823), the throne passed to his cousin Duke Peter
(1755-1829), the son of Duke George Louis who had founded the third line of the
junior branch of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp. Oldenburg was raised
to a grand duchy on 9 June 1815 but the title of grand duke was only adopted after
the succession of Grand Duke Augustus (1783-1853), the son of Duke Peter. The
Swedish branch, the senior line of the junior Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp branch,
ceased to reign in 1818 and went extinct in the male line in 1877.
The grand duchy of Oldenburg branch of the House of
Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp represented a secundogeniture with the elder Romanov
branch retaining the right of succession to the grand duchy should the male
line of the junior branch go extinct.[xv]
At the turn of the 20th century the extinction of
the junior branch was a possibility as the future of the succession effectively
rested on the minor Hereditary Grand Duke Nicholas (1897-1970), the only other
agnate in the line of succession being his unmarried and childless uncle Duke
George Louis (1855-1939). The male members of the Russian based branch of the grand
ducal family, founded by Duke George of Oldenburg (1784-1812) who in 1809 married
Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia (1788-1819), had given up their rights
of succession.[xvi]
On 29 August 1903 Emperor Nicholas II, in his capacity as
head of the elder branch of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, ceded on
his own behalf and on behalf of the entire Russian imperial family, his and their
rights to Oldenburg in favour of their kinsman Duke Frederick Ferdinand of
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (1855-1934), the head of the Glücksburg
branch of the House of Oldenburg, and the other male line descendants of his late
father Duke Frederick (1814-1885).[xvii]
In the cession document Nicholas II stipulated that the Glücksburg
line could only transfer the rights they had acquired via his cession in
conjunction with the agreement of the Oldenburg government, and that the
succession would revert to the Romanov’s in the event of either the extinction of
the male line of Duke Frederick or upon their renunciation of Oldenburg without
any further transfer of succession rights having taken place.[xviii]
After Emperor Nicholas II’s cession, despite the protests of
Duke Ernest Guenther who as head of the most senior branch of the House of
Oldenburg, the Augustenburg line, believed he had a greater right to Oldenburg over
the Glücksburg line,[xix]
the parliament of Oldenburg passed a new constitutional law on 19 October 1904
recognising the right of succession for the male line descendants of Duke
Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
(1814-1885), provided they descend from an equal marriage as defined in the grand ducal family of Oldenburg’s House Law.[xx]
The original house law of the of the entire House of
Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp is considered to be the decree of Duke John Adolphus
(1575-1616) on 9 January 1608 which introduced primogeniture. This decree was
confirmed by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II on 26 February 1608 and by King
Christian IV of Denmark, the head of the entire House of Oldenburg, on 13 July
1609, and again on 21 July 1621.[xxi]
An addition to this house law is the 1646 decree of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III that
the head of the Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp line will reach the age of majority
at 18.
However, like the emperors had done in respect of the
Russian Empire, Grand Duke Peter II of Oldenburg (1827-1900) adopted his own
House Law on 1 September 1872 in respect of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. This
House Law only applied to the male line descendants of his grandfather Duke
Peter (Article 2.1 and 2.2), so the other branches of the wider House of
Oldenburg, including the Romanov’s, were not subject to it. Like the
family law governing membership of the Russian imperial family and the right
of succession to the throne of Russia, the House Law adopted by the grand ducal
family in Oldenburg also adopted a strict requirement for equal marriage (Article 9.1 and 9.2).[xxii]
Henceforth, for the male line descendants of Duke Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, the progenitor of this new dynastic Oldenburg branch, to retain their rights of succession to the grand duchy of Oldenburg they were required to meet article 17.1 of the Oldenburg constitution, descent from an equal marriage as determined by the House Law.[xxiii] However this equal marriage requirement was clearly only in respect of Oldenburg, a marriage that did not meet Oldenburg’s definition of equal marriage could still be equal in respect of their own independent House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and the wider House of Oldenburg.
The
marriage equality rules within the House of Oldenburg and its various branches has
been a topic that has been extensively studied by 19th and early 20th
century German legal jurists and there is one overwhelming conclusion and
consensus that emerges, marriages between agnates of the House of Oldenburg
and its various branches with noblewomen are, as they demonstrated in their works, regarded as valid equal marriages. This less strict custom is thought likely
have derived from the House of Oldenburg's close historic links to Scandinavia,[xxiv]
while the equal marriage concept where only 'royalty' are 'equal' was something that originated in Germany.
This less strict equal marriage criteria in the House of Oldenburg is the conclusion of German jurists such
as Karl Samwer (1844),[xxv]
Dr Heinrich Zöpfl (1853),[xxvi]
Dr Hermann von Schulze-Gävernitz, who was considered an authority on princely
law (1881),[xxvii]
Dr Otto, Baron von Dungern,[xxviii]
Dr Maximilian Saxl (1905),[xxix]
Dr Friedrich Tezner (1905)[xxx]
and Dr Hermann Rehm (1905)[xxxi]
amongst others. This equal marriage view was also confirmed in a legal ruling by the
Prussian Crown Syndicate on 18 December 1864 as part of its legal
determinations concerning the right of succession to the duchies of Schleswig,
Holstein and Lauenburg.[xxxii]
In the 21st century the scholar Guy Stair Sainty has gone even further than the German jurists and suggested that even where the bride is not even of noble birth, the children of such a marriage inherit Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp dynastic rights and titles.[xxxiii] Admittedly, outside of the specific state and house laws of Oldenburg and Russia, there is no specific law that requires even noble birth for a marriage to be equal as the house law of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (decrees Duke John Adolphus and Emperor Ferdinand III) make no reference to any equal marriage requirements, so there is merit to the view of Sainty. When the German jurists formed there legal opinions, all the House of Oldenburg agnates had married ladies with at least some degree of noble birth.
In terms of Olga Valerianovna, the wife of Grand Duke Paul
Alexandrovich, she was not only a Russian noblewoman, she was in fact also a
Holstein countess. The title of hereditary count had been awarded to her direct
ancestor Stephan Karnovich, a Holstein major general, on 22 November 1761 by her
husband’s direct ancestor, Duke Charles Peter Ulrich of
Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (from 1762 Emperor Peter III of Russia), with it to
be transmitted to legitimate male line descendants like Olga.[xxxiv] The German comital title was not however used
by the family in Russia.
It is quite apparent, as supported by a strong body of legal
opinion and court rulings, that Olga Valerianovna, a noblewoman and countess, more than met the equality
criteria for an equal marriage into the House of Schlewsig-Holstein-Gottorp and
the wider parent House of Oldenburg, so the children of the marriage of Grand
Duke Paul Alexandrovich and Olga Valerianovna were agnates of the House of
Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and its parent House of Oldenburg, but NOT the imperial
family of Russia (House of Romanov).[Note 2]
The marriage of Princess Irina Petrovna Paley
The status of the marriage of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich
and Olga Valerianovna in a Holstein context is important because their elder
daughter, Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley, was married in Paris on 31 May 1923 to
her first cousin once removed Prince Feodor
Alexandrovich, a Russian dynast.
After the abdication of Nicholas II in March 1917 and his subsequent
murder along with his son, and with the fate of his murdered brother Grand Duke
Michael Alexandrovich being uncertain, there was no recognised head of the Russian
imperial family for many years. The next senior Russian agnate after Nicholas
II, his son and brother, was Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich who declared
himself guardian of the throne on 26 July 1922 and ‘Emperor’ on 31 August 1924.
As highlighted previously (‘Holstein succession rules’),
Princess Irina Pavlovna was de jure a duchess of Schleswig, Holstein etc and by
right a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and the parent House
of Oldenburg.
As such the marriage of Prince Feodor Alexandrovich and Princess Irina Pavlovna meets the criteria for an ‘equal marriage’ as defined by the Fundamental Laws, as it was contracted between a member of the House of Romanov and a member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, i.e. a "reigning or ruling house" as defined in the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire.
Status of Romanov marriages
During the interregnum between the abdication and murder of Nicholas
II and the 1924 ascension of ‘Emperor’ Cyril Vladimirovich many Romanov marriages took place, not just that of Prince Feodor Alexandrovich and Princess
Irinia Pavlovna. During this period the Almanach de Gotha listed all
these marriages without any indication as to the equal status of them.
Starting with the 1925 edition of the Gotha, i.e. the
first after Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich’s assumption of the emperorship, the
marriages of Prince Gabriel Konstantinovich with Antonia Rafailovna Nesterovskya
(1917), Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich with Zinaida Sergeievna Rachevskya
(1919) and Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich with Mathilde-Marie Feliksovna
Kschessinska (1921) received a classification that they were “in a marriage of
unequal birth”. The same was true for the
marriage of Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich with the American woman Audrey Emery
(1926) when it was first listed in the 1927 Gotha.
On the other hand, the marriages of Prince Andrew
Alexandrovich with Elisabeth Fabrizievna dei duchi di Sasso-Ruffo (1918),
Prince Roman Petrovich with Countess Prascovia Dmitrievna Cheremeteva (1921), Prince
Nikita Alexandrovich with Countess Maria Illarionovna Vorontzova-Daschkova
(1922) and Prince Feodor Alexandrovich with Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley (1923)
were, and from 1925 continued to be, included in the Gotha without the “in
a marriage of unequal birth” classification. This was also the case for the
post 1924 interregnum marriages of Prince Rostislav Alexandrovich with Princess
Alexandra Pavlovna Galitzine (1928), Prince Vasili Alexandrivich with Princess
Natalia Alexandrovna Galizine (1931) and Prince Dimitri Alexandrovich with
Countess Marina Sergeievna Golenischeff Koutouzoff (1931).
A new generation of Romanov’s were replenishing the ranks of
the dynasty which had seen 15 male dynasts murdered by the Bolsheviks in
1918-1919, as the children born from the aforementioned marriages without the “in
a marriage of unequal birth” classification appeared within the pages of the
Russian Gotha entry. This was of course also the case for the only son of
Prince Feodor Alexandrovich and Princess Irina Pavlovna, Prince Michael
Feodorovich, who was born in Paris on 4 May 1924 and first appeared in the 1925
edition of the Gotha under the Romanov entry.
What is especially notable about Prince Michael Feodorovich is
that he received special treatment in the Gotha compared to the other sons of
the aforementioned princes whose marriages didn’t carry the “in a marriage of
unequal birth” classification. Starting with the 1930 edition, the Gotha editors made a
revision to Prince Michael Feodorovich’s entry to make his Russian dynastic
status clear and unambiguous, attributing to him the style ‘Highness’ by
changing his entry to read “Pr . Michel Théodorovitch, Alt.,
né à Paris 4 mai 1924 n.s.” - Altesse is French for Highness, the language
of the Almanch de Gotha.[xxxv]
Prince Michael Feodorovich would only be entitled to this
style if he was a dynastic prince of imperial blood of Russia due to his
position as the eldest son of a great grandson of a Russian emperor (Nicholas
I) in the male line, daughters and younger sons were only entitled to the style
Serene Highness. Curiously, this
unambiguous dynastic statement did not extend to the eldest sons of
the other princes of the imperial blood, it was a clear and conscious decision
of the editorial board of the Gotha and this treatment continued in the
following editions of the Gotha.
Although the Gotha had recorded Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich’s
adoption of the leadership of the Russian imperial family he was not
universally accepted even with the Russian imperial family. It was only after
the deaths of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (1847-1928) followed a few
months later by that of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich (1856-1929), that starting
with the 1929 edition of the Gotha Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich had started
to head the Russian Gotha entry. The earlier editions all having started with
the late Emperor Alexander III and his surviving family.
Despite this, the Gotha editors were reluctant to accept Grand
Duke Cyril Vladimirovich’s award of grand ducal titles for his three children
which had occurred upon his assumption of the title emperor in 1924. As the
great grandchildren of a (reigning) emperor (Alexander II), the children had
been titled from birth prince/princess of the imperial blood with the style of
Highness in accordance with the 1886 decree from Alexander III which limited
the grand ducal title and Imperial Highness style to the children and the male
line grandchildren of an emperor. The Gotha editors continued to only recognise the three
children as prince/princess.
It was only nearly a decade after Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich’s
assumption of the emperor title, that, starting with the 1933 edition of the
Gotha, the editorial board accepted the upgrade of his children from
prince/princess to grand duke/grand duchess. In the same edition the
classification “in a marriage of unequal birth” (later labelled “a marriage not
in conformity with the laws of the House”) was applied to the marriages of the
princes of the imperial blood which had hither to not received this treatment
in the Gotha compared to other the marriages which had been labelled as such since
1925. At the same time the children of these now ‘unequal’ marriages were erased
from the Russian entry in section 1. The replenished looking ranks of the
Russian imperial family were once again looking bare.
Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich’s clear determinations on the
‘equal status’ of a number of noble families were therefore documented in 1933
Gotha entry. Galitizne, Cheremetev, Orlov, Chavchavadze, Vorontsov-Dashkov, Sasso-Ruffo
and Golenishchev-Kutuzov were declared unequal, as was Paley.
These noble families were followed on the list of unequal
families by the Yusupov’s (1936) and the Bagration-Mukhrani's (1938). These
latter two cases were in respect of the pre-revolutionary marriages of Princess
Tatiana Konstantinova to Prince Constantine Alexandrovich Bagration-Mukhrani (1911)
and Princess Irina Alexandrovna to Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov (1914), both
of which were given the ‘morganatic’ label which had previously been missing
since the marriages had first appeared in the 1912 and 1915 Gotha’s
respectively.
On 28 July 1935, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich issued the
following decree:[xxxvi]
“In order to establish the
position of wives of Members of the Imperial House in cases of unequal marriage
and the position of the issue of such marriages, I have established the
following rule as an addendum and supplement to the Statute on the Imperial Family:
The wives and children of
Members of the Imperial House in cases of unequal but lawful marriages (see
Articles 134 and 183, Section II, of the Fundamental Laws) will receive the
title and surname of Princes Romanovsky with the hyphenated maiden surname of
the wife of the said Member of the Imperial House or a hyphenated surname
granted by the Head of the Imperial House of Russia, and the style Serene
Highness for the wife and the senior line of descent in her issue.
May these marriages lay the
foundation for new Russian princely families, enjoying a blood relationship
with the Imperial House of Russia and, by virtue of this relationship, may they
always be its trusted supporters.”
Only a handful of Romanov’s accepted and recognised this
decree by asking for and accepting a ‘princess Romanovsky’ title for their wives, these
were Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich’s brother Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich (the
other brother Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich did
not), Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich and Prince Gabriel Konstantinovich, all of whose
marriages (plus that of Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich) had been immediately
labelled in the Gotha as “in a marriage of unequal birth” in 1925, plus Prince
Dimitri Alexandrovich whose 1931 marriage had not carried that classification
until 1933. Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich later utilised the decree after his 1939
marriage to the British aristocrat Lady Mary Lygon.
The 1933 “in a marriage of unequal birth” labelling of the marriage of Prince Feodor Alexandrovich and Princess Irina Pavlovna, and the erasing of the previously unambiguously titled “His Highness Prince of the Imperial Blood Michael Feodorovich” is clearly erroneous given the clear body of legal opinion that exists (and existed at the time) into the equality of marriages in the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and House of Oldenburg. Under the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire the marriage was unquestionably one of two people of "corresponding dignity" as required by the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire.
One can only assume that the unique dynastic status of Princess Irina Pavlovna was not properly studied or considered by Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich and his chancellery, taking only her Russian and Bavarian’ noble titles into account. This lack of awareness and interest amongst the Romanovs in their Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp heritage is summed up well by Paul Theroff, editor of the Online Gotha, when he writes “though few members of the Romanov family ever seem to care about this, they all appear to be dynasts of the old duchy of Holstein-Gottorp, through their ancestor Emperor Peter III, and thus entitled to call themselves Princes of Holstein-Gottorp”.[xxxvii]
The marriage rulings inflamed tensions within the Russian imperial
family. The ever growing rift is shown by the fact that after the death of
Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich, the only Romanov’s to publicly recognise his
son Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich as his successor were the loyalists, i.e.
those Romanov’s whose marriages after Grand Duke Cyril’s assumption of the
title emperor had always been treated as unequal in the Gotha and who, all bar
one Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich, had complied with the 1935 decree and asked
for/accepted Romanovksy titles for their wives. These loyalists were Vladimir’s
two uncles Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich and Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich,
Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich, Prince Gabriel Konstantinovich and Prince Vsevolod
Ivanovich who was still unmarried at the time.[xxxviii]
Prince Andrew Alexandrovich later privately confirmed his recognition of
Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich as having succeeded his father as head of the
Russian imperial family.[xxxix]
The recognition document issued by Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich also set out what was considered to be the order of succession, with the aforementioned loyalists who had publicly recognised Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, legitimately representing positions 1-5, and which reinforced the exclusion the various sons of the princes of the imperial blood who had been listed in the Gotha until 1933 including Prince Michael Feodorovich.
From the 13 undisputed male dynasts who were alive at the
time and had been listed in the order of succession, the majority (7/13) did
not endorse the declaration on the succession of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich
or the order of succession presented, and it’s unclear if Prince Andrew
Alexandrovich, while recognising Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich as head of the Russian
imperial family, endorsed the presented order of succession.[xl]
Marriage of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich
Given the very high equal marriage standards enforced by Grand
Duke Vladimir Kirillovich and his father before him, there was naturally a high
bar set by himself for his marriage. However, in 1948 he eloped to Lausanne,
Switzerland and was secretly married to Princess Leonida Georgievna Bagration-Mukhrani,
divorced wife of the late Sumner Moore Kirby, a wealthy American, with whom she
had one daughter.
Strangely for the head of the Russian imperial family, the
marriage was contracted under the rights of the Greek Orthodox Church, not
Russian.[xli]
The wedding was so secret that not even Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich’s
closet family members knew it was happening, only Princess Leonida’s brother
Prince Ikraly seems to have been present with the couple in Lausanne.[xlii]
The elopement abroad had all the hallmarks of what the Russian
grand dukes had done during the time of the monarchy in order to be able to marry there
unequal wives in violation of the Fundamental Laws. Yet here the head of the Russian imperial family, in effect the emperor, was doing it.
After the wedding had been announced, the more sensationalist
news stories labelled Princess Leonida Georgievna “the Russian Mrs Simpson”, in
reference to the twice divorced wife the former British king Edward VIII. It
was also reported that one of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich’s aunts, either
his maternal aunt Infanta Dona Beatrice, Duchess of Galliera, or his paternal
aunt Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna,[xliii]
had telegraphed Orthodox clergymen in Europe informing them not to marry the
couple.[xliv]
Even Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich’s uncle and heir Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich
was only informed of the marriage two days after it had taken place.[xlv]
As shown (‘Status of Romanov marriages’), the Bagration-Mukhrani
family had been unambiguously declared unequal under a 1938 revision of the
Russian Gotha entry under the headship of Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich with
this position maintained by Grand Duke Vladmir Kirillovich until 1944 when the
last Gotha was published.
Yet despite this clear determination of unequal status for the Bagration-Mukhrani, apparently two years prior to Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich’s own wedding the Spanish infante Don Ferdinand (whose daughter Infanta Dona Maria Mercedes a Spanish dynast, was due to marry Princess Leonida Georgievna’s brother Prince Irakly Georgievich Bagration-Mukhrani) asked Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich whether he would consider the marriage of his daughter an equal one.
The aforesaid Bagration Mukhrani-Spain marriage took place in August 1946, and
in December 1946, despite his and his father’s previous clear ‘unequal’ determination
recorded in the Gotha, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich u-turned and issued a
decree recognising the House of Bagration-Mukhrani as an equal house stating
this decision had been reached in consultation with his advisors, his uncle
Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich and a Georgian historian, Professor
Muskelishvili.[xlvi]
Regardless of this, the marriage was considered non dynastic in Spain.[xlvii]
So despite the children of Prince Irakly and Infanta Dona Maria Mercedes being
baptised and raised in their mother’s Catholic faith rather than their father’s
Orthodox faith,[xlviii]
they had no rights to the Spanish throne.
Despite this apparent decree on the Bagration-Mukhrani’s ‘equal’
status having been issued in 1946, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich’s uncle Grand
Duke Andrew Vladimirovich still had reservations about their equal status and
was well aware that the unequal marriage charge would be thrown at it. Despite
having been quoted in the 1946 decree as having been involved in determining
the equal status of the Bagration-Mukhrani family, after finding out about the secret
marriage Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich wrote to Eugene
Sablin, the former Russian Charge d’Affaires in London: “The main question
is if it is possible to accept this marriage as equal or not…If we… accepted
this marriage as equal, we would need to think to register it. We need some
sort of document which would not raise any suspicion later and nobody have any
question about the consequences of the marriage. We know how easily this
argument could occur.”[xlix]
The secrecy of the marriage, coupled with this correspondence
seems rather bizarre. Just two years previously a decree declaring the Bagration-Mukhrani’s
equal, so it begs the question of what “sort
of document which would not raise any suspicion later and nobody have any
question about the consequences of the marriage” would be needed when the Bagration-Mukhrani’s had already been declared equal? Did Grand
Duke Andrew Vladimirovich forget, or not know, a decision had been made and the
decree issued, was there even a decree issued in 1946 or is it something that appeared
later on. It goes without saying it was certainly good fortune for Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich to
have come to the conclusion he did and issued his decree, given he directly benefited from it.
The remaining loyalist family members like Gabriel
Konstantinovich (who had been created a Grand Duke by Vladimir Kirilovich in
1939) were less than impressed by the marriage and turned against Grand Duke Vladimir
Kirilovich, writing: “Poor soul, he has been tricked by these adventurers,
Irakly and Leonida Bagration. This is very sad indeed.”[l]
Gabriel Konstantinovich and Prince Nikita Alexandrovich, both of whose
marriages were considered unequal by Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich, declared on
his marriage: "We, members of the imperial family, standing before the
accomplished fact of your secret and unequal marriage to the widow of an
American citizen, Mr. Kirby, née Princess Bagration-Mukhransky, declare to you,
lest our silence be considered in the eyes of the Russian people and other imperial
and royal Houses as our unanimity with you, that we unanimously, on the basis
of the Establishment of the imperial family, reject the right of your spouse to
be called Grand Duchess, and consider your marriage morganatic."[li]
The sister of Emperor Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Xenia
Alexandrovna, whose children’s marriages were also all considered unequal by
Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich, was equally shocked by the secret marriage writing:
“Dear Vladimir, I've long wanted to write to you about my surprise and
disappointment in learning of your marriage—which took place in flight and
secretly. What would your parents say? I received your 'appeal' and will not
write about it. Gabriel responded beautifully, and I agree with him entirely. I
ask that you not send me any more 'appeals'. May the Lord bring you to your
senses!”[lii]
In the 1951 the Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels (GHdA) was published as a successor to the Almanach de Gotha which had ceased publication in 1944. When Russia first appeared in 1953, the marriage of Princess Tatiana Konstantinova to Prince Constantine Alexandrovich Bagration-Mukhrani naturally no longer carried its previous morganatic label in what must be the first instance in the House of Romanov where an originally unequal marriage was retrospectively recognised as ‘equal’. Despite this apparent loosening of the equality rules, all the other Romanov princes marriages remained ‘unequal’ in the eyes of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich, including the most equal marriage of the lot, Prince Feodor Alexandrovich to Princess Irina Pavlovna de jure of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp.[liii] When the Bagration-Mukhrani family appeared in the GHdA in the following edition (1955) the editors placed them in the third, non sovereign houses, section alongside the likes of the families of British dukes, Italian nobles and other Russian Empire noble families. The GHdA editors also did not recognise there self-assumed royal styles of Royal Highness or status of "head of the Royal House of Georgia".
On the difficulties with the Vladimirovichi line Prince
Michael Feodorovich wrote in later life “it was very difficult to imagine
any kind of family spirit with my cousin Wladimir. In any case, this senior
branch did not consider us, and still does not consider us, as part of the
imperial family. They desired, and still desire, to be the only ones to hold
this privilege.”[liv]
It is certainly true the Vladimirovichi branch of the Russian imperial family, of which Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich then Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich was the senior member, long had there eyes on the Russian throne. Due to the constant concerns over health of the heir to the throne, Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and the unmarried, and later unequally married status, of the next in line Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, during the time of the monarchy the Vladimirovichi were within touching distance of the throne. Supposedly to aid their dynastic position, the mother of the Vladimirovichi grand dukes unexpectedly converted from her Lutheran faith to Orthodoxy in 1908 after over 34 years of marriage to Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich.[lv] The brother of Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich, Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich, later recounted to the Duke George of Mecklenburg-Strelitz that during the Romanov Tercentenary celebrations in 1913 there was great anxiety in their branch that at one point Emperor Nicholas II was going to announce a new succession law of male preference primogeniture which was being pushed for by Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, who being married to the sister of Nicholas II would see his children leapfrog the Vladimirovichi in the line of succession if such a law had been introduced.[lvi]
Indeed, the behaviour of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich to make sure his branch of the family were the only ones to hold, and continue to hold onto, the privilege of being the Russian imperial family arguably became even more extreme when it was apparent he would not have a son to succeed him. In 1969 he issued a decree naming his only child, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, “Curatrix of the Throne” in an attempt to constrain and deprive those princes whose dynastic status he could not contest, of the rights and functions connected with the headship of the Russian imperial family. And Grand Duke Vladmir Kirilovich further decreed that after the demise of the last male dynast the succession would pass to his daughter.[lvii]
Presumably Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich felt this was
necessary as if he had died before one of the princes whose dynastic rights he
could not contest, one of these princes could utilise the same prerogative he
had with the Bagration-Mukhrani family and declare the Galitizne, Cheremetev,
Vorontsov-Dashkov etc as equal families and have their own sons undisputedly succeed.
Even under the semi-salic law of succession if Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich, who was first in the line of succession in 1969, succeeded and became the last undisputed male
dynast Grand Duchess Maria
Vladimirovna would not succeed him under the law of succession. In this scenario when Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich
died, with his sister Princess Catherine Ivanovna[lviii]
and elder aunt Princess Tatiana Konstantinova[lix]
having renounced their succession rights upon their marriages, under semi salic law the succession would remain within his branch and his heir would be his
unmarried and childless aunt Princess Vera Konstantinova (1906-2001), then
after her the succession would pass to line of her aunt, Queen Olga of the
Hellenes (unless she had renounced her succession rights), who had descendants
born of equal marriages and who belonged to the Orthodox faith.
The 1969 decree naturally infuriated the other male members
of the Russian imperial family who (rightly it must be admitted) viewed it as an
attempt to infringe upon their rights. Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich (Konstantinovichi),
Prince Roman Petrovich (Nikolaevichi) and Prince Andrew Alexandrovich (Mikhailovichi),
heads of their respective branches of the Russian imperial family, declared the
decree illegal and stated that the wife of ‘Prince’ Vladimir Kirilovich (as
they refused to recognise him as Grand Duke) was of the same equal status as
their own.[lx]
In 1976, when Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich created his new
son in law Prince Franz Wilhelm (Michael Pavlovich) of Prussia a grand duke of
Russia, all the living princes who Vladimir Kirilovich recognised as being in
the line of succession (#), Prince Roman Petrovich (#1), Prince Andrew
Alexandrovich (#2), Prince Dimitri Alexandrovich (#3), Prince Rostislav
Alexandrovich (#4) and Prince Vasili Alexandrovich (#5), jointly issued a protest
at an act which the felt was “an infringement on the rights of members of
the Romanov family, whose fate we are obligated to protect”.[lxi]
In 1979 all the living undisputed princes and princesses of
the Russian imperial family who had been born prior to the 1917 revolution
established a Romanov Family Association to foster closer ties between members
of the family. The founding members were Prince Andrew Alexandrovich, Prince Dimitri
Alexandrovich, Prince Vassili Alexandrovich, Princess Catherine Ioannovna,
Princess Vera Konstantinova, Princess Marina Petrovna and Princess Nadejda
Petrovna. Members of the family born after the revolution were then in turn
offered membership with the majority joining over the following years.
Naturally neither Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich nor his daughter Grand Duchess
Maria Vladimirovna joined.[lxii]
In early 1980s Prince Nicholas Romanovich, the then vice president
of the Romanov Family Association, initiated a dialogue with Grand Duke
Vladimir Kirilovich in attempt to discuss the long standing disputes within the
family and a meeting was held in Paris. However, talks broke down after Grand
Duke Vladimir Kirilovich’s daughter attempted to have her son George Mikhailovich’s
surname changed with the French authorities from his father’s surname, Prince
of Prussia, to Romanov in 1982.[lxiii]
After Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich
With the death of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich in 1992, unsurprisingly,
a dispute erupted over who was his rightful successor. Given the strong body of
legal opinion and evidence regarding marriages in the House of Oldenburg, there
is no doubt the marriage of Prince Feodor Alexandrovich and Princess Irina Pavlovna
was equal under the fundamental laws. Therefore there was still at least one
male Romanov alive born of an equal marriage in the form of their son Prince
Michael Fedorovich.
However, despite having the strongest claim of any Romanov
alive in 1992 to the headship of the Russian imperial family, Prince Michael
Fedorovich never pursued a claim of his own, believing there was a prince with
a superior claim to him. On 27 June 1992 a meeting of Romanov princes took
place in Paris. In attendance were Prince Nicholas Romanovich (president of
Romanov Family Association), Prince Dmitri Romanovich, Prince Andrew
Andreevich, Prince Michael Fedorovich, Prince Nikita Nikitich, Prince Alexander
Nikitich and Prince Rostislav Rostislavovich. At the meeting the princes recognised Prince Nicholas
Romanovich as the new head of the Russian imperial family.[lxiv]
The basis of the claim in favour of Prince Nicholas Romanovich was the 1911 ukase and the interpretation that their fathers, as princes not
grand dukes, were not subject to the restriction to marry equally in order to transmit
their dynastic rights onto their children, unless they renounced their rights first,
which none of them had done. So, while there was a genealogically senior prince
to Nicholas Romanovich in the form Prince Paul Dmitrievich Romanovsky-Ilyinsky,
he was considered ineligible to succeed as head of the Russian imperial family as
he was the son of a grand duke, Dimitri Pavlovich, who was subject to the equal
marriage rule to transmit succession rights.[lxv] Although
his mother was not noble, Prince Paul Dmitrievich is considered to have
succeeded as the head of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp in 1992 upon
the death of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich.[lxvi][lxvii]
In opposition to Prince Nicholas Romanovich, Grand Duchess
Maria Vladimirovna also claimed the headship of the Russian imperial family, as
her father had in 1969 intended her to eventually do regardless of if one or
more of the princes he recognised as dynasts had succeeded him, or which prince.
The basis of her claim is that there were no male Romanov’s left who had been
born of an equal marriage and as such semi salic succession was activated. The
last such prince her father had recognised as a dynast was Prince Vassili
Alexandrovich (1907-1989).
After Prince Nicholas Romanovich’s death in 2014 his claim
to the headship of the Russian imperial family passed to his brother Prince
Dimitri Romanovich (1926-2016), then to his cousin Prince Andrew Andreievich (1923-2021)
and now rests with his eldest son Prince Alexis Andreievich (born 1953). The
headship of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp passed after Prince Paul Dmitrievich
Romanovsky-Ilyinsky’s (1928-2004) death to his eldest son Prince Dimitri
Pavlovich (born 1954). As neither he nor his brother and
heir Prince Michael Pavlovich (born 1959) have sons, in
time the headship of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp seems destined to
once again unite with the aforementioned succession to the headship of the
Russian imperial family.
Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna’s claim still rests with
her. She has consistently defended the inviolability of the ‘equal marriage’
rule her entire life, as her father and grandfather had before her, so her entire claim
is built on the enforcement of this rule. She was the first Romanov since
Prince Feodor Alexandrovich (whose marriage was erroneously characterised as
unequal), to enter in an undisputedly equal marriage. Both Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna[lxviii] and her son Grand Duke George
Mikhailovich swore dynastic oaths to preserve the inviolable legal foundations
of the Russian imperial family.[lxix]
Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna has also been quoted as stating that she“cannot
change our laws”.[lxx]
So Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna deserves respect for her principled
and consistent stance on the inviolability of the laws as she interprets them, even though it appears
to have in time ended her descendants claim to the headship of the Russian
imperial family. This is because her only son and heir, Grand Duke George
Mikhailovich, has entered into an unequal marriage, even if his engagement
announcement attempted to portray a noble status for his bride to be, Victoria
Romanovna Bettarini, referring to her as the “the hereditary noblewoman” a status apparently based on her father Roberto Bettarini’s appointment by Grand Duchess
Maria Vladimirovna as a Knight 1st Class of the Imperial Order of St. Anna,
which carried with it membership of the hereditary nobility of the Russian
Empire.[lxxi]
However, there is no way to characterise her as “belonging to any reigning
or ruling house”.
Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna however has softened some
of her previously stated positions. In talking of her cousins who she considered
to have been born of unequal marriages she stated “If they want to be
Romanov’s and carry the name with dignity, that’s fine, but one doesn’t need a
title to do that. The family name is good enough”.[lxxii]
However, the wife of her son Grand Duke George Mikhailovich was permitted by
Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna to use the title Princess, style Serene
Highness and the “dynastic surname” of Romanov.[lxxiii]
The titles and surname of the two children of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich and Princess Victoria Romanova is slightly vaguer, the decrees from Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna announcing the births of both children merely state they are titled His Serene Highness Prince Alexander Georgievich,[lxxiv] and Her Serene Highness Princess Kira Georgievna[lxxv] “In accordance with Our current Family Law and the Family Act of September 14/27, 2020”.
As far as I am aware the contents of the “Family Act of September 14/27. 2020” is unknown. Based on the 1935 decree on the status of the issue of unequal marriages by the children’s great-great grandfather, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich, and the clear omission of permission to use the “dynastic surname” of Romanov from the decrees announcing their births, they may be fully titled Prince/Princess Romanovsky or Romanovsky-Bettarini. Depending on the opinion of the head of the Prussian royal family, they may also be prince/princess of Prussia and Royal Highnesses on account of their father’s paternal heritage as a member of the Prussian royal family, the House of Hohenzollern.
Closing remarks
Having seen and read many of the arguments and articles on
the Russian succession over the years, it was really the rather obscure view with regard to the different statuses of Romanov marriages in a Russian and
Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp context and the thought that, if this view is
correct, how should we then view the marriage of Prince Feodor Alexandrovich (a
Romanov) and Princess Irina Pavlovna (a morganatic Romanov) and what would the
implications be on the Russian succession.
Having gone away and consulted a vast array of sources published
by German jurists I think it is pretty clear the marriage of Grand Duke Paul
Alexandrovich and Olga Valerianovna was unquestionably equal under the House of
Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and House of Oldenburg, as it is in full compliance with
the historic equality requirements between an agnate of that house and a noble.
There is certainly an equivalent, if not much stronger argument for it to
considered equal compared to the Bagration-Mukhrani family.
This would mean the daughter of Grand Duke Paul
Alexandrovich and Olga Valerianovna, Princess Irina Pavlovna, was de jure a
duchess of Schleswig, Holstein etc, her marriage to Prince of the Imperial Blood
Feodor Alexandrovich de jure equal under the Fundamental Laws and so their son de
jure His Highness Prince of the Imperial Blood Michael Feodorovich, a Russian
dynast under all interpretations of the Fundamental Laws including the strict equal
marriage rule of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilovich.
Even if we reject the dynastic status of Prince Nicholas
Romanovich based on his parents’ ‘unequal’ marriage, the recognition Prince
Michael Feodorovich gave to Prince Nicholas Romanovich as the successor to
Grand Duke Vladimir is an act of cession in the same way Emperor Nicholas II
ceded his and the Romanov’s rights to Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg’s
in respect of the grand duchy of Oldenburg, so gives added credence to Prince Nicholas
Romanovich’s claims.
Of course though, if Prince Michael Feodorovich had claimed
the succession for himself on the basis of being the sole male dynast left and
not recognised Prince Nicholas Romanovich, then of course the succession would
have taken a different course from what it has in devolving upon Prince Alexis Andreievich
in 2021.
Prince Michael Fedorovich was married twice, firstly in
1958 to Helga Staufenberger. The couple had one son, Prince
Michael Mikhailovich (1959-2001) who while unmarried and predeceasing his
father, had a daughter Tatiana with Maria de las Mercedes Ustrell-Cabani. After
his divorce from his first wife, Prince Michael Fedorovich was married secondly
in 1994 to his granddaughters mother, Maria de las Mercedes
Ustrell-Cabani and legally adopted her daughter/his granddaughter.
Prince Michael Fedorovich also had one sister, Princess
Irina Feodorvna, who while recognised by Prince Feodor Alexandrovich as his
daughter, was actually fathered by Princess Irina Pavlovna’s lover Count Hubert
de Monbrison. Prince Michael Feodorovich’s parents divorced in 1936 and in 1950
Princes Irina Pavlovna married Count Hubert.[lxxvi]
Princess Irina Feodorvna was born in Fontenay on 7 May 1934.
Like her brother she married twice, firstly in 1955
(div 1959) to Andre Jean Pelle, and secondly in 1962 to
Victor-Marcel Soulas, although they too have since divorced. She had one child
with each husband. Therefore upon the death of Prince Michael Feodorvich in
2008, with his son having pre-deceased him, his granddaughter being
illegitimate and him being the last male dynast, the succession could have
passed under the semi salic succession to Princess Irina Feodorvna as the legal
daughter of Prince Feodor Alexandrovich with whom the succession would still
sit today. Perhaps unsurprisingly given her apparent true parentage, despite
undoubtedly being a Romanov descendant regardless via her mother, Princess
Irina Feodorvna seems to be detached from the Romanov’s and has never joined
the Romanov Family Association and lives quietly in France.
In 2010 Prince Nicholas Romanovich wrote, “not one of the
Emperors or Grand Dukes of Russia has left living descendants with
unchallengeable rights to the Throne of Russia.”[lxxvii]
Given the arguments and counter arguments that have been raging for over
100 years dating back even to Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich’s adoption of the
headship of the Russian imperial family, this is clearly a statement of fact. There
is not a single Romanov alive today whose rights have not been challenged.
Given the division and bitterness that has governed this
dispute for over 100 years some sort of family accord is unlikely. Arguably
only the restoration of the monarchy, or the extinction of one of the two
claims currently represented by Prince Alexis Andreevich and Grand Duchess Maria
Vladimirovna, would resolve it in a meaningful way.
While the dynastic extinction of the claim of the descendants of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna looks the most likely at this point, given the clues in the decrees announcing the births of her grandchildren such as reference to “Our current Family Law” and the mysterious and unknown detail of the “Family Act of September 14/27, 2020”, I certainly wouldn’t bank on a dignified and quiet end for the future House of Hohenzollern-Romanov of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich.
While unusual, it’s not unheard of for someone to be a dynast of one house and non-dynast in another where there are multiple heritages involved.
Upon his emigration to Brazil following his marriage to the Brazilian imperial heiress Isabal of Braganza, the French prince Gaston of Orleans, Count of Eu was considered to have permanently left the French royal house. In 1908 the couples elder son Prince Dom Pedro de Alcântara renounced his rights to the Brazilian throne ahead of his marriage to a Czech noblewoman, considered as mesalliance by his mother. His children in turn, under the family name Orléans-Braganza with the title princes/princess and style royal highness, were considered part of a new House of Orléans-Braganza but not the Brazilian imperial family (ignoring the later separate topic of whether the Brazilian renunciation of Dom Pedro de Alcântara was valid) or of the French (Orléanist) royal family.
In 1941 the Spanish and French (Legitimist) successions, which had become united in the person of the deposed king Alfonso XIII of Spain in 1936, diverged with his eldest surviving son Infante Don Jaime, Duke of Segovia (who had renounced the Spanish succession on 11 June 1933) succeeding in the French claim upon the death of his father on 28 February 1941, his younger brother Infante Don Juan, Count of Barcelona having already succeeded to the Spanish claim upon Alfonso XIII’s renunciation of his Spanish rights on 15 January 1941. In a Spanish context the first son of Infante Don Jaime was at birth His Excellency Don Alfonso de Borbón y de Dampierre and a non-dynast to the Spanish royal house, yet in a French Royal House of Bourbon (Legitimist) context he was entitled to the style His Royal Highness and title prince of the blood.
In 1919 Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma married Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, this marriage introduced the style Royal Highness and title Prince/Princess of Bourbon of Parma into the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg, so the couples children would bear this higher style due to their paternal ancestry, as opposed to the Grand Ducal Highness style historically borne cadet members of the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg. The House of Bourbon-Parma had its own house law where unequal marriages were not permitted, later loosened to allow marriages with noblewomen if the head of the house authorised them. In 1986 the sovereign Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, the son of Prince Felix and Grand Duchess Charlotte, renounced for himself and his family their Bourbon-Parma titles while keeping the style Royal Highness for the family. This was apparently done as while Grand Duke Jean had accepted the unequal marriages of his sons Henri and Jean in a Luxembourg context, Duke Carlos Hugo of Parma as head of the House of Bourbon-Parma, did not recognise them as dynastic in a Bourbon-Parma context. In 1995 Grand Duke Jean repealed the 1986 decree and the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg re-assumed use of Bourbon-Parma titles.
[i] Russian Imperial House. Decree on the Succession to the All-Russian Imperial Throne, Confirmed on April 5, 1797 by Emperor Paul I on the Day of His Holy Coronation and Placed by Him for Safe Keeping on the Altar of the Cathedral of the Assumption, January 4, 1788. Available at https://imperialhouse.ru/en/dynastyhistory/dinzak3/1093.html (Accessed: 17 January 2026). Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250512084852/https://imperialhouse.ru/en/dynastyhistory/dinzak3/1093.html (Accessed: 17 January 2026)
[ii] Russian Imperial House. Excerpt from the Manifesto of the Emperor Alexander I of 20 March 1820 on the Dissolution of the Marriage of the Tsesarevich and Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich with the Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna, and on a Supplemental Provision to the Statute on the Imperial Family. Available at https://imperialhouse.ru/en/dynastyhistory/dinzak3/1094.html (Accessed: 17 January 2026). Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20220702200637/https://imperialhouse.ru/en/dynastyhistory/dinzak3/1094.html (Accessed: 17 January 2026)
[iii] Herzog zu Mecklenburg, Georg (1994). Meine Erinnerungen an Rußland 1899-1917. Gaggstatter. Pp. 417, 662, 765
[v] Полное собрание законов Российской империи. Собрание третье. Том XXIV. 1904 / Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, Third Collection. Volume XXIV, 1904. (1907). State Printing House. pp. 1076-1077
[vi] Полное собрание законов Российской империи. Собрание третье. Том XXXI. отделение 1. 1911 / Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire, Third Collection. Volume XXXI. Section 1. 1911. (1914). State Printing House. pp. 884-885
[vii] Romanov, Nikolai Romanovich. (2010) Succession of the Imperial House of Russia. Available at: https://www.romanovfamily.org/succession.html (Accessed: 17 January 2026). Archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20250718100507/https://www.romanovfamily.org/succession.html (Accessed: 17 January 2026)
[viii] Herzog zu Mecklenburg, Georg (1994). Meine Erinnerungen an Rußland 1899-1917. Gaggstatter. p. 766
[ix] Herzog zu Mecklenburg, Georg (1994). Meine Erinnerungen an Rußland 1899-1917. Gaggstatter. p. 766
[x] Russian Imperial House. Chapter 6. On the Title of His Imperial Majesty and the State Coat of Arms. Available at: https://imperialhouse.ru/en/dynastyhistory/dinzak1/446.html (Accessed at: 17 January 2026). Archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20251126121732/https://imperialhouse.ru/en/dynastyhistory/dinzak1/446.html
[xii] Schulze, Herman (1878). Die Hausgesetze der Regierenden Deutschen Fürstenhäuser. Verlag von Gustav Fischer. Pp. 428-438
[xiii] Schulze, Herman (1878). Die Hausgesetze der Regierenden Deutschen Fürstenhäuser. Verlag von Gustav Fischer. Pp. 439-442
[xiv] Almanach de Gotha (1910). Justus Perthes. p. 63
[xvi] Bornhak, Conrad (1905). 'Die Thronfolge im Grossherzogtume Oldenburg', in P. Labad, O. Mayer and F. Stoerk (ed.) Archiv des öffentlichen Rechts. Volume 19. Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck). p. 210
[xvii] Bornhak, Conrad (1905). 'Die Thronfolge im Grossherzogtume Oldenburg', in P. Labad, O. Mayer and F. Stoerk (ed.) Archiv des öffentlichen Rechts. Volume 19. Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck). pp. 211-213
[xviii] Bornhak, Conrad (1905). 'Die Thronfolge im Grossherzogtume Oldenburg', in P. Labad, O. Mayer and F. Stoerk (ed.) Archiv des öffentlichen Rechts. Volume 19. Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck). pp. 211-213
[xix] Bornhak, Conrad (1905). 'Die Thronfolge im Grossherzogtume Oldenburg', in P. Labad, O. Mayer and F. Stoerk (ed.) Archiv des öffentlichen Rechts. Volume 19. Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck). p. 221
[xx] Zeydel, Edwin H (1919). Constitutions of the German Empire and German states. Government Printing Office. p. 191
[xxi] Schulze, Herman (1878) Die Hausgesetze der Regierenden Deutschen Fürstenhäuser. Verlag von Gustav Fischer. p. 372
[xxii] Schulze, Herman (1878) Die Hausgesetze der Regierenden Deutschen Fürstenhäuser. Verlag von Gustav Fischer. Pp. 452-455
[xxiii] Bornhak, Conrad (1905). 'Die Thronfolge im Grossherzogtume Oldenburg', in P. Labad, O. Mayer and F. Stoerk (ed.) Archiv des öffentlichen Rechts. Volume 19. Verlag von J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck). p. 223
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[lxiv] Matveev, Ivan. (2022) Хранитель истории династии : Жизнь и время князя Николая Романова / Keeper of the Dynasty's History: The Life and Times of Prince Nikolai Romanov. Russian Culture. p. 114
[lxv] Broek, Pieter (1994). A Genealogy of the Romanov Dynasty, The Imperial House of Russia, 1825-1994. ‘The male Succession to the Imperial House of Russia’. Noble House Publications
[lxvi] Willis, Daniel. (2009) The Romanov’s in the 21st Century. VDM Verlag Dr Müller. p. 51
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[lxx] Massie, Robert K (1996). The Romanovs the Final Chapter. Arrow Books Ltd. p. 274
[lxxi] Gilbert, Paul (29 September 2021). “The current Romanovs have no right to occupy the Russian throne” – says Orthodox abbot. Available at: https://tsarnicholas.org/2021/09/29/the-current-romanovs-have-no-right-to-occupy-the-russian-throne-says-orthodox-abbot/ (Accessed: 17 January 2026). Archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20260103051218/https://tsarnicholas.org/2021/09/29/the-current-romanovs-have-no-right-to-occupy-the-russian-throne-says-orthodox-abbot/ (Accessed: 17 January 2026)
[lxxii] Massie, Robert K (1996). The Romanovs the Final Chapter. Arrow Books Ltd. p. 273
[lxxiii] Russian Imperial House (20 January 2021). Announcement of the Upcoming Wedding of His Imperial Highness The Heir, Tsesarevich, and Grand Duke George of Russia and Nob. Victoria Romanovna Bettarini. Available at https://imperialhouse.ru/en/allnews-en/news/2021-01-20-announcement-of-the-upcoming-wedding-of-his-imperial-highness-the-heir-tsesarevich-and-grand-duke-george-of-russia-and-nob-victoria-romanovna-bettarini.html (Accessed: 17 January 2026). Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250917151117/https://imperialhouse.ru/en/allnews-en/news/2021-01-20-announcement-of-the-upcoming-wedding-of-his-imperial-highness-the-heir-tsesarevich-and-grand-duke-george-of-russia-and-nob-victoria-romanovna-bettarini.html (Accessed: 17 January 2026)
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[lxxvi] Willis, Daniel. (2009) The Romanov’s in the 21st Century. VDM Verlag Dr Müller. pp. 96, 148
[lxxvii] Romanov, Nikolai Romanovich. (2010) Succession of the Imperial House of Russia. Available at: https://www.romanovfamily.org/succession.html (Accessed: 17 January 2026). Archived at: https://web.archive.org/web/20250718100507/https://www.romanovfamily.org/succession.html (Accessed: 17 January 2026)
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