by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2015
source: Wikipedia
Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia
Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia was the second husband of Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. He was born on October 12, 1876, at Tsarskoye Selo, near St. Petersburg, Russia, the second son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (son of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia) and Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He had four siblings:
- Grand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich (1875-1877)
- Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich (1877-1943) – married Zinaida Sergeievna Rashevskaya, no issue
- Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich (1879-1956) – married, Mathilde Feliksovna Kschessinskaya, Mathilde’s son may be Andrei’s child
- Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna (1882-1957) – married Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, had issue, including Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
After receiving his military training with the Sea Cadet Corps and the Naval Academy, Kirill served on several ships in the Russian Navy. In 1904, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Pacific Fleet and was seriously injured when his ship, the Petropavlovsk, struck a mine in Port Arthur.
Kirill with his family, c.1918. source: Wikipedia
Kirill married his first cousin, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, on October 8, 1905, in Tegernsee, Germany. Victoria Melita was the daughter of Prince Alfred of the United Kingdom, Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (second son of Queen Victoria) and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (daughter of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia). Because the marriage was not consented to by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, Kirill was stripped of his military appointments and his appanage. The couple was banished from Russia and settled in France. They had three children:
- Maria Kirillovna (1907-1951) – married Karl, 6th Prince of Leiningen, had issue
- Kira Kirillovna (1909-1967) – married Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, had issue
- Vladimir Kirillovich (1917-1992) – married Princess Leonida Bagration-Moukhransky, had issue
By 1908, Kirill was third in line to the Imperial throne, following several deaths within the family. Nicholas II relented and allowed Kirill to return, restoring both his military positions and his funding. He then served as commander of the cruiser Oleg, and eventually became Supreme Commander of the Imperial Army. In 1915, he was appointed Commander of the Palace Guard of the Tsar.
Following the abdication of Nicholas II in 1917, Kirill and his family left Russia. They settled first in Finland, before moving on to Munich and then Zurich. Eventually, they settled permanently in Saint-Briac, France, in the mid-1920s. In addition, they had inherited property in Coburg from his wife’s mother, which they retained until their deaths.
Kirill with his wife and two younger children, c.1926. source: Wikipedia
Bolstered by a group of supporters, and the laws of the former Imperial Family, on August 31, 1924, Kirill declared himself Emperor of all the Russias. This claim was later taken by his son, Vladimir, and then Vladimir’s daughter, Maria Vladimirovna, who has declared herself Head of the Imperial House since 1992.
Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich died on October 12, 1938, in France. He was initially buried beside his wife in the Ducal Mausoleum at the Glockenburg Cemetery in Coburg, Germany. In 1995, both of their remains were moved to the Grand Ducal Mausoleum at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia
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