by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Natalia Sergeyevna Sheremetyevskaya was the morganatic wife of Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, the son of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, and the brother of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. Called Natasha, she was born on June 27, 1880, at a rented summer dacha outside of Moscow to Sergei Alexandrovich Sheremetyevsky and Yulia Vyacheslavovna Sventsitskaya. Natasha’s father was a lawyer and an untitled Russian noble. Natasha grew up in Moscow with maids, a nurse for her and her two older sisters, Vera and Olga, and then a French governess when the three sisters were older. Natasha and her sisters were educated at a private day school.

In 1901, Natasha married Sergei Ivanovich Mamontov (1877 – 1938), a musician. Sergei was a pianist and conductor at the Mamontov Opera House, founded by his uncle, and then at the famous Bolshoi Theater.

Natasha and Sergei had one daughter:

• Natalia Sergeevna Mamontova, known as Tata (1903 – 1969), married (1) Val Gielgud, writer, actor, editor, and BBC producer, brother of actor Sir John Gielgud, no children, divorced (2) Cecil Gray, composer and music critic, had one daughter, divorced (3) Michael Majolier, naval officer, had one daughter

Through her husband’s connections, Natasha became friendly with several Russian musicians including pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff and opera singer Feodor Chaliapin. Natasha was quite social, enjoyed entertaining, and attending social events. Her husband Sergei was the opposite. He had a retiring nature and preferred to stay home. Natasha started going out on her own and met a childhood friend, cavalry officer Vladimir Vladimirovich Wulfert. Soon Natasha and Vladimir were in the midst of an affair and Natasha wanted a divorce so she could marry Vladimir. Divorce was only possible in cases of adultery where the husband was the guilty party. Playing the gentleman, Sergei agreed to provide Natasha with the grounds for divorce, and in 1905, Natasha and Vladimir were married.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Wulfert was an officer in the Blue Cuirassier Regiment. The social life of an officer and his wife was just the life that Natasha desired, Vladimir enjoyed their social life as much as his wife did. The height of the regiment’s social season in 1907 was the winter ball and Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, the brother of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, one of the commanders of the regiment, always attended the regiment balls. Natasha and Michael had met once before and Natasha wondered if he would remember her. Michael did remember her and over the course of the evening, he asked Natasha to dance and sat at her table.

At first, Natasha was always accompanied by her husband when socializing with Michael. By August 1909, Michael and Natasha were lovers and by November 1909, Natasha was living in an apartment in Moscow paid for by Michael. Nicholas II had Michael transferred to the Chernigov Hussars 250 miles from Moscow in an attempt to stop the relationship. However, Michael traveled back to Moscow several times a month to see Natasha.

On August 6, 1910, Natasha gave birth to Michael’s son named George after Michael’s deceased brother. At the time of George’s birth, Natasha was still legally married to her husband and George was legally his son. Michael and Natasha started divorce proceedings because they feared that Natasha’s husband would try to claim custody of their son. There is speculation that Vladimir Wulfert allowed the divorce because he received a bribe of 200,000 rubles. The date of the divorce was back-dated, meaning that George was recognized as Natasha’s illegitimate son and would inherit her status. Nicholas II issued a decree giving George the surname Brasov after Michael’s estate at Brasovo. In May 1911, Nicholas II permitted Natasha to use the surname Brasova and allowed her to live with Michael at his estate Brasovo. This indicated Nicholas II’s tacit permission for his brother’s affair.

Michael was second in the line of succession after his nephew Tsesarevich Alexei. However, since Alexei suffered from hemophilia, it was thought that he would not live long enough to inherit the throne. Romanov House Law required that members of the Imperial Family obtain the permission of the Emperor before marrying. Michael knew that his brother would not grant permission to marry Natasha. In September 1912, Alexei suffered a life-threatening hemorrhage. Michael feared that Alexei would not survive and that he would become the heir which would make the possibility of his marriage to Natalia even more remote. By marrying Natasha before Alexei died, Michael would be removed from the line of succession, preventing him from losing Natasha. While on holiday in Vienna, Austria, Michael and Natasha were married on October 16, 1912, in a Serbian Orthodox Church.

Nicholas II and the rest of the Imperial Family were horrifyingly shocked. They saw Michael’s actions as a betrayal of duty especially since Alexei was so close to death. (Alexei did survive the incident.) Nicholas stripped Michael of his military rank, froze all his assets in Russia, seized control of his estates, and banished him from Russia. Until September 1913, they stayed in grand hotels throughout Europe before settling in England.

Upon the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Michael asked his brother Nicholas II for permission to return to Russia and return to the army. He further requested that Natasha and George accompany him. Nicholas agreed with the condition that Natasha would not live in any of the imperial palaces. Michael, Natasha, and George lived in a villa on Nikolaevskaya Street in St. Petersburg. Michael was given command of the Caucasian Native Cavalry. In 1915, Michael requested that Nicholas II legitimize his son George so that in the event of his death in the war, George would be provided for, and Nicholas agreed. George was legitimized and created Count Brasov but neither he nor his descendants could be in the line of succession. At the same time, Natasha was created Countess Brasova.

The February Revolution was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. The February Revolution was caused by military defeats during World War I, economic issues, and scandals surrounding the monarchy. The immediate result was the abdication of Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire. Later in 1917, the October Revolution occurred, paving the way for the establishment of the Soviet Union.

After going through several periods of house arrests, Michael was arrested on March 7, 1918, along with his British secretary Nicholas Johnson, and imprisoned at the Bolshevik headquarters in St. Petersburg. Four days later, Michael and Johnson were sent to Perm, a thousand miles to the east. In Perm, the Bolshevik orders were that “Michael Romanov and Johnson are entitled to live in freedom under the surveillance of the local Soviet authorities.” Concerned for her son’s safety, Natasha smuggled George and his nanny out of Russia to Denmark with the help of the Danish Embassy.

Natasha obtained a travel permit so she could join Michael in Perm. However, Michael and Natasha’s reunion did not last long. Because the Bolsheviks and the White Army were fighting in the area, Michael and Natasha feared that she could become trapped in Perm in a dangerous situation and Natasha left on May 18, 1918, for Moscow. On June 13, 1918, Michael and his secretary were taken to the woods near Perm and shot. Their bodies have never been found.

• Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia

Returning to Petrograd, the new name for St. Petersburg, Natasha immediately began to plan a second trip to be with Michael but she received a telegram from Perm about his “disappearance”. When she met with the Cheka, the Soviet secret police, Natasha accused them of killing Michael and she was put in prison. Ten weeks later she feigned illness and was transferred to a nursing home from which she managed to escape. The Germans believed the widespread rumors that Michael was still alive and decided to help Natasha escape Russia to gain influence with Michael. Through the German-controlled Ukrainian consulate, Natasha and Tata, her 15-year-old daughter from her first marriage, were provided with false passports. They then traveled to Kyiv, then under German occupation, and on to Odessa where they boarded the British ship HMS Nereide which took them to Constantinople.

Natasha and her children settled in England. George attended a British boarding school and Tata attended a convent school in France. Natasha was able to use money in Michael’s bank accounts in Paris and Copenhagen, and also started selling her jewelry. In 1920, Tata was sent to Cheltenham Ladies’ College and George was enrolled at Harrow School. In England, Natasha had a courteous meeting with Michael’s mother Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Dagmar of Denmark) who had also escaped and would live out her life in her native Denmark. There were still conflicting rumors about Michael’s fate.

In 1924, Natasha had Michael declared legally dead. Michael’s first cousin Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, who also escaped, had declared himself Emperor and head of the Romanov family.  He gave Natasha the style and title Her Serene Highness Princess Romanovskaya-Brasova and made George a Prince. Natasha moved to Paris in 1927 because it was cheaper to live there and a large Russian émigré population lived there. Tata, who had married, remained in England. George joined his mother in France and attended the Sorbonne University in Paris.

In 1928, Michael’s mother Empress Maria Feodorovna died in Denmark and the house she owned jointly with her sister was sold. The proceeds were equally divided between the Empress’ two daughters and her grandson George who used some of the money to buy a new sports car. In July 1931, George finished his university exams and went on a driving holiday in the south of France with a friend. Not too far from Paris, in Sens, France, George’s car skidded off the road and crashed into a tree. George’s friend, who had been driving, was instantly killed. George was taken to the hospital with two broken legs and severe internal injuries. Natasha reached George’s bedside before he died on July 21, 1931, without regaining consciousness. He would have celebrated his 21st birthday in two weeks. George was buried at the Passy Cemetery in Paris. Although George had no succession rights due to the morganatic marriage of his parents, he was the last male-line descendant of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia.

Natasha continued to have financial difficulties. Recovering Romanov assets in the Soviet Union, formerly Russia, was impossible. Natasha unsuccessfully attempted to recover some of Michael’s Polish assets. She did receive some funds from Michael’s German assets but inflation had made them almost worthless. To survive, Natasha sold her possessions. By the time World War II started, Natasha was nearly broke and living in a one-room attic apartment. Tata was living in London and the war made travel and communication with her mother in Paris impossible. In 1946, Tata’s daughter Pauline went to Paris to find her grandmother and was shocked by her grandmother’s living conditions. The Mamontov family, the family of Natasha’s first husband, did what they could for her. Sometimes other émigrés from Russia living in Paris gave her money and Pauline started sending her grandmother money from her small salary. In 1951, Natasha found out she had cancer and her landlady evicted her. Natasha was taken to the Laënnec, a charity hospital in Paris, France, where she died on January 23, 1952, at the age of 71.

Natasha was buried in Passy Cemetery in Paris, France next to her son George. Their grave is marked by a Russian Orthodox cross and the inscription Fils et Epouse de S.A.I Grand Duc Michel de Russie – Son and Spouse of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Michael of Russia.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Crawford, R. and Crawford, D. (2000). Michael and Natasha. New York: Post Road Press.
• En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Michael_Alexandrovich_of_Russia [Accessed 4 Nov. 2017].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Natalia Brasova. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalia_Brasova [Accessed 15 Mar. 2018].
• Perry, J. and Pleshakov, K. (2008). The Flight of the Romanovs. New York: Basic Books.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Михаил Александрович (сын Александра III). [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87_(%D1%81%D1%8B%D0%BD_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B0_III) [Accessed 15 Mar. 2018].
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Шереметьевская, Наталья Сергеевна. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A8%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%8C%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F,_%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F_%D0%A1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0 [Accessed 16 Mar. 2018].

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

The sister of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of All Russia, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia was born at Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia on April 6, 1875. She was the elder of the two daughters and the fourth of the six children of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Dagmar of Denmark (Empress Maria Feodorovna).

Xenia’s mother was the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark, and among her maternal first cousins were King Constantine I of Greece, King George V of the United Kingdom, King Christian X of Denmark, and King Haakon VII of Norway.

Xenia was christened in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia on April 17, 1875. As per tradition, her parents did not attend the christening. Xenia’s godparents were her paternal grandmother Empress Maria Alexandrovna (born Marie of Hesse and by Rhine), her maternal grandfather King Christian IX of Denmark, her paternal uncle Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, and her maternal aunt Princess Thyra of Denmark.

Xenia had five siblings:

• Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia (1868 – 1918), married Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (Alexandra Feodorovna), had five children, executed with his family on July 18, 1918
• Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich (1869 – 1870), died young of meningitis
• Grand Duke George Alexandrovich (1871 – 1899), unmarried, died of tuberculosis
• Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (1878 – 1918), married Natalia Sergeyevna Sheremetyevskaya, Countess Brasova, had one child, executed on June 13, 1918
• Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (1882 – 1960), married (1) Peter Friedrich Georg, Duke of Oldenburg, no children; (2) Nikolai Kulikovsky, had two children

Like her other siblings, Xenia was raised in a relatively simple manner considering her status. She slept in a cot, woke up at 6:00 AM, took cold baths, ate simple, plain meals, and her rooms were furnished with simple furniture. As the elder daughter, Xenia became her mother’s constant companion, and she often received gifts from her maternal Aunt Alix (Alexandra of Denmark) who had married the eldest son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Aunt Alix took a special interest in Xenia because she shared a birthday with her aunt’s last child Prince Alexander John of Wales who was born on April 6, 1871, and died within twenty-four hours. The Imperial children had a large extended family and often visited the families of their British, Danish, and Greek cousins.

In 1881, Xenia’s paternal grandfather Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia was assassinated when a bomb was thrown at his carriage as he rode through St. Petersburg, and Xenia’s father became Emperor. Concerned about the security of his family, Alexander III moved his family to Gatchina Palace located 28 miles (45 km) south of St. Petersburg. Gatchina Palace became the family’s prime residence.

Like the rest of her siblings, Xenia was educated by private tutors and learned English, French, and German but unlike her elder brothers, she never learned Danish, her mother’s native language. She had a talent for drawing and also learned gymnastics, dancing, and how to play the piano. Like many royal children, Xenia wrote in a diary every day. Nicholas and George’s English tutor was a favorite with the Imperial children. He taught them how to fish and play games.

The children’s parents believed that their children should spend their spare time in a useful manner and they learned cooking, woodworking, and how to make puppets for their puppet theater. Alexander III believed that his children should learn about the outdoors and they were taught to ride,  garden, and keep animals that they had to look after themselves.

When Xenia was about a year old, she was out for a walk with her nurse at Livadia Palace, the Imperial Family’s summer retreat in the Crimea. A young boy introduced himself as Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. This was the first meeting between Xenia and her future husband. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, known as Sandro, was the fourth of the six sons and the fifth of the seven children of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia and Princess Cecilie of Baden (Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna). Grand Duke Michael Nikolayevich was the youngest son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia.

Sandro was born in 1866 and was nine years older than Xenia. He was the first cousin of Xenia’s father and so he was Xenia’s first cousin once removed. Sandro had grown up in Tbilisi (now the capital of the country of Georgia) in the Caucasus and his father was the Governor-General of Caucasia. When his father returned to St. Petersburg in 1882, Sandro and his siblings became playmates of the Imperial children.

By 1889, 23-year-old Sandro had noticed that 14-year-old Xenia was growing up and a romance began. At small private balls, Sandro only danced with Xenia. Sandro discussed with his brothers whether Emperor Alexander III would permit him to marry his daughter. The Emperor and the Empress noticed that Xenia and Sandro spent much time together but they considered Xenia too young to marry and Sandro too restless to settle down.

In 1892, it was obvious that Xenia and Sandro were in love. After serving a period with the Baltic Fleet of the Imperial Navy, Sandro returned to St. Petersburg. Xenia was now 18-years-old and Sandro thought it was time to speak with Emperor Alexander III about marrying his daughter. The Emperor had no objections to the marriage but his wife still thought Xenia was too young to marry. Sandro was advised to bring up the matter in a year.

On January 12, 1894, Sandro’s father Duke Michael Nikolaevich had lunch with his nephew Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna. During the lunch, Grand Duke Michael asked for Xenia’s hand in marriage on behalf of his son. Although the Emperor and Empress were taken by surprise, they both consented to the marriage. Xenia and Michael finally were married on August 6, 1894, in the Saints Peter and Paul Chapel of the Peterhof Palace near St. Petersburg.

Xenia and Sandro had one daughter and six sons. They are the ancestors of most of the current Romanov descendants. The children of Xenia and Sandro were styled His/Her Highness Prince/Princess of Russia. They were the grandchildren of Emperor Alexander III through their mother but only the great-grandchildren of Emperor Nicholas I through their father. Only the children and the grandchildren of an Emperor in the male line were styled His/Her Imperial Highness Grand Duke/ Grand Duchess of Russia. Great-grandchildren of an Emperor in the male line were styled His/Her Highness Prince/Princess of Russia. After the Russian Revolution members of the Imperial Family tended to drop the territorial designation “of Russia” and use the princely title with the surname Romanov.

• Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia (1895 – 1970), married Prince Felix Yusupov, one of the conspirators in Rasputin’s murder, had one daughter
• Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia (1897 – 1981), married (1) Donna Elisabeth Ruffo-Sasso, had four children (2) Nadine McDougall, had one daughter
• Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia (1898 – 1968), married Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley, daughter of Xenia’s paternal uncle Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and his morganatic wife Princess Olga Paley, had one son, divorced
• Prince Nikita Alexandrovich of Russia (1900 – 1974), married Countess Maria Vorontsova-Dashkova, had two sons
• Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich of Russia (1901 – 1980), married (1) Countess Marina Sergeyevna Golenischeva-Kutuzova, had one daughter, divorced (2) Margaret Sheila MacKellar, no children
• Prince Rostislav Alexandrovich of Russia (1902 – 1978), married (1) Princess Alexandra Pavlovna Galitzine, had one son, divorced (2) Alice Eilken, had one son, divorced (3) Hedwig von Chappuis, no children
• Prince Vasili Alexandrovich of Russia (1907 – 1989), married Princess Natalia Golitsyna, had one daughter

Emperor Alexander III had offered Xenia and Sandro the Michaelovsky Palace in St. Petersburg as their home but Xenia thought it was too large. Instead, the Emperor purchased the home of Countess Vorontzov on the Moika Embankment and had it redecorated. Xenia, Sandro, and their children also spent much time at their villa in Biarritz, France. In 1907, in Biarritz, Sandro began an affair. Eventually, Xenia also had an affair with a man believed to be the husband of Sandro’s lover. All this led to a breakdown in their marriage but Xenia and Sandro decided not to divorce. Sometimes they lived together and sometimes they lived apart. It was common knowledge that Xenia and Sandro were living separate lives. Like the other Romanov women, Xenia actively participated in charity work. In 1911, Xenia founded her own charity, the Xenia Association for the Welfare of Children of Workers and Airmen.

In the fall of 1916, Xenia and other members of the Romanov family were increasingly worried about Grigori Rasputin’s influence on Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna. After working with many physicians to help her son Tsarevich Alexei relieve his hemophilia, Alexandra turned to mystics and faith healers. This led to her close, and disastrous, relationship with Grigori Rasputin. Several times Rasputin appeared to have brought the Tsarevich back from the brink of death, which further cemented Alexandra’s reliance. To many historians and experts, this relationship would contribute greatly to the fall of the Russian monarchy. On December 30, 1916, Rasputin was murdered and Xenia’s son-in-law Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov who had married her only daughter Princess Irina was one of the conspirators. Felix was exiled to his estate in Rakitnoje, near Belgorod, Russia and the Ukraine border. For more information see Unofficial Royalty: Murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin.

The February Revolution was the first of two revolutions that took place in Russia in 1917. The February Revolution was caused by military defeats during World War I, economic issues, and scandals surrounding the monarchy. The immediate result was the abdication of Xenia’s brother Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire. Later in 1917, the October Revolution occurred, paving the way for the establishment of the Soviet Union.

After his abdication, Nicholas II and his family were held in protective custody. Xenia tried to see him but was refused permission. On April 6, 1917, her 42nd birthday, Xenia left St. Petersburg for Ai-Todor, her husband’s estate in the Crimea. When Xenia arrived at Ai-Todor, Sandro was already there with Xenia’s mother Empress Maria Feodorovna and her sister Olga. Many other Romanovs also gathered at their palaces in the Crimea. There they witnessed the October Revolution later that year, and then in 1918 came the news of the murder of Nicholas II and his family and servants. Xenia’s younger brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich had been murdered along with his secretary the month before Nicholas’ murder. Being in the Crimea became precarious due to food shortages, visits to the home by the Bolshevik officials, and the threat of being murdered by the Bolsheviks.

It became clear that the Bolsheviks would take over all of Russia. Around Europe, there was concern for the safety of the members of the Romanov family. In the first week of April 1919, the British battleship, HMS Marlborough arrived in the Crimea. Captain Charles Johnson stressed the seriousness of the situation to Empress Maria Feodorovna and showed her orders to evacuate the family that evening. He showed the Empress an offer of asylum from her nephew King George V of the United Kingdom and a letter from her sister Queen Alexandra begging her to leave now. On April 11, 1919, Empress Maria Feodorovna, her daughter Xenia, Xenia’s five youngest sons along with Xenia’s daughter Irina and her husband Prince Felix Yusupov left Russia forever. They traveled first to Malta and then on to England.

Empress Maria Feodorovna stayed a while in England but then went to her native Denmark where she lived for the rest of her life. Xenia’s daughter and her husband Prince Felix Yusupov settled in France. Xenia’s sister Olga and her family settled for a while in Denmark but then emigrated to Canada. Xenia’s husband Sandro left the Crimea with his oldest son Andrei and Andrei’s wife. Sandro lived out his life in France.

Xenia stayed in England where she was granted management letters for the properties of her brother Nicholas in England which gave her an income of 500 pounds sterling per year. However by 1925, Xenia’s financial situation was desperate and her first cousin King George V allowed her the use of Frogmore Cottage, a grace and favor house, in Windsor Great Park.

Xenia visited her mother often at Hvidøre, the holiday villa near Copenhagen, Denmark she had purchased with her sister Alexandra in 1906. When Xenia’s mother died in 1928, the villa and the empress’ jewelry were sold and the proceeds provided Xenia and her sister Olga with much-needed income.

Sandro died on February 26, 1933, at Villa St Thérèse in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, in the south of France. Xenia and her sons attended his funeral on March 1, 1933, in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin where he was buried at the Cimetière de Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.

In March 1937, King George VI, Xenia’s first cousin once removed, granted her the use of Wilderness House, a grace and favor house, on the grounds of Hampton Court Palace. The dining room at Wilderness House was converted into a Russian Orthodox chapel for Xenia’s use. Xenia died at Wilderness House on April 20, 1960, at the age of 85. As per her wishes, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna was buried next to her husband Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich at the Cimetière de Roquebrune-Cap-Martin in France. Her only surviving sibling Olga died in November of that same year in Toronto, Canada.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchess_Xenia_Alexandrovna_of_Russia [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018].
• Hall, C. (2006). Little Mother of Russia. Teaneck, N.J.: Holmes & Meier.
• Perry, J. and Pleshakov, C. (1999). The Flight of the Romanovs. New York: Basic Books.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Ксения Александровна. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0 [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018].
• Van Der Kiste, J. and Hall, C. (2001). Once a Grand Duchess: Xenia, Sister of Nicholas II. London: Sutton Publishing.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia was born on April 13, 1866, in Tbilisi (the capital of the present-day country of Georgia) in the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire. His father Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich, the Governor of the Caucasus Viceroyalty, was the youngest child of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. Sandro’s mother, born Princess Cecile of Baden, was the youngest child of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden and Princess Sofia of Sweden, daughter of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden.

Sandro had five brothers and one sister. Three of his brothers were murdered by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution.  See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Five Other Romanovs – July 18, 1918 and Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Four Grand Dukes – January 28, 1919.

• Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia (1859 – 1919), unmarried, killed by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution with his brother George and two other Grand Dukes
• Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia (1860 – 1922), married Friedrich Franz III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, had one son and two daughters
• Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia (1861 – 1929), married morganatically Sophie of Merenberg, had one son and two daughters
• Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia (1863 – 1919), married Maria of Greece and Denmark (Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna), had two daughters, killed by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution with his brother Nicholas and two other Russian Grand Dukes
• Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich (1869 – 1918), unmarried, killed by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution with Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna and four other Romanovs
• Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia (1875 – 1895), unmarried, died of tuberculosis

Sandro was a childhood friend of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. Sandro and Nicholas were first cousins once removed and were born only two years apart. A career in the Russian Imperial Navy was Sandro’s destiny. He graduated in 1885 from the Sea Cadet Corps, a school for training naval officers in Saint Petersburg. After graduation, Sandro enlisted in the Guards Crew, a naval unit of the Russian Imperial Guard.

From 1886-1890, Sandro served aboard the Rynda corvette (a small warship) as it made an around-the-world voyage. In 1890-1891, he sailed to India on his own yacht Tamara and in 1892, Sandro became commander of the destroyer Revel. Sandro was an officer aboard the armored cruiser Dmitrii Donskoi as it made a goodwill visit to America in 1893 to mark the 400th anniversary of America’s discovery.

After a long courtship and a long wait for permission to marry, Sandro married his first cousin once removed Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia on August 6, 1894, in the Saints Peter and Paul Chapel of the Peterhof Palace near St. Petersburg. Xenia was the sister of Sandro’s friend, the future Nicholas II, and the daughter of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Dagmar of Denmark (Empress Maria Feodorovna).

Sandro and Xenia had one daughter and six sons. They are the ancestors of most of the current Romanov descendants. The children of Sandro and Xenia were styled His/Her Highness Prince/Princess of Russia. They were the grandchildren of Emperor Alexander III through their mother and the great-grandchildren of Emperor Nicholas I through their father. Only grandchildren of an Emperor in the male line were styled His/Her Imperial Highness Grand Duke/ Grand Duchess of Russia. Great-grandchildren of an Emperor in the male line were styled His/Her Highness Prince/Princess of Russia. After the Russian Revolution members of the Imperial Family tended to drop the territorial designation “of Russia” and use the princely title with the surname Romanov.

• Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia (1895 – 1970), married Prince Felix Yusupov, one of the conspirators in Rasputin’s murder, had one daughter
• Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia (1897 – 1981), married (1) Donna Elisabeth Ruffo-Sasso, had four children (2) Nadine McDougall, had one daughter
• Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia (1898 – 1968), married Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley, daughter of Xenia’s paternal uncle Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and his morganatic wife Princess Olga Paley, had one son, divorced
• Prince Nikita Alexandrovich of Russia (1900 – 1974), married Countess Maria Vorontsova-Dashkova, had two sons
• Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich of Russia (1901 – 1980), married (1) Countess Marina Sergeyevna Golenischeva-Kutuzova, had one daughter, divorced (2) Margaret Sheila MacKellar, no children
• Prince Rostislav Alexandrovich of Russia (1902 – 1978), married (1) Princess Alexandra Pavlovna Galitzine, had one son, divorced (2) Alice Eilken, had one son, divorced (3) Hedwig von Chappuis, no children
• Prince Vasili Alexandrovich of Russia (1907 – 1989), married Princess Natalia Golitsyna, had one daughter

A few months after Sandro and Xenia’s wedding, Alexander III died and was succeeded by his son Nicholas II who would be the last Emperor of All Russia. During the early reign of Nicholas II, Sandro developed and led a program for strengthening the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Imperial Navy. In 1901-1902, Sandro commanded the Black Sea battleship Rostislav, the first ship of the Russian Imperial Navy to be commanded by a member of the House of Romanov.

On January 1, 1903, Sandro was promoted to Rear Admiral and became a member of the Svita,  His Imperial Majesty’s Retinue, a unit of personal aides to the Russian Emperor. In 1909, Sandro was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral and then he became an Admiral in 1915. Sandro played a major role in the development of Russian aviation and in 1910 helped found an officer aviation school.

While Sandro’s navy career was doing quite well, his marriage was not. In 1907, in Biarritz, France where Sandro and Xenia had a villa, Sandro began an affair. Eventually, Xenia also had an affair with a man believed to be the husband of Sandro’s lover. All this led to a breakdown in their marriage but Xenia and Sandro decided not to divorce. Sometimes they lived together and sometimes they lived apart. It was common knowledge that Xenia and Sandro were living separate lives.

The February Revolution was the first of two revolutions that occurred in Russia in 1917. The February Revolution was caused by military defeats during World War I, economic issues, and scandals surrounding the monarchy. The immediate result was the abdication of Xenia’s brother Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire. Later in 1917, the October Revolution occurred, paving the way for the establishment of the Soviet Union.

After the February Revolution, all the Romanovs were removed from the military. With the permission of the Provisional Government, Sandro was allowed to live in his estate Ai-Todor in the Crimea. Xenia arrived at Ai-Todor soon after Sandro’s arrival. Xenia’s mother Empress Maria Feodorovna and her sister Olga were also at Ai-Todor. Many other Romanovs also gathered at their palaces in the Crimea. There they witnessed the October Revolution later that year, and then in 1918 came the news of the murder of Nicholas II, his family, and their servants.

Being in the Crimea became precarious due to food shortages, visits to the home by the Bolshevik officials, and the threat of being murdered by the Bolsheviks. Sandro left the Crimea along with his eldest son and his wife on December 11, 1918, aboard the British military ship HMS Foresight. Xenia, her other children, and her mother left Russia on April 11, 1919, aboard the British battleship, HMS Marlborough. Xenia settled in England where her first cousin King George V provided her with grace and favor housing.

Sandro settled in France. He published a memoir called The Book of Remembrances and worked with the Society for Assistance to Children of Russian Emigration. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich died on February 26, 1933, at Villa St Thérèse in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France at the age of 66. Xenia and her sons attended his funeral on March 1, 1933, in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin where he was buried at the Cimetière de Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. When Xenia died in 1960, her wish was to be buried with Sandro.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Alexander_Mikhailovich_of_Russia [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018].
• Hall, C. (2006). Little Mother of Russia. Teaneck, N.J.: Holmes & Meier.
• Perry, J. and Pleshakov, C. (1999). The Flight of the Romanovs. New York: Basic Books.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Александр Михайлович (внук Николая I). [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80_%D0%9C%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B9%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87_(%D0%B2%D0%BD%D1%83%D0%BA_%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%8F_I) [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018].
• Van Der Kiste, J. and Hall, C. (2001). Once a Grand Duchess: Xenia, Sister of Nicholas II. London: Sutton Publishing.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia was born on May 9, 1871, at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, near St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the third, but second surviving son, and the third of the six children of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Dagmar of Denmark (Maria Feodorovna). At birth, George was weak and suffered from respiratory issues, and for a while, his survival was questionable. In childhood, George’s health was problematic and was a great worry to his mother.

George’s mother was the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and among his maternal first cousins were King Constantine I of Greece, King George V of the United Kingdom, King Christian X of Denmark, and King Haakon VII of Norway.

Embed from Getty Images 
George on the left with his brother Nicholas

George had five siblings:

• Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia (1868 – 1918), married Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine (Alexandra Feodorovna), had five children
• Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich (1869 – 1870), died young of meningitis
• Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna (1875 – 1960), married Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia, had seven children
• Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (1878 – 1918), married Natalia Sergeyevna Sheremetyevskaya, Countess Brasova, had one child
• Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (1882 – 1960), married (1) Peter Friedrich Georg, Duke of Oldenburg, no children; (2) Nikolai Kulikovsky, had two children

George was raised with his brother Nicholas who was three years older. They were raised in a relatively simple manner considering their status. George and Nicholas slept in cots, woke up at 6:00 AM, took cold baths, and ate simple, plain meals. Their rooms were furnished with simple furniture. Both brothers were fluent in Russian, English, French, German, and Danish. The boys enjoyed shooting and fly fishing with their English tutor.

George was expected to have a career in the Russian Navy. He had started training as a cadet when his parents decided to send George and Nicholas on a nine-month-long trip to India and Japan starting in November 1890. Empress Maria Feodorovna hoped the warm weather and the sea air would improve George’s health. However, when they reached Bombay, India, George became ill with acute bronchitis and had an issue with one of his legs and was sent back home. He recuperated at Livadia Palace in the Crimea.

The doctors knew that George had tuberculosis but kept referring to a “weak chest” and suggested a climate change. George and his mother left for Cannes in the south of France, but his condition did not improve. The doctors then suggested that George should be sent to live in the dry mountain climate of Abbas Touman, a spa town, now Abastumani in the country of Georgia, then part of Russia. A stone winter villa and a wooden summer villa designed by Georgian architect Otto Jacob Simons were built for George. The villas were located on the opposite banks of the Otskhe River and were connected by a small bridge. George’s health never improved and he lived permanently in Abbas Touman. Family members occasionally visited him and sometimes he visited them in Crimea but most of the time he lived alone with his staff.

In 1894, George’s father Alexander III unexpectedly died at the age of 49 and his brother Nicholas became Emperor. Since Nicholas did not yet have children, George was declared Tsesarevich of Russia, the heir to the throne. Although George had been present when his father died at Livadia Palace in Crimea, he was forbidden by his doctors to go to St. Petersburg for the funeral.

In 1895, Empress Maria Feodorovna and George traveled to Denmark to visit their relatives. George had not seen his Danish family for four years and enjoyed their company. However, his health suddenly deteriorated and he began to spit up blood. He was confined to bed until he was well enough to travel back to Abbas Touman.

On June 28, 1899, 28-year-old Grand Duke George Alexandrovich suddenly died. He had gone out alone to ride his motorcycle and when he did not return, his staff sent out a search party. George had been found lying on the side of the road, struggling to breathe, with blood oozing from his mouth, by a peasant woman who supported him in her arms until he died. The peasant woman later traveled to St. Petersburg to tell Empress Maria Feodorovna about George’s last moments. On the site of George’s death, a memorial made of Carrara marble was built.

George’s funeral was held on August 14, 1899, at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The funeral was very difficult for his mother Empress Maria Feodorovna. As George’s coffin was lowered into the crypt, she could see the coffins of her husband and her infant son Alexander Alexandrovich. Burying a second child was too much, and she collapsed into the arms of her daughter Xenia saying, “Home, let’s go home. I can’t stand anymore.”

In July 1994, George’s remains were exhumed for DNA testing to compare his DNA with the DNA of the suspected remains of Nicholas II and his children. The results proved beyond a doubt that the remains were those of Nicholas II and his children.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_George_Alexandrovich_of_Russia [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].
• Hall, C. (2006). Little Mother of Russia: A Biography of Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. Teaneck, N.J.: Holmes & Meier.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Георгий Александрович. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%93%D0%B5%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia was one of the conspirators in the murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin and also a first cousin of both Nicholas II, the last Emperor of All Russia and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. He was born on September 18, 1891, at Ilyinskoye, the country estate outside of Moscow of his paternal uncle Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia.

Dmitri was the only son and the second of the two children of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna). Grand Duke Paul was the youngest child of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna). Princess Alexandra was the eldest daughter of King George I of Greece (born Prince Vilhelm of Denmark) and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia, a granddaughter of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia.

Dmitri’s parents were visiting Grand Duke Sergei and his wife Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (born Elizabeth of Hesse and by Rhine). His mother Alexandra, who was seven months pregnant with her second child, took a walk with her friends, jumped into a boat and fell. The next day, she collapsed from violent labor pains in the middle of a ball. Alexandra gave birth prematurely to Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and then she lapsed into a coma. She did not recover consciousness and died six days later on September 24, 1891, at the age of 21. Alexandra probably died from eclampsia, a condition that causes a pregnant woman, usually previously diagnosed with preeclampsia (high blood pressure and protein in the urine), to develop seizures or coma.

Born two months premature, Dmitri was not expected to live. It was through the efforts of his uncle Grand Duke Sergei that Dmitri survived. Sergei gave his nephew warm baths and kept him wrapped in cotton blankets in a cradle filled with hot water bottles. Dmitri’s father Grand Duke Paul was grief-stricken and depressed after the tragic death of his wife. For a period of time, his childless brother Grand Duke Sergei and his wife Grand Duchess Elizabeth took care of Dmitri and his seventeen-month-old sister Maria Pavlovna:

• Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1890 – 1858), married (1) Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, had one son, divorced (2) Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Putyatin, had one son who died in infancy, divorced

Dmitri Pavlovich was well-connected to royalty throughout Europe. Among his other first cousins were King Christian X of Denmark, King Haakon VII of Norway, King George V of the United Kingdom, Queen Maud of Norway, King Constantine I of Greece, Queen Marie of Romania and Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna (Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) who married Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, who was both Dmitri’s first cousin and his wife’s first cousin.

Eventually, Grand Duke Paul recovered from his grief and Maria and Dmitri went to live with him in St. Petersburg. The two children were brought up by English nannies. Christmas holidays and some periods during the summer were spent with their uncle and aunt, Grand Duke Sergei and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.

In 1895, Dmitri’s father Grand Duke Paul began an affair with a married woman Olga Valerianovna Karnovich. Olga gave birth in 1897 to a son. After Olga divorced her husband, Paul asked for permission to marry her from his nephew Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia but Nicholas refused. Despite this, Paul morganatically married Olga in 1902. Because he married without Nicholas II’s permission, Paul was banished from Russia, dismissed from his military commissions, and all his property was seized. His brother Grand Duke Sergei was appointed the guardian of Maria and Dmitri. Grand Duke Paul and his wife Olga settled in France. He was periodically allowed to visit his children in Russia. Grand Duke Paul was allowed to return to Russia for good in 1914. His titles and property were restored and Nicholas II granted his wife and children the titles Princess/Prince Paley.

Grand Duke Paul had three children with Olga, Dmitri’s half-siblings:

• Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (1897–1918), one of the five Romanovs executed on July 18, 1918, along with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna
• Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley (1903–1990), married (1) Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia, had one son, divorced  (2) Count Hubert Conquere de Monbrison, had one daughter
• Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley (1905–1981), married (1) Lucien Lelong, a French fashion designer, no children (2) John Chapman Wilson, an American theatre director and producer, no children

Since the children’s guardian Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich was the Governor-General of Moscow, Dmitri and his sister Maria lived with their aunt and uncle at the Nicholas Palace in the Moscow Kremlin and at Dmitri’s birthplace Ilyinskoye, Sergei’s country estate. When Grand Duke Sergei was assassinated by a bomb in 1905, his brother Paul was allowed to return to Russia to attend the funeral. He asked Nicholas II to restore the custody of his children but instead, Nicholas named Sergei’s widow Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna as the children’s guardian.

Until he was ready to go to military school and his sister married, Dmitri, along with his sister Maria, continued living with Grand Duchess Elizabeth at the Nicholas Palace in the Moscow Kremlin and the country estate Ilyinskoye. In 1907, Dmitri’s sister Maria Pavlovna became engaged to Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland, the second son of King Gustav V of Sweden. They were married at the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo on May 3, 1908, and then Maria was off to a new life in Sweden. The marriage was unhappy and in 1913, Maria left her husband and son and returned to Russia which caused a great scandal in Sweden. On March 13, 1914, her marriage was officially dissolved.

In 1909, Dmitri went to St. Petersburg accompanied by his tutor, where he was enrolled in the Nikolaevskoe Cavalry School to prepare for a military career in the Life Guards Horse Regiment. In St. Petersburg, Dmitri first lived in his father’s vacant palace and then in the Belosselsky-Belozersky Palace. The palace had been owned by Grand Duke Sergei. When Sergei’s widow Grand Duchess Elizabeth sold all her jewelry and with the proceeds opened the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary and became its abbess, she gave the ownership of the palace to Dmitri.

Grand Duke Dmitri participated in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm in the Equestrian Individual and Team Jumping events. He placed ninth in Individual Jumping and fifth in Team Jumping. Disappointed in the performance of the Russian team, Dmitri started the idea of a national Russian sports competition, the very beginning of what under Soviet rule became the Spartakiad.

During World War I, Dmitri served with the Life Guards Horse Regiment, participated in the campaign in East Prussia, and was awarded the Order of St. George. During the war, a situation with Dmitri’s first cousin Nicholas II, and his family caused Dmitri to take action.

In the fall of 1916, the Romanov family was increasingly worried about Grigori Rasputin’s influence on Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. After working with many physicians to help her son Tsarevich Alexei relieve his hemophilia, Alexandra turned to mystics and faith healers. This led to her close, and politically dangerous, relationship with Grigori Rasputin. Several times Rasputin appeared to have brought the Tsarevich back from the brink of death, further cementing Alexandra’s reliance. Rasputin became an influential figure in Saint Petersburg, especially after August 1915, when Nicholas II took supreme command of the Russian armies fighting in World War I. Eventually, a group of conspirators plotted to murder Rasputin hoping to end his influence over the Imperial Family.

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich was one of the conspirators along with Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov, a Russian aristocrat, wealthier than any of the Romanovs. Felix married Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia, Nicholas II’s only niece, the daughter of his sister Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia.

Along with Dmitri and Felix, Vladimir Purishkevich, a deputy of the Duma, the Russian legislature, was one of the main conspirators. Dr. Stanislaus de Lazovert, a physician, and Sergei Mikhailovich Sukhotin, a lieutenant in the Preobrazhensky Regiment, also were participants. On the night of December 29-30, 1916, Felix invited Rasputin to Moika Palace, his home in St. Petersburg, promising Rasputin that his wife Irina would be there, although she was not there.

According to his memoir, Felix brought Rasputin to a soundproof room in a part of the wine cellar and offered Rasputin tea and petit fours laced with a large amount of cyanide but the poison had no effect. Felix then offered Rasputin wine, and after an hour Rasputin was fairly drunk. The other conspirators were waiting in a room on another floor of the palace and Felix then went upstairs and returned with Dmitri’s revolver. Felix shot Rasputin in the chest and the wounds appeared to be serious enough to cause death. However, Rasputin escaped, struggling up the stairs and opening an unlocked door to the courtyard. Purishkevich heard the noise, went out to the courtyard, and shot Rasputin four times, missing three times. Rasputin fell down in the snow. Again, Rasputin should have been dead, but he was still moving. One of the conspirators shot him in the forehead. Rasputin’s body was thrown off the Bolshoy Petrovsky Bridge into an ice hole in the Malaya Neva River. Rasputin’s body was found a few days later.

After Rasputin’s murder, the St. Petersburg authorities refused to arrest the conspirators because the murder they committed was considered acceptable. Instead, Dmitri was exiled to Persia (now Iran), a move that most likely saved his life during the Russian Revolution. Felix was exiled to his estate in Rakitnoje, near Belgorod, Russia, and the Ukraine border.

The Russian Revolution was disastrous to Dmitri Pavlovich’s family. Prince Vladimir Paley, Dmitri’s half-brother was arrested in St. Petersburg on March 26, 1918, along with three sons of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, a grandson of Nicholas I: Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, and Prince Igor.  On July 18, 1918, the day after the execution of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his family, Dmitri’s half-brother Prince Vladimir Paley, Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, Prince Igor, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, Dmitri’s aunt and his former guardian, were murdered by the Bolsheviks. See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Five Other Romanovs for more information.

Dmitri’s father Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich was arrested on August 13, 1918. On January 28, 1919, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, along with three other Grand Dukes, was executed by a firing squad in the courtyard of the Peter and Paul Fortress. See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Four Russian Grand Dukes for more information.

In exile in Persia (now Iran), Dmitri served briefly with General Nikolai Nikolaevich Baratov who headed the 1st Caucasus Cossack Corps on the Caucasus Front. However, after the February 1917 Revolution which resulted in the abdication of Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire, General Baratov could no longer guarantee that Dmitri would be safe among the Russian troops. Dmitri was taken in by the British Minister to Persia, Sir Charles Murray Marling. In 1918, Sir Charles persuaded the British Foreign Office that Dmitri could be the next Emperor of Russia and helped Dmitri to gain admission into the United Kingdom where he lived for two years.

Dmitri’s sister Maria Pavlovna had escaped Russia and settled in Paris, France. Like many exiled aristocratic Russians, Maria found a place for herself in the Paris fashion industry by starting a Russian embroidery shop called “Kitmir” that specialized in embroidery with beads and sequins. Her brother Dmitri made his way to Paris and the two siblings were reunited. Dmitri began a love affair with the fashion designer Coco Chanel. This proved to be a great advantage to Maria’s business and soon Chanel became Maria’s main client.

On November 21, 1926, in the Russian Orthodox Church in Biarritz, France, Dmitri married the rich American heiress Audrey Emery. Audrey, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, was the youngest daughter of John Josiah Emery, a real-estate millionaire. Since this marriage did not comply with the rules of the House of Romanov, Dmitri’s cousin Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, head of the Romanov family, gave Audrey and any children from the marriage the princely title Romanovsky-Ilyinsky. The couple lived in Europe, where Dmitri participated in various Russian monarchist and patriotic movements and had a significant role in the creation of the Union of Mladoross (Union of Young Russia). Dmitri and Audrey divorced in 1937.

Dmitri and Audrey had one son, named after Dmitri’s father Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich:

• Prince Paul Dmitriievich Romanovsky-Ilyinsky, later known as Paul Ilyinsky (1928 – 2004), married (1) Mary Evelyn Prince, no children (2) Angelica Philippa Kauffmann, had four children

Dmitri’s son Paul was an American and a British citizen. He was born on January 27, 1928, in the Embassy of the United States in London, England, United Kingdom. After his parents divorced, Paul lived with his mother. He attended the Woodberry Forest School in Virginia and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in England and was a graduate of the University of Virginia. During the Korean War, Paul served in the United States Marine Corps as a combat war photographer. After the Korean War, Paul served for about twenty years on the board of Emery Industries, his mother’s family company. In 1980, Paul moved to Palm Beach, Florida where he served three terms as Mayor of Palm Beach. Paul Ilyinsky died at his Palm Beach home on February 10, 2004, at the age of 76. Paul’s youngest son Michael was active with the Romanov Family Association.

After his divorce, Dmitri lived at the Château de Beaumesnil in Beaumesnil, Eure, France, which he had bought in 1927. Over the years, Dmitri became disappointed with the prospects for the restoration of the monarchy in Russia and withdrew from public life. He lived at the Château de Beaumesnil until 1938 when, due to the deterioration of his health, Dmitri sold the château to Jewish financier and bibliophile Hans Fürstenberg, a refugee from Nazi Germany. In 1982, when Fürstenberg died, the chateau was left to a foundation entrusted to conserve the property and Fürstenbergs library.

It is believed that Dmitri’s ill health was caused by tuberculosis. His doctors estimated that he first contracted tuberculosis around 1929. In 1939, Dmitri entered Schatzalp Sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland and he died there on March 5, 1942, at the age of 50. Because the sanatorium’s medical records were destroyed when the sanatorium was converted into a hotel in the 1950s, there is no definite cause for Dmitri’s death. Both tuberculosis and uremia have been cited.

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich was initially buried at Waldfriedhof, a cemetery in Davos, Switzerland. In the late 1950s, his remains were transferred to the Mainau Palace Church, on Mainau Island in Lake Constance, Germany, on the estate of Count Lennart Bernadotte of Wisborg, his nephew, the only child of his sister Maria Pavlovna. There Dmitri Pavlovich and Maria Pavlovna rest in peace next to each other.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. (2018). Dmitri Pawlowitsch Romanow. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Pawlowitsch_Romanow [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Dmitri_Pavlovich_of_Russia [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. (2018). Dimitri Pavlovitch de Russie. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimitri_Pavlovitch_de_Russie [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].
• Manger, H. (1998). Elizabeth, Grand Duchess of Russia. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.
• https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87
• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). Murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/murder-of-grigori-yefimovich-rasputin/ [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].
• Warwick, C. (2006). Princess, Saint and Martyr. Chichester: Wiley.

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia was one of the four Grand Dukes executed by a firing squad at the Peter and Paul Fortress on January 28, 1919. His son from his first marriage, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, was one of the conspirators involved in the murder of Grigori Rasputin. Paul’s son from his second morganatic marriage, Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, was one of the five Romanovs executed on July 18, 1918, with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.

Grand Duke Paul was born at the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo near St. Petersburg on October 3, 1860. He was the eighth of the eight children and the sixth of the six sons of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna) and the paternal uncle of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. Paul was only eight years older than his nephew Nicholas and the two had a close relationship.

Paul had seven siblings including Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia:

• Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna (1842 – 1849), died of meningitis at the age of six
• Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich (1843 – 1865), engaged to Dagmar of Denmark (the future wife of his brother Alexander III), died of meningitis at the age of 21
• Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia (1845 – 1894), married Dagmar of Denmark (Maria Feodorovna), had issue
• Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847 – 1909), married Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Maria Pavlovna), had issue
• Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich (1850 – 1908), had illegitimate issue via an affair with Alexandra Vasilievna Zhukovskaya
• Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna (1853 – 1920) married, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had issue
• Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1857 – 1905), married, Elisabeth of Hesse of Hesse and by Rhine (Elizabeth Feodorovna), no issue

Paul was educated with his brother Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich who was assassinated in 1905 when a bomb was thrown into his carriage. In 1881, Paul’s father Alexander II had also been assassinated in the same way. Paul served in the Russian Army as a general in the Cavalry and an adjutant general to his brother Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia.

Paul and Sergei maintained their closeness even after Sergei’s marriage to Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna) in 1884. Paul accompanied the couple to England to visit Elizabeth’s grandmother Queen Victoria and lived for some time with his brother and his sister-in-law, who also became very close to him.

Paul’s health was delicate as a child and as an adult, he suffered from a lung ailment (perhaps asthma) and spent time in warmer climates to recuperate. On medical advice, Paul spent the first of several winters in Greece in 1887. Paul’s first cousin was Queen Olga of Greece, wife of King George I of Greece. Queen Olga had been born Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinova, daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia, the second son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. King George I had been born Prince Vilhelm of Denmark, son of King Christian IX of Denmark. He was the brother of Paul’s sister-in-law Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark. The Greek royal family also frequently visited with the Romanov family on visits to Russia or Denmark. With all the family connections, Paul felt quite comfortable with the Greek royal family and it was no surprise that he grew closer and fell in love with the eldest daughter Princess Alexandra.

Paul and Alexandra’s engagement was announced on November 10, 1888, and the couple was married in the Grand Church at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia on June 17, 1889. Alexandra took the name Alexandra Georgievna. The couple had two children:

• Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1890–1958), married (1) Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, had one son, divorced (2) Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Putyatin, had one son
• Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (1891–1942), married morganatically Audrey Emery, had one son, divorced

The newlyweds lived in a palace in St. Petersburg on the English Embankment and were given rooms at the Catherine Palace at Tsarskoye Selo. Paul and Alexandra’s marriage was a happy one but sadly, it was to be a short marriage. In the summer of 1891, Paul and Alexandra decided to spend some time at Ilinskoe, Sergei and Elizabeth’s country estate outside Moscow.

While there, Alexandra, seven months pregnant with her second child, took a walk with her friends on the bank of the Moskva River and jumped directly into a boat that was permanently moored there and fell. The next day, she collapsed from violent labor pains in the middle of a ball. Alexandra gave birth prematurely to a son, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, and then she lapsed into a coma. Alexandra did not recover consciousness and died six days later on September 24, 1891, at the age of 21. Her parents arrived from Greece shortly before her death. In all the commotion, the premature Dmitri was nearly forgotten and was found in a heap of blankets. He was not expected to live.

It seems that the fall in the boat was not the actual cause of the premature labor.  An autopsy showed that Alexandra’s premature labor was caused by eclampsia, a condition that causes a pregnant woman, usually previously diagnosed with preeclampsia (high blood pressure and protein in the urine), to develop seizures or coma. Nephritis, a kidney disorder, and heart damage were also detected.

Alexandra was initially interred in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. At her funeral, Paul could not bear to have the coffin closed and his brother Sergei had to take him in his arms and lead him away. For some time, his brother Sergei and his wife Elizabeth took care of little Maria and Dmitri. Paul never returned to his St. Petersburg palace and mostly lived at Tsarskoye Selo.  In 1939, Alexandra’s remains were brought to Greece and reinterred at the traditional burial site of the Greek royal family, the Royal Cemetery on the grounds of Tatoi Palace. Paul was grief-stricken and depressed.

In 1895, Paul began an affair with a married woman Olga Valerianovna Karnovich. Olga gave birth in 1896 to a son who was then known as Vladimir von Pistohlkors because his mother was still married to Major General Erich Gerhard von Pistohlkors, an aide to Paul’s brother Grand Duke Vladimir. After Olga divorced her husband, Paul asked for permission to marry Olga from his nephew Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia but Nicholas refused. Paul made a morganatic marriage to Olga on October 10, 1902, in a Greek Orthodox church in Livorno, Italy. Because he married without Nicholas II’s permission, Paul was banished from Russia, dismissed from his military commissions, and all his property was seized. His brother Grand Duke Sergei was appointed the guardian of Maria and Dmitri. The couple settled in Boulogne-sur-Seine, France near Paris.

Paul and Olga had three children:

• Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (1897–1918), one of the five Romanovs executed on July 18, 1918, with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna
• Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley (1903–1990), married (1) Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia, had one son, divorced  (2) Count Hubert Conquere de Monbrison, had one daughter
• Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley (1905–1981), married (1) Lucien Lelong, a French fashion designer, no children (2) John Chapman Wilson, an American theatre director and producer, no children

In 1904, Grand Duke Paul arranged with Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria for Olga and their children to be granted the hereditary title of Count and Countesses de Hohenfelsen. Paul was allowed to return to Russia for the funeral of his brother Grand Duke Sergei who was assassinated by a bomb in 1905. At that time, he tried to regain custody of his children Grand Duke Dmitri and Grand Duchess Maria but Nicholas II made Sergei’s widow Elizabeth Feodorovna the children’s guardian. Nicholas II allowed Paul to visit his children in Russia but not to live there permanently.

Paul, Olga, and their three children continued to live in their mansion near Paris. In 1908, Paul’s daughter Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna married Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, the son of King Gustav V of Sweden. Although Paul was not consulted about the wedding, he was allowed to attend the wedding in Tsarskoye Selo. Later in the same year, Paul, Olga, and their three children visited Russia for the first time together. Eleven-year-old Vladimir was enrolled in the Corps des Pages, a military academy in St. Petersburg that other sons of Grand Dukes had attended.

In 1912, Nicholas II finally relented and decided to pardon his only surviving paternal uncle. Grand Duke Paul’s titles and properties were returned and Nicholas II recognized Paul’s marriage to Olga. Paul decided to continue living in France at that time. He returned to Russia again in 1913 for the 300th-anniversary celebration of the Romanov dynasty. At that time, Paul decided to move back to Russia and made plans for a house to be built at Tsarskoye Selo. Upon its completion in May 1914, Paul and his family moved back to Russia – a decision that would prove fatal to Paul and his son Vladimir.

Three months after Paul and his family moved back to Russia, World War I began. Paul received the command of the First Corps of the Imperial Guard, Dmitri and Vladimir fought with the Russian Army, and Maria Pavlovna became an army nurse. In 1915, Nicholas II gave Olga the title Princess Paley which would also be extended to her children. Paul’s command did not last long due to his ill health. He was transferred to the General Headquarters (Stavka) as Inspector General and Vladimir was transferred with him.

In the fall of 1916, the Romanov family was increasingly worried about Grigori Rasputin’s influence on Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna. After working with many physicians to help her son Tsarevich Alexei relieve his hemophilia, Alexandra turned to mystics and faith-healers. This led to her close, and disastrous, relationship with Grigori Rasputin. Several times he appeared to have brought the Tsarevich back from the brink of death, which further cemented Alexandra’s reliance. To many historians and experts, this relationship would contribute greatly to the fall of the Russian monarchy.

Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and her son-in-law Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich knew Paul had a close relationship with his nephew Nicholas II and they asked him to persuade Nicholas and Alexandra to stop seeing Rasputin. Paul tried but he was unsuccessful. On December 30, 1916, Rasputin was murdered and Paul’s son Dmitri was one of the conspirators. Dmitri was exiled to Persia (Iran), a blessing in disguise as the exile possibly saved him from being killed during the upcoming Russian Revolution. For more information see Unofficial Royalty: Murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin.

The February Revolution was the first of two revolutions in Russia that took place in 1917. Later in 1917, the October Revolution occurred, paving the way for the establishment of the Soviet Union. The February Revolution was caused by military defeats, economic issues, and scandals surrounding the monarchy. The immediate result of the February Revolution was the abdication of Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire. By March 12, 1917, all the remaining regiments of the Russian Imperial Army had mutinied. A Provisional Government was formed which issued a demand that Nicholas must abdicate.

On March 15, 1917, aboard the Imperial Train headed to Tsarskoye Selo, Nicholas signed the abdication manifesto. At first, he decided to abdicate in favor of his son Alexei, but he changed his mind after conferring with doctors who said the hemophiliac Alexei would not survive without his parents, who would surely be exiled. Nicholas then decided to abdicate in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. However, Michael declined to accept the throne unless the people were allowed to vote for the continuation of the monarchy or for a republic.  Grand Duke Paul was the one to tell Empress Alexandra Feodorovna that her husband had abdicated.

After the fall of the Russian empire, Paul and his family continued to live in their Tsarkoye Selo home. However, with the rise of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution, the situation became much worse for the Romanovs. Paul could no longer afford to keep up his home and family moved to a nearby dacha (cottage) that belonged to his nephew Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich.

The account of Grand Duke Paul’s execution below is from our article Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Four Russian Grand Dukes.

In March 1918, all male members of the Romanov family were ordered to register at Cheka headquarters and then they were sent into exile in internal areas of Russia. Paul’s son Prince Vladimir Paley was arrested in St. Petersburg on March 26, 1918, along with three sons of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, a grandson of Nicholas I: Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, and Prince Igor. Paul and his family never saw Vladimir again. On July 18, 1918, the day after the execution of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his family, Prince Vladimir Paley, Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, Prince Igor, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the widow of Paul’s brother Sergei, were murdered by the Bolsheviks. See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Five Other Romanovs for more information.

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich had avoided the exile order because he was too ill to travel. He remained in the dacha near Tsarskoye Selo. The Bolsheviks were determined to round up all the Grand Dukes still in Russia and so Paul was arrested on August 13, 1918. He joined Grand Duke Dmitri Konstantinovich, Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich at Shpalernaia Prison in St. Petersburg. Each Grand Duke was held in a cell, only seven feet by three feet. Each day, they were all allowed to gather in the courtyard for exercise which allowed the Grand Dukes to exchange a few words. On December 6, 1918, Grand Duke Paul’s health, which was already bad, declined sharply, and he was transferred to a prison hospital.

The writer Maxim Gorky had been a supporter of Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks but after seeing the terror of the new regime, he was changing his mind. Princess Paley, Grand Duke Paul’s wife, asked Gorky to intercede on behalf of the four Grand Dukes. In January 1919, Gorky went to Lenin to plead the case of the four Grand Dukes. Gorky pleaded the merits of each Grand Duke. When Gorky came to Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, he said, “Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich is a historian.” Lenin replied, “The Revolution does not need historians.” Gorky did not give up and eventually, Lenin promised to release the four Grand Dukes. Gorky, with the release document signed by Lenin, rushed to the station in Moscow to catch the train to St. Petersburg. When he reached St. Petersburg, Gorky saw the headline in the newspaper, “Four Grand Dukes Shot” and he nearly fainted.

Unlike the execution of Nicholas II and his family and the execution of Elizabeth Feodorovna and the five other Romanovs, there are no written eyewitness accounts of the execution of the four Grand Dukes. What is known is based on versions of second-hand information.

On January 27, 1919, Grand Duke Paul was transferred from the prison hospital to another prison and was kept there until 10 pm, when he was driven to the Peter and Paul Fortress, originally built by Peter the Great to protect his new city of St. Petersburg and the site of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the burial place of the Romanovs. At 11:30 pm on January 27, 1919, Grand Dukes Dmitri, Nicholas, and George were awakened in their cells at Shpalernaya Prison and were driven to the Peter and Paul Fortress. When Dmitri, Nicholas, and George arrived at the Fortress, they were roughly pushed from the truck into the Trubetskoy Bastion where prisoners arrested by the Bolsheviks were held. The Grand Dukes were told to remove their shirts and coats, despite the frigid temperature.

Grand Duke Dmitri Konstantinovich, Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich were escorted toward a ditch that had been dug in the courtyard. As they passed the Peter and Paul Cathedral where their ancestors were buried, they each made the sign of the cross. Guards appeared carrying Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich on a stretcher. The three Grand Dukes were lined up before the ditch, in which there were already bodies. Nicholas Mikhailovich, who had been carrying his cat, handed it to a soldier, asking him to look after it. Grand Duke Paul was shot on his stretcher. Grand Dukes Nicholas, George, and Dmitry were all killed by the same blast, causing them to fall into the ditch.

Most likely, the ditch is the burial place of the four Grand Dukes. In 2004, in the Grand Ducal Mausoleum adjoining the Peter and Paul Cathedral, a commemorative plaque was placed with the names of four Grand Dukes shot nearby in the Peter and Paul Fortress. In 2009, during the construction of a road to a parking lot at the Peter and Paul Fortress, nine unmarked mass graves were discovered and a total of 112 remains were unearthed.  Perhaps eventually the remains of the four Grand Dukes will be identified.

In 1981, Grand Duke Paul, Grand Duke Dmitri, and Grand Duke George were canonized as New-Martyrs of Russia by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Grand Duke Nicholas was the only Romanov who had been executed by the Bolsheviks not to be canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Angelfire.com. (2018). ROYAL RUSSIA NEWS. THE ROMANOV DYNASTY & THEIR LEGACY, MONARCHY, HISTORY OF IMPERIAL & HOLY RUSSIA. [online] Available at: http://www.angelfire.com/pa/ImperialRussian/blog/index.blog/1450058/excavations-for-grand-dukes-remains-to-resume-at-peter-and-paul-fortress/ [Accessed 19 Feb. 2018].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Paul_Alexandrovich_of_Russia [Accessed 19 Feb. 2018].
• Flantzer, S. (2018). Execution of Four Russian Grand Dukes. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/execution-of-four-grand-dukes/ [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018].
• Hall, Coryne. (2006). Little Mother of Russia – A Biography of Empress Marie Feodorovna. Teaneck, N.J.: Holmes & Meier.
• Perry, J. and Pleshakov, K. (2008). The flight of the Romanovs. New York: Basic Books.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Расстрел великих князей в Петропавловской крепости. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BB_%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%85_%D0%BA%D0%BD%D1%8F%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%B2_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8 [Accessed 19 Feb. 2018].
• Unofficial Royalty. (2018). 100 Years Ago: Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia Abdicates. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/100-years-ago-tsar-nicholas-ii-of-russia-abdicates/ [Accessed 26 Feb. 2018].

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Olga Valerianovna Karnovich, the morganatic second wife of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, was born on December 2, 1865, in St. Petersburg, Russia, the daughter of Valerian Gavrilovich Karnovich (1833-1891) and Olga Vasilyevna Meszaros (1830-1919). Her father was a doctor attached to the Imperial Court and Olga spent her childhood near the imperial palaces in Tsarskoye Selo. Pretty and sociable, Olga was noticed by the circle of army officers at the Imperial Court. She became acquainted with an officer of the Imperial Guard, an aide to Grand Duke Vladimir, Major General Erich Augustinovich von Pistohlkors (1853-1935), and the couple married on May 30, 1884.

Olga and Erich had four children:

• Alexander Erikovich von Pistohlkors (1885–1944), married Alexandra Taneyeva, the sister of Anna Vyrubova, the lady-in-waiting of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
• Olga Erikovna von Pistohlkors (1886–1887), died in infancy
• Olga Erikovna von Pistohlkors (1888–1963), married (1) Count Alexander Belzig von Kreutz (2) Prince Sergius Kudaschew
• Marianna Erikovna von Pistohlkors (1890–1976), married (1) Peter Durnowo (2) Christoph von Derfelden (3) Count Nicolaus von Zarnekau

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich was the youngest child of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, the brother of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, and the uncle of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. In 1889, Paul married Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark. Their marriage was a happy one but sadly, a short one. Alexandra died shortly after giving birth to her second child in 1891. Paul was grief-stricken and depressed. For a period of time, his brother Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and his wife Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (born Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine) took care of Paul’s children Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.

As a friend of Erich von Pistohlkors, Paul often spent evenings with Pistohlkors and his wife Olga in Tsarskoye Selo to help console his grief. He appreciated Olga’s elegance and lively spirit and an affair began. At first, Olga thought the affair was unscrupulous but little by little she became flattered by it. Pistohlkors too became flattered by the attention a Grand Duke was giving his wife and turned a blind eye to the affair.

Olga gave birth in 1897 to a son known as Vladimir von Pistohlkors because his mother was still married to Pistohlkors. Eventually, Olga divorced her husband and Paul asked for permission to marry Olga from his nephew Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. This was scandalous to the imperial court, especially to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna who could not conceive that a Grand Duke would marry a divorced woman. She lobbied against the marriage with her husband and Nicholas II refused to allow Paul and Olga to marry.

Paul made a morganatic marriage to Olga on October 10, 1902, in a Greek Orthodox church in Livorno, Italy. Because he married without Nicholas II’s permission, Paul was banished from Russia, dismissed from his military commissions, and all his property was seized. His brother Grand Duke Sergei was appointed the guardian of Maria and Dmitri. Paul and Olga settled in Boulogne-sur-Seine, France near Paris.

Paul and Olga had three children:

• Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (1897–1918), one of the five Romanovs executed on July 18, 1918, with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna
• Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley (1903–1990), married (1) Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia, had one son, divorced  (2) Count Hubert Conquere de Monbrison, had one daughter
• Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley (1905–1981), married (1) Lucien Lelong, a French fashion designer, no children (2) John Chapman Wilson, an American theatre director and producer, no children

In 1904, Grand Duke Paul arranged with Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria for Olga and their children to be granted the hereditary title of Count and Countesses de Hohenfelsen. Paul was allowed to return to Russia for the funeral of his brother Grand Duke Sergei who was assassinated by a bomb in 1905. At that time, he tried to regain custody of his children Grand Duke Dmitri and Grand Duchess Maria but Nicholas II made Sergei’s widow Elizabeth Feodorovna the children’s guardian. Nicholas II allowed Paul to visit his children in Russia but not to live there permanently.

Paul, Olga, and their three children continued to live in their mansion near Paris, France. In 1908, Paul’s daughter Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna married Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, the son of King Gustav V of Sweden. Although Paul was not consulted about the wedding, he was allowed to attend the wedding in Tsarskoye Selo. Later in the same year, Paul, Olga, and their three children visited Russia for the first time together. Eleven-year-old Vladimir was enrolled in the Corps des Pages, a military academy in St. Petersburg that other sons of Grand Dukes had attended.

In 1912, Nicholas II finally relented and decided to pardon his only surviving paternal uncle. Grand Duke Paul’s titles and properties were returned and Nicholas II recognized Paul’s marriage to Olga. Paul decided to continue living in France at that time. He returned to Russia again in 1913 for the 300th-anniversary celebration of the Romanov dynasty. At that time, Paul decided to move back to Russia and made plans for a house to be built at Tsarskoye Selo. Upon its completion in May 1914, Paul and his family moved back to Russia – a decision that would prove fatal to Paul and his son Vladimir.  In 1915, Nicholas II gave Olga the title Princess Paley which would also be extended to her children.

After the February Revolution in 1917, Nicholas II abdicated and the Romanov dynasty ended. Paul and his family continued to live in their Tsarkoye Selo home. However, with the rise of the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution in 1917, the situation became much worse for the Romanovs. Paul could no longer afford to keep up his home, so the family moved to a nearby dacha (cottage) that belonged to his nephew, Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich.

In March 1918, all the male members of the Romanov family were ordered to register at Cheka headquarters, and then they were sent into exile in internal areas of Russia. Olga and Paul’s son Prince Vladimir Paley was arrested in St. Petersburg on March 26, 1918, along with three sons of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, a grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia:  Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, and Prince Igor. Olga and her family never saw Vladimir again. On July 18, 1918, the day after the execution of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his family, Prince Vladimir Paley, Prince Ioann, Prince Konstantin, Prince Igor, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the widow of Paul’s brother Sergei, were murdered by the Bolsheviks. See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and Five Other Romanovs for more information.

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich had avoided the exile order because he was too ill to travel. He remained in the dacha near Tsarskoye Selo. The Bolsheviks were determined to round up all the Grand Dukes still in Russia and so Paul was arrested on August 13, 1918. Olga was forced to live with friends. She desperately tried to save her husband from prison and execution but to no avail. On January 28, 1919, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich along with three other Grand Dukes were executed by a firing squad in the courtyard of the Peter and Paul Fortress. See Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Four Russian Grand Dukes for more information.

Later in 1919, after Paul’s execution had been confirmed, Olga, accompanied by her two daughters Irina and Natalia, fled Russia, hoping that her son Vladimir was still alive. With the help of a White Army officer, they walked for three days, crossing the frozen Lake Ladoga, the largest lake entirely in Europe. The Bolsheviks had installed light projectors around the lake that were used to find people attempting to escape. Many times Olga and her daughters had to lie down on the ice and be covered with a white sheet to avoid being seen. Olga, her daughters, and the White Army officer walked across the lake to Finland and continued to the safety of the city of Helsinki.

In 1920, Olga settled in Paris, France. She sold the house she and Paul had lived in at Boulogne-sur-Seine and bought another in one of the upper-class neighborhoods of Paris. With her few remaining jewels, Olga bought a villa in Biarritz where the family would often gather. Later, Olga sold her homes and bought a much smaller one in Neuilly. Olga published her memoirs about her life in Russia during the years 1916-1919. She used her own resources to help other Russian exiles. In 1926, she organized an annual charity bazaar to raise funds for Russian exiles. Olga Valerianovna Karnovich, Princess Paley died in exile in Paris on November 2, 1929, at the age of 64. She was buried at Colombes Gabriel Peri Cemetery in Colombes, France.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Princess Olga Paley. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Olga_Paley [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018].
• Flantzer, S. (2018). Execution of Four Russian Grand Dukes. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/execution-of-four-grand-dukes/ [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. (2018). Olga Karnovitch Paley. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olga_Karnovitch_Paley [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018].
• Hall, Coryne. (2006). Little Mother of Russia – A Biography of Empress Marie Feodorovna. Teaneck, N.J.: Holmes & Meier.
• Perry, J. and Pleshakov, K. (2008). The flight of the Romanovs. New York: Basic Books.
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Палей, Ольга Валериановна. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B9,_%D0%9E%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B3%D0%B0_%D0%92%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0 [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018].

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

• Unofficial Royalty: Russian Titles and Patronymics

Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, the fourth of the six sons and the fifth of the eight children of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna), is most well-known for his coast-to-coast official visit to the United States in 1871 where one of the highlights was buffalo hunting with Buffalo Bill Cody, General George Armstrong Custer, and General Philip Sheridan.  Alexei was born at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia on January 14, 1850.

Alexei had seven siblings including Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia:

• Grand Duchess Alexandra Alexandrovna (1842 – 1849), died of meningitis at the age of six
• Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich (1843 – 1865), engaged to Dagmar of Denmark (the future wife of his brother Alexander III), died of meningitis at the age of 21
• Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia (1845 – 1894), married Dagmar of Denmark (Maria Feodorovna), had issue
• Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847 – 1909), married Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Maria Pavlovna), had issue
• Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna (1853 – 1920) married, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, had issue
• Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (1857 – 1905), married, Elisabeth of Hesse of Hesse and by Rhine (Elizabeth Feodorovna), no issue
• Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich (1860 – 1919), married (1) Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (Alexandra Georgievna), had issue (2) Olga Karnovich, had issue

Alexei was destined for a career in the Russian Imperial Navy. At the age of seven, he received the rank of midshipman and in 1858,  Admiral Konstantin Nikolayevich Posyet became his tutor. Alexei’s winters were devoted to the scientific and theoretical study of naval matters. During the summers, he served, under the guidance of Admiral Posyet, on board various ships in the Baltic Sea. 1866, Alexei was elevated to the rank of Lieutenant and continued his career as an officer on the frigate Alexander Nevsky.

In 1868, while Alexei was serving on the ship, the Alexander Nevsky hit a coastal spit in the North Sea off Thyborøn, a fishing village in Jutland, Denmark. Apparently, both Admiral Posyet and the ship’s captain miscalculated the ship’s position due to incorrect drift information recorded in the pilot book. The ship sank and three sailors and an officer were killed. The captain and admiral were convicted of dereliction of duty at a court-martial but Alexei’s father Alexander II intervened and pardoned them due to their long service to the navy. At the time of the shipwreck, Alexei refused to be among the first to be sent ashore although in later life he often claimed that he almost drowned and enjoyed telling the story about the shipwreck.

Alexei was ultimately promoted to Admiral-General, Chief of the Fleet and Naval Department, and Chairman of the Admiralty Board. He was instrumental in the modernization of the Russian navy. At the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, when the Russian naval fleet was defeated, Alexei was dismissed from all naval posts. He was considered one of the people responsible for Russia’s defeat in the war.

From 1869 – 1870, Alexei had an affair with his mother’s maid of honor Alexandra Vassilievna Zhukovskaya, daughter of the poet and playwright Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky who had been a tutor to Emperor Alexander II. Some historians say that the couple married and that the marriage was then annulled because it occurred without the emperor’s consent. Whether the couple married or not, their union resulted in a son Alexei Alexeievich_Belevsky-Zhukovsky, born on November 26, 1871, in Salzburg, Austria. Alexander II was furious about the affair and refused to give Alexandra Vassilyevna a noble title. However, the emperor did officially recognize the paternity of Alexei Alexeievich but not his legitimacy. In 1875, Alexandra Vassilyevna married Baron Christian Heinrich von Wörman and lived out her life in the Kingdom Saxony in the German Empire. She was later awarded a life pension by Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia.

In 1884, Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, Alexei’s brother, agreed to grant Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich’s son Alexei Alexeievich the title of Count Belevsky-Zhukovsky. Alexei Alexeievich married Princess Maria Petrovna Trubetskoi, the maid of honor of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, and they had four children. In 1904, the couple divorced and Alexei Alexeievich later married Baroness Natalia Vladimirovna Shooping. He served in the Sumy Hussar Regiment and was the aide-de-camp of his uncle Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. During World War I, Alexei Alexeievich held the post of Chief Quartermaster of the Supreme Court. After the Russian Revolution, he stayed in the Soviet Union, while his former wife and children left. Arrested in Tbilisi, now the capital of the country of Georgia, then part of the Soviet Union, Alexei Alexeievich was shot by the Soviets around 1932.

On August 20, 1871, a squadron of Russian Imperial Navy ships left Kronstadt, on an island near St. Petersburg, the base of the Russian Baltic Fleet, on a sixteen-month voyage that would take Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich around the world. Alexei first visited Denmark meeting King Christian IX and England where he met his brother-in-law Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. He then sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. He visited many cities including Washington, D.C. where he met President Ulysses S. Grant. Alexei visited New York City and Boston and then crossed the Canadian border and visited Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and Niagara Falls. Back in the United States, he visited Buffalo, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and St. Louis.

On his 22nd birthday, January 14, 1872, Alexei went buffalo hunting with Buffalo Bill Cody, General George Armstrong Custer, General Philip Sheridan, and Spotted Tail, chief of the Brulé Lakota. On January 28, 1872, Alexei’s train left for Louisville, Kentucky, where he visited the Mammoth Cave. He then traveled to Memphis, Vicksburg, and New Orleans, where he attended the 1872 Mardi Gras celebrations. The Russian fleet met Alexei at Pensacola, Florida where it started its voyage to the Far East.

The fleet first stopped in Havana, Cuba, and then sailed to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where Alexei entertained Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and the imperial court aboard his ship. Sailing back across the Atlantic Ocean and then around Africa, Alexei visited stopped in Cape Town in South Africa, Jakarta in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Canton and Shanghai in China.

On October 15, 1872, Alexei arrived in Nagasaki, Japan. He also visited other cities in Japan and met Emperor Meiji and his wife. On November 26, 1872, the Russian fleet set sail for Vladivostok, the base of the Russian Pacific fleet, and arrived there on December 5, 1872.  Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich traveled by train through Siberia back to St. Petersburg

Upon his return to Russia, Alexei bought an older building on the Moika River Embankment and had it redesigned and renovated. The Alexeevsky Palace became Alexei’s St. Petersburg home where he enjoyed entertaining and collecting art. Today the palace is the home of the St. Petersburg Music House where many classical concerts are held.

In the 1880s, Alexei conducted an open, long-term affair with Zinaida Dmtrievna Skobelyeva, the wife of his cousin Eugen Maximilianovich Romanowsky, 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg, Prince Romanowsky.  His cousin did not seem to mind as he was cash-poor and lived off Alexei’s generosity and even continued to live in Alexei’s palace after Zinaida’s death.

After Alexei was dismissed from his naval positions in 1905, he spent most of the time in Paris, France in a house he had bought in 1897. There he welcomed writers, painters, actors, and actresses. He loved living in Paris and was a familiar figure in restaurants and theaters. Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich died of pneumonia on November 27, 1908, in Paris at the age of 58. His body was returned to Russia on a funeral train. After his funeral, which was attended by his nephew Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, Nicholas’ wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and Nicholas’ mother Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Alexei was the first to be interred in the newly built Grand Ducal Mausoleum adjacent to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

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Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. (2018). Alexei Alexandrowitsch Romanow. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Alexandrowitsch_Romanow [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_Alexei_Alexandrovich_of_Russia [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].
• Fr.wikipedia.org. (2018). Alexis Alexandrovitch de Russie. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Alexandrovitch_de_Russie [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].
• Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Алексей Александрович. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 [Accessed 25 Feb. 2018].