by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Prince Dmitri Romanov, a great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, was one of the disputed pretenders to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family from 2014 – 2016. The Headship of the Russian Imperial Family and succession to the former Russian throne has been in dispute, mainly due to disagreements over whether marriages in the Romanov family were equal marriages – a marriage between a Romanov dynast and a member of a royal or sovereign house. Dmitri inherited the claim upon the death in 2014 of his elder brother Prince Nicholas Romanov who had two daughters but no sons.

The line from Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia to Dmitri and his brother Nicholas:  Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia → Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia → Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia → Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia → brothers Prince Nicholas Romanov and Prince Dimitri Romanov

Born on May 17, 1926, at the villa of his grandfather Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia in  Antibes, France, where his parents were in exile, Nicholas Romanovich Romanov was the elder of the two children and the elder of the two sons of Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia, a great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, and Countess Praskovia Sheremeteva, a member of the House of Sheremeteva, one of the wealthiest and most influential Russian noble families. Nicholas’ paternal grandparents were Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia and Princess Milica of Montenegro, daughter of King Nikola I of Montenegro. His maternal grandparents were Count Dmitry Sergeevich Sheremetev and Countess Irina Illarionovna Vorontsova-Dashkova.

Dmitri had one older brother:

• Prince Nicholas Romanov (1922 – 2014), married Countess Sveva della Gherardesca had two daughters

Dmitri spent the early years of his life in Antibes, France, where his family employed a Russian staff and a Russian nanny for Dmitri and his brother. The family used the Julian calendar and spoke Russian and French. Dmitri received a traditional Russian education, following the old Russian school curriculum. In 1936, his family moved to Italy, where Dmitri continued his education, and the family lived at the Quirinal Palace in Rome with Vittorio Emanuele III, King of Italy and his wife Elena of Montenegro, Queen of Italy, who was the sister of Nicholas’ paternal grandmother Princess Milica of Montenegro. After the Italian monarchy was abolished in 1946, Dmitri’s family left for Egypt.

Dmitri worked as a mechanic at the Ford plant in Alexandria, Egypt. After three months of training, he received a mechanic’s certificate and could assemble the engine of the car and the fuel and cooling systems. Dimitri worked at the plant for three years and then got a job as a car sales manager. In 1952, after the overthrow of King Farouk I of Egypt, Dimitri returned to Italy, where he worked in a travel agency and then in the shipping company Fratelli d Amico.

In 1958, Dimitri and his friends went on a trip to Scandinavia by car. In Helsingør, Denmark, he met Johanna von Kauffman (1936 – 1989). Dmitri and Johanna were married in Copenhagen, Denmark on January 21, 1959, and settled in a suburb of Copenhagen. After his marriage, Dmitri learned Danish, got a job at Danske Bank, and became vice president of the bank in 1975. He remained at Danske Bank until his retirement in 1993. At the suggestion of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Dmitri, who had been stateless, became a Danish citizen in 1979. Dmitri and Johanna had no children, and Johanna died from cancer in 1989.

At a reception in 1991, Dmitri met Dorrit Reventlow, born in 1942 in Brazil to Danish parents. Dorrit’s father was from a noble Danish-German family, Reventlow. Dorrit had her own translation company, known as Translator Dorrit Romanoff & Associates after her marriage to Dmitri. On July 28, 1993, Dmitri and Dorrit were married in Kostroma, Russia, the first time a Romanov had been married in Russia since the fall of the dynasty in 1918. Before the wedding, Dorrit converted to Russian Orthodoxy taking the name Feodora Alekseevna.

Prince Vsevolod Ioannovich, Dmitri’s father Prince Roman Petrovich, and Prince Andrei Alexandrovich, the heads of the Konstantinovichi, Nikolaevichi, and Mihailovichi branches of the Russian Imperial Family came up with the idea of a family association of the Romanovs. The purpose of the association would be to strengthen the links between the family and protect it from impostors. Some preliminary work had been done but the association had not yet been created when Prince Roman Petrovich died in 1978. After looking through his father’s papers, Dmitri’s brother Nicholas found that everything was in place for the creation of the Romanov Family Association. In 1979, the Romanov Family Association was officially formed with Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich (a grandson of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and the son of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, the sister of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia) as president and Dmitri’s brother Prince Nicholas Romanov as vice-president. When Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich died in 1980, his younger brother Prince Vasili Alexandrovich became president and Nicholas remained vice president. In 1989, after the death of Vasili Alexandrovich, Dmitri’s brother Nicholas was elected the president of the Romanov Family Association. The majority of male-line descendants of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia are members of the Romanov Family Association.

In 1924, after Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (son of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and brother of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia) whose body has never been found, was declared legally dead, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, a male-line grandson of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, declared himself Guardian of the Throne and later assumed the title Emperor of All Russia. Upon the death of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich in 1938, his son Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich was recognized as the Head of the Russian Imperial House by the Grand Dukes and Princes of Imperial Blood behind him in order of dynastic seniority and by the majority of the reigning houses of Europe.

The official position of the Romanov Family Association is that the rights of the family to the Russian throne were suspended when Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia abdicated for himself and for his son Tsarevich Alexei in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. Michael declined to accept the throne unless the people were allowed to vote for the continuation of the monarchy or for a republic. Of course, that vote never happened. Emperor Michael II, as he was legally pronounced by Nicholas II, did not abdicate but empowered the Provisional Government to rule. Michael’s “reign” did not end until his execution in 1918.

After the Russian Revolution, surviving members of the House of Romanov were in exile and settled in Europe with close or distant relatives. Because of their situation, many male Romanovs were unable to choose a spouse from European sovereign houses, and married women from noble and famous Russian families – Kurakins, Orlovs, Chavchavadze, Sheremetevs, Vorontsov-Dashkovs, Kutuzovs, Golitsyns. Regarding unequal marriages, Prince Nicholas Romanov said, “Our parents married commoners. So what? We have married commoners. Again, so what? There was nobody to ask us to renounce our rights, so we married without renouncing them, and we and our children still have rights to the throne of Russia.”

The headship of the House of Romanov has been contested since the death of the last undisputed male dynast Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia in 1992. Upon his death, competing claims over the headship of the House of Romanov emerged between Prince Nicholas Romanov and Grand Duke Vladimir’s daughter Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna. Prince Nicholas’ claim was based on a 1911 Ukase issued by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia that the equal marriage rule applied only to Grand Dukes (the sons and grandsons of an emperor) and that princes (the great-grandsons onward of an emperor) could marry women of “good standing” for their marriage to be dynastic and therefore transmit succession and dynastic rights to their children, and that women, namely Maria Vladimirovna, could succeed only on the total extinction of the male line. The Romanov Family Association recognized Prince Nicholas Romanov as the senior male dynastic representative and head of the family on December 31, 1992, in Paris, France and this was symbolically re-confirmed on Russian soil after the state burial of Emperor Nicholas II and his family in 1998. The Romanov Family Association further stated that they consider the marriage of Maria Vladimirovna’s parents to be unequal.

Pre-revolutionary Romanov house law allowed only those born of an equal marriage between a Romanov dynast and a member of a royal or sovereign house to be in the line of succession to the Russian throne. The throne could only pass to a female and through the female line upon the extinction of all legitimately-born, male dynasts. Maria Vladimiovna’s mother Princess Leonida of Bagration belonged to a family that had been kings in Georgia from medieval times until the early 19th century. However, no male line ancestor of Leonida had reigned as a king in Georgia since 1505 and her branch of the Bagrations, the House of Mukhrani, had been naturalized as non-ruling nobility of Russia after Georgia was annexed to the Russian empire in 1801. There is a precedent that a marriage between the House of Romanov and the House of Bragation-Mukhrani was unequal. The House of Bragation-Mukhrani did not possess sovereign status and was not recognized as an equal marriage by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia for the purpose of dynastic marriages at the time of the marriage of Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna of Russia and Prince Konstantine Bragation-Mukhrani in 1911, thirty-seven years before the marriage of Princess Leonida of Bragation-Mukhrani and Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia. The couple married but Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna was required to renounce her rights to the Russian throne and she was no longer a member of the House of Romanov because the marriage was unequal.

Neither Prince Dmitri nor his elder brother Prince Nicholas acted for the restoration of the monarchy or engage in dynastic activities such as the distribution of Russian imperial titles and orders. Maria Vladimirovna claims the status of de jure Empress of All Russia, styles herself as Grand Duchess and her son George Mikhailovich as Grand Duke and Tsesarevich, the title for the heir apparent, and actively distributes Russian imperial orders, all of which have been condemned by the Romanov Family Association.

The Romanov Family Association does not recognize Maria Vladimirovna as either the head of the family or the head of the House of Romanov because they consider the marriage of her parents to be unequal. With the exception of Maria Vladimirovna, Prince Nicholas was recognized by the rest of the family as head of the Romanov family. See The Romanov Family Association’s article Succession of the Imperial House of Russia for more information.

After Dmitri retired from Danske Bank in 1993, he became very active in charitable causes. Along with seven other Romanov princes, under the auspices of the Romanov Family Association, Dmitri met in Paris, France in June 1992, where it was decided to create the Romanov Fund for Russia. Dmitri visited Russia in July 1993 on a fact-finding mission to decide on which areas the charity should focus. Dimitri served as chairman of the Romanov Fund for Russia. He was also chairman of the Prince Dimitri Romanov Charity Fund, which he founded in 2006.

Prince Dmitri Romanov (left) and Prince Nicholas Romanov (second left) stand at the tomb of Empress Maria Feodorovna during a burial ceremony in the royal crypt at the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg on September 28, 2006

Because of the connections he had, Dmitri lobbied Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and President Vladimir Putin of Russia to allow the transfer of the remains of Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, from Denmark to Russia so she could be buried alongside her husband Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia. Dmitri and his brother Nicholas were among the Romanovs present on September 28, 2006, at a service for Empress Maria Feodorovna at Saint Isaac’s Cathedral and then at the Peter and Paul Cathedral, both in St. Petersburg, where she was interred next to her husband Emperor Alexander III.

Prince Dmitri Romanov attends a press conference on July 16, 2008 in St. Petersburg on the eve of the commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the murders of Nicholas II and his family

Upon the death of his elder brother Prince Nicholas Romanov in 2014, Dmitri inherited the claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family because his elder brother had no sons. Dmitri also became president of the Romanov Family Association. However, his claim to the headship and his term as president lasted only two years. In December 2016, Dmitri’s health suddenly and sharply declined, requiring hospitalization. On December 31, 2016, Prince Dmitri Romanov, aged 90, died in a hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark. With his death, the male line of the Nikolaevichi branch of the Russian Imperial Family, descendants of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia, son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, became extinct.

The funeral was held on January 10, 2017, at the Alexander Nevsky Russian Orthodox Church in Copenhagen, Denmark. Dmitri’s coffin was covered with the Romanov flag – black, yellow, and white with a double-headed eagle. Among the wreaths were ones from Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation. Dmitri was buried at Vedbæk Cemetery in Rudersdal, Denmark next to his first wife Johanna.

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Works Cited

• Dorrit Reventlow (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorrit_Reventlow (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
• Flantzer, Susan. (2016) Obituary – Prince Dimitri Romanovich Romanov (1926-2016), Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/prince-dimitri-romanovich-romanov-1926-2016/ (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
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• Funeral of Russian Prince Dimitri Romanovich (2017) The Siver Times | News and Analytics. Available at: https://sivertimes.com/funeral-of-russian-prince-dimitri-romanovich-his-widow-and-his-relatives-in-mourning/14579 (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
• Massie, Robert K. (1995) The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. New York: Random House
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• Романов, Димитрий Романович (2023) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%94%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
• Романов, Роман Петрович (2023) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 (Accessed: 10 August 2023).
• The Romanov Family Association. Available at: http://www.romanovfamily.org/index.html (Accessed: 10 August 2023).