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148-532: In 1900, he began an affair with the famous ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska , becoming the third grand duke to fall for her. Grand Duke Andrei followed a military career and graduated from the Alexandrovskaya Military Law academy in Saint Petersburg in 1905. He occupied different military positions during the reign (1894-1917) of Emperor Nicholas II, but with no particular distinction. He became

296-662: A senator in 1911 and was appointed to the rank of Major General in the Imperial Russian Army in 1915. He took part in World War I , but was away from real combat, spending most of the conflict at Russia's General Staff headquarters or in idle time in ceremonial positions in Saint Petersburg. In February 1917, shortly before the fall of the Russian monarchy, Grand Duke Andrei left Saint Petersburg to join his mother in Kislovodsk in

444-449: A German princess, Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst . In 1762, shortly after the death of Empress Elizabeth, Sophia, who had taken the Russian name Catherine upon her marriage, overthrew her unpopular husband, with the aid of her lover, Grigory Orlov . She reigned as Catherine the Great . Catherine's son, Paul I , who succeeded his mother in 1796, was particularly proud to be a great-grandson of Peter

592-408: A Russian biopic from director Alexei Uchitel released in 2017. Mathilde Kschessinska Mathilde-Marie Feliksovna Kschessinska ( Polish : Matylda Maria Krzesińska ; Russian : Матильда Феликсовна Кшесинская ; 31 August [ O.S. 19 August] 1872 – 6 December 1971), also known as Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya upon her marriage, was a Polish–Russian ballerina from

740-492: A blue-and-white striped undershirt. In mid-2007, a Russian archaeologist announced a discovery by one of his workers. The excavation uncovered the following items in the two pits which formed a "T": Geneticists used a combination of autosomal STR and mtDNA sequencing to detect relationships between the family members' remains. Using a DNA sample from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh , a grand nephew of Alexandra, scientists matched his DNA to her and her children's remains found in

888-514: A cousin of Nicholas II, had been exiled to the Caucasus in 1916 for his part in the murder of Grigori Rasputin, and managed to escape Russia. Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaievich , who was supreme commander of Russian troops during World War I prior to Nicholas II taking command, along with his brother, Grand Duke Peter , and their wives, Grand Duchesses Anastasia and Militza , who were sisters, and Peter's children, son-in-law, and granddaughter also fled

1036-815: A drawing master for the children. Grand Duke Andrei grew up in opulence. The family's main residence was the Vladimir Palace in Saint Petersburg , but as his father preferred country life, they spent the greater part of the year at the Vladimir Villa, a mansion in Tsarskoye Selo, returning to Saint Petersburg during the winter. The children also accompanied their parents in many of their travels abroad to France , Germany and Italy , staying in Coburg , Paris , Berlin and Schwerin . Following Romanov tradition, Andrei

1184-513: A fatalist, he had the highest conception of his mission. He considered it his duty to remain in Russia, even and especially after the Revolution, and would never leave his native land; he thus paid with his own life and the lives of his family for his faith in the Russian people." Scandals and rumours around her name developed and persisted as she engaged in a sexual relationship with two Grand Dukes of

1332-681: A favorite grandchild of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Though a kind-hearted man, he tended to leave intact his father's harsh policies. For her part the shy Alix, who took the name Alexandra Feodorovna, became a devout convert to Orthodoxy as well as a devoted wife to Nicholas and mother to their five children, yet avoided many of the social duties traditional for Russia's tsarinas. Seen as distant and severe, unfavorable comparisons were drawn between her and her popular mother-in-law, Maria Fyodorovna. When, in September 1915, Nicholas took command of

1480-463: A few months later in September 1920. During her illness in Contrexéville , Grand Duke Andrei was reunited for the first time in exile with his three siblings. At his mother's death the last obstacle for Grand Duke Andrei to marry Mathilde Kchessinska was lifted. Andrei asked permission to marry Kchessinska from his brother Grand Duke Kirill and from Empress Maria Feodorovna, widow of Tsar Alexander III,

1628-648: A future democratic referendum, effectively terminating the Romanov dynasty's rule over Russia. After the February Revolution, Nicholas II and his family were placed under house arrest in the Alexander Palace . While several members of the imperial family managed to stay on good terms with the Provisional Government and were eventually able to leave Russia, Nicholas II and his family were sent into exile in

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1776-471: A godfather of Grand Duke Vladimir's only child, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia , the current claimant to the headship of the Romanov family. Despite poor health, Grand Duke Andrei lived to be 77 years old, an age reached by few in the Romanov family. He surpassed the longevity record held by his great-uncle, Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich , by almost six months. On the morning of 31 October 1956, Grand Duke Andrei worked in his study. Having finished

1924-540: A granddaughter of Queen Victoria and elder sister of Tsarina Alexandra . Following the 1905 assassination of her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich , Elisabeth Feodorovna had ceased living as a member of the Imperial family and took up life as a serving nun , but was nonetheless arrested and slated for death with other Romanovs. They were thrown down a mine shaft into which explosives were then dropped, all being left to die there slowly. The bodies were recovered from

2072-735: A letter on his typewriter, he felt dizzy, went to his bed to lie down and died suddenly. He was buried wearing the uniform of the Horse Guard Artillery Brigade, which he had commanded during World War I. Matilda Kshesinskaya died in Paris in December 1971 at age 99. Prince Vladimir Romanovsky-Krasinsky died unmarried and childless in France in 1974, three years after his mother. Actor Grigory Dobrygin portrayed Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich in Matilda ,

2220-418: A life of leisure enjoying the privileges provided by his royal status and wealth. Grand Duke Andrei was tall, shy and good looking. Efforts to make him settle down with a bride of royal blood were unsuccessful. He was very close to his mother, particularly after the death of his father in 1909, and manipulated her to his advantage, which his siblings resented. His pliable personality made him more popular within

2368-456: A mass grave in the fortress, though Dmitry Konstantinovich's body was collected by his former adjutant, rolled up in a rug and taken away for a private burial in the garden of a house in Petrograd, where he remains to this day. In 1919, Maria Feodorovna, widow of Alexander III, and mother of Nicholas II, managed to escape Russia aboard HMS  Marlborough , which her nephew, King George V of

2516-588: A member of the family. At the outbreak of World War II , under the threat of a German bombing of Paris, Grand Duke Andrei and his family moved to Le Vésinet . They returned after three months. Following the German invasion of France, they fled by train to Grand Duke Boris's Villa in Biarritz . On 26 June, the Germans reached Biarritz and after three months the two couples decided to return to Paris. As their only source of income

2664-548: A mistress, Princess Catherine Dolgorukova . Immediately following the death of his wife in 1880 he contracted a morganatic marriage with Dolgorukova. His legitimization of their children, and rumors that he was contemplating crowning his new wife as empress, caused tension within the dynasty. In particular, the grand duchesses were scandalized at the prospect of deferring to a woman who had borne Alexander several children during his wife's lifetime. Before Princess Catherine could be elevated in rank, however, on 13 March 1881 Alexander

2812-664: A number of organization; he headed the Guard association, the Russian Historical and Genealogical Society in Paris and he was an honorary chairman of the union of Izmaylovsky Regiment . Andrei Vladimirovich also kept in touch with his Romanov relatives, particularly his brothers and many of his cousins, such as Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich , Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, Jr. and Prince Gabriel Constantinovich . His relationship with his sister, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia , became strained as she never truly accepted Mathilde as

2960-411: A result of multiple bullet wounds. Then the dark room where the family was held filled with smoke and dust from the spray of bullets. With limited visibility, the gunmen shot blindly, often hitting the ceiling and walls, creating more dust and debris. As a result of this many of the gunmen themselves became injured. Alexandra was soon shot in the head by military commissar Peter Ermakov and was killed. It

3108-760: A result of the February Revolution ended 304 years of Romanov rule and led to the establishment of the Russian Republic under the Russian Provisional Government in the lead-up to the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. In 1918, the Bolsheviks executed Nicholas II and his family. Of the House of Romanov's 65 members, 47 survivors went into exile abroad. In 1924, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich ,

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3256-598: A second time as a representative of Russia, and he was appointed senator in that year. In the summer of 1912, Grand Duke Andrei fell ill with bronchitis. Fearing the onset of tuberculosis, he was sent to recuperate in the Crimea , staying in a palace owned by his cousin Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich . His convalesce was long and he went to Saint-Maurice, Switzerland and to the South of France to recuperate. He liked

3404-554: A time, she left Petrograd on 13 July, ending up in Kislovodsk with Andrei. On 30 December 1919, the White Army no longer able to stop the Red invasion of the Caucasus , she was forced to flee to Novorossiysk . On 13 February 1920, Mathilde, Vova, and Andrei boarded a Lloyd Triestino liner, leaving behind Russian soil. On 12 March 1920, they arrived at Kschessinska's Cap-d'Ail villa. On 30 January 1921, Andrei and Mathilde were married at

3552-507: A title and although she possessed an extraordinary gift as a dancer, she obtained it primarily via her influence at the Imperial Russian Court. According to Mathilde, "My whole artistic career, until Fokine's appearance, had been linked with Petipa. The success of his ballet, La Fille du Pharaon , which was, as I have said, to become my favourite role, had at once assured him fame in Russia. where he came on May 24th 1847, invited by

3700-452: Is Dimitri Konstantinovich . The family fortunes soared when Roman's daughter, Anastasia Zakharyina , married Ivan IV ("the Terrible") on 3 (13) February 1547. Since her husband had assumed the title of Tsar of all Russia , which derives from the title " Caesar ", on 16 January 1547, she was crowned as the first tsaritsa of Russia. Her mysterious death in 1560 changed Ivan's character for

3848-466: Is one Andrei Kobyla , attested around 1347 as a boyar in the service of Simeon , the prince of Moscow and grand prince of Vladimir . Later generations assigned to Kobyla an illustrious pedigree . An 18th-century genealogy claimed that he was the son of the Old Prussian prince Glanda Kambila, who came to Russia in the second half of the 13th century, fleeing the invading Germans . Indeed, one of

3996-602: Is she, it is Anastasia, without a doubt." Although he had not been particularly close to Nicholas II and his family, Grand Duke Andrei had met the real Anastasia in family events through the years and while in service as aide-de-camp to the Tsar. Grand Duke Kirill protested his brother's support of Anderson and discouraged his intervention in the case. In later years, Grand Duke Andrei recanted his opinion. Grand Duke Andrei and his wife liked to gamble. Mathilde dissipated their remaining wealth, including her own valuable jewel collection, at

4144-603: The Danish royal family . In 2005 the coffin with her remains was moved to the Peter and Paul Fortress to be buried beside that of her husband. The transfer of her remains was accompanied by an elaborate ceremony at Saint Isaac's Cathedral officiated by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow . Descendants and relatives of the Dowager Empress attended, including her great-grandson Prince Michael Andreevich , Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia ,

4292-587: The Decembrist revolt . Nicholas I fathered four sons, educating them for the prospect of ruling Russia and for military careers, from whom the last branches of the dynasty descended. Alexander II , son of Nicholas I, became the next Russian emperor in 1855, in the midst of the Crimean War . While Alexander considered it his charge to maintain peace in Europe and Russia, he believed only a strong Russian military could keep

4440-589: The February Revolution . The diaries of Grand Duke Andrei, written while he was in the army in the North-Eastern Front (1914–1915) and in Petrograd (1916–1917), have survived at the State Archives of the Russian Federation . They have been published, giving a detailed description of the period between the murder of Rasputin and the abdication of Nicholas II. In July 1917, Mathilde and her son escaped

4588-525: The February Revolution . It was here that Vladimir Lenin addressed a meeting of the Petrograd Bolsheviks, shortly after he had addressed the crowd at the Finland Station when he returned in 1917. She claims in her memoirs that they turned it into a kind of pigsty; she went to court to recover it, only to receive death threats; once when she passed near the house, she saw Alexandra Kollontai in

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4736-536: The French Riviera in particular and in the spring of 1913, he bought a property for Mathilde in Cap-d'Ail . The villa, located on the edge of a mountain looking the sea, was named Alam, Mathilde's nickname, Mala, spelled backwards. Upon his return to Russia, Andrei Vladimirovich took part in the 300th anniversary celebrations of the Romanov dynasty. Villa Alam was completely remodeled and Andrei and Mathilde returned there in

4884-736: The Moscow Patriarchate . In 2006 representatives of the Romanov family were making plans to re-inter the remains elsewhere. The town became a place of pilgrimage to the memory of Elisabeth Fyodorovna, whose remains were eventually re-interred in Jerusalem . On 13 June 1918, Bolshevik revolutionary authorities killed Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia and Nicholas Johnson (Michael's secretary) in Perm . Their bodies have never been found. The exiled Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich of Russia died on 26 January 1918, with some rumors claiming he

5032-683: The Romanov family than his siblings. He was a good friend of his cousin Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich , who was a year older. In February 1900, Grand Duke Andrei was invited by his brothers, Grand Dukes Kirill and Boris, to a dinner party at the house of Mathilde Kschessinska . Kschessinska, the Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Mariinsky Theatre , was the eldest among the three most prominent dancers of her generation at

5180-464: The Romanov family : Sergei Mikhailovich and his cousin Andrei Vladimirovich . In 1902, she gave birth to a son, Vladimir (known as "Vova"; 30 June 1902 – 23 April 1974); he was later titled H.S.H. Prince Romanovsky-Krasinsky, but said that he never knew for sure who his father was. However, Kschessinska wrote that "Serge knew for certain that he was not the father of the child" and that she

5328-513: The Russian Orthodox Church . On 5 February 1929, they moved into their Paris home. On 26 March, Kschessinska opened a dance studio, and gave her first lesson on 6 April. By 1933, she had over a hundred students, boys and girls. Her students included Tatiana Riabouchinska , Pearl Argyle , Andrée Howard , June Brae , Margot Fonteyn , Pamela May , Harold Turner , and Diana Gould . On 14 June 1936, she made her last appearance on stage at

5476-567: The Russian nobility at the time) under the reigning Rurik dynasty , which became extinct upon the death of Feodor I in 1598. The Time of Troubles , caused by the resulting succession crisis , saw several pretenders and imposters lay claim to the Russian throne during the Polish-Lithuanian occupation . On 21 February 1613, the Zemsky Sobor elected Michael Romanov as tsar , establishing

5624-576: The Zemsky Sobor on every important issue. This strategy proved successful. The early Romanovs were generally accepted by the population as in-laws of Ivan the Terrible and viewed as innocent martyrs of Godunov's wrath. Mikhail was succeeded by his only son Alexei , who steered the country quietly through numerous troubles. Upon Alexei's death, there was a period of dynastic struggle between his children by his first wife Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya ( Feodor III , Sofia Alexeyevna , Ivan V ) and his son by his second wife Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina ,

5772-607: The de facto rule of Russia. Upon the childless death of Feodor, the 700-year-old line of the Rurik dynasty came to an end, ushering in the Time of Troubles . After a long struggle, the party of Boris Godunov prevailed over the Romanovs, and the Zemsky Sobor elected Godunov as tsar in 1598. Godunov's revenge on the Romanovs led to all the family and its relations being deported to remote corners of

5920-407: The royal equerries . One of Kobyla's sons, Feodor , a member of the boyar duma of Dmitry Donskoy , was nicknamed Koshka ("cat"). His descendants took the surname Koshkin, then changed it to Zakharin (descendants of Zakhary ), which later split into two branches: Zakharin-Yakovlev (descendants of Yakov Zakharyevich) and Zakharin-Yuriev (descendants of Yuri Zakharyevich). During the reign of Ivan

6068-462: The 1850s, practically all marriages had been with German princelings. His son Alexander III succeeded Alexander II. This tsar, the second-to-last Romanov emperor, was responsible for conservative reforms in Russia. Not expected to inherit the throne, he was educated in matters of state only after the death of his older brother, Nicholas. Lack of diplomatic training may have influenced his politics as well as those of his son, Nicholas II. Alexander III

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6216-560: The 1930s, he was regarded as Soviet sympathizer by the Nazi Party. Vladimir was arrested by the Gestapo and held in a camp for Russian emigrants in Compiègne . Grand Duke Andrei visited German Police Headquarters multiple times and asked for help from Russian émigrés to get his son released, but neither group would help him. Vladimir was finally freed after 119 days in detention. During the war years

6364-679: The British fleet in the Black Sea, offered to take Grand Duke Andrei and his mother to Constantinople, but Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna again flatly refused. After spending seven months in Anapa, they moved back to Kislovodsk on 7 June, as the city had been liberated by the White Army. They remained there until December 1919. By Christmas, the Red army was to retake Kislovodsk and Grand Duke Andrei, with his mother and their entourage, decided to go to Novorossiysk , on

6512-498: The Duke of Fife. In the early 1990s, considerable controversy surrounded the accuracy of mtDNA heteroplasmy for DNA testing particularly for distant relatives. In an attempt to refine the results of the investigation, Russian authorities exhumed the remains of Nicholas II's brother, George Alexandrovich. George's remains matched the heteroplasmy of the remains found in the grave indicating that they did in fact belong to Tsar Nicholas II. After

6660-579: The Empress who was in charge of the government in Saint Petersburg while Nicholas II was away at Russia's war military headquarters. In December 1916, the Assassination of Rasputin , in which Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich and Prince Felix Yusupov took part, divided the Romanov family further. Grand Duke Andrei joined many of his relatives in asking for clemency for the culprits. As Andrei's ambitious mother intrigued against Empress Alexandra, Nicholas II ordered

6808-538: The Florentine style. As upkeep of the mansion was expensive, it was sold to Grand Duke Andrei for 400 thousand rubles. Grand Duke Andrei seldom lived there. He made few significant changes, even leaving the Von Derviz coats of arms and monograms in place. However, he had some of the rooms redecorated. He used the building to entertain, offering concerts, plays and dinners, and as a gathering place for artists, particularly from

6956-591: The German House of Oldenburg that reigned in Denmark ), ascended to the throne and adopted his Romanov mother's house name. Officially known as members of the House of Romanov, descendants after Elizabeth are sometimes referred to as Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov . Paul I became the first heir to the throne, having the title tsesarevich , which was subsequently used for all main heirs. The abdication of Nicholas II on 15 March [ O.S. 2 March] 1917 as

7104-523: The Grand Duchess to leave Saint Petersburg for a time. After a short personal interview with Nicholas II, on 16 January 1917, Grand Duke Andrei left for Kislovodsk , a spa resort town in the Caucasus . He arrived there on January 21. His mother followed him a month later, claiming health reasons. Andrei Vladimirovich and his mother were in Kislovodsk when Nicholas II was forced to abdicate at the outbreak of

7252-411: The Great, although his mother's memoirs arguably insinuate that Paul's natural father was, in fact, her lover Sergei Saltykov , rather than her husband, Peter. Painfully aware of the hazards resulting from battles of succession, Paul decreed house laws for the Romanovs – the so-called Pauline Laws , among the strictest in Europe – which established semi-Salic primogeniture as the rule of succession to

7400-504: The Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov line were: Paul (1796–1801), Alexander I (1801–1825), Nicholas I (1825–1855), Alexander II (1855–1881), Alexander III (1881–1894), and Nicholas II (1894–1917). Constantine Pavlovich and Michael Alexandrovich , both morganatically married, are occasionally counted among Russia's emperors by historians who observe that the Russian monarchy did not legally permit interregnums . Yet neither

7548-597: The Horse Guard Artillery brigade. This meant little, as the batteries were scattered in many places and were not a united command. He was made Major-General on 15 August 1915 and served as chief of the 130th Infantry Regiment of Kherson. His military duties were ill-defined and he was able to spend much idle time in Saint Petersburg retaking his social life with Kschessinska. Empress Alexandra took notice, complaining to Nicholas II. By 1916, Grand Duke Andrei joined other members of his family in political intrigues against

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7696-550: The Imperial Russian Ballet, along with Anna Pavlova and Tamara Karsavina . Grand Duke Andrei sat next to his hostess during the dinner, but accidentally spilt a glass of red wine on her. Mathilde, attracted to the young grand duke, seven years her junior, took the incident as good omen. Age 28, Mathilde had been the mistress of Tsar Nicholas II when he was heir to the throne. Their two-year relationship ended with Nicholas' engagement to his future wife, Alexandra . Mathilde

7844-579: The Imperial Theaters, succeeding Ivan Vsevolozhsky . Although he held the position only until 1902, he achieved a great deal. Sergei Diaghilev was his immediate assistant, and Wolkonsky entrusted him with the publication of the Annual of the Imperial Theaters in 1900. During this period, new names appeared in the theaters, such as painters Alexandre Benois , Konstantin Somov , and Léon Bakst . However, Wolkonsky

7992-439: The Imperial Theatres Administration, after working several years in Spain." Petipa created roles for Kschessinskaya in Le Réveil de Flore (1894), Mlada (1896), Le Roi Candaule (1897), Les Aventures de Pélée (1897), The Pharaoh's Daughter (1898), Harlequinade (1900), and La Esmeralda (1899). She also mastered the 32 fouettés en tournant of Legnani. In 1899, Prince Serge Wolkonsky became Director of

8140-428: The Princess Aspicia in The Pharaoh's Daughter wearing her diamond encrusted tiaras and chokers. She could be ruthless with rivals. One of her more famous miscalculations occurred when, while pregnant in 1902, she coached Anna Pavlova in the role of Nikya in La Bayadère . She considered Pavlova to be technically weak and believed that the young ballerina could not upstage her. Instead, audiences became enthralled with

8288-439: The Romanovs as Russia's second reigning dynasty. Michael's grandson, Peter I , who took the title of emperor and proclaimed the Russian Empire in 1721, transformed the country into a great power through a series of wars and reforms. The direct male line of the Romanovs ended when Elizabeth died childless in 1762. As a result, her nephew Peter III , an agnatic member of the House of Holstein-Gottorp (a cadet branch of

8436-442: The Romanovs' rule". After the February Revolution of 1917, a special decree of the Provisional Government of Russia granted all members of the imperial family the surname "Romanov". The only exceptions, the morganatic descendants of the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (1891–1942), took (in exile) the surname Ilyinsky . The Romanovs share their origin with two dozen other Russian noble families. Their earliest common ancestor

8584-402: The Russian Church in Cannes. According to Kschessinska, the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia "bestowed on me the name of Krassinsky, with the title of Princess. Our son was similarly given the title Prince." In 1935, due to their morganatic marriage , they added the name Romanovsky, and Romanov was added to their son's. On 9 December 1925, she converted from the Catholic Church to

8732-440: The Russian Crown in 1613. The large memorial church " on the blood " has been built on the spot where the Ipatiev House once stood. Nicholas II and his family were proclaimed passion-bearers by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000. In Orthodoxy, a passion-bearer is a saint who was not killed because of his faith, like a martyr; but who died in faith at the hand of murderers. In the mid-1970s, Dr. Alexander Avdonin discovered

8880-448: The Russian North and Urals , where most of them died of hunger or in chains. The family's leader, Feodor Nikitich Romanov , was exiled to the Antoniev Siysky Monastery and forced to take monastic vows with the name Filaret . The Romanovs' fortunes again changed dramatically with the fall of the Godunov dynasty in June 1605. As a former leader of the anti-Godunov party and cousin of the last legitimate tsar, Filaret Romanov's recognition

9028-440: The Russian crown, Filaret's 16-year-old son Mikhail Romanov , then living at the Ipatiev Monastery of Kostroma , burst into tears of fear and despair. He was finally persuaded to accept the throne by his mother Kseniya Ivanovna Shestova , who blessed him with the holy image of Our Lady of St. Theodore . Feeling how insecure his throne was, Mikhail attempted to emphasize his ties with the last Rurikid tsars and sought advice from

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9176-479: The Siberian town of Tobolsk by Alexander Kerensky in August 1917. In the October Revolution of 1917 the Bolsheviks ousted the Provisional Government. In April 1918, the Romanovs were moved to the Russian town of Yekaterinburg , in the Urals, where they were placed in the Ipatiev House . Here, on the night of 16–17 July 1918, the entire Russian Imperial Romanov family, along with several of their retainers, were executed by Bolshevik revolutionaries, most likely on

9324-435: The South of France until 1929, when they moved permanently to Paris, where Kschessinska opened a ballet school. After World War II , Grand Duke Andrei lived in reduced circumstances. At his death at age 77 he was the last surviving Russian grand duke born in Imperial Russia . Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia was born on 14 May [ O.S. 2 May] 1879 in Tsarskoye Selo , at his parents country residence,

9472-457: The Terrible , the former became known as Yakovlev ( Alexander Herzen among them), whereas the grandchildren of Roman Yurievich Zakharyin-Yuriev changed their name to "Romanov". Feodor Nikitich Romanov was descended from the Rurik dynasty through the female line. His mother, Evdokiya Gorbataya-Shuyskaya, was a Rurikid princess from the Shuysky branch, daughter of Alexander Gorbatyi-Shuisky . A ninth generation ancestor of Michael I Romanov

9620-426: The United Kingdom, had sent to rescue her, at the urging of his own mother, Queen Alexandra, who was Maria's elder sister. After a stay in England with Queen Alexandra , she returned to her native Denmark, first living at Amalienborg Palace , with her nephew, King Christian X , and later, at Villa Hvidøre . Upon her death in 1928 her coffin was placed in the crypt of Roskilde Cathedral , the burial site of members of

9768-400: The Vladimir Villa. He was the youngest of the four Vladimirovich sons; a sister followed him a few years later, and the eldest of his brothers died in early childhood. His father, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich , a brother of Tsar Alexander III of Russia , was a renowned patron of the arts. Andrei's mother, Grand Duchess, Maria Pavlovna , née a Princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin , was one of

9916-434: The Whites had lost the civil war. General Wrangel warned them that the situation was beyond hope and they decided to leave. They departed on the Italian liner Semiramisa bound for Venice on 3 March 1920. Grand Duke Andrei and his mother were the last Romanovs to leave Russia for exile. Once in Venice , Grand Duke Andrei accompanied his mother via train to Cannes , on the French Riviera . Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna died

10064-605: The age of 64, a jubilee performance at Covent Garden . In 1960, she published an autobiography titled Souvenirs de la Kschessinska (published in English as Dancing in St. Petersburg: The Memoirs of Kschessinska ). In later years, she suffered financial difficulties but remained indomitable. She died in Paris at the age of 99. She is buried at the Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois Russian Cemetery with her husband and son. Romanov The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff ; Russian : Рома́новы , romanized :  Romanovy , IPA: [rɐˈmanəvɨ] )

10212-425: The army at the front lines during World War I, Alexandra sought to influence him toward an authoritarian approach in government affairs even more than she had done during peacetime. His well-known devotion to her injured both his and the dynasty's reputation during World War I, due to both her German origin and her unique relationship with Rasputin , whose role in the life of her only son was not widely known. Alexandra

10360-401: The autumn 1901, they visited several Italian cities, including Venice , Padua , Florence and Rome . Grand Duke Sergei tolerated their affair, remaining a close and loyal friend to the famous ballerina, but the relationship between the two grand dukes grew tense. They tried to avoid each other and maintain civility while sharing the same woman for almost two decades. The relationship between

10508-516: The ballet world . The palace has survived to the present. Since 1959, it houses a registry office for weddings. Grand Duke Andrei could neither openly live together with Mathilda nor did there exist the possibility of contracting a morganatic marriage with her. Only in their trips to Western Europe did they enjoy enough freedom to live as a couple, but even abroad they were forced to maintain appearances. The couple always had to travel with his Aide-de-camp , Feodor Von Kube, and when Grand Duke Andrei

10656-504: The bodies were exhumed in June 1991, they remained in laboratories until 1998, while there was a debate as to whether they should be reburied in Yekaterinburg or St. Petersburg. A commission eventually chose St. Petersburg. The remains were transferred with full military honor guard and accompanied by members of the Romanov family from Yekaterinburg to St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg remains of

10804-520: The child resembled. In 1903, Grand Duke Andrei purchased his own palace. The building, located at 28 English embankment, previously belonged to Baron Pavel von Derviz, a Russian railway magnate of noble German descent. After the Baron's death, his son inherited the mansion, and in 1889, enlisted the architect Alexander Krasovsky (1848–1918), who would work for Nicholas II in the Winter Palace, to remodel it in

10952-455: The children's clothing. Following the murder of the Romanov family, the Bolsheviks made several attempts to dispose of the bodies. Initially the bodies were to be thrown down a mineshaft; however, the location of the disposal site was revealed to locals, causing them to change the location. Instead of a burial, the Bolsheviks decided to burn two of the corpses of the former royal family. Burning

11100-404: The city. On the evening of 23 September, Grand Duke Andrei, his brother Boris and Colonel Von Kube returned to the city on horseback, accompanied by Kabardian nobles who had protected them. During their time hiding in the mountains, Andrei allowed his beard to become overgrown. He so closely resembled his first cousin, Nicholas II, that he was mistaken for the Tsar. Under threat of the Red advance,

11248-473: The corpses proved to be difficult as it took significant time, so the group resorted to disfiguring the pair with acid. In a rush, the Bolsheviks threw nine additional bodies into a grave and covered them with acid as well. The bodies of the Romanovs were then hidden and moved several times before being interred in an unmarked pit where they remained until the summer of 1979 when amateur enthusiasts disinterred and re-buried some of them, and then decided to conceal

11396-569: The country. Elizaveta Mavrikievna , widow of Konstantin Konstantinovich , escaped with her daughter Vera Konstantinovna and her son Georgii Konstantinovich , as well as her grandson Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich and her granddaughter Princess Catherine Ivanovna to Sweden. Her other daughter, Tatiana Konstantinovna , also escaped with her children Natasha and Teymuraz , as well as her uncle's aide-de-camp Alexander Korochenzov. They fled to Romania and then Switzerland. Gavriil Konstantinovich

11544-506: The day after the killing at Yekaterinburg of the tsar and his family, members of the extended Russian imperial family met a brutal death by being killed near Alapayevsk by Bolsheviks. They included: Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia , Prince Ioann Konstantinovich of Russia , Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia , Prince Igor Konstantinovich of Russia and Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley , Grand Duke Sergei's secretary Varvara Yakovleva, and Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna ,

11692-443: The death of Peter. His only son to survive into adulthood, Tsarevich Alexei , did not support Peter's modernization of Russia. He had previously been arrested and died in prison shortly thereafter. Near the end of his life, Peter managed to alter the succession tradition of male heirs, allowing him to choose his heir. Power then passed into the hands of his second wife, Empress Catherine , who ruled until her death in 1727. Peter II ,

11840-495: The disturbance in Saint Petersburg, joining Andrei in Kislovodsk. However, they could not live together as Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna was reluctant to acknowledge their presence. Andrei found separate living arrangements for them while he settled in a different villa with his brother Grand Duke Boris, who arrived in September. During the period of the provisional government Grand Duke Andrei, his brother and mother lived mostly undisturbed in Kislovodsk, protected by local Cossacks. In

11988-402: The doors to the chickens' coops, and at the first note of the music, the chickens went flying about the stage. Nevertheless, Preobrajenska continued her variation to the end and received a storm of applause, much to Kschessinskaya's chagrin. Through her aristocratic connections, she managed to amass much valuable property in the Russian capital. The Bolsheviks took over her house soon after

12136-500: The eastern coast of the Black Sea, where General Peter Wrangel had kept the Reds away. From there it was easier to go abroad. One day before their departure from Kislovodsk, Von Kube, Andrei's faithful adjutant, died of typhus . The group of refugees arrived in Novorossiysk on 17 January. They lived in their railway car, which was parked in the station. By February, it became obvious that

12284-564: The few members of the Romanov family to believe the claim of Anna Anderson , the best known of several impostors who claimed to be the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Anastasia . Anderson was on the eve of her first trip to the United States when Grand Duke Andrei visited her once in January 1928. After their meeting, he said it was "an unshakable recognition … Her face is striking in its profound sadness, but when she smiles, it

12432-535: The find until the fall of communism. In 1991 the grave site was excavated and the bodies were given a state funeral under the nascent democracy of post-Soviet Russia, and several years later DNA and other forensic evidence was used by Russian and international scientists to make accurate identifications. The Ipatiev House has the same name as the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma , where Mikhail Romanov had been offered

12580-518: The frail, long-limbed, ethereal-looking Pavlova, and a star was born. Another notorious incident occurred in 1906 when Kschessinskaya's coveted role of Lise in the Petipa/Ivanov production of La Fille Mal Gardée was given to Olga Preobrajenska . One feature of this production was the use of live chickens on stage. Before Preobrajenska's variation in the Pas de ruban of the first act, Kschessinskaya opened

12728-418: The future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in 1894, shortly after the death of his father, Alexander III. Mathilde wrote of the future tsar: "He had an incomparable knowledge of the Russian language and its subtleties, and found the greatest pleasure in reading the Russian classics. In addition to being erudite and speaking several languages perfectly he was aided in his reading by an extraordinary memory. By nature

12876-404: The future Peter the Great . Peter ruled from 1682 until his death in 1725. In numerous successful wars he expanded the tsardom into a huge empire that became a major European power. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political system with a modern, scientific , Europe-oriented , and rationalist system. New dynastic struggles followed

13024-495: The future Tsar Nicholas II. After the performance, the tsar said "Be the glory and the adornment of our ballet." On 22 April 1890, she made her debut on stage, performing the same dance for Papkov's farewell, and graduated at the age of 18. In 1896, she obtained the rank of Prima ballerina of the Saint Petersburg Imperial Theatres. The maestro Marius Petipa did not consent to Kschessinskaya receiving such

13172-527: The gambling tables of Monte Carlo —the remainder was lost in the crash of 1929. With their resources completely depleted, they sold their house in Cap-d'Ail on 4 February 1929, moving the next day to Paris. There they settled in the Villa Molitor in the 16th arrondissement of Paris . To provide for the family, Kschessinska opened a ballet school in 1929 in a studio close to their house. Her students included some of

13320-511: The garden wearing one of her overcoats. The Bolsheviks were forced to abandon the house only after the July Days . Kschessinska was forced to flee her home, with her son Vova, on 27 February 1917 ( Old Style ), during the February Revolution. Her home occupied by the Bolsheviks, Kschessinska wrote "And Petrograd was a nightmare world of arrests, the assassination of officers in the streets, arson, pillage". After staying with friends and relatives for

13468-482: The greatest classical ballet dancers of all time: Margot Fonteyn , Alicia Markova , André Eglevsky , Tatiana Riabouchinska and Tamara Toumanova . During the 1930s, Mathilde's ballet school prospered, allowing Grand Duke Andrei and his family to have a comfortable, yet modest life. He helped with the financial part of running the school, but continued to be afflicted by ill health due to his weak lungs. Although uninterested in politics, he continued to actively support

13616-405: The greatest hostesses of Russian society. Both parents doted on their four surviving children: Andrei, his two eldest brothers, Kirill and Boris , and their younger sister, Grand Duchess Elena . The children were educated at home. Raised by British nannies, English was Andrei's first language. He also learned Russian , French and German . His father, who loved art, assigned Léon Bakst as

13764-466: The imperial family were moved by a formal military honor guard cortege from the airport to St Petersburg's Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral where they (along with several loyal servants who were killed with them) were interred in a special chapel near the tombs of their ancestors. At the cathedral, the remaining Romanov family hosted a formal funeral for Tsar Nicholas II attended by many relatives and representatives from nations worldwide. On 18 July 1918,

13912-555: The last living member of the Imperial Family born before the fall of the dynasty, and Prince Dmitri and Prince Nicholas Romanov . Among the other exiles who managed to leave Russia were Maria Feodorovna's two daughters, the Grand Duchesses Xenia Alexandrovna and Olga Alexandrovna , with their husbands, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and Nikolai Kulikovsky , respectively, and their children, as well as

14060-509: The leaders of the Old Prussian rebellion of 1260–1274 against the Teutonic order was named Glande. This legendary version of the Romanov's origin is contested by another version of their descent from a boyar family from Novgorod. His actual origin may have been less spectacular. Not only is Kobyla Russian for " mare ", some of his relatives also had as nicknames the terms for horses and other domestic animals, thus suggesting descent from one of

14208-475: The marriage was considered harmonious, producing six children and acquiring for Alexander the reputation of being the first tsar not known to take mistresses. His eldest son, Nicholas, became emperor upon Alexander III's death due to kidney disease at age 49 in November 1894. Nicholas reputedly said, "I am not ready to be tsar...." Just a week after the funeral, Nicholas married his fiancée, Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt ,

14356-455: The mass grave containing the remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, and three of five Romanov children. The remains were found near Old Koptyaki road in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The grave contained 44 heavily degraded bone and tooth fragments. Avdonin released his discovery following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 prompting investigation by the Russian government. The area where

14504-507: The mass grave. The investigation concluded that Alexei and one Romanov daughter were missing. Experts continue to debate which daughter was missing from the grave as United States experts believe the missing child is Anastasia while Russian experts believe it to be Maria. Many believe that the two children that were not discovered in the grave managed to escape Russia before persecution. As for Nicholas II, scientists used mtDNA heteroplasmy using samples from Princess Xenia Cheremeteff Sfiri and

14652-588: The mine by the White Army in 1918, who arrived too late to rescue them. Their remains were placed in coffins and moved around Russia during struggles between the White and the opposing Red Army . By 1920 the coffins were interred in a former Russian mission in Beijing , now beneath a parking area. In 1981 Grand Duchess Elisabeth was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia , and in 1992 by

14800-625: The monarchs of the Russian Empire claimed the throne as relatives of Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia (1708–1728), who had married Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp . Thus they were no longer Romanovs by patrilineage , belonging instead to the Holstein-Gottorp cadet branch of the German House of Oldenburg that reigned in Denmark. The 1944 edition of the Almanach de Gotha records

14948-437: The name and patronymic Vladimir Sergeievich. No surname was made public until 1911. The birth certificate showed Sergei as the father. Grand Duke Sergei was devoted to the child, looking after mother and son until his exile and subsequent execution following the fall of the Russian monarchy. The question of Vladimir's paternity remains unresolved. However, most sources attribute the paternity to Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, whom

15096-416: The name of Russia's ruling dynasty from the time of Peter III (reigned 1761–1762) as "Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov". However, the terms "Romanov" and "House of Romanov" often occurred in official references to the Russian imperial family. The coat-of-arms of the Romanov boyars was included in legislation on the imperial dynasty, and in a 1913 jubilee , Russia officially celebrated the "300th Anniversary of

15244-530: The noble Krzesiński family. Her father, Feliks Krzesiński, and her brother both danced in Saint Petersburg . She was a mistress of the future Emperor Nicholas II of Russia before his marriage, and later the wife of his cousin Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia . She was known in the West as Mathilde Kschessinska or Matilda Kshesinskaya . Kschessinskaya was born at Ligovo, near Peterhof ,

15392-619: The northern Caucasus . He remained in the Caucasus for the next three years. After the October Revolution of November 1917 he was briefly arrested along with his brother, Grand Duke Boris , but they escaped. He departed revolutionary Russia in March 1920, being the last grand duke to leave for exile. In 1921, he married his longtime mistress, Mathilde Kschessinska (1872-1971), and recognized her son Vladimir (or "Vova") as his own. The couple lived in

15540-405: The orders of Vladimir Lenin . Late on the night of 16 July, Nicholas, Alexandra, their five children and four servants were ordered to dress quickly and go down to the cellar of the house in which they were being held. There, the family and servants were arranged in two rows for a photograph they were told was being taken to quell rumors that they had escaped. Suddenly, a dozen armed men burst into

15688-440: The others, including the young and frail tsarevich, would not die either from multiple close-range bullet wounds or bayonet stabs. The gunmen then proceeded to shoot each family member once again. Even so, two of the daughters were still alive 10 minutes later, and were then bludgeoned with the butt of a rifle ending their lives. Later it was discovered that the bullets and bayonet stabs had been partially blocked by diamonds sewn into

15836-463: The peace. By developing the Imperial Russian Army , giving increased autonomy to Finland , and freeing the serfs in 1861 he gained much popular support for his reign. Despite his popularity, however, his family life began to unravel by the mid-1860s. In 1864, his eldest son, and heir, Tsarevich Nicholas , died suddenly. His wife, Empress Maria Alexandrovna , who suffered from tuberculosis, spent much of her time abroad. Alexander eventually turned to

15984-612: The persistent legend that Anastasia, the youngest Romanov daughter, had survived the execution of her family. Of the several "Anastasias" that surfaced in Europe in the decade after the Russian Revolution, Anna Anderson, who died in the United States in 1984, was the most convincing. In 1994, however, scientists used DNA to prove that Anna Anderson was not the tsar's daughter but a Polish woman named Franziska Schanzkowska. Initially, gunmen shot at Nicholas who immediately fell dead as

16132-687: The populace and dethroned Ivan VI in a coup d'état , supported by the Preobrazhensky Regiment and the ambassadors of France and Sweden. Ivan VI was murdered in 1764 while imprisoned, and his parents died from illness during their captivity. The Holstein-Gottorps of Russia retained the Romanov surname, emphasizing their matrilineal descent from Peter the Great, through Anna Petrovna (Peter I's elder daughter by his second wife). In 1742, Empress Elizabeth of Russia brought Anna's son, her nephew Peter of Holstein-Gottorp , to St. Petersburg and proclaimed him her heir. In time, she married him off to

16280-449: The property was under Mathilda's name. To have cash flow and maintain his standard of living, Andrei sold the jewel collection that he inherited from his mother, and he mortgaged Villa Alam. For the next years, they settled there, entertaining lavishly and living in style. They traveled frequently to Paris, and Grand Duke Andrei was also active in philanthropic work, raising funds for Russian refugees. In 1928, Grand Duke Andrei became one of

16428-529: The reforms the more liberal Alexander II had pushed through were reversed. Alexander had inherited not only his dead brother's position as Tsesarevich , but also his brother's Danish fiancée, Princess Dagmar. Taking the name Maria Feodorovna upon her conversion to Orthodoxy, she was the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and the sister of the future kings Frederik VIII and George I of Greece , as well as of Britain's Queen Alexandra , consort of Edward VII . Despite contrasting natures and backgrounds,

16576-466: The remains were found was near the old Koptyaki Road, under what appeared to be double bonfire sites about 70 meters (230 ft) from the mass grave in Pigs Meadow near Yekaterinburg. The archaeologists stated that the bones were from a boy who approximately between the ages of 10 and 13 years at the time of his death and of a young woman who was between the ages of 18 and 23 years old. At the time, Anastasia

16724-405: The room and gunned down the imperial family in a hail of gunfire. Those who were still breathing when the smoke cleared were stabbed to death. The remains of Nicholas, Alexandra and three of their children were excavated in a forest near Yekaterinburg in 1991 and positively identified two years later using DNA analysis. The Crown Prince Alexei and one Romanov daughter were not accounted for, fueling

16872-682: The senior members of the Romanov family; both gave their consent. Kchessinska, who was of Polish descent, was Catholic, but they were married in a simple ceremony in the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Michael Archangel in Cannes on 30 January 1921. Grand Duke Andrei also claimed paternity of Kchessinska's son, Prince Vladimir Romanovsky-Krasinsky (30 June 1902 – 23 April 1974). In 1924, Grand Duke Andrei's eldest brother, Kirill, proclaimed himself Tsar in exile. Grand Duke Andrei supported his brother's claim. Grand Duke Kirill granted to Mathilde and her son

17020-582: The senior surviving male-line descendant of Alexander II of Russia by primogeniture , claimed the headship of the defunct Imperial House of Russia. Legally, it remains unclear whether any ukase ever abolished the surname of Michael Romanov (or of his subsequent male-line descendants) after his accession to the Russian throne in 1613, although by tradition members of reigning dynasties seldom use surnames, being known instead by dynastic titles ("Tsarevich Ivan Alexeevich", "Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich", etc.). From January 1762 [ O.S. December 1761],

17168-513: The small group of Romanovs and their entourage were forced to flee two days later, in constant fear for their lives. The white General Viktor Pokrovsky advised them to move to Anapa , a coastal city on the Black Sea . Pokrovsky arranged a train and an escort of his own men and they left Pyatigorsk on 19 October, with their own companions and other local refugees. At Touapse , a trawler was waiting. They docked at Anapa on 4 November 1918. From there it

17316-405: The son of Tsarevich Alexei, took the throne but died in 1730, ending the Romanov male line. He was succeeded by Anna I , daughter of Peter the Great's half-brother and co-ruler, Ivan V . Before she died in 1740 the empress declared that her grandnephew, Ivan VI , should succeed her. This was an attempt to secure the line of her father, while excluding descendants of Peter the Great from inheriting

17464-605: The spouses of Xenia's elder two children and her granddaughter. Xenia remained in England, following her mother's return to Denmark, although after their mother's death Olga moved to Canada with her husband, both sisters dying in 1960. Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna , widow of Nicholas II's uncle, Grand Duke Vladimir , and her children the Grand Dukes Kiril , Boris and Andrei , and Kiril's wife Victoria Melita and children, also managed to flee Russia. Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich ,

17612-455: The spring of 1914, hoping to stay there every spring. However, they were able to return only six years later, after the war, having survived the Russian revolution. With the outbreak of World War I , Grand Duke Andrei joined the staff at the headquarters of the Northwestern front fighting against Germany. It was a relatively safe position away from combat. On 7 May 1915, he became Commander of

17760-470: The state hotel in that city. Commissar Leshchinsky, the Bolshevik commander sent to execute them, had once been a struggling artist in Paris before the war whom Boris had assisted by purchasing some of his paintings. Leshchinsky recognized him and saved the two brothers from the firing squad. Risking his own life, he returned them to their villa the next day. Likely to be rearrested, the two grand dukes escaped to

17908-497: The summer of 1918, the Bolsheviks tightened their grip on members of the former Imperial family. They ordered the assassination of those imprisoned, including Tsar Nicholas II and his immediate family. Seventeen of the 52 Romanovs living in Russia were executed during the red terror . The Bolsheviks arrested Grand Duke Andrei and his brother Boris on the night of 7 August 1918, after a systematic search of their villa. They were taken to Pyatigorsk with other prisoners and detained at

18056-452: The surrounding mountains with Andrei's aide-de-camp , Colonel Von Kube, on 26 August 1918. They lived in hiding for almost five weeks, moving from village to village under protection of the Kabarda tribes, sheltered by Colonel Andrei Shkuro and his band of loyal Cossacks. Kislovodsk was captured by the White Army and the Bolsheviks fled in late September, allowing the two brothers to return to

18204-426: The three complicated further as Mathilde became pregnant. The baby was conceived around mid-September 1901, before her trip to Italy. On 18 June 1902, Mathilde gave birth to a son. Both grand dukes were at first convinced they were the child's father. After the Revolution, Kschessinska and Grand Duke Andrei maintained that Andrei was the father. The child, who became known within the family by his nickname, Vova, received

18352-437: The throne and later died without leaving a son. His brother, crowned Nicholas I , succeeded him on the throne in 1825. The succession was far from smooth, however, as hundreds of troops took the oath of allegiance to Nicholas's elder brother, Constantine Pavlovich who, unbeknownst to them, had renounced his claim to the throne in 1822, following his marriage. The confusion, combined with opposition to Nicholas' accession, led to

18500-463: The throne, requiring Orthodox faith for the monarch and dynasts, and for the consorts of the monarchs and their near heirs. Later, Alexander I , responding to the 1820 morganatic marriage of his brother and heir, added the requirement that consorts of all Russian dynasts in the male line had to be of equal birth (i.e., born to a royal or sovereign dynasty). Paul I was murdered in his palace in Saint Petersburg in 1801. Alexander I, succeeded him on

18648-403: The throne. Ivan VI was only a one-year-old infant at the time of his succession to the throne, and his parents, Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna and Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick , the ruling regent, were detested for their German counselors and relations. As a consequence, shortly after Empress Anna's death, Elizabeth Petrovna , a legitimized daughter of Peter I, managed to gain the favor of

18796-425: The titles of Princess and Prince Romanovsky-Krasinsky, with the treatment of Serene Highness. During their first years in exile, Grand Duke Andrei and his wife were in better economic circumstances than many of the other Romanovs. Tsar Nicholas II made his relatives sell their properties abroad, repatriating their fortune to Russia during the war, but Grand Duke Andrei was able to keep Villa Alam in Cap-d'Ail because

18944-746: The two other surviving grand dukes died; Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich in 1942 and Grand Duke Boris in 1943. With the death of his brother Boris, Andrei became the last surviving Grand Duke of the Romanov dynasty who had been born in Imperial Russia. Grand Duke Andrei's last years were marked by increasingly frail health and straitened financial circumstances. He was forced to sell his house, renting instead. To balance his finances, he relied partially on economic aid from his nephew, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich . Some of Mathilde's friends and former pupils, such as Margot Fonteyn and Diana Gould Menuhin , also provided financial help. In 1954, Grand Duke Andrei became

19092-429: The worse. Suspecting the boyars of having poisoned his beloved, Ivan launched a reign of terror against them. Among his children by Anastasia, the eldest, Ivan , was murdered by the tsar in a quarrel; the younger Feodor , a pious but lethargic prince, inherited the throne upon his father's death in 1584. Throughout Feodor's reign (1584–1598), the tsar's brother-in-law, Boris Godunov , and his Romanov cousins contested

19240-518: The youngest child of Adam-Felix Kschessinsky ( Polish : Adam Feliks Krzesiński ) and Julie Kschessinska. Her Polish father arrived in St. Petersburg on 30 January 1853, one of five Warsaw mazurka dancers invited by the tsar, where he performed in the Mariinsky Theatre . In 1880, at the age of eight, Mathilde entered into the Imperial Theatre School , where she studied under Yekaterina Vazem , and

19388-495: Was assassinated by a hand-made bomb hurled by Ignacy Hryniewiecki . Slavic patriotism, cultural revival, and Panslavist ideas grew in importance in the latter half of this century, evoking expectations of a more Russian than cosmopolitan dynasty. Several marriages were contracted with members of other reigning Slavic or Orthodox dynasties ( Greece , Montenegro , Serbia ). In the early 20th century two Romanov princesses were allowed to marry Russian high noblemen – whereas, until

19536-568: Was "full of my love for André and my son." She goes on to state "We decided to call our son Vladimir, in honor of the Grand Duke Vladimir, André's father." While Kschessinskaya could be charming and kind to colleagues, such as the young Tamara Karsavina , she was not afraid to use her connections with the tsar to strengthen her position in the Imperial Theatres. She was known to sew valuable jewels into her costumes and came on stage as

19684-407: Was 17 years old while Maria was 19 years. Their brother Alexei would have been 14 within two weeks of his murder. Alexei's elder sisters Olga and Tatiana were 22 and 21 years old at the time of the murder respectively. The bones were found using metal detectors and metal rods as probes. Also, striped material was found that appeared to have been from a blue-and-white striped cloth; Alexei commonly wore

19832-530: Was a carrier of the gene for haemophilia , inherited from her maternal grandmother , Queen Victoria. Her son, Alexei , the long-awaited heir to the throne, inherited the disease and suffered agonizing bouts of protracted bleeding, the pain of which was sometimes partially alleviated by Rasputin's ministrations. Nicholas and Alexandra also had four daughters: the Grand Duchesses Olga , Tatiana , Maria and Anastasia . The six crowned representatives of

19980-489: Was ambitious and eager to maintain her close relationship with the Romanovs. She subsequently began a long time affair with Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia , Nicholas and Andrei's first cousin once removed. As she was not in love with Sergei, but enjoyed his company and protection, Mathilde pursued a relationship with Grand Duke Andrei, the third Romanov to become involved with her. By July 1900, they became lovers, traveling together that summer to Biarritz and Paris. In

20128-469: Was crowned; Constantine renounced the throne before his brother's death, and Michael deferred his acceptance of the throne, effectively ending the monarchy. The February Revolution of 1917 resulted in the abdication of Nicholas II in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich . The latter declined to accept imperial authority save to delegate it to the Provisional Government pending

20276-739: Was destined to follow a military career. While his eldest brother, Kirill, chose the Imperial navy, Andrei and his brother Boris joined the infantry. Andrei began his military service in August 1898 as lieutenant in the Guards Horse-Artillery Brigade. In 1899 he was appointed adjutant, graduating in 1902 from the Mikhailovsky Artillery School. He then studied law at the Alexandrovskaya Military Law Academy at Potseluev bridge, graduating with honors in 1905. He

20424-627: Was easy to escape abroad by boat. However, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna was determined to remain in Russia hoping that the White movement would prevail and Andrei's brother, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, would be installed as Tsar. It was suggested that Grand Duke Andrei should join the White army of General Anton Denikin , but the grand duchess opposed the idea, stating that members of the Romanov family should not take part in Russia's civil war. Against his mother's wishes, Grand Duke Boris left with his future wife, Zinaida Rashevskaya, in March 1919. On 29 March, Admiral Edward Hobart Seymour , commander of

20572-485: Was forced to send in his resignation after clashing with Kschessinskaya when she refused to wear the panniers of an 18th-century costume in the ballet La Camargo . In 1901, he was succeeded by V.A. Teliakovsky. Kschessinskaya had been involved with the future Nicholas II from 1890, when he was Tsesarevich and she was age 17, having met him in the presence of his family after her graduation performance. The relationship continued for three years, until Nicholas married

20720-509: Was inspired by Virginia Zucchi . On 30 August 1881, she danced for the first time on the Grand Theatre stage in the ballet Don Quixote . Kschessinskaya's graduation exam dance was the pas de deux from La Fille Mal Gardée , to the music of Stella Confidenta . The performance was attended by Tsar Alexander III of Russia and the rest of the Imperial family, including the Tsesarevich ,

20868-576: Was invited to events, Mathilda could not join him. As a member of the Russian Imperial family, Grand Duke Andrei took some duties of representation. He was an honorary member of the Russian Imperial Fire prevention society and chairman of the committee for the construction of a memorial to Emperor Alexander II in St. Petersburg. In 1907, he went to Bulgaria on an official visit with his father. In 1911, he visited Ferdinand I of Bulgaria for

21016-544: Was killed by the Bolsheviks. His morganatic son Prince Artemy Nikolayevich Romanovsky-Iskander was killed the following year in the Russian Civil War . In January 1919, revolutionary authorities killed Grand Dukes Dmitry Konstantinovich , Nikolai Mikhailovich , Paul Alexandrovich and George Mikhailovich , who had been held in the prison of the Saint Peter and Paul Fortress in Petrograd . The four Grand Dukes were buried in

21164-413: Was not until after the room had been cleared of smoke that the shooters re-entered to find the remaining imperial family still alive and uninjured. Maria attempted to escape through the doors at the rear of the room, leading to a storage area, but the doors were nailed shut. The noise produced as she rattled the doors attracted the attention of Ermakov. Some of the family were shot in the head, but several of

21312-401: Was physically impressive, being not only tall (1.93 m or 6'4", according to some sources), but of large physique and considerable strength. His beard hearkened back to the likeness of tsars of old, contributing to an aura of brusque authority, awe-inspiring to some, alienating to others. Alexander, fearful of the fate which had befallen his father, strengthened autocratic rule in Russia. Some of

21460-525: Was sought by several impostors who attempted to claim the Rurikid legacy and throne during the Time of Troubles . False Dmitriy I made him a metropolitan , and False Dmitriy II raised him to the dignity of patriarch . Upon the expulsion of the Polish army from Moscow in 1612, the Zemsky Sobor offered the Russian crown to several Rurikid and Gediminian princes, but all declined the honour. On being offered

21608-533: Was subsequently listed by the military-judicial department. The military law Academy tasked him with translating foreign military criminal statutes. He was appointed lieutenant in 1902, captain in 1906 and colonel on 18 April 1910. In March 1911, he was appointed senator. From 1911 to 26 February 1914, he commanded the Life Guards 2nd Don Cossack artillery. In spite of his appointments, Grand Duke Andrei did not have much interest in his military career. Instead, he pursued

21756-432: Was the ballet school, they had to keep it opened during the war years in spite of difficulties and decreased attendance. Prince Vladimir Romanovsky-Krasinsky (who took a Westernized version of his mother's Polish name, Krzesińska, hyphenated with the adjective version of his father's name) was spoiled by his parents and never had an independent life. Because he had been a member of the "pro-Soviet " Union of Young Russians in

21904-425: Was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible , the first crowned tsar of all Russia . Nicholas II , the last Emperor of Russia , and his immediate family were executed in 1918, but there are still living descendants of other members of the imperial house. The house consisted of boyars in Russia (the highest rank in

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