| Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich | |
|---|---|
 Kirill in 1904 | |
| Head of the House of Romanov (disputed until 1929) | |
| Tenure | 31 August 1924[1] – 12 October 1938 |
| Predecessor | Nicholas II |
| Successor | Vladimir |
| Born | 12 October [O.S. 30 September] 1876 Tsarskoye Selo,Saint Petersburg,Russian Empire |
| Died | 12 October 1938(1938-10-12) (aged 62) Neuilly-sur-Seine,France |
| Burial |
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| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| House | Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov |
| Father | Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia |
| Mother | Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
| Religion | Russian Orthodox |
Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia (Russian:Кирилл Владимирович Романов;Kirill Vladimirovich Romanov; 12 October [O.S. 30 September] 1876 – 12 October 1938) was a Russian grand duke and a claimant to the defunct Russian throne from 1924 until his death. He was the son ofGrand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and a grandson of EmperorAlexander II.
Grand Duke Kirill followed a career in theImperial Russian Navy serving for 20 years in the Naval Guards. He took part in theRusso-Japanese War, barely surviving the sinking of thebattleshipPetropavlovsk atPort Arthur in April 1904. In 1905, he married his paternal first cousin,Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, defying Nicholas II by not obtaining his consent. They had two daughters and settled in Paris before they were allowed to visitRussia in 1909. In 1910 they moved to Russia. InWorld War I, Grand Duke Kirill was appointed Commander of the Naval Depot of the Guards in 1915. He achieved the rank of rear admiral in the Imperial Navy in 1916. During theFebruary Revolution of 1917, Kirill marched to theTauride Palace at the head of the Naval Guards and swore allegiance to theRussian Provisional Government. During the rule of the Provisional Governmental in the summer of 1917, Kirill escaped toFinland, where his wife gave birth to the couple's only son. In exile, they lived for some years among his wife's relatives inGermany and, from the late 1920s, on an estate they bought inSaint-Briac,France.
With the death of his cousins Nicholas II andGrand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, Kirill proclaimed himself to be the head of theHouse of Romanov and, as next in line to the throne, as "Guardian of the Throne" in 1924. Kirill proclaimed himself emperor-in-exile in 1926. He worked for the restoration of the monarchy from exile for the rest of his life, but his claims were contested by some factions of the monarchists in a division that continues today. He wrote a book of memoirs,My Life in Russia's Service, which was published after his death. His granddaughter,Maria Vladimirovna, is one of two claimants to the headship of the House of Romanov.
Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia was born on 12 October [O.S. 30 September] 1876 inTsarskoye Selo, at his parents' country residence, the Vladimir Villa.[2] His father wasGrand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, the third son of EmperorAlexander II of Russia. His mother was Grand DuchessMaria Pavlovna, née Duchess Marie Alexandrine of Mecklenburg. As a grandson in the male line to a Russian Tsar, he was titledGrand Duke. Kirill's parents, wealthy and sophisticated, were influential figures in Russian society. Grand Duke Vladimir was cultured and a great patron of the arts, while Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna was a renowned hostess in the Imperial capital.[3] Both had imposing personalities and left a big imprint in the lives of Kirill and his siblings.[4]
Grand Duke Kirill was six months old when his eldest brother, Alexander, died in childhood.[5] He also had three younger siblings:Boris,Andrei, andElena. The four surviving children were close to each other and to their parents, who were devoted to them.[5] Kirill Vladimirovich grew up between his parents' residence inSt Petersburg, theVladimir Palace, and their country retreat, the Vladimir Villa in Tsarskoye Selo.[6] Until he was fourteen years of age, Grand Duke Kirill was educated at home by private tutors. His education was supervised by General Alexander Daller, a retired artillery officer.[6] He received military training and religion instruction, and learned the languages spoken by the Romanovs:Russian,English,French andGerman. During breaks from his daily lessons, he trained in a gym with his brothers at the Vladimir Palace.[2] He traveled extensively with his parents visiting many European countries, including Spain.[7] A love for music and carpentry work remained in him for the rest of his life.[7] In 1911 he designed a propeller-driven sled that is considered to be one of the predecessors of theAerosani.[8]
From an early age, Grand Duke Kirill had a love for the sea and his parents encouraged him to follow a career in the Imperial Navy. At age fifteen, in the autumn 1891, he began his training for the naval college.[7] He began his naval career as a midshipman on the sail training shipMoriak in the summer of 1892.[9] He returned to his home in Tsarkoe Selo in the winter 1892 and spent the following year studying for his examinations at the naval college.[10] Between the summer 1893 and the autumn 1893, he was back at sea training in the shipPrince Pojarsky.[10] After joining his father on a long trip toSpain, in the summer 1894, he joined his third training ship, the frigateVovin.[10] He concluded his training on the shipVernyl on theBaltic Sea in the summer of 1895.[11] Grand Duke Kirill's uncle, TsarAlexander III, died on 1 November [O.S. 20 October] 1894 and Kirill's cousin,Nicholas II, became the new Tsar. During the coronation festivities inMoscow, Kirill fell in love with his paternal first cousin,Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They flirted with each other at the balls and celebrations, but Victoria Melita was already married toErnest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, the only brother of TsarinaAlexandra.
In 1898, he took a trip around the world. One of his last stops was in New York in January 1899. He was invited to the newly formed Russian-speaking club "Rousskaia Beceda" and elected Honorary President.[12]
After graduating from theNaval Cadet Corps andNikolaev Naval Academy, on 1 January 1904, Kirill was promoted toChief of Staff to theRussian Pacific Fleet in theImperial Russian Navy. With the start of theRusso-Japanese War, he was assigned to serve asFirst Officer on thebattleshipPetropavlovsk, but the ship was blown up by a Japanesemine atPort Arthur in April 1904.[13] Kirill barely escaped with his life, and was invalided out of the service suffering from burns, back injuries andshell shock.
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Grand Duke Kirill married his first cousin,Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on 8 October 1905 without any consent from Tsar Nicholas II.[1] Victoria's father wasAlfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the second eldest son ofQueen Victoria. Victoria's mother wasGrand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, a daughter of Tsar Alexander II and Kirill's paternal aunt.
The marriage caused a scandal in the courts of European royalty as Princess Victoria was divorced from her first husband, Grand DukeErnest Louis of Hesse, also her first cousin. The Grand Duke of Hesse's sister was TsarinaAlexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Nicholas II. The Tsarina already disliked her former sister-in-law and first cousin, being instrumental in leading the opposition to the marriage in the Russian court. She was not alone in her opposition, Dowager EmpressMaria Feodorovna was also appalled at the effrontery of Kirill's marriage. Shortly after Kirill's return to Russia, the Tsar stripped Kirill of his imperial allowance and title of Imperial Highness, hishonours and decorations, his position in the navy and then banished him from Russia,[14][15] though the style of Imperial Highness and title of Grand Duke was restored on 5 October 1905,[clarification needed] shortly after Kirill left Russia[16]
In 1908, after the death ofGrand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, Nicholas II restored Kirill to his rank of captain in the Imperial Russian Navy and his position as aide de camp to the emperor.[17] He was given the title Grand Duke of Russia[clarification needed] and from then on his wife was styled asHer Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna. From 1909–1912, Kirill served on the cruiserOleg and was its captain in 1912. In 1913, he joined the Maritime Division of the Imperial Guard and was made Commander of the Naval Guards in 1915.
Grand Duke Kirill and Princess Victoria Melita had three children:
All the children were born to the rank of Prince and Princess of Russia, not entitled to the rank of Grand Duke or Grand Duchess as they were not children or grandchildren in the male line of a Russian Emperor according to thePauline Laws. In accordance with these laws, Kirill raised his children to the rank of Grand Duke and Grand Duchess after assuming the position of senior male of the Romanov family, and Head of the Imperial House. This elevation was openly denounced by Grand DukeNicholas Nikolaevich when he published a private letter of the Dowager Empress in 1924 in which she stated that Kirill's assumption of the position was "premature." The Dowager Empress believed that her sons and grandsons might still be alive in Russia. Grand Duke Kirill wrote toGrand Duchess Xenia "Nothing can be compared to what I shall now have to endure on this account, and I know full well I can expect no mercy from all the malicious attacks and accusations of vanity."[18]
During theFebruary Revolution of 1917, Kirill participated in a plan to establish a constitutional monarchy alongsideGrand Duke Paul Alexandrovich andGrand Duke Michael Alexandrovich. Grand Duke Paul drafted a decree and planned to convince Nicholas to sign it when he disembarked from his train atTsarskoye Selo on 1 March 1917. Mikhail and Kirill were supposed to deliver it to the Duma and request its implementation.[19] However Kirill alone marched to theTauride Palace at the head of theGarde Equipage (Marine Guard) .[13][20] Kirill had authorised the flying of a red flag over his palace on Glinka Street in Petrograd and in correspondence with a Romanov relative claimed credit for "saving the situation by my recognition of the Provisional Government".[21] It is probable that he had hoped that by ingratiating himself with the Provisional Government he would be declaredregent after Nicholas II was made to abdicate.[22]
In June 1917 Kirill and Victoria moved toFinland and then escaped toCoburg in 1920. The exiled family subsequently moved to a small residence in the tiny French fishing village ofSaint-Briac-sur-Mer.
After a London court order in July 1924 recognized Grand Duke Michael to belegally dead, Kirill first declared himself "Guardian of the Throne" on 8 August 1924 and then on 31 August 1924 he assumed the titleEmperor of all the Russias.[1] By the laws of theRussian Empire he was the heir to the throne. However, his claim caused division within the family; his principal rival, and the only one to reject his claim was Grand DukeNicholas. In 1926 at a (Russian) monarchists congress in Paris the delegates voted to recognize Grand Duke Nicholas as their leader; however, with Nicholas's death in 1929 Kirill became the undisputed leader of the monarchists.[23]
After claiming the throne, Kirill became known as the "Soviet Tsar" because in the event of a restoration of the monarchy, he intended to keep some of the features of the Soviet regime.[13] While living in exile, he was supported by someémigrés who styled themselves "legitimists" (legitimisti, in Russian легитимисты), underlining the "legitimacy" of Kirill's succession. The opponents of Kirill were known as the "un-predetermined" (nepredreshentsi, in Russian непредрешенцы); they believed that in the wake of the radical revolutionary events that the convening of aZemsky Sobor was necessary in order to choose a new monarch for Russia.
Kirill found his strongest support among a group of legitimists known as theMladorossi, a Russian émigré monarchist organization that ultimately became heavily influenced byfascism – although it distanced itself from other fascist movements.[24] The organization began to exhibit pro-Soviet sympathies, arguing that the monarchy and the Soviet Bolshevik system could peacefully coexist (their slogan being "Tsar and the Soviets", a socialist version of the traditional "Tsar and People"). Kirill became more wary of the organization when he learned that its founder,Alexander Kazem-Bek, was spotted meeting with anOGPU agent. Kirill accepted Kazem-Bek's voluntary resignation.
Just before he died, he wrote his autobiography,My Life in Russia's Service – Then and Now which was published in 1939.[25]
Kirill was succeeded by his sonVladimir Kirillovich who styled himself "Grand Duke and head of the Russian Imperial House".
Kirill was buried at the ducal mausoleum atFriedhof am Glockenberg [de], Coburg.[26]: 47 Following theDissolution of the Soviet Union, the remains of Kirill and his spouse were transferred from Coburg to theGrand Ducal Mausoleum of thePeter and Paul Fortress inSt. Petersburg, Russia on 7 March 1995 after negotiations conducted by his granddaughter Maria Vladimirovna.
Among his activities he was close to members of theNazi Party, when he was in Germany. On one occasion, he is said to have paidErich Ludendorff "a sum of nearly half a million gold marks in 1922-1923 for German-Russian national matters".[27]
Knight of theOrder of St. Andrew, Russian Empire[28]
Knight of theOrder of the Elephant, Kingdom of Denmark –18 October 1928[29]
Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of the Redeemer, Kingdom of Greece –January 1901 – during a visit to Greece[30]
Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of the White Falcon, Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach –1896[31]
Knight Grand Cross of theRoyal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, Austro-Hungarian Empire –1897[32]
Knight Grand Cross of theLegion of Honour, French Republic –September 1897[33]
Knight Grand Cross of theLudwig Order, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine –12 October 1899[34]
Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of the Tower and Sword, Kingdom of Portugal –31 December 1903[35]
Knight Grand Cross of theOrder of Henry the Lion, Duchy of Brunswick –1907[36]
Knight of theOrder of the Seraphim, Kingdom of Sweden –13 July 1912[37]
Grand Cordon of theSupreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, Empire of Japan –8 July 1898[38]
Knight of theOrder of the Black Eagle, Kingdom of Prussia[28]
Knight of theOrder of the Rue Crown, Kingdom of Saxony[28]In the 1986 miniseriesAnastasia: The Mystery of Anna, SirRex Harrison portrayed Kirill as an embittered and dangerous enemy toAnna Anderson, who notoriously claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia.
Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia Cadet branch of theHouse of Oldenburg Born: 12 October 1876 Died: 12 October 1938 | ||
| Titles in pretence | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vacant Title last held by Nicholas II | — TITULAR — Emperor of Russia 31 August 19241 – 12 October 1938 Reason for succession failure: Empire abolished in 1917 | Succeeded by |
| Notes and references | ||
| 1.Almanach de Gotha (182nd ed.). Almanach de Gotha. 1998. p. 214. | ||
| Vladimirovichi line |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Nikolayevichi → Mikhaylovichi line | ||
| Leiningen line | Nicholas (since 2013) | |
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