1992-2022
An Imperial Anniversary
April 21, 1992
Death of HIH the Grand Duke Wladimir Kirillovich
in his 54th year as the Head of the Russian Imperial House.
&
Accession of HIH the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna.
April 21, 2022
30th Jubilee of the Accession of the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna
as Head of the Russian Imperial House.
Given today’s current political situation, it is difficult to imagine the extraordinary hope which greeted the fall of Communism in Russia. From his home at Saint-Briac, France, the Grand Duke Wladimir Kirillovich watched the political shifts carefully, and saw the beginning of the era which would be called “The Return of the Kings” in Eastern Europe. His nephew Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia was the first to return to visit his homeland in October 1991. The following month, at the invitation of Leningrad’s mayor Anatoly Sobchak, Grand Duke Wladimir and Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna made an historic return to the former imperial capital, as guests of honor at its “re-baptism” as St. Petersburg. In 1992, King Michael of Romania would return; and after being reissued Bulgarian citizenship in 1990, Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria would end his own exile in 1996.
This heady time was one of enormous promise, and after Wladimir Kirillovich‘s successful visit to Russia, the Grand Duke was invited to Miami, Florida, to speak before an important business group. The Grand Duke hesitated to make the trip, noting that it would be during Holy Week, and that long trips were strenuous for him. He felt, as he said to a friend, that he “should save himself for Russia,” but ultimately, it was decided that he would make the trip, would deliver his speech on Holy Wednesday on April 22, and would fly back to Paris that same day, in time for Holy Thursday and Pascha services in France.
He had planned to make a speech with the following words:
“…The problems that Russia faces are so enormous that there is room for all Russians, whether in Russia or abroad, to pitch in and lend a hand, each in his own way and each according to his own possibilities. This of course includes us… All these questions must, as I said before, be decided by the Russian people at the appropriate time and under the appropriate circumstances. It is difficult to predict what the ultimate decision might be.”[1]
The Grand Duke would never deliver that historic speech. The Grand Duke’s longtime friend and associate Peter Koltypin-Wallovskoy would later write:
“At 10:15 a.m., the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess, accompanied by the Ouroussoffs and Mr. [Brien] Horan, travelled by limousine to the Northern Trust Bank in Miami, where a press conference was scheduled. They arrived at about 10:40, and the Grand Duke was interviewed by two journalists from The Miami Herald and Miami Today. Shortly after 11:00 a.m., the Grand Duke and his party moved to an adjoining conference room for a press conference with other journalists.
During the press conference, the Grand Duke was seated at a table on a platform, with a microphone in front of him. The Northern Trust Bank had placed a Russian flag behind the table, and on the wall behind him was a massive double-headed eagle. He asked for Brien Horan to sit beside him, in the event he was unable to hear any questions that might be posed from the audience.
The first two or three questions were posed to him in Spanish, one of the five languages which he spoke perfectly. Some five minutes into the press conference, he completed an eloquent answer to a question, describing the large volume of mail he received from young people in Russia and observing that the future of Russia lay in the hands of its youth. Seconds after completing his answer, the Grand Duke’s head slumped gently to the right, almost as if he had simply fallen asleep. It was approximately 11:20 a.m.
His Imperial Highness was quickly removed from his chair and placed on the floor. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation was administered, and a team of paramedics arrived minutes later. He was transported by ambulance to nearby Mercy Hospital, a medical institution run by an order of Roman Catholic nuns. One of the hospital’s top surgeons, Dr. Centurion, spent nearly two hours struggling valiantly but unsuccessfully to revive the Grand Duke. During this time, Sister Elizabeth Worley, chairman of the hospital’s board of trustees, protected the Grand Duchess from the journalists who had arrived at the scene, and an Orthodox priest was summoned to administer the last rites. His Imperial Highness was officially pronounced dead at about 1:54 p.m. [2]
The Grand Duke died on Holy Tuesday of Orthodox Holy Week. To repose in the Lord during Holy Week is considered a great blessing within the Orthodox Church.
According to the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, “Upon the demise of an Emperor, His Heir accedes to the Throne by virtue of the law of succession itself, which confers this right upon Him. The accession of the Emperor to the Throne is reckoned from the day of the demise of His Predecessor.”[3] Following the law to the letter, the Grand Duchess Maria, as the only dynastic successor and new Head of the Russian Imperial House, would issue her declaration, though not immediately. The Grand Duchess stated that Holy Week took precedence over any Dynastic duties, and so she withheld the public declaration for several days until after Pascha on April 26, 1992, naming her heir as required by the fundamental laws.[4]
Christ is Risen!
I offer my heartfelt greetings to all Our Countrymen on the Bright Feast of the Resurrection of Christ!
This year, My Family and I, and all Russians who are true to their great historical past, were struck with heavy grief. On Holy Tuesday, six days before the Bright Feast of Christ’s Resurrection, it pleased the Lord God to call unto Him My beloved Father, Grand Duke Wladimir Kirillovich, the Head of the Russian Imperial House. Humbly bowing down before the will of the Most High, I am certain that the Russian people share with Me the feeling of enormous loss.
My ever-memorable Grandfather, the Sovereign Kirill Wladimirovich, after the defeat of the White forces in the civil war, considered it His duty as the Senior Member of the House of Romanoff, to guarantee the future of the Dynasty so that at any time, whether soon or in the distant future, there would always be an Heir who in every way preserves His Russian character, is fully conscious of His rights and obligations, and always is ready to fulfill His duty. This is especially important now, when the people of our Fatherland, having cast off the Communist regime that was thrust upon them, can hope to return to their true historical path.
It was precisely in this spirit that My Grandfather and My Grandmother, the Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna, raised My Father, and after Their deaths, that My Father and My Mother, Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna, raised Me.
The great historical contribution that My Father, Grand Duke Wladimir Kirillovich, who now rests with God, made consists of the fact that, in the course of His fifty years as Head of the Russian Imperial House, He—just as Grand Prince Simeon Ioannovich bequeathed to His heirs during the days of the Tatar Yoke—never “let the candle go out.”
Having preserved this candle lit until the present day, My Father has given it to Me. And now, true to My oath, I will carry it forward.
With this Paschal address, I announce that, in complete accordance with the will of My Father and in profound recognition of the holy duty that has been laid before Me, I accept my succession, according to the inherited supreme authority that has come down to Me and that belongs to the Head of the Russian Imperial House, all of the rights and obligations that belong to Me by virtue of the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire and the Statute on the Imperial Family.
Following the example of My Parents, I have over the past eleven years raised My beloved Son, Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich in the full knowledge of His rights and obligations, so that He would be ready to fulfill the duty before Him to Our great Fatherland.
As a faithful Daughter of the Holy Orthodox Church, I turn to Her, beseeching Her blessing and support in the difficult work that has been handed to Me. I promise and swear to maintain piously the Orthodox Faith and to preserve inviolable the truth of all its doctrines.
In these present uneasy days, I will, as My ever-memorable Father declared at the end of last year, promote in every way possible every constructive aspiration of our countrymen and resolutely discourage all undertakings and ventures that are destructive for the country.
I solemnly declare that I will do this not only from a desire to occupy Our Ancestral Throne, but also out of a sense of responsibility before God and My people, a sense of responsibility that has always been My guide.
Bending My knees before the Almighty Creator, I pray that He will send Me strength for the service of My people.
(The original is signed in Her Imperial Highness’ own hand:)
Maria[5]
After extraordinary efforts on the part of President Yeltsin and the Grand Duchess Leonida, the remains of the Grand Duke were returned to St. Petersburg, and, after a funeral overseen by His Holiness the Patriarch Alexey II of Moscow and All-Russia, the Grand Duke was buried in the Fortress of Sts Peter and Paul, near to the tomb of his Grandfather, Grand Duke Wladimir Alexandrovich.
In 2018, during a speech she gave in New York, Grand Duchess Maria spoke movingly of her first visit to Russia:
“I too had always dreamed of visiting Russia. Six months after my parents’ ‘ visit, I made my own first trip there. This turned out to be rather a bittersweet experience. On the one hand, it was my father who was opening the door for me to go to Russia. And on the other hand, unfortunately, I was there, as the new head of the dynasty, to walk behind my father’s coffin.
My father’s funeral liturgy was presided over by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church and was attended by thousands of mourners -- for a man whose existence was not even known in Russia just a few short years earlier, this was an extraordinary event.
My father was the first person to be buried in the mausoleum of the Imperial Family since before the Revolution.
This is how the 75-year long exile of our dynasty came to an end. Shortly afterwards, Russian citizenship was restored to my mother Grand Duchess Leonida, my son Grand Duke Gueorgui, and myself.
In the last 25 years, I have made more than 70 trips to Russia and to other countries that were once part of the Russian Empire. As to these other countries, my goal has been to stress our shared history and traditions as brother countries that spilled their blood for the same empire during many periods of history.”[6]
Today is indeed a bittersweet anniversary as we note the passing of one Head of the Imperial House, and the accession of another, but we honour both Grand Duke Wladimir and Grand Duchess Maria for accepting their roles in history with humility and grace.
We thank them for always speaking of peace when others speak of war, for urging cooperation when others sow dissent, and for upholding tradition and the rule of law, when others create confusion and chaos.
To His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Wladimir Kirillovich,
His Majesty Emperor Vladimir III Kirillovich,
Eternal Memory!
To Her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna,
Her Majesty Empress Maria I Vladimirovna,
Many Years!
[1] For the full speech click HERE
[2] For the full account, click HERE
[3] Fundamental Laws [1906]; Chap. 4.; Art. 53
[4] Op. Cit., Art 54,: “In the Decree on the accession to the Throne, the Rightful Heir to the Throne is also announced, if the person to whom lawful succession belongs, exists.”
[5] For the full letter click HERE
[6] For the full account of this visit, and the Grand Duchess’ full speech click HERE