My Life in Russia’s Service:

An Introduction to the annotated Online Edition

As our first effort in “The Kirill Project: 2024”,  Russian Legitimist is pleased to present a new annotated edition of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich’s memoirs “My Life in Russia’s Service Then and Now.”  The original work is an important one, and little known.  This new online edition, with new annotations, will help the contemporary reader, whether historian or amateur, by citing numerous primary and secondary sources useful for the understanding of the memoir’s context.

On 22 September 1938, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia completed the eighth chapter of the recollections which he had been working on since the death of his wife, Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna, in 1936.  He was admitted to the American Hospital near Paris later that week, and died surrounded by his family on 12 October.  It would be the last chapter he would write of what would become his posthumous memoir “My Life in Russia’s Service: Then and Now.”

The manuscript was inherited by his son, the Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, who accordingly prepared it for publication with the assistance of a family friend, barrister, and later translator, Prince Leonid Lieven[1].  The book had been written in English, one of the three languages that the Grand Duke Kirill spoke fluently[2], and together, Prince Lieven and Grand Duke Vladimir prepared the manuscript for British publication.  Neither the original draft nor a final manuscript appears to have survived.  We do not know what form the original text took. The book was edited by Prince Lieven, although we do not know entirely to what extent.  Because of this, the final published text is all that survives.[3]  The book was consigned to the respectable London publisher of Selwyn & Blount and was released in the autumn of 1939, coinciding with the beginning of the Second World War. 

The memoirs were, understandably, lost in the shuffle of international events.  The book was never given an American release, and never saw a second edition.  Since the 1920s, when a storm of Imperial memoirs rolled over the west, one prominent voice had not been heard: that of Grand Duke Kirill, the contested Emperor-in-Exile. It appears that this remains true even today because of a lack of access to this compelling, if incomplete, work.

He did not focus on the minutiae of court protocol as did Grand Duke Gavril Konstantinovich.  He did not have the taste for gossip of his cousin Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich.  He did not choose to reflect on the personal loneliness and enormous difficulties associated with being a member of the Imperial House as did Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Younger.  Unlike his aunt by marriage, the Princess Olga Paley, he never weighed in on political issues outside of his personal experience.  The Grand Duke concentrated his observations firmly in the moment, all the while providing context for the period in which he lived.  He was pragmatic and forward-thinking - a 20th century man who witnessed the sudden end of the 19th century.  His dispassionate and measured emotional responses to virtually everything from joyous occasions such as the coronation of Nicholas II, to great tragedies such as the battle of Port Arthur are cool, crisp, and detached; it is perhaps this quality which earned him the nickname “the marble man.”[4]

To those who are familiar with Romanov memoirs, Grand Duke Kirill’s may be among the best written.  Kirill Vladimirovich’s elegant prose and keen observations are to be found on every page – but because he was, perhaps, a Navy man above all else, readers will note that many of the cities he visited were sometimes assessed more for the viability of their ports, than described as places of personal or historical interest.  

The memoirs were never republished.  A facsimile edition was released in a limited number in Europe, and is occasionally available through second-hand booksellers.[5]  The unavailability of these memoirs to the general public has compelled readers of Russian history to rely on incomplete English-language sources about the Grand Duke which were until very recently limited to mentions of him in the memoirs of such individuals as Maurice Paléologue and Pavel Rodzianko (both published after Kirill’s assumption of the title of Emperor in 1924, rich with personal bias, and now regarded warily by serious historians), and later reliance on these reductive secondary sources by popular historians in the US and UK. 

The depiction of Grand Duke Kirill as a “traitor” and figure of ridicule began with anti-monarchist propaganda in 1920s Paris, and was cemented in the west with Robert K. Massie’s “Nicholas & Alexandra” in 1967. More measured depictions of Kirill appeared in John Van Der Kiste’s biography of his wife “Princess Victoria Melita, Grand Duchess of Russia” in 1992, and in “A Fatal Passion: The Story of the Uncrowned Last Empress of Russia” by Michael John Sullivan in 1997.  None of these authors were Russian speakers, which means that no significant study or reëvaluation in English has been given to Kirill since the Russian archives were opened in 1992.

The truth about the life of Grand Duke Kirill is far more nuanced and complicated than the versions that populate most accounts of the last days of the Russian Empire, and this online version is an attempt to make readily available the memoirs in their original form, and to annotate them for the non-specialist reader. The text is an important resource for Romanov scholars which has at its core several important themes which deepen our understanding of the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich. 

First, the memoirs contain a rare personal look at the life of the “second family of the empire” – that of Grand Duke Vladimir (father of Kirill) and his family in St. Petersburg, at Tsarskoe Selo, and abroad.  There is certainly much new material here in the way of personal Romanov family stories (the hoisting of a willing young Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna thirty feet in the air from a Peterhof flagpole by her brothers springs to mind), but there is also a wealth of information on the education of Kirill and his brothers (in many ways a more far-reaching and pragmatic education than that offered to their first cousin Nicholas II), and a new understanding of the decades-long process by which the unity of the Imperial Family disintegrated, leaving it open to destruction from without and within.

The memoirs are also a rare and unique look at the history and practices of the Russian Imperial Navy.  The Grand Duke was justifiably proud of having survived the rigorous and abusive Russian naval training (with virtually no exemptions offered him as a grandson of the Tsar-Liberator Alexander II), and his accounts of being on active service during the period of the Russian Navy’s greatest growth and transition (between the Russo-Japanese War and the First World War) are of real value to naval historians.  His later observations on the sailors of the Baltic Fleet and the reasons for their role in the Revolution are of interest, and certainly worth further exploration by scholars.

It is, perhaps, also difficult today to read the sections that describe the Grand Duke’s extensive travels, written as they are with the inherent biases of the period.  It is important, however, to pay attention to this historical narrative which clearly shows the effects of the European colonialism that swept across Asia in the 19th century, and to see how European politics were played out on foreign soil.  It is easy to see the European contempt for their Asian counterparts and their achievements, even as lavish and condescending compliments fall on the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cultures.  It provides an extraordinary foil to the description of the Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese war – the Russians, quite literally, had no idea what hit them.

The Grand Duke’s first-hand account of the Battle of Port Arthur at the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War is an indisputably important one.  There are very few eyewitness reports of this fateful event, and this one is remarkable for both its immediacy and its accuracy when compared to other primary and secondary sources.  Of note also is the account of the same event by Kirill’s brother Grand Duke Boris as viewed from the land, and quoted here in Kirill’s  memoirs.  It provides additional perspective, and for Romanov scholars, a tantalizing mystery: what became of the memoirs, diary, or letter of Grand Duke Boris which is quoted here?

The memoirs also detail the painful recovery of Kirill, a decorated war hero, from serious combat injuries sustained when the battleship on which he was serving, the Petropavlovsk, the flagship of Vice Admiral Makarov, was blown up in April 1904 and sank almost immediately, taking with it the lives of 27 officers (including Admiral Makarov) and 652 sailors.  Kirill was one of only 7 officers and 63 sailors to survive and be plucked from the sea.  The Grand Duke was severely wounded in the battle at sea, and suffered intense physical, neurological, and emotional damage which played out over many years after 1904.  In addition to recovery from burns and muscular damage, he developed what we would now likely call PTSD. In addition to profound grief and regret over the loss of his shipmates (especially his closest friend in the Navy, the oft-mentioned and ill-fated Kube[6]), the memoirs clearly recount many of the symptoms which are today considered indicative of this disorder: survivors’ guilt, irrational fears, vivid memories, waking flashbacks, visual and auditory distortions, intense nightmares that reenacted or recalled his traumatic memories -- all of these appear in the memoirs.  We may also surmise from looking at his surviving handwritten materials that some kind of permanent neurological or physical damage occurred at Port Arthur; his handwriting itself undergoes a profound change before and after those days of 1905. Without any kind of physical therapy or psychological assistance available, the Grand Duke was unable to return to the sea due to paralyzing trauma, and at last found and excelled at a new administrative career in the Navy he loved, a career to be ended by Revolution.

The truly interesting parts of the diary come when the Grand Duke discusses (or, notably, fails to discuss in detail) some of the most controversial moments of his life: his courtship and marriage to his divorced first cousin Princess Victoria of Edinburgh (then the Grand Duchess of Hesse), and his much-debated role during the February Days of the Russian Revolution.

Format of this work

Grand Duke Kirill’s memoirs are presented here exactly as they were published by Selwyn & Blount, with usage, misspellings, archaic punctuation, and odd spacing intact. Each chapter constitutes a separate page of the site, and the chapter text is followed by annotations created especially for this online edition.  They comprise biographical and historical notes to assist the non-specialist reader, and many refer the reader to relevant supplemental documents on this site and elsewhere with hyperlinks that will be continually updated.  These notes are followed by the original footnotes from the 1939 edition.  In the original text, they were presented as numbered 1,2,3 on each page as needed. In this online edition, each new footnote is indicated by Arabic numerals and each original footnote with a Roman numeral.

Other editions 

The first Russian translation of Grand Duke Kirill’s memoirs from the English edition with minor editorial abbreviations was released in 1996 by the “Liki Rossii” publishing house as part of its “Belyi Orel” series. In 2020, a somewhat modified translation was published together with supplemental documents from the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF), and annotated by Russian scholar Vladimir Khrustalëv.  Recent publications of Romanov diaries and letters published and released by authors such as Helen Azar, Olga Barkovets, Stephen DeAngelis, George Hawkins, Greg King, Andrei Maylunas, Sergei Mironenko, Nicholas B.A. Nicholson, and Penny Wilson have adopted this format popularized for Romanov studies by Khrustalëv, in which the work itself is translated plainly, and useful annotations providing information without personal bias and interpretation are highlighted within the text.  Russian Legitimist felt that this was an ideal structure as a model for this work even though it is not a translation.  We have checked against and cited all original sources mentioned by Khrustalëv and added others to aid readers in further research.  We have also quoted from the letters and diaries of many of the other Romanovs, their intimates, their courtiers, and newspapers and journals of the period.  Many of these quotes within the annotations appear in English for the first time.

Future Additions to the Site

Many new documents discovered in various Russian and Western archives, including the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF), the Russian State Historical Archive, St. Petersburg (RGIA), the Russian State Archive of the Navy (RGAVMF), the Presidential Archive of the Russian Federation (APRF), and they will be added to the site in the coming year.   Some of these documents have been available to Russian-speakers for decades, but not in English.  Many have never been published in English. Some have never been published before.

Russian Legitimist has scrupulously avoided amateur internet databases, Russian media reports, blogs, and self-published materials both online and in print, in Russian and in English.  Such materials are plagued with a lack of accuracy, and in many cases, feature state-sponsored or personal bias.

Each document added will be presented beginning with an abstract providing both context and summary. Footnotes will also provided. These documents are to be presented in their entirety so that if readers come across citations of them in other sources, they may compare partial quotes to the full document.

Going to these original texts helps to dispel a great deal of misinformation and falsehoods that have been printed by anti-monarchists and anti-legitimists over the years concerning Grand Duke Kirill:  He was not born without a right to the throne by virtue of a Protestant mother.  He was not excluded from the succession by virtue of his marriage.  His children were not ineligible to succeed due to the marriage of their parents. He and his wife were not outside of the circle of the last Emperor and Empress, and were central figures at court in the last years of the empire between 1910 and 1917.  There is no verifiable evidence that the Grand Duke wore a “red ribbon” during his march to the Duma, and it is a myth that he “ordered a red flag hoisted” over his residence. There is, however, incontrovertible evidence that Grand Duke Kirill, Grand Duke Paul (last surviving uncle of Nicholas II), and Grand Duke Michael (brother of Nicholas II) actively attempted to save the Russian throne with Emperor Nicholas II upon it, and were thwarted by Rodzianko and Miliukov in their efforts.  The Grand Duke did not “desert” his post during the First World War, or “abdicate” his own right to the throne. The Grand Duke and his family were not the first Romanovs to leave Russia, and were indeed, among the last Romanovs to depart the former territory of the Empire when they left the former Grand Duchy of Finland in June 1920.  These facts and more will be seen as Russian Legitimist publishes further documents online.

In summary, this online book and project are an effort to make more information accessible to the general public than has been available since 1939, information reflecting research on this subject that has rarely been published or disseminated. 

Grand Duke Kirill recognized that he would be criticized and castigated, both for his actions during the Revolution, and for his efforts to raise the flag of monarchism in exile.  In a 1924 letter to his first cousin Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna (sister of Nicholas II) he wrote: “Nothing can be compared with what I shall now have to endure on this account, and I know full well that I can expect no mercy from all the malicious attacks and accusations of vanity.”  This book is an effort to allow scholars and others interested the opportunity to see all the facts, and draw informed conclusions for themselves about this controversial and pivotal figure.

[1] Prince Leonid Pavlovich Lieven, MBE. 24 May 1909 – d. 1989 (?) Son of Prince Pavel Pavlovich Lieven and his wife, the former Baroness Nathalie von Taube.  Lieven was educated privately in Livonia, Germany and England, graduating in law from Oxford University in 1931. Called to the bar in 1932. Worked as a sub-editor with the BBC World Service in WWII, serving as a Lt.-Colonel. He married Dina Maximilianovna von Anrep in 1948. Awarded the MBE in 1964 (cf.  Supplement to the London Gazette, 13 June, 1964, p. 4943). Prince Lieven died in London in 1989.

[2] The Grand Duke spoke Russian, French, and English at native levels. He also spoke and wrote in German, Italian, and Spanish, though he did not regard himself as fully competent in those languages.

[3] In his afterward, Grand Duke Vladimir notes that his reconstruction of the period from 1917-1938 was easy to accomplish because of the “notes that my father took almost daily” – these notes, too, appear to have been lost, and may have been confiscated by the Nazis during World War 2.

[4] Queen Marie of Roumania’s nickname for him, cf. letter from Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna to Queen Marie of Romania, February 1918.

[5] Facsimile edition: “My Life in Russia’s Service: Then and Now” Thompson House, London, 1995.

[6] “Kube” Lieutenant of the Guard Equipage Nikolai Feodorovich von Kube (b. ? – d. 1904)

Footnotes

(2024)

[1] Prince Leonid Pavlovich Lieven, MBE. 24 May 1909 – d. 1989 (?) Son of Prince Pavel Pavlovich Lieven and his wife, the former Baroness Nathalie von Taube.  Lieven was educated privately in Livonia, Germany and England, graduating in law from Oxford University in 1931. Called to the bar in 1932. Worked as a sub-editor with the BBC World service in WWII, serving as a Lt.-Colonel. He married Dina Maximilianovna von Anrep in 1948. Awarded the MBE in 1964 (cf.  Supplement to the London Gazette, 13 June, 1964, p. 4943). Prince Lieven died in London in 1989.

[2] The Grand Duke spoke Russian, French, and English at native levels. He also spoke and wrote in German, Italian, and Spanish, though he did not regard himself as fully competent in those languages.

[3] In his afterward, Grand Duke Vladimir notes that his reconstruction of the period from 1917-1938 was easy to reconstruct because of the “notes that my father took almost daily” – these notes, too, appear to have been lost, and may have been confiscated by the Nazis during WW2.

[4] Queen Marie of Roumania’s nickname for him, cf. letter from Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna to Queen Marie of Romania, February 1918. (will link to it here)

[5] Facsimile edition: “My Life in Russia’s Service: Then and Now” Thompson House, London, 1995.

[6] “Kube” Lieutenant of the Guard Equipage Nikolai Feodorovich von Kube (b. ? – d. 1904)