Some readers have asked The Russian Legitimist to comment on a recent announcement by Paul Gilbert.
Mr. Gilbert, a Canadian, posted on the internet a comment that he is “cutting all ties” with Grand Duchess Maria, Head of the Russian Imperial House, and her son, Grand Duke George. The term “cutting all ties” suggests an element of self-importance on Mr. Gilbert’s part, as it is a phrase typically used when one country cuts diplomatic ties with another.
It is unclear what the “ties” are to which he refers. We understand that some years ago, Mr. Gilbert organized a seminar in England and very politely asked the Grand Duchess to agree to be the patroness of the project. She kindly agreed to his request. This showed graciousness on her part. Graciousness is not a noun that can be applied to some of Mr. Gilbert’s published comments about the family of the Grand Duchess.
Mr. Gilbert relates that as a child he became fascinated by Emperor Nicholas II and imperial Russia. For many years, he pursued this interest, including the collecting of and making available for sale rare books about imperial Russia and re-publishing obscure volumes long out of print. He is a defender of the memory of Emperor Nicholas II and sometimes gives the impression that he views himself as the only true defender of the Tsar Martyr, over and above the Emperor’s living relatives as well as qualified trained scholars of Russian history.
With all due respect to his self-appointed outsider’s role defending the memory of Emperor Nicholas II, however, we note that it was Grand Duchess Maria who successfully led a long legal fight in Russia to have the Russian Supreme Court rule that Nicholas II and his family were victims of Soviet repression and to remove any remaining Bolshevik legal findings that they were enemies of the people. We also note that it was Grand Duke Wladimir, the father of Grand Duchess Maria, who worked in such close collaboration with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in the process that led to the canonization of the Emperor.
For many years, Mr. Gilbert’s website prominently posted an article arguing that the elder son of the late Prince Roman of Russia was the head of the Russian dynasty. Mr. Gilbert was not the author of the article, but his publication of it suggested an endorsement of that view. At a certain point, however, he announced that he was removing the article from the website and that he now accepted Grand Duchess Maria as head of the dynasty. Several years later, he began to disparage descendants of Grand Duke Wladimir Aleksandrovich (died 1909), next brother of Alexander III and the great-grandfather of Grand Duchess Maria. This disparagement appeared in posts that seemed very angry. Most recently, Mr. Gilbert has written that he has changed his mind again and no longer accepts Grand Duchess Maria as head of the dynasty. It appears too that at a certain point he signed some kind of oath of allegiance to the Grand Duchess as head of the dynasty, because he states that he will no longer abide by this oath.
Mr. Gilbert is entitled to his opinion. But his opinion should be evaluated for what it is: in the great scheme of things he is not Russian, does not speak Russian, and does not possess any academic credentials as a scholar of Russian history. He is a devoted enthusiast of imperial Russia.
He writes that he plans to focus his efforts on the memory of Nicholas II and no longer to involve himselfwith the question of who the head of the dynasty is. So be it. We hope he will stick at least to this assertion.
