HH Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia during his early period of exile, 1920’s.
HH Prince Andrei as a boy.
The 24th of January marks 125 years since the birth of Prince of the Imperial Blood Andrei Alexandrovich, the eldest son of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna. He was a great-grandson of Emperor Nikolai I in the male line. HH Prince Andrei Alexandrovich is the grandfather of the current senior descendant of the morganatic “Alexandrovichi” branch of the Romanov family, who are not members of the Imperial House. (Among morganatic lines descending from members of the Imperial House, the most senior male descendants are the Princes Romanovsky-Ilyinsky, after whom come the Alexandrovichi.)
Prince of the Imperial Blood Andrei Alexandrovich was born at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Cannon shots were typically fired from the walls of the Petropavlovsky Fortress to herald the birth of a member of the Imperial House: a 21 gun salute for newly-born Grand Dukes and a 15 gun salute for newly-born Princes of the Imperial Blood., Although it is often stated that his maternal grandmother Empress Maria Feodorovna requested that 21 shots be fired when Andrei was born, there is no mention of this in the diaries of Nicholas II or \the Dowager Empress, and no mention of it in the memoirs of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich. Thus far, no proof of such an order appears to have been found.
In the diary of Emperor Nicholas II on the occasion of the birth of his first nephew, the following entry appears:
"January 12. Sunday. At five minutes of the first night, Ksenia gave birth to a son - Andrei! We learned this from Sandro before we went to bed. At 10 o'clock. Off to St. Petersburg. In the afternoon, a thankful prayer service was served in Anichkov. Had a rather large breakfast. I went with Mama … to visit Ksenia and see the newborn. Thank God, everyone is safe…”
In December 1918, together with his morganatic wife Princess Elizabeth Fabritsievna di Sasso Ruffo, Prince Andrei of Russia left Russia aboard the British warship Forsythe.
Prince Andrei of Russia (along with his father and several of his brothers) in 1924 signed an oath of loyalty to Grand Duke Kirill as Head of the Imperial House. The oath also recognized Grand Duke Kirill’s son Grand Duke Vladimir as Tsesarevich and Heir. After Grand Duke Kirill’s death, Prince Andrei in 1938 recognized Grand Duke Vladimir as Head of the Imperial House. After 1969, Prince Andrei unfortunately expressed disagreement with some decisions of the Head of the House, with the regrettable result that further contact was broken off.
In emigration, the Prince lived first in France and then in the UK. After the death of his first wife during World War Two, he married morganatically a second time before his death in 1981 at the age of 84.
Вечная память! Eternal memory!
