An amateur Canadian blogger is once again spreading disinformation online.
“On 1st October, the wedding of George Mikhailovich Romanov [a Spanish citizen] to his fiancé Rebecca Bettarini [a citizen of Italy] was held in St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg.”
On 1st October, the wedding of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia (a citizen of the Russian Federation, Spain, and Germany) and Victoria Romanovna Bettarini (a citizen of Italy, and now, thanks to her marriage, will be eligible to become a citizen of the Russian Federation), were indeed married in St. Petersburg at St. Isaac’s Cathedral.
“More than 1,500 guests crammed the historic cathedral. Guests refused to wear protective masks or practice social distancing, despite the record number of daily COVID-19 cases and deaths in Russia.”
1,500 guests did not “cram” the historic cathedral which can hold 15,000 congregants. The number 1,500 was decided upon to comply with current Russian restrictions for public gatherings.
For anyone arriving in the Russian Federation, proof of vaccination and a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours are required.
Additionally, Russian authorities from both the Federal government and the local St. Petersburg City government required that the 1,500 invited guests to the cathedral receive and produce a negative Covid-19 PCR test within 24 hours of admission to the Cathedral.
Tests were taken by all invited guests, and proof of negative results submitted to the event organizers. Special QR codes were then issued to guests to ensure that only people who had tested negative were admitted to the cathedral.
Each guest was handed a mask on entrance to the Cathedral, and it was understood that anyone who wished to wear a mask was able to do so. This is the same process that the Russian government used recently for the recent FIFA games, and also for the Summit in Moscow.
The Russian and some Western media outlets hailed the event as both the Romanov “wedding of the century” and the “first Romanov to marry in Russia”, since the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917. Neither are correct.
Agreed. The media has incorrectly reported this since the beginning. This is the first marriage of a member of the Russian Imperial House on Russian soil in over 100 years. HH Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia (1897-1976) was the last member of the Imperial house to marry on the territory of the Empire in 1918. That was over 100 years ago.
The 1993 wedding of Dimitri Romanovich Romanov to Dorrit Reventlow was not a marriage of a member of the Imperial House. Dimitri Romanovich Romanov was the product of an unequal marriage, and while he was a member of the Romanov Family, he was not a member of the Imperial House.
In the weeks leading up to the wedding, Maria Vladimirovna’s public relations team issued press releases, detailing an impressive list of royals and dignitaries who would attend her son’s nuptials, in reality, however, none of them attended.
Prominent on the guest list was Queen Sofia of Spain, who was present at George’s christening, but she failed to attend. None of the many Romanov descendants scattered around the world were even invited, as Maria and her son, both look down their noses at them.
No guest list for the event was ever released in advance of the event due to security concerns. One will certainly be released in the coming days. All media speculation on who would attend was simply that, speculation.
Despite the blogger’s assertion, several members of the extended Romanov family were invited, and a few accepted, later declining due to Covid-19 concerns. The blogger has no way to know this, as this has never been made public. The information was provided to RL by a wedding guest close to the organizers.
There were no reigning kings or queens of the European royal houses or ambassadors to represent them. The only “royals” in attendance, were a few princes and princesses and members of numerous, now defunct European royal houses.
Again, a deliberate falsehood. The reigning house of Liechtenstein was represented as was the reigning house of Belgium, and H.E. the Prime Minister of Luxembourg was present as chief minister of the Grsbd Duke. The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess were unable to attend due to a previous commitment.
Due to the difficulty of traveling during Covid, there were no reigning sovereigns present at the wedding of HRH Princess Beatrice of York, either. Sadly, this will likely be common at royal weddings for the foreseeable future.
In addition, the groom’s father Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia was notably “absent”.
The inability of HRH Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia to attend the wedding was due to a serious health condition which began only days before the ceremony. He was prohibited from travel on the advice of his doctors. We wish His Royal Highness a speedy recovery, and regret that he was unable to attend the wedding of his own son, which must have been distressing to him. He and the Prussian royal House were represented by his half-sister, Desirée, Princess of Prussia.
Prince Franz Wilhelm was a co-host of the wedding, and listed on the invitation. He came to Russia with his wife last year for the reception into Orthodoxy of Princess Victoria Romanovna held at the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul.
This distasteful attempt to create a political problem out of thin air is typical of this blogger.
It should also be noted that no live broadcast of the wedding was conducted on any federal or regional TV channel in Russia. So much for the “Romanov wedding of the century!”
False. The wedding was livestreamed internationally by both Russian channels and foreign services, and was covered by more than 265 news outlets over three days.
In a final bit of typical hysteria, the blogger coos over President Vladimir Putin’s asserted “non recognition" of the Imperial House. To be clear, the government of the Russian Federation cannot possibly and does not recognize ANY claimant to the non-existent Russian throne. Russia is not a monarchy. This is self-evident.
This senseless posturing on the part of the blogger obscures the fact that it was the Russian Department of Foreign Affairs which handled the organization of the events and the special visas required for all foreign visitors.
Russia is currently closed to foreigners without special permission of the Government via the Department of Foreign Affairs. Further, the Russian Federation allowed the use of the Presidential Palace and National Congress Center (the former Konstantinovsky Palace at Strelna) as a venue for the final event of the wedding weekend.
We at Russian Legitimist do not feel that any further information is necessary to understand the favorable position of the government regarding this event.
