Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia

Birth Maria Vladimirovna was born in Madrid, the only child of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia, head of the Imperial Family of Russia and titular Emperor of Russia, and Princess Leonida Bagration-Mukhrani of Georgian, Polish, German and Swedish descent. Her paternal grandparents were Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Victoria Fyodorovna (née Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) through whom she is a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her godfather was Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia, for whom Prince Nicholas of Romania stood in at the christening ceremony, and her godmother was Queen Ioanna of Bulgaria. Education Maria was educated at Runnymede College in Madrid and Paris before studying Russian history and literature at the University of Oxford. Maria Vladimirovna lives in Madrid. She is fluent in Russian, English, French, and Spanish, and also speaks some German, Italian, and Arabic. until the death of the last male dynast. This has been viewed as an attempt by her father to ensure the succession remained in his branch of the imperial family, while the heads of the other branches of the imperial family, the Princes Vsevolod Ioannovich of the Konstantinovichi, Roman Petrovich of the Nikolaevichi and Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of the Mihailovichi declared that her father's actions were illegal. As it happened, Vladimir Kirillovich, who died in 1992, outlived all the other male Romanov dynasts, and his daughter had no occasion to assume curatorship. ==Marriage==

In Dinard on 4 September 1976 (civil) and at the Russian Orthodox Chapel in Madrid on 22 September 1976 (religious), Maria married Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia, her third cousin once removed. He is a Hohenzollern great-grandson of Germany's last emperor Wilhelm II and a great-great-great-grandchild of Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom. Maria's aunt Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia, her father's late sister, had been married to Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, since 1938, head of the House of Hohenzollern since 1951. Franz Wilhelm converted to the Eastern Orthodox faith prior to the wedding, taking the name Michael Pavlovich and receiving the title of a Grand Duke of Russia from Maria's father. The couple separated in 1982, a year after the birth of their only child, George Mikhailovich, who had been granted the title Grand Duke of Russia at birth by his grandfather Vladimir. Following the divorce on 19 June 1985, Franz Wilhelm reverted to his Prussian name and style. ==Succession claims==

{{infobox hrhstyles Maria Vladimirovna is a patrilineal descendant of Alexander II of Russia. The original House of Romanov had died out with Empress Elizabeth of Russia in 1762 and was continued by Peter III of Russia, who was born a Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, a branch of the House of Oldenburg, from which the current reigning monarchs of Norway and Great Britain, as well as the former of Greece, also descend in the male line. The oldest known ancestor of this extensive family is Elimar I, Count of Oldenburg, first mentioned in 1091. When Vladimir Kirillovich died on 21 April 1992, his daughter Maria claimed to succeed him as head of the Russian Imperial Family on the grounds that she was the only child of the last male dynast of the Imperial house according to the Romanovs' Pauline laws. Although the charter of the Romanov Family Association (RFA), which represents other descendants of the Romanov family, asserts the premise that Russia's form of government should be determined democratically and that therefore the Association and its members undertake to adopt no position on any claims to the Imperial throne, its two most recent presidents have personally opposed Maria's claims: Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia, who maintained his own claims to dynastic status and to headship of the Romanov family, stated, "Strictly applying the Pauline Laws as amended in 1911 to all marriages of Equal Rank, the situation is very clear. At the present time, not one of the Emperors or Grand Dukes of Russia has left living descendants with unchallengeable rights to the Throne of Russia," and his younger brother, Prince Dimitri Romanov, said of Maria's assumption of titles, including "de jure Empress of all the Russias", "It seems that there are no limits to this charade". The supporters of Maria Vladimirovna point to the fact that neither Nicholas nor his brother Dimitri had any dynastic claims due to the morganatic marriage of their parents. Maria's parents' marriage of equal rank is, of course, questioned by her cousins, who claim that her mother's family, the Bagrationi dynasty, became Russian subjects after they lost their thrones in the Georgian kingdoms of Kartli-Kakheti and Imereti around 1800 and was therefore not a ruling dynasty. By the Romanov House law, the Pauline Laws, she is however the rightful heir to the throne if the Bagrationi are seen as royal equals. At the behest of the Russian Orthodox Church, Maria did not recognise the authenticity of the remains and declined to attend the reburial ceremony in 1998, however according to Victor Aksyuchits, ex-advisor of Boris Nemtsov, the exact reason behind Maria's absence from the state burial for Nicholas II and his family in 1998 was motivated by the Russian government's refusal to recognize her status as official Head of the Romanov House, after asking via a letter prior the funeral ceremony. She has also said, regarding some of her Romanov cousins, that "My feeling about them is that now that something important is happening in Russia, they suddenly have awakened and said, 'Ah ha! There might be something to gain out of this. When questioned about the ongoing rift among Romanov descendants, Maria said: ==Role in Russia and activities==

Maria hopes for the restoration of the monarchy someday and is "ready to respond to a call from the people". In 2002, Maria became frustrated with the internal strife within the Russian monarchist movement. When representatives of the Union of Descendants of Noble Families, one of two rival nobility associations (the other, older one being the Assembly of the Russian Nobility) were discovered to be distributing chivalric titles and awards of the Order of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, without her approval, she published a relatively strongly worded disclaimer. In 2003, Kirill I Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia stated in a congratulatory message on Maria Vladimirovna's 55th birthday, "you are the embodiment of a Russian Grand Duchess: noble, wise, compassionate, and consumed with a genuine love for Russia. Though you may reside far from Russia, you continue to take an active part in its life, rejoicing when there are triumphs and empathizing when there are trials. It is deeply gratifying to know that, even in these new historical circumstances, you are making a significant contribution to the building of Russia's global standing on the basis of spiritual and moral values, and the centuries-old traditions of the Russian people. The Russian Orthodox Church remains the preserver of the historical memory of the Russian people, and supports, as it has traditionally, the warmest possible relations with the Russian Imperial House." She did not claim restitution of confiscated assets, but she made several requests to rehabilitate the Romanovs through the courts, which were repeatedly rejected until the Tsar's family was finally rehabilitated by the Supreme Court's decision on October 1, 2008. In May 2010, Maria and other members of the Romanov dynasty met with members of the Ottomans at Topkapı Palace, which was the first official meeting between these two former ruling (and rival) families. In March 2013, the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, made a statement which seems to have drawn further supporters. In an interview, he was asked if any of the Romanovs had a legitimate claim to the throne and responded: "Well, to the second part of your question: are the claims, as you say, of the descendants of the Romanovs to the Russian throne legitimate? I would like to say right away that there are no claims. Today, none of the descendants of the Romanovs make claims the Russian throne. But in the person of the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and her son George, the succession of the Romanovs is preserved - not to the Russian imperial throne, but simply historically." (Сегодня никто из лиц, принадлежащих к потомкам Романовых, не претендует на Российский престол. Но в лице Великой княгини Марии Владимировны и ее сына Георгия сохраняется преемственность Романовых – уже не на Российском императорском престоле, а просто в истории). Further, the Patriarch noted: "And I must thank this family and many other Romanovs with gratitude for their today's contribution to the life of our Fatherland. Maria Vladimirovna supports a lot of good initiatives, she visits Russia, she meets people, she elevates the most ordinary people who have distinguished themselves to a nobility. I remember well how on the Smolensk land an old peasant woman was elevated to the dignity of nobility, who did so much for those who were by her side during the difficult years of the war and in the post-war period. Therefore, the cultural contribution of this family continues to be very noticeable in the life of our society. " In December 2013, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna visited the United States at the request of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, which received her with full honours and recognition as head of the Russian Imperial House. On July 20, 2014, at a ceremony in the Church in the Izmailovo district of Moscow, Maria awarded Russian Vice-Admiral Oleg Belaventsev the Order of Saint Anna (1st Degree), Prosecutor General of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Natalia Poklonskaya, the ''Imperial Ladies' Order of Saint Anastasia'' (founded by herself in 2010), and the former cosmonaut Alexei Leonov the Order of Saint Stanislaus (1st degree), dynastic house orders of the Romanovs. On 17 July 2018 she participated in the liturgical commemoration of the centenary of the assassinations of Saints Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and their children conducted in Yekaterinburg by Patriarch Kirill I. On July 28, 2014, at the invitation of the mayor of Irkutsk, Viktor Kondrashov, Maria attended a commemorative event there for the 100th anniversary of Russia's entry into the First World War and, among other things, visited Irkutsk State University, where she presented a medal "In Commemoration of the 400th Anniversary of the House of Romanov". She visited Malta in June 2017, with former Russian Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin organizing the trip; Accompanied by the Russian ambassador, she met the Maltese President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca. She knows Russian President Vladimir Putin from numerous encounters. He respects the House of Romanov, but has no interest in restoring the monarchy. Other politicians, however, have spoken out in favor of this, including Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Sergey Aksyonov, Natalia Poklonskaya and Aleksandr Dugin. Nikolai Patrushev is at least considered a sympathizer, the oligarch Konstantin Malofeev is considered a supporter of the monarchist movement; he founded and finances the Double-Headed Eagle Society and was a best man at the wedding of Maria's son. In January 2021, Grand Duchess Maria announced the morganatic engagement of her son Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia to Rebecca Virginia Bettarini from Italy. Bettarini converted to Russian Orthodoxy and took the name Victoria Romanovna. Grand Duchess Maria granted permission for the couple to marry. She decreed that Bettarini will have the title Princess, with the predicate "Her Serene Highness" and the right to use the surname Romanov. The Imperial Wedding took place on 1 October 2021 at Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs assisted with obtaining travel visas for guests and the Russian Ministry of Culture assisted in obtaining locations for the wedding ceremony and festivities. A delegation of the Russian Guards formed a line. The reception was catered by Yevgeny Prigozhin. Maria has in particular come to terms with the new Russian elite around President Vladimir Putin and not only awards the historical dynastic orders of the House of Romanov, but also partly newly created orders such as the Order of Saint Michael the Archangel (founded by her father in 1988) or the Ladies' Order of Saint Anastasia (founded by herself in 2010), to personalities close to the House of Romanov and the Russian Orthodox Church, including Siloviks and Russian oligarchs. She even goes so far as to elevate such people to the nobility, i. e. persons who usually have no biographical or cultural connection to the traditional Russian nobility, but are often historically connected to the CPSU or the KGB and mostly very influential today. However, the lowest tier of the Russian nobility into which these people are usually admitted, traditionally does not bear noble titles, but only coats of arms. In the Tsarist Empire the award of certain orders entailed admission into the personal (often even hereditary) nobility: the Grand Cross of all orders and the Order of Saint Vladimir and the Order of St. George of all classes (as well as previously also the promotion to higher military ranks). In 2007, Maria is said to have ennobled the former head of the Russian domestic secret service Federal Security Service (FSB), Nikolai Patrushev, who is considered one of Putin's closest confidants (and one of his possible successor candidates). Patrushev himself described the FSB employees in an interview as “our new nobility” because of their sense of dedicated service. While newly founded aristocratic associations in Russia recognize such "ennoblings" and include these families into registers of the nobility, accepting them as members, the traditional associations of the descendants of the White émigrés (such as the Russian CILANE member association Union de la Noblesse Russe based in Paris) reject the admission of such "new nobles" on the grounds that Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna is neither the undisputed pretender to the throne nor does she - who is not a reigning monarch - herself have any constitutional authority to ennoble.After previously voicing her support for Crimea and Donbas annexation in 2014 by Russia she said in an interview on her website in April 2018: "Before the Russian people today and our descendants stretches a long and gradual path toward the restoration of the power and might of Russia." She issued a statement with regard to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, regretting the civil war between brotherly nations and stressing that the imperial family does not feel entitled to express a political position. This attitude has not gone without criticism. She herself admitted in an interview that her stance inevitably affects the relationship between herself and other European royal families, but that they would never forget the fact that they are related and continue the dialogue. But, as she emphasized, “no normal person could possibly think that the House of Romanov would be on the side of those who seek to weaken Russia. Foreigners therefore treat us as rivals who are worthy of respect... Every imperial and royal family naturally promotes and defends the position of their country“.In 2023, on the occasion of the seventieth birthday of the Grand Duchess, Patriarch Kirill made an unequivocal recognition of her position as Head of the House of Romanov in a congratulatory letter published on the Patriarchal website addressing her as "Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, Head of the Russian Imperial House" (Великой княгине Марии Владимировне, главе Российского Императорского Дома), and praising her efforts in the fields of charity, philanthropy, and culture. The Grand Duchess's son Grand Duke George Romanov and his Italian wife Princess Victoria, along with other members of the dynasty, gathered in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow to celebrate the baptism of Princess Kira Leonida Romanov on 13th July. The baptism was held 40 days after the birth of the baby, in accordance with Russian Orthodox tradition. The princess, who was named after a saint martyred by Roman emperor Diocletian, has several godparents, including Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Prince Boris of Bulgaria, Prince David VII of Georgia, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, Russian Ambassador to the Seychelles Artem Kozhin and his wife Elena, as well as Oksana Hoffman Girey, who is an official at the Kazakh consulate in Monaco. The birth was announced by the Grand Duchess herself, who released this announcement:"BY THE GRACE OF GOD We, GRAND DUCHESS MARIA VLADIMIROVNA, Head of the Russian Imperial House, Hereby proclaim to all: On June 2, 2025, Our daughter-in-law, Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria Romanovna, the wife of Our son and heir, His Imperial Highness the Sovereign Heir, the Tsesarevich and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, was safely delivered of a child – a granddaughter to Us, who has been given the name Kira, in honor of the Venerable Saint Kira of Beroea Receiving this addition to Our House as a new sign of God’s grace, bestowed upon Us for consolation, We ask all Our compatriots to offer heartfelt prayers to the Almighty for the healthy growth and prosperity of the newborn. In accordance with the currently valid House Laws and the Family Act of September 14/27, 2020, it is fitting that Our granddaughter be styled and titled: Her Serene Highness Princess Kira Georgievna. Given at Madrid, on the 2nd day of June in the year of Our Lord 2025, being the 34th year since We assumed the rights and duties of Our August Ancestors – the Emperors of All Russia. In the original, signed in Her own hand: MARIA." ==Honours==

Russian Dynastic honours • House of Romanov: Sovereign Knight of the Order of St. Andrew • House of Romanov: Sovereign and Grand Mistress Dame Grand Cordon of the Order of St. Catherine • House of Romanov: Sovereign of the Order of St. George • Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: Order of Our Lady of the Sign, 1st Class • Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia: Medal of John of Shanghai and San Francisco Moldovan Orthodox Church • Moldovan Orthodox Church: Medal of Saint Paraskevi Ukrainian Orthodox Church • Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate): Medal of Saint Barbara Foreign dynastic • Ethiopian Imperial Family: Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the Queen of Sheba • Georgian Royal Family: Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Queen Tamara • : Bailiff Grand Cross of Sovereign Military Order of Malta • Portuguese Royal Family: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Saint Michael of the Wing States • : Commander of the Order of the Republic Awards • : Honorary Citizen of the City of Agrigento • : Winner of the Russian International Person of the Year • : Honorary Citizen of the Ivolginsky District • : Honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts • : Medal of the Assembly of the Russian Nobility ==Ancestry==