Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia
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This article is about the current Head of the Romanov Family Association and one of the pretenders to the Russian throne. For information on Nicholas II, the last tsar of Russia, see Nicholas II of Russia.
Nicholas Romanovich Romanov or Nikolai Romanovich Romanov (Николай Романович Романов), (born September 13, 1922) is the President of the Romanov Family Association. He styles himself His Highness Prince Nicholas Romanovich of Russia and claims to be a member of the Imperial House of Romanov. Although he is undoubtedly a descendant of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, his claimed titles and official membership in the former Imperial House are disputed by those who maintain that his parents' marriage violated the Romanov House Laws.
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[edit] Childhood
Prince Nicholas was born in Cap d'Antibes near Antibes, France, the eldest son of HH Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia and HIllH Countess Prascovia Cheremeteva. Prince Roman was the eldest son of TIH Grand Duke Peter Nikolaievich and Grand Duchess Militsa Nikolaievna, the former the younger son of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaievich and Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna, the former a younger son of TIM Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna, the former Princess Charlotte of Prussia.
[edit] Education
Prince Nicholas was educated in France. He aspired to be a naval officer; however, as there was a Soviet Navy and not a Russian Navy, he decided to climb towards a job in the Italian Navy, using his family's close relationship to the Italian Royal Family (his grandmother Militsa (daughter of Nicholas I of Montenegro) was a sister of Queen Helena wife of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy ). However, these hopes vanished when Nicholas showed signs of near-sightedness. In 1936, his family moved to Italy.
[edit] Life during the War
During World War II, Prince Nicholas and his family lived at the residence of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy . When the King left, his family went into hiding for nine months. During the occupation of Rome by Germany, Nicholas's grandmother, who was at great risk of deportation as sister of the Queen, had to take shelter in the Holy See. After the war, Prince Nicholas has had civilian jobs, he lived couple of years in Egypt.
[edit] Associations & business
He is the elected president of the Romanov Family Association, which claims as members all male-line descendants of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia. It is unclear how many of the claimed members actually participate in the association's activities. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and Grand Duke Vladimir Cyrillovitch clearly did not participate but were nevertheless listed as members.
He has a website and is the author of several books.
[edit] Succession claims
The official position of the Romanov Family Association is that the rights of the family to the Russian Throne were extinguished when Tsar Nicholas II abdicated in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael who then renounced power in favor of the Provisional Government. [1]. At various times, however, Prince Nicholas' supporters have claimed that he is the rightful heir to the Russian throne. He is recognized by the Almanach de Gotha as the head of the Imperial House of Romanov [2]. He and the Romanov Family Association contest the rights of his cousin, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, to the throne.
Grand Duchess Maria claims that she is the Head of the Romanov Family because her father, Grand Duke Vladimir, was the last living male Romanov descended from a marriage that complied with the laws of Imperial Russia. Since her father also married in compliance with those laws, she is also a member of the Imperial Family and, as the female most closely related to the last living male, she inherited the throne. In her view, any question about the legality of her ancestor's marriages are dealt with by the fact that the Head of the Imperial House approved of the marriage. (In her father's case, he approved his own marriage.) Since her father and grandfather did not approve of anyone else's marriages, all her cousins must be descended from morganatic marriages that render them ineligible for the Russian throne.
Prince Nicholas and the Romanov Family Association deny that approval by the Head of the Imperial House can make a marriage valid if it violates some other provision of the Imperial Russian Law. They claim that Grand Duchess Maria's parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents all married in violation of the House Laws so that, even if she is right about their marriages, she still has no better claim to the Imperial throne than the rest of the family.[3]
In connection with his claims, Prince Nicholas and his supporters have sometimes asserted that he is the senior genealogical male-line descendant of Nicholas I with rights under the laws of Imperial Russia. Since he is descended from a younger son of Tsar Nicholas I and there are living descendants of Nicholas I's older sons, clearly he is not the genealogically senior descendant. It is asserted, however, that all those with superior claims lost their rights because of marriages in violation of the laws of Imperial Russia.
The senior living male-line descendant of Emperor Alexander II is Dimitri Ilyinsky, an American citizen who apparently has no interest in claiming titles. Ilyinsky is the son of Paul Ilyinsky who was the son of Grand Duke Dimitri by Anne-Audrey Emery. Grand Duke Dimitri was the son of Grand Duke Paul who was, in turn, the youngest son of Tsar Alexander II. Since Anne-Audrey Emery was an American citizen with no title, Grand Duke Dimitri deemed his marriage morganatic and gave his son the last name Romanovsky-Ilyinsky. (Ilinskoie was the Grand Duke's former estate near Moscow). The pretender, Grand Duke Kyrill gave Emery and her son the style [HSH] Prince(ss) Romanovsky-Ilyinsky. When Paul Romanovsky-Ilyinsky became an American citizen, he dropped "Romanovsky" and became simply Paul Ilyinsky, under which name he served several terms as Mayor of Palm Beach, Florida.
According to Prince Nicholas, Grand Duke Dimitri's marriage to an American rather than a member of a Royal Family meant that his son Paul, and hence Paul's son Dimitri, did not have any rights to the Imperial Throne. As noted earlier, Prince Nicholas asserts that Grand Duchess Maria is similarly excluded from the Throne because her ancestors' married in violation of the relevant laws.
Prince Nicholas, while admitting that his mother was not a member of a Royal Family, claims that he still has rights to the throne because the laws of the Russian Empire only required Grand Dukes to marry brides of equal rank. Only the sons and male-line grandsons of Tsars held the rank of Grand Duke. As Prince Nicholas' father was only a Prince, being the great-grandson of Tsar Nicholas I, he was not required to marry a royal bride. In this way, Prince Nicholas claims to be in a different position to the descendants of Grand Duke Kyrill and Grand Duke Dimitri. Most students of Imperial Russian law consider Prince Nicholas' interpretation to be, at best, far-fetched.
Neither Prince Nicholas nor Maria Vladimirovna nor any other Romanov pursues a position that can actually be solved in law, since the Headship of Imperial Russia is not a property or like which would be justiciable somewhere in functioning courts. Unless for some reason, the monarchy in Russia rises to power again, there will never be any real resolution to this quarrel.
[edit] Marriage and children
Prince Nicholas' wife, Italian-born Sveva della Gherardesca, who uses the title Her Highness Princess Sveva of Russia, is a descendant of the Italian Count della Gherardesca. They have three daughters:
- Natalia Nikolaevna Romanova (Наталья Романова) (born 4 December 1952), m. Giuseppe Consolo (born 6 September 1948).
- Elizabeth Nikolaevna Romanova (Елизавета Романова) (born 7 August 1956), m. Mauro Bonacini (born 13 May 1950), issue:
- Niccolo Bonacini (born 4 January 1986)
- Sofia Bonacini (born 21 December 1987)
- Tatiana Nikolaevna Romananova (Татьяна Николаевна Романова) (born 12 April 1961), m. firstly Giambattista Alessandri (born 31 December 1958), divorced 1988, m. secondly Giancarlo Tirotti (born 1 November 1947). Only daughter who has "Nikolaevna" as a middle name.
- Allegra Tirotti (born 2 September 1992 out of wedlock)
[edit] Daily life
Prince Nicholas resides in Rome, Italy and also has a house in Rougemont, Switzerland. He still uses the Julian calendar in daily life. He is fluent in French, Russian, Italian, and English. Other than acting as President of the RFA, he works on collecting Episodical biographies.
