Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia

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Grand Duchess Xenia as a young woman.

Grand Duchess Xenia dressed for a costume ball in 1903. This seventeenth-century costume was the inspiration for a costume for Star Wars character Padmé Amidala in 2002.

Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna Romanova (In Russian Великая Княгиня Ксения Александровна) (was born on 6 April 1875 in St Petersburg and died 20 April 1960 at Wilderness House in Hampton Court, England) She was the daughter of Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Dagmar of Denmark and sister of the last crowned Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and, his brief uncrowned successor, their brother Michael.

Xenia Alexandrovna married Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia (a grandson of Nicholas I of Russia on 6 August 1894 (25th July in the "old style" Russian calendar) at Peterhof). Together they had seven children. Here is a list of her descendants:

• Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia (1895-1970), married Prince Felix Yusupov (1887-1967), had issue.
• Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia (1897-1981), married (morganatically) Elisabetta Ruffo (1887-1940), then Nadine McDougall (1908-2000), cr. HSH Princess Romanovskaya; had issue:
  • Kseniya Andreevna Romanova (1919-2001), married Calhoun Ancrum (born 1915), then Geoffrey Tooth (1908-1998); no issue
  • Michael Andreevich Romanov (born 1920), married Esther Murphy (born 1921), then Shirley Grammond (1916-1983), then Giulia Crespi (born 1930); no issue
  • Andrej Andreevich Romanov (born 1923), married Elena Dourneva (born 1927), then Kathleen Norris (1935-1967), then Inez von Bachelin (born 1933); had issue by first (first child) and second (last two) marriages:
    • Alexei Andreevich Romanov (born 1953), married Zoetta Leisy (born 1956); no issue
    • Peter Andreevich Romanov (born 1961)
    • Andrew Andreevich Romanov (born 1963), married Elizabeth Flores (born 1964); had one daughter: Natasha Romanov (born 1993)
  • Olga Andreevna Romanova (born 1950 mother: Nadine McDougall), married Thomas Mathew (born 1945); had issue: Nicholas (born 1976), Francis (born 1978), Alexandra (born 1981), and Thomas (1987-1989) Matthew
• Prince Fyodor Alexandrovich of Russia (1898-1968), married (morganatically) Princess Irina Paley (1903-1990); had issue:
  • Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov (born 1924), married Helga Staufenberger (born 1926), then María de las Mercedes (born 1960); had issue by first marriage:
    • Mikhail Paul Romanov (1959-2001); illegitimate issue with stepmother, María de las Mercedes: Tatiana Romanov (born 1986)
  • Irina Fyodorovna Romanova (born 1934), married André Pelle (born 1923), then Victor-Marcel Soulas (born 1938); had issue from first (first child) and second (second child) marriages:
    • Alain Pelle (born 1956), married Pascale Deletre; had issue: Olivier (born 1984) and Christophe (born 1987) Pelle
    • Joelle Soulas (born 1966)
• Prince Nikita Alexandrovich of Russia (1900-1974), married (morganatically) Countess Maria Vorontsova-Dashkova (1903-1997); had issue:
  • Nikita Nikititch Romanov (born 1923), married Jane Schonwald ("Anna Mikhailovna") (born 1933); had issue: Feodor Nikititch Romanov (born 1974)
  • Alexander Nikititch Romanov (born 1929), married Maria Valguarnera di Niscemi (born 1931)
• Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich of Russia (1901-1980), married (morganatically) Countess Marina Golenishcheva-Kutuzova (1912-1969), cr. HSH Princess Romanovskaya-Kutuzova, then Sheila Chisholm (1898-1969), cr. HSH Princess Romanovskaya; had issue by first marriage:
  • HSH Princess Nadezhda Dimitrievna Romanovskaya-Kutuzova (born 1933), married Anthony Allen (born 1931), then William Clark (born 1924); had issue by first marriage:
    • Penelope Allen (born 1953), married Prince Emanuel Golitsyn (born 1951); had issue: Princess Victoria (born 1984) and Prince Michael (born 1993) Golitsyn
    • Marina Allen (born 1955), married Franklin Hutson (born 1952), then Michael Otis (born 1948); no issue
    • Alexandra Allen (born 1958)
• Prince Rotislav Alexandrovich of Russia, married (morganatically Princess Aleksandra Pavlovna Golitsyna (1905-2006), then Alice Eilken (1923-1996), then Hedwig von Chappuis (1905-1997), cr. HSH Princess Romanovskaya; had issue from first (first child) and second (second child) marriages:
  • Rostislav Rostislavovich Romanov (1938-1999), married Stephena Verdel Cook (born 1938), then Christia Ipsen (born 1949); had issue from first (first child) and second (other children) marriages:
    • Stephena Rostislavovna Romanova (born 1963), married William Porter Boggis III (born 1960)
    • Alexandra Rostislavovna Romanova (born 1983)
    • Rostislav Rostislavovich Romanov (born 1985)
    • Nikita Rostislavovich Romanov (born 1987)
  • Nicholas Rostislavovich Romanov (born 1945), married Pamela Kuzinowski (born 1944); had issue:
    • Nicolas Romanov (born 1968), married Lisa Marie Flowa (born 1971); had issue: Cory Romanov (born before parents marriage 1994)
    • Daniel Romanov (born 1972)
    • Heather Romanov (born 1976)
• Prince Vasili Alexandrovich of Russia (1907-1989), married (morganatically) Princess Natalia Alexandrovna Golitsyna (1907-1989); had issue:
  • Marina Vasilevna Romanova (born 1940), married William Beadleston (born 1938); had issue:
    • Tatiana Beadleston (born 1968)
    • Alexandra Beadleston (born 1970), married Peter DeWitt Mason Blake (born 1970)
    • Nicholas Beadleston (born 1971)
    • Natalie Beadleston (born 1976)

One of Xenia's descendants would currently be the Head of the Imperial House of Russia (the Romanov Family),^{[citation needed]} but all of her children are regarded to have married morganatically, as did Nicholas Romanovich Romanov's father too; therefore, none of them currently holds that position in an uncontested accordance with old succession laws of Russia.

Following the revolution, Xenia and her husband separated. She became a dependent of the British Royal family who, in addition to an income, granted her a grace and favour house, first in Windsor Great Park and then in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace, London. Despite her straightened circumstances during her lifterime, the Grand Duchess left an immense fortune, which allowed her descendants to live in relative affluence.