Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia

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Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia

Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia with one of her daughters in the mid 1930s.
Born February 2, 1907 (1907-02-02)
Coburg, Germany
Died October 25, 1951 (aged 44)
Madrid, Spain
Occupation Royalty
Parents Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia, (February 2, 1907 - October 25, 1951) was the eldest daughter of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna. She was born in Coburg when her parents were in exile because their marriage had not been approved by Tsar Nicholas II. She was generally called "Marie," the French version of her name, or by the Russian nickname "Masha." The family returned to Russia prior to World War I, but was forced to flee following the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Maria was raised in Coburg and in Saint-Briac, France. She was born Princess Maria Kirillovna of Russia, but her father granted her the title of Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia when he declared himself Guardian of the Throne in 1924. As a child, the blonde, blue-eyed Maria [1] Maria took after her maternal grandmother Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia in appearance, with a wide, round face [2] and a tendency to be overweight and to look older than her actual age when she was still a teenager.[3] She was described as "shy and easy-going" [4] but also had her share of mishaps. In 1924, when she was seventeen, the "flighty" [5] Maria visited her aunt Queen Marie of Romania and carried on a flirtation with the son-in-law of a lady-in-waiting at the Romanian court.[6] Her fifteen-year-old cousin, Princess Ileana of Romania, spread rumors about the flirtation when Maria returned home, resulting in strained relations between Marie of Romania and Maria's mother Victoria. [7] Eventually the conflict was smoothed over.

The following year, on 24 February 1925, Maria was engaged to a relatively minor prince, Friedrich Karl (13 February 1898-2 August 1946), the hereditary prince of Leiningen. [8] Victoria was at her daughter's bedside when she gave birth to her first child, Emich Kirill, in 1926. [9] She also attended the subsequent births of Maria's children. Maria had seven children in all, one of whom died in infancy during World War II. Her husband was forced to join the German army and was taken captive by the Soviets at the end of World War II. He died of starvation in a Russian concentration camp in 1946. Maria, left with little money, struggled to support her surviving six children. She died five years later of a heart attack at age forty-four.[10]

Maria had seven children:

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Michael John Sullivan, A Fatal Passion: The Story of the Uncrowned Last Empress of Russia, Random House, p. 374
  2. ^ Sullivan, p. 374
  3. ^ John Van der Kiste, Princess Victoria Melita, Sutton Publishing, 1991, p. 136
  4. ^ Sullivan, p. 374
  5. ^ Van der Kiste, p. 157
  6. ^ Van der Kiste, p. 157
  7. ^ Van der Kiste, p. 157
  8. ^ Sullivan, p. 373
  9. ^ Sullivan, p. 377
  10. ^ Sullivan, p. 408
  11. ^ Paul Theroff (2007). "Leiningen". An Online Gotha. Retrieved on January 7, 2007.

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Persondata
NAME Russia, Maria Kirillovna of
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Daughter of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia and of Princess Victoria Melita of Great Britain and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; wife of Friedrich-Karl, hereditary prince of Leiningen.
DATE OF BIRTH February 2, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Coburg, Germany
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1951
PLACE OF DEATH Madrid, Spain