Cyril Vladimirovich, Grand Duke of Russia

Cyril Vladimirovich
Grand Duke of Russia
Head of the House of Romanov
Time	31 August 1924  – 12 October 1938
Successor	Grand Duke Vladimir Cyrillovich
Spouse	Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Issue
Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna, Princess of Leiningen Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna, Princess of Prussia Vladimir Kirillovich, Grand Duke of Russia
House	House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Father	Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia
Mother	Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg
Born	12 October [O.S. 30 September] 1876 Tsarskoye Selo, Russia
Died	12 October 1938(1938-10-12) (aged 62) Neuilly, France
Burial	Rosenau Castle, Coburg Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg, Russia

Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia (Kirill Vladimirovich Romanov; 12 October [O.S. 30 September] 1876  – 12 October 1938) was a member of the Russian Imperial Family. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the deaths of Tsar Nicholas II and his brother Michael, Cyril assumed the Headship of the Imperial Family of Russia and later the title Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias.

Early life

The coat of arms of the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov.

Grand Duke Cyril was born in Tsarskoye Selo. His father was Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, the third son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and Maria Alexandrovna of Hesse. His mother was Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (later known as Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia), the daughter of Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Princess Augusta Reuss-Köstritz. As a grandson in the male line to a Russian Tsar, he was titled Grand Duke, with the style Imperial Highness.

War service

Cyril served in the Russian Navy during the Russo-Japanese War. While serving as First Officer on the Petropavlovsk, the ship was blown up by a Japanese mine at Port Arthur in April 1904.^[1] Cyril barely escaped with his life, and was invalided out of the service suffering from burns, back injuries and shell shock.

Marriage and children

Grand Duke Cyril married his first cousin, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on 8 October 1905.^[2] Victoria's father was Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria. Victoria's mother was Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia, a daughter of Tsar Alexander II and Cyril's paternal aunt.

The marriage caused a scandal in the courts of European Royalty as Princess Victoria was divorced from her first husband, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse, also her first cousin. The Grand Duke of Hesse's sister was Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna, the wife of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. The Tsarina already disliked her former sister-in-law and first cousin, being instrumental in leading the opposition to the marriage in the Russian court. Shortly after returning to Russia, the Tsar stripped Cyril of his imperial allowance and style Imperial Highness, his honours and decorations, his position in the navy and then banished him from Russia.^[3][4]

However in 1908, after the death of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich had put Cyril third in the line of succession to the Imperial Throne, Nicholas II restored Cyril to his rank of Captain in the Navy and his position as aide de camp to the emperor.^[5] His wife came into favor, and was given the title Grand Duchess of Russia and from then on was styled as Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna.

Grand Duke Cyril and Princess Victoria Melita had three children:

• Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia (2 February 1907  – 27 October 1951) who married Friedrich Karl, Prince of Leiningen
• Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (9 May 1909  – 8 September 1967) who married Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia
• Vladimir Kirillovich, Grand Duke of Russia (30 August 1917  – 21 April 1992) who became the claimant to the title 'Emperor of Russia' upon the death of his father

Revolution

During the February Revolution of 1917, upon the abdication of the tsar, Cyril came with his regiment to swear allegiance to the provisional government, wearing a red revolutionary band on his uniform.^[1][6] This caused grave offence in the Imperial Family and led to many members shunning him as legitimate heir to the Throne.

After the October Revolution, Cyril and Victoria fled to Finland, then Coburg, Germany. Eventually the exiled family moved to France where they stayed for the rest of their lives.

Life abroad

Grand Duke Cyril with his wife Grand Duchess Victoria and children Kira and Vladimir.

On 8 August 1922 Cyril declared himself "Curator of the Russian Throne," a title which did not exist. Two years later, on 31 August 1924, he went a step further and assumed the title Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias.^[2] Though by the laws of the Russian Empire, he was the prime claimant after the execution of Tsar's family by the Bolsheviks, his claim to the throne was met with opposition because at his birth his mother was a Protestant and not a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. After claiming the throne, he became known as the "Soviet Tsar" because in the event of a restoration of the monarchy, he intended to keep some of the features of the Soviet regime.^[1]

While living in exile, Cyril was supported by some emigres who styled themselves "legitimists" (legitimisti, in Russian легитимисты), underlining the "legitimacy" of Cyril's succession. The opponents of Cyril were known as the "un-predetermined" (nepredreshentsi, in Russian непредрешенцы); they believed that in the wake of the radical revolutionary events, the convening of a Zemsky Sobor was necessary in order to choose a new monarch for Russia. (In 1922, Nicholas II's cousin Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich was proclaimed "Emperor of all Russia" by a "Zemsky Sobor of the Amur Region", convened by General Mikhail Diterikhs. However, Grand Duke Nicholas had no children.)

Cyril found his strongest support among a group of legitimists known as the Mladorossi, a Russian emigre monarchist organization that was heavily influenced by fascism - although it distanced itself from other fascist movements. The organization began to exhibit pro-Soviet sympathies, arguing that the monarchy and the Soviet Bolshevik system could peacefully coexist (as per their slogan "Tsar and the Soviets"). Cyril became more wary of the organization when he learned that its founder, Alexander Kazem-Bek, was spotted meeting with an OGPU agent. Cyril accepted Kazem-Bek's voluntary resignation. His sole son, Vladimir, continued ties with the organization throughout World War II.

Cyril's son Vladimir Kirillovich succeeded him as head of the Romanov dynasty, although this was contested by some members of the Romanov family. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the remains of Cyril and his spouse were transferred from Coburg, Germany to the Grand Ducal Mausoleum of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.

Ancestry

References

Pretenders to the Russian throne since 1917 Russian Empire — February Revolution — October Revolution 1917-1918 Emperor Nicholas II 1918-1924 vacant 1924-1938 Grand Duke Cyril 1938-1992 Grand Duke Vladimir 1992-present disputed: Grand Duchess Maria or Prince Nicholas See also House of Romanov