Khilkoff or Khilkov (Russian: Хилков) is a Rurikid princely family descending from sovereign rulers of Starodub-on-the-Klyazma. The descendant of the Great Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, the Christianizer of Russia, Prince Ivan Vsevolodovich,(c. 958 – 15 July 1015) received from his brother, the Great Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, the appanage of Starodub, and this originated the Princes of Starodub; those who later had the Ryapolovskaya volost took the name Prince Ryapolovsky In the sixteenth century, for an unknown reason, the Ryapolovskys changed their name: the older branch to Khilkoff, and the younger to Tatev.
The founder of the Khilkoffs was the great-grandson of Prince Ivan Andreyevich Ryapolovsky (Nagavitsa), Prince Ivan Fyodorovich Khilok. The Khilkoffs have played a notable part in Russian history. Under Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich there were 16 noble families whose members rose straight to the rank of boyar, missing out that of okolnichiy; the Princes Khilkoff were among that number. At the time of the 1917 revolution the Khilkoff family were the 14th wealthiest family in Russia, fleeing Russia to stay with the King of Denmark, then dispersing over Europe. Khilkoff descendants today live in France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, and Moscow - the city they founded in 1147.[1]
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In 1802, Prince Alexander Jacobovich Khilkoff was made a Hereditary Commander of the Russian Grand Priory of the Order of Saint John, by Czar Alexander I. Those favoured by Czar Paul and his son Alexander, had been given beneficed Commanderies, and others were encouraged to use their wealth to create their own Commanderies; it is these which were known as Family or Ancestral Commanderies. The senior ranking direct descendent inherits the prerogatives of a Hereditary Knight Commander of Russian Grand Priory. Ancestral Commanderies established during the reigns of Paul I and Alexander I of Russia include those of:
Narychkine, Count Chéréméteff, Prince Youssoupoff †, Stroganov †, Count Samoiloif ‡, Prince Belosselsky, Prince Dolgoroukov, Davydov, Prince Barytinsky, Démidoff, Prince Troubetzkoy, Count Worontzoff, Maruzzi †, Beklechev †, Prince Tioufiakine †, Count Olsoufieff, Gerebtzoff, Count Strogonoff †, Boutourline, Potemkine †, Tchirikoff †, Prince Khilkoff ‡, Prince Odoevsky †, and Prince Youssoupoff †.
Key. † Direct Male line from the first Commander extinct. ‡ Direct Male line is extinct, but the family was reinstated via the female line by the Imperium.
The head of the princely house of Khilkov is prince Boris Mikhailovich Khilkov, a retired technological expert who resides in Jekaterinburg, Russia. He also is chairman of the Jekaterinburg society of nobility. His branch, and all other extant male line branches of the house of Khilkov, are descended from the sons of prince Dmitri Alexandrovich Khilkov and his longtime mistress Cecilia Vladimirovna Viner, who in the end was wedded with prince Dmitri, making their children legitimated.