On this date in History: June 10 1897. The birth of Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia.

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Alexander I of Yugoslavia, Alexander III of Russia, Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Czar Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna, King Ferdinand of Romania, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Russian Empire, Russian Imperial Family, Russian Revolution

Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia (June 10, 1897 – July 17, 1918) was the second daughter of Czar Nicholas II of Russia, and Princess Alix of Hesse and By Rhine. She was born at the Peterhof, Saint Petersburg.

She was better known than her three sisters during her lifetime and headed Red Cross committees during World War I. Like her older sister Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, she nursed wounded soldiers in a military hospital from 1914 to 1917, until the family was arrested following the first Russian Revolution of 1917.

According to sources, Peter I of Serbia wanted Tatiana as a bride for his younger son, Prince Alexander (future Alexander I of Yugoslavia). In January 1914, the Serbian prime minister Nikola Pašić delivered a letter to Czar Nicholas II in which King Peter expressed a desire for his son to marry one of the Grand Duchesses. Nicholas II replied that he would allow his daughters to decide whom to marry, but he noticed that the Serbian prince Alexander often gazed upon Tatiana during a family dinner. Marriage negotiations ended due to the outbreak of World War I. Tatiana exchanged letters with Alexander during World War I and Alexander was distraught when he learned of her death.

Russian Imperial Family meets the Romanian Royal Family.

Instead of marrying Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, King Alexander I of Yugoslavia married Princess Maria of Romania on June 8, 1922. Princess Maria of Romania was a second cousin of Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia. Marie of Romania was the daughter of King Ferdinand of Romania and Marie of Edinburgh. Marie of Romania was named after her maternal grandmother, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, (the second and only surviving daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and his wife Marie of Hesse and by Rhine). Marie of Romania and was known as Mignon in the family to distinguish her from her mother, Marie of Edinburgh the daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (later Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and the aforementioned Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh was the second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Sisters, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (left) and Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia.

The murder Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia, by communist revolutionaries on July 17, 1918 resulted in her being named as a passion bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church. She was a younger sister of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia and an elder sister of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russiaand Tsarevich Alexei of Russia. All sisters were falsely rumored to have survived the assassination and dozens of impostors claimed to be surviving Romanovs. Author Michael Occleshaw speculated that a woman named Larissa Tudor might have been Tatiana; however, all of the Romanovs, including Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, were killed by the Bolsheviks.

Abdication, a royal tradition?

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1936 Abdication Crisis, Abdication, Charles V, Czar Nicholas II, Elizabeth II, Grand Duchess Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, King Felipe II of Spain, Kingdom of the Netherlnads, Marie-Adélaïde, Philip II of Spain, Queen Elizabeth II

With the abdication announcement from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands earlier this week I began to look at the history and tradition of abdication within all monarchies, not just the Netherlands. I grabbed a note-book and began listing the Emperors, Empresses, Kings and Queens etc, that have abdicated through the centuries. Wow, there were many more than I realized. Too many to mention in this blog post. One thing I have noticed is that there were many forced abdication in the past centuries and few voluntary abdication. Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, King of Spain is an example of a voluntary abdication. In the past, abdication were overwhelmingly done for political and not personal reasons.

For a few years Queen Christina of Sweden (1632-1654) desired to abdicate citing she wanted to rest and she was tired of being pressured into marriage. At first her councilors objected but in 1654 she abdicated in favor of her cousin who became King Carl X Gustaf of Sweden. Health problems, in the form of gout, moved Holy Roman Emperor Charles V to abdicate his thrones. He gave spain to his son who became Felipe II of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire went to his brother Ferdinand.

These are a couple of examples of voluntary abdication. Often monarchs have abdicated because they had little choice. Emperor Nicholas II of Russia is a prime example. His country was in shambles because of World War I and he was not popular and with the rise of the provisional government his abdication was essential for a smooth transition. His cousin, German Emperor Wilhelm II (1888-1918) refused to abdicate the throne as his empire was crumbling at his feet. His Imperial Chancellor, Prince Maximilian of Baden, announced the Emperor’s abdication for him, which outraged the Emperor. Wilhelm II eventually signed abdication papers weeks later after he was in exile.

I see the abdication of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a semi-voluntary choice. Yes, he had a choice and as we all know he chose to abdicate to be with the woman he loved. He lived in a time were marrying an American who was twice divorced was socially unacceptable. He did have a choice but one that really wasn’t fair in my opinion.

It was in the 20th century where monarchies began to see abdication by voluntary means. Luxembourg has a tradition of abdication that began with the abdication of Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg in 1919. Marie-Adélaïde’s abdication to her younger sister Charlotte was not voluntary. It was due to political pressure resulting from her cordial relationship with the Germans that occupied Luxembourg during World War I. In 1964 her sister, Grand Duchess Charlotte voluntarily abdicated to her son Jean. In 2000 Grand Duke Jean abdicated the throne in favor of Henri, Luxembourg’s reigning Grand Duke.

In Britain Elizabeth II will never abdicate. The abdication crisis left a sour taste in her mouth and her coronation oath and her dedication to duty will not leave abdication as an option. This is the case for most of the remaining monarchies of Europe. Next week I want to look more in-depth at the Kingdom of the Netherlands where a tradition of abdication has developed. I also want to look at the pros and cons of abdication itself.

Tuesday I will continue my examination of the Legal Succession to the throne and on Thursday of next week I will continue to look at the concept of Abdication.

June 28, 1914. Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Hungary.

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1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Czar Nicholas II, Emperor Franz Josef of Austria- Hungary, June 28, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Ottoman Empire, Sarajevo, Sophie Chotek, Wilhelm II of Germany, World War I

98 years ago today came the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary an act which precipitated the first World War. I cannot do justice in this blog to all the complexities that lead to the start of World War I. I don’t view the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand as the cause of World War I but merely the spark that set off a ticking time bomb.

The roots of the war go back a long way in European history. Throughout the 19th century a weakened Ottoman Empire began losing its European territories. As territories were lost they were gobbled up by the larger European powers which often disregarded the ethnic and nationalistic make up of the population. This happened when Austria-Hungary annexed the Bosnian region which had a large population of Serbian nationals.

What also was a large factor was the alliance system that reached its peak during the 19th century. In order to balance power states sought alliances with one another so one state would not be dominant over others. While in theory this may sound like a good system, or maybe not, it created great tensions between the states and when the spark was set off, the house of cards came tumbling down. With the end of the war the monarchies of Germany and Austria-Hungary, which had existed for over a millennium, were gone.

At the time of the assassination Archduke Franz Ferdinand was heir to the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. He was the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria (himself a younger brother to the then reigning emperor, Franz Joseph) and his second wife, Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. After the murder suicide at Mayerling of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his lover Baroness Mary Vetsera in 1889, Archduke Karl Ludwig became heir to his brother’s throne until his death in 1896. From 1896 until his death in 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the throne of his great-uncle.

On July 1, 1900, Franz Ferdinand married Countess Sophie Chotek. Although she was from an aristocratic family and claimed descent from various reigning houses, her family was not a reigning family and therefore she did not meet the requirement for an equal marriage. After many years of tension between Emperor Franz Joseph and Franz Ferdinand the emperor finally capitulated and allowed his heir to enter into a morganatic marriage where his wife had no right to her husbands titles and their children would have no claim to the throne.

Although more liberal than the emperor, Franz Ferdinand envisioned a future empire where all ethnic groups would have greater autonomy under his rule. This benevolence actually did not sit well with many Serbian nationals who did not want autonomy within the empire, they wanted freedom from the empire. Fearing that if Franz Ferdinand’s plans came to pass their desire for independence would fail.

Franz Ferdinand and his wife were in Sarajevo that day representing the emperor at opening of the state museum when Gavrilo Princip, a member of the Serb nationalist organization ‘the Black Hand,” assassinated the Archduke and his wife. 

There were several attempts on the Archduke’s life that day. Princip failed at an earlier attempt that day to assassinate the Archduke when the motorcade drove by too fast. Another attempt occurred when a bomb was throne at the Archduke’s car wounding 20 people. Undeterred, the Imperial couple continued on.  After visiting the Town Hall the Archduke’s motorcade took a wrong turn on its way to the next event. When the driver tried to turn the car around, the car stalled and Princip, who had just walked out of a delicatessen for lunch, found himself only a few feet away from the Archduke and his stalled limousine.

Princip fired two shots at a very close range hitting the Archduke in the jugular vein and Sophie in the abdomen. They were both rushed to the Governor’s Residence for medical treatment but both died within a few minutes. The shock was felt deeply throughout Europe and within the month all the major powers of Europe would be at war.

The Archduke’s blood soaked tunic

The 1911 Gräf & Stift Double Phaeton in which the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was riding at the time of his assassination.

Pretenders ~ Russia Part II

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Czar Nicholas II, Czarina Alexandra, Grand Duke Cyril, Grand Duke Valadimir, Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, Pretenders, Queen Victoria, Russian, Victoria Melita of Edinburgh

Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia was son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, the third son of Czar Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna of Hesse-Darmstadt, and his wife, Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In the summer of 1922 Grand Duke Cyril declared himself “Curator of the Russian Throne,” a made up title to represent his claim to the Russian throne. In 1924 Cyril finally assumed the title Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias. Though he was the heir by primogeniture his claim to the throne was met with opposition because at his birth his mother was a Lutheran and not yet a member of the Russian Orthodox Church and this was a violation of the Pauline House Laws which stated all those in order of succession had to marry members of the Russian Orthodox Church. Since Russia followed suit of nearly every European royal family during the 18th and 19th centuries of selecting brides from the vast array of German royalty and upper nobility this issue was usually resolved with the perspective bride converting to Russian Orthodoxy prior to their marriage.

The controversy and the actions that questioned Cyril’s right to claim the throne came with his controversial marriage in 1905 to his first cousin, HRH Princes Victoria Melita of Edinburgh, Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. She was a grand daughter of Queen Victoria through her second son, HRH Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1892-1900) and his wife HIH Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, daughter of Czar Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna of Hesse-Darmstadt.

One of the primary issues with the marriage was that Cyril and Victoria Melita were first cousins and the Russian Orthodox Church forbade marriages between first cousins. But what made the marriage more controversial is that prior to her marriage to Grand Duke Cyril, Victoria Melita was married, and then divorced, from HRH Grand Duke Ernst August of Hesse and by Rhine, who also was the brother of Czarina Alexandra of Russia, wife of Czar Nicholas II. The Czarina did not like her former sister-in-law and first cousin and she greatly disapproved of the marriage. For his behavior Czar Nicholas II had his cousin Cyril stripped of his title of Grand Duke and his style His Imperial Highness and all other royal orders and his position in the Russian Navy and was banished from Russia.

Cyril’s position changed in 1908 when his uncle, Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia died and he became third in line to the Russian throne behind the Czarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, eldest son of Nicholas II, and Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, the Czar’s brother. Cyril was restored to all his former titles and styles and welcomed back to Russia. His wife was given the title Grand Duchess of Russia and was styled as Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna. Those that did not recognize the marriage as legal, although the Czar eventually did, accepted another of the Czar’s cousins, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, as the true claimant to the throne after the downfall of the monarchy.

Grand Duke Cyril and his wife had three children: Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia (1907-1951) who married, Prince Friedrich Karl of Leiningen, Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna (1909-1967) who married, HIH Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, heir to the thrones of Imperial Germany and Prussia. Their last child was Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia (1917-1992). In 1938 Grand Duke Cyril died at the age of 62 and his son took over the claims to the throne of Russia.

Part III will discuss the challenges to Grand Duke Vladimir claims to the throne and the emergence of other pretenders.

Pretenders ~ Russia

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Alexander Kerensky, Czar Nicholas II, Czar Paul, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, Morganatic Marriage, Provisional Government, Romanov, Russia, Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin

The succession to the extinct Russian Imperial throne is another one hotly contested and is dependent on the interpretation of House Laws established by Czar Paul (1796-1801). These house laws dealt with the provisions and the legalities of the marriages for the members of the imperial family in order to retain their succession rights. All members had to receive the approval of the emperor and enter equal marriages. A morganatic marriage is a legal marriage between two people of unequal social rank. In this type of union the spouse would not share in her husbands titles or succession rights and children, although legitimate, would also not share in their father’s inheritance of titles and succession rights and were often not included as members of a dynasty.

The Russian monarchy came to an end in 1917 with the abdication of Czar Nicholas II after the February Revolution. The Czar was replaced by a Provisional Government under Georgy Lvov. The former Czar wanted to seek asylum in Great Britain at the court of his first cousin, King George V, but this offer was turned down fearing the Czar’s presence would cause an uprising during unstable times. In August of 1917, Alexander Kerensky, second Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, relocated the Czar and his family to Tobolsk in the Urals, in order to protect them from the rising tide of revolution. However, within months the Provisional Government also fell in the October Revolution which placed Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevicks at the head of the early forming of the Soviet state.

On July 17, 1918 in the early morning hours as the anti-Bolshevick forces were nearing Yekaterinburg where the Czar and his family were imprisoned, the Czar and Czarina, along with their five children and three servants were brutally massacred in the basement of the Ipatiev House.

In 1917 when Czar Nicholas II abdicated the throne his first choice to succeed him was his son, Alexei, who was suffering from hemophilia. When told by doctors that young Alexei would not survive long without his parents should they go into exile, the Czar instead abdicated the throne in favor of his brother, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia. Grand Duke Michael said he would not accept the throne unless his succession was approved by a national assembly. This was rejected and Michael was never confirmed as Czar. Grand Duke Michael was also assassinated by the Bolshevicks in June of 1918.

The closest heir to the throne after the Czar and his brother was their first cousin, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia, and it was with Cyril some of the controversy begins over who had the legal right to the defunct throne of Russia and to act as the head of the Imperial house.

Come back tomorrow for part II.