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Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, later Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna "Miechen" of Russia (Russian: Мари́я Па́вловна; 14 May [O.S. 2 May] 1854 – 6 September 1920), also known as Maria Pavlovna the Elder, was the eldest daughter of Grand Duke Frederick Francis II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin by his first wife, Princess Augusta Reuss of Köstritz. A prominent hostess in Saint Petersburg following her marriage in 1874 to the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, she was known by many as the "grandest of the grand duchesses".[1]

Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, late 1880s
Born(1854-05-14)14 May 1854
Ludwigslust Palace, Ludwigslust, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German Confederation
Died6 September 1920(1920-09-06) (aged 66)
Hôtel de la Souveraine, Contrexéville, France
Burial
Chapel of St. Vladimir and St. Mary Magdalene, Contrexéville
Spouse
(m. 1874; died 1909)
IssueGrand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich
Kirill Vladimirovich, Grand Duke of Russia
Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich
Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich
Elena Vladimirovna, Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark
Names
Marie Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore
HouseMecklenburg-Schwerin
FatherFrederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
MotherPrincess Augusta Reuss of Köstritz
ReligionRussian Orthodox
prev. Lutheranism

Appearance and personality

Marie was noted for her attractiveness and sense of style. When Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn visited Germany in search of brides, Queen Victoria noted that Marie was "said to be very pretty."[2] When they first met, her future husband Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia admired her "wonderfully expressive eyes."[3] At her wedding, Thomas W. Knox observed that "Vladimir's bride is good-looking, solid, well-formed, with plump and finely rounded shoulders; a neck neither long nor short; regularly formed features, with the exception of the nose, which has a slight tendency to pugginess."[4] At the coronation of her brother-in-law Alexander III, her niece-in-law, Marie of Edinburgh, noted that "she is not thin enough for classical lines but she wears her clothes better than any other woman present; her shoulders are superb and as white as cream; there is a smartness about her that no one else can attain."[5] In 1910, author Elinor Glyn wrote that Marie was "a most stately, magnificent looking princess."[6]

Marie was famous for her wittiness and sociability. Meriel Buchanan attended one of Marie's dinner parties at Vladimir Palace, and she wrote that Marie "know[s] exactly what to say to each individual person, an inimitable gift which royalties do not always possess, but which she herself had at her command in the fullest sense.”[7] When she visited Sofia, Bulgaria, she impressed A.A. Mossolov, head of the court Chancellery, with her wit and vivacity. He wrote: "For three hours, the Grand Duchess was the centre of animated and brilliant conversation. She was talking to persons whom she had never before met; and she did not make a single mistake.”[8] Author Elinor Glyn reflected that Marie "had a very highly cultivated and far-seeing mind, with a delightful sense of humour, and was adored by everyone."[9]

Marie was interested in literature. In late 1909, she invited the popular British novelist Elinor Glyn to come to Russia to write a Russian-based story. She told Glyn: "Everyone always writes books about our peasants. Come and write one about how the real people live."[10] Glyn produced a piece of fiction called His Hour, which she dedicated to Marie, saying "her kind appreciation of the finished work is a source of the deepest gratification to me."[11] Glyn modeled one of the characters, Princess Ardacheff, after Marie.[12]

Like her husband, Marie loved the arts. After her husband's death, Marie succeeded him as president of the Academy of Fine Arts.[13]

Marie was addicted to gambling. The painter Henry Jones Thaddeus attended one of Marie's parties, where she insisted that her guests play roulette.[14] When she and her husband traveled abroad, she liked to frequent the casinos of Monte Carlo.[15] During Nicholas II's reign, she defied a prohibition on the playing on roulette and baccarat in private homes, and she was temporarily banned from Court.[16]

Early life

Marie Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore was born a duchess of the Grand Ducal House of Mecklenburg to Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin - the then Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and his first wife, Princess Augusta Reuss of Köstritz (1822–1862) - in the Schloss Ludwigslust. She was eight years old when her mother died in 1862. Her father married twice more.

Marriage

 
Pavlovna wearing her original sapphire tiara with the 137 carat centre stone

Marie married Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, the third son of Alexander II of Russia. She was one of the very few Royals with Slavic patriline to ever marry a male dynast of the House of Romanov. Previously, she had been engaged to George Albert I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, but broke it off as soon as she met Vladimir.

Marie and Vladimir married on 28 August 1874. The wedding took place in the chapel of the Winter Palace. It was not as lavish as the wedding of Vladimir's sister Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia to the Duke of Edinburgh. Lord Augustus Loftus noted, "Every thing went off very well; although the marriage was not so resplendent as that of the Duke of Edinburgh. At this season of the year this town is a desert and therefore only those came who were obliged to come."[17]

As the Russian Emperor's daughter-in-law, Marie took on a new style Her Imperial Highness.

Marie and Vladimir had four sons and one daughter.

Upon her marriage she took the Russian name of Maria Pavlovna. She was Emperor Paul I of Russia's great-great-granddaughter, and she wished to emphasize her exalted ancestry with the patronymic "Pavlovna."[18]

Religion

For three years, Marie and Vladimir could not marry, because Marie refused to convert from Lutheranism to the Russian Orthodox Church. Vladimir's mother, Empress Maria Alexandrovna was disappointed by Marie's refusal to convert: She herself had converted from Lutheranism to Russian Orthodoxy, and she thought that the Russian Orthodox church was “quite good enough for any daughter-in-law of hers.”[19] She told Vladimir that she hoped that Marie would "become Russian in body and in soul,"[20] indicating her hope that Marie would convert.

Emperor Alexander II finally agreed to let Vladimir marry Marie without insisting on her conversion to Orthodoxy.[21] Every bride of a Russian Grand Duke needed to convert to Russian Orthodoxy before Marie, so Marie's decision was shocking and unprecedented. Lord Augustus Loftus noted that, "It is a matter of surprise here for a Foreign Princess married to a Grand Duke to retain her own religion but it is a process to which they will have to accustom themselves or they will find no wives for the Russian Grand Dukes. I think it is a healthy practice and it will do them good."[22] In a letter to Hamilton Fish, Eugene Schuyler wrote “The Grand Duchess will retain the Lutheran religion. This is worthy of note, as hitherto the Russian laws have required the wives of all grand dukes to adopt the orthodox Russian faith.”[23]

Marie set the precedent for brides who did not have to convert to Russian Orthodoxy to marry Russian Grand Dukes. At the time of Marie's marriage, Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine wrote to her mother, Queen Victoria, "My mother-in-law tells me that since Miechen has been allowed to retain her religion, this right will of course be conceded to all Princesses in the future.”[24] Many years later, Alice's daughter Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine would use Marie's precedent to retain her Lutheran faith and marry Marie's brother-in-law, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia.

Marie was furious when her sister-in-law Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia converted to Russian Orthodoxy after her marriage. Grand Duchess Elizabeth predicted Marie's response, and she asked her father Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine: "Please do not yet tell anybody at Darmstadt until I write again when Miechen [Marie] knows."[25]

In 1908, Marie converted to Orthodoxy. The decision was unexpected because she had been Lutheran for 35 years.[26] Meriel Buchanan, daughter of a British ambassador to Russia, defended Marie's conversion as sincere: “For some time past the Grand Duchess had turned more and more to the colour and ceremonial of the Russian Church. She had prayed to the Virgin for the safety of her son [Kirill] when he was injured [during the Russo-Japanese War], and seeing in his escape from death an answer to these prayers, she finally adopted the Orthodox religion.”[27] However, some believed that the ambitious Marie acted to improve the chances of her own sons ascending the throne.[28] After Emperor Nicholas II's sickly son Tsesarevich Alexei and unmarried, childless brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, Marie's husband and her sons were in line for the throne. In 1916, Vladimir Purishkevich wrote in his diary: "I shall never forget the story of Ivan Grigorevich Scheglovitov, former Minister of Justice. He said that one day Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich asked him whether the descendants of the Vladimir line have any legal rights to the throne and if not, why not? Scheglovitov . . . told him that the Grand Dukes had no rights whatsoever because their mother continued in the Lutheran faith even after marriage. Boris left him but came back sometime later with a paper showing that the Grand Duchess had given up her Protestant religion and had embraced the Orthodox."[29]

Life in Russia

Marie lived at the Vladimir Palace situated on the Palace Embankment on the Neva River.

Marie was famous for being one of the best hostesses in the capital. During the reign of her nephew Emperor Nicholas II, her Grand Ducal court was the most cosmopolitan and popular one in the capital.[30][31] The painter Henry Jones Thaddeus recalled that she was the "ideal hostess" and that "Her Imperial Highness was the life and soul of the company, the most brilliant contributor to the general discussion."[32] Meriel Buchanan attended Marie's dinner party at Vladimir Palace, and she wrote, "Here one always met only the prettiest and smartest women, the most distinguished men, the most entertaining members of the diplomatic body."[33]

During Alexander II's reign, Marie survived the Winter Palace explosion of February 1880. Revolutionaries had planted 125 pounds of dynamite in the dining room, and the Imperial family narrowly avoided death only because Alexander II had unusually gone to dinner late.[34] She told painter Henry Jones Thaddeus about her experience.[35] She explained that she was late to the dinner because one of her children was ill. At the palace, Alexander II delayed going to the dining room to ask about her child. She recalled that, "At this moment the most awful explosion rent the air. The dining-room vanished from our view, and we were plunged into impenetrable darkness. A poisonous gas filled the room, suffocating us, as well as adding to our horror."[36] She reflected that "It really seemed as if the hand of Providence had delayed the Czar’s arrival; otherwise we should have shared the same fate [as the dining room]."[37]

Marie was close to her father-in-law, Alexander II. She recalled that he was "devoted to her" and "kindness itself."[38] However, she incurred his anger by refusing to accept his second wife, Catherine Dolgorukov.[39] She privately criticized Alexander II for his obsession with Catherine: "The creature... seems to have him bound as in a spell, to make him deaf and blind."[40] She resented him for forcing his family to accept Catherine, and she expressed her anger in a letter to the late Empress Maria's brother, Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine: “The Tsar has commanded us as his subjects to be friendly with this wife; if not he would force us to it. You can imagine the internal conflict that agitates us all, and the perpetual struggle between feelings, duty, and external pressure.”[41]

Marie had a distant relationship with her sister-in-law, Maria Feodorovna. Maria Feodorovna disliked Marie because of her German origins.[42] Marie openly declared that her husband would make a better Emperor than Maria Feodorovna's husband, Alexander III of Russia.[43] After the Borki train disaster in which Alexander III, Maria Feodorovna, and their children narrowly escaped death, Marie allegedly said, "We shall never have such a chance again."[44]

Marie had an antagonistic relationship with Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra, because of her ambitions for her own sons. On 14 June 1897, the Boston Daily Globe reported that she had "consulted a gypsy fortune teller, who had predicted that one of her sons would sit on the throne of Russia."[45] At this time, Empress Alexandra had given birth to her third daughter Grand Duchess Maria. As girls were ineligible for the Imperial Throne, Emperor Nicholas' heirs were his two unmarried, childless brothers and his uncle Vladimir, Marie's husband. In 1912, Emperor Nicholas's only living brother Grand Duke Michael married a commoner, which led Emperor Nicholas to strip him of his military command, imperial honors, and right as the heir presumptive to serve as regent for Tsesarevich Alexei should Emperor Nicholas die prematurely.[46] According to the laws of the succession, Marie's oldest son Kirill, the heir presumptive now that Grand Duke Michael was ineligible and his own father, Vladimir, was dead, would become regent should the Emperor die before Alexei turned 21. However, Emperor Nicholas overruled the existing law and nominated his oldest daughter Grand Duchess Olga as regent with his wife Empress Alexandra as guardian during Alexei's minority.[46] Marie was furious, but Emperor Nicholas refused to change his mind. In 1916, Marie approached Empress Alexandra about a potential marriage between Grand Duchess Olga and her second son Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich. Empress Alexandra refused Marie's proposal, claiming that she could not let "a pure, fresh girl, 18 years his junior" marry a "well used, half worn out, blasé young man."[47] Marie was outraged by Empress Alexandra's abrupt refusal.

In 1909, Marie's husband died. She was devastated by his death and wore mourning clothes for the rest of her life.[48]

During World War I, Marie whole-heartedly supported Russia. Born a German princess, she was troubled by the outbreak of WW1 but decided that she was now a Russian. She reflected: "Neither in my heart nor my mind have I found anything which is not utterly devoted to my Russian fatherland... it is my forty years’ residence in Russia— all the happiness I have known here, all the dreams that have come to me, all the affection and kindness I have received— which has given me a wholly Russian soul.”[49] She hated Wilhelm II, German Emperor and denounced him in the strongest terms: "I am only a Mecklenburger on one point: in my hatred for the Emperor William. He represents what I have been taught from my childhood to detest the most—the tyranny of the Hohenzollerns. Yes, it is the Hohenzollerns who have perverted, demoralized, degraded and humiliated Germany and gradually destroyed in her all elements of idealism and generosity, refinement and charity.”[50] The French ambassador Maurice Paléologue was impressed by Marie's “long diatribe which made me feel all the sentiments of inveterate hatred, of mute and tenacious detestation which the small and once independent states of Germany have for the despotic house of Prussia.”[51]

During WWI, Marie supervised many projected for the Russian army. She oversaw hospital trains for the troops. Albert Stopford admired Marie's efficiency and skill in organizing, claiming that Marie "spar[ed] herself no trouble" and was "quite thorough."[52] She developed a charity to give complete outfits and money to disabled Russian soldiers who were sent home.[53] Granted permission by Emperor Nicholas, she ran the charity with state money and money from her personal wealth.[54]

Like many other Romanovs, Marie feared that Empress Alexandra would "be the sole ruler of Russia" after Nicholas took supreme command of the Russian armies on 23 August 1915 (O.S.), hoping this would lift morale. It was widely speculated that along with her sons, she contemplated a coup against the Emperor in the winter of 1916–17, that would force the Tsar's abdication and replacement by his son Tsesarevich Alexei, and her son, Grand Duke Kirill or Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, as regent.[55] There is no documentary evidence to support this, though the Duma president Mikhail Rodzianko famously reported that she said that the Empress must be "annihilated".[56]

Escape from Russia

Marie was the last of the Romanovs to escape Revolutionary Russia and the first to die in exile. She remained in the war-torn Caucasus with her two younger sons throughout 1917 and 1918, still hoping to make her eldest son Kirill Vladimirovich the Tsar. As the Bolsheviks approached, the group finally escaped aboard a fishing boat to Anapa in 1918. Maria spent fourteen months in Anapa, refusing to join her son Boris in leaving Russia. When opportunities for escape via Constantinople presented themselves she refused to leave for fear she would be subjected to the indignity of delousing. She finally agreed to leave when the general of the White Army warned her that his side was losing the civil war. Maria, her son Andrei, Andrei's mistress Mathilde Kschessinska, and Andrei and Mathilde's son Vladimir, boarded an Italian ship headed to Venice on 13 February 1920.[57]

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia encountered Maria at the port of Novorossiysk in early 1920: "Disregarding peril and hardship, she stubbornly kept to all the trimmings of bygone splendour and glory. And somehow she carried it off... When even generals found themselves lucky to find a horse cart and an old nag to bring them to safety, Aunt Miechen made a long journey in her own train. It was battered all right--but it was hers. For the first time in my life I found it a pleasure to kiss her..."[58]

She made her way from Venice to Switzerland and then to France, where her health failed. Staying at her villa (now the Hotel La Souveraine), she died on 6 September 1920, aged 66, surrounded by her family at Contrexéville.[59]

Jewels

 
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna in middle age, wearing the Vladimir Tiara

Marie had a passion for jewels, and her collection was renowned. It included a 100 carat emerald once owned by her great-great-great-grandmother, Empress Catherine the Great and the 5 carat ruby of Josephine de Beauharnais. In 1899, she and Vladimir received a number of jewels for their silver wedding anniversary.[60] Nicholas II of Russia and Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse) gave them “an aigrette and diadem composed of magnificent diamonds."[61] It was reported that "the three stones of the aigrette alone are worth a fortune.”[62] Each grand duke and grand duchess gave them a golden plate, which formed a collection of 36 plates, “the most magnificent service that can be imagined.”[63] Marie was a major client of Cartier, and she bought many jewels from them.[64] These jewels included an aigrette tiara with "three curving aigrette bundles, set with Indian-cut briolettes like cascades of blossom" that "evoked the illusion of dewdrops shaken from a stem” whenever they were moved, a ruby tiara, a kokoshnik tiara with a 137-carat sapphire in the center, and a large stomacher with a 162-carat sapphire.[65]

Following the Revolution, a family friend Albert Stopford rescued the jewels from her Palace safe and smuggled them out of Russia. After the Duchess's death, they were sold by her children to support their lives in exile. Queen Mary, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom purchased a Bolin tiara of diamond loops with pearl drops, later worn by Queen Elizabeth II, although the original gold frame has been replaced by Garrard with one of platinum; Her niece by marriage, Queen Marie, Queen Consort of Romania purchased a sapphire kokoshnik-style tiara by Cartier and Nancy Leeds (later Princess Christopher of Greece), the ruby parure. Some of her emeralds were purchased by Barbara Hutton. It had been rumored that some of the stones in Elizabeth Taylor's Bulgari Emerald necklace were from the Vladimir collection but this has been disproved by jeweler historian Vincent Meylan.

In 2008 a collection of cufflinks, cigarette cases and other small jewellery items belonging to the Vladimir family were discovered in the archives of the Swedish foreign ministry, having presumably been deposited at the Swedish Embassy in St Petersburg following the Revolution. They were sold on behalf of the Vladimir heirs; some of the proceeds were used to restore the Grand Duchess's tomb in Contrexéville.[66]

Children

Marie's eldest surviving son, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia married, in 1905, his first cousin Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, daughter of Vladimir's sister the Duchess of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Other than the fact that first cousin marriages were not allowed, she was also the former wife of Ernst Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, the brother of the Empress. This marriage was not approved by Nicholas II and Cyril was stripped of his imperial titles. The treatment of her son created a strife between her husband and the Emperor. However, after several deaths in the family put Cyril third in the line of succession to the Imperial Throne, Nicholas agreed to reinstate Cyril's Imperial titles, and the latter's wife was acknowledged as HIH Grand Duchess Viktoria Fedorovna.[67]

Marie was a doting grandmother. At least once a year, her daughter Elena would bring her children to visit. Marie's favorite was Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. Meriel Buchanan heard Marie say "Marina is the cleverest one," "Marina has the sweetest nature," and "Marina is the most affectionate."[68] Marie gave her granddaughters "dresses, dolls, prams, bicycles, a pony and carriage and jewellery suitable for their ages, such as silver muff-chains, watches, strings of pearls and diamonds and turquoise pendants.”[69] She despised Kate Fox, the nurse to Elena's children. When Kate spanked her grandchildren, she was furious and complained that "that dreadful woman knocks them about."[70] During the First Balkan War, Elena sent her children to Paris to stay with Marie.[71] Marie took her grandchildren out for drives in the Bois de Boulogne, showed them off to her French friends, took them to see puppet shows, and gave them numerous "toys, presents, and chic new dresses."[72]

Honours

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ . Archived from the original on 25 March 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2008. Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna (the elder), Duchess of Mecklenburg, the widow of the Emperor's uncle, the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. The Grand Duchess Marie, known as the "grandest of the grand duchesses" had refused to leave Russia on any ship that was going to dock in Constantinople for fear that she would be subjected to the indignity of delousing.
  2. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.45
  3. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.44
  4. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.48
  5. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.7
  6. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.240
  7. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.239
  8. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.240
  9. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.241
  10. ^ Glyn, Elinor Glyn, p. 178.
  11. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.241
  12. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.241
  13. ^ 1913; An End and a Beginning, Virginia Cowles
  14. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.159
  15. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.221
  16. ^ Morgan, Diane (2007). From Satan's Crown to the Holy Grail: Emeralds in Myth, Magic and History. Westport, Ct: Praeger. pp. 134. ISBN 9780275991234.
  17. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.47
  18. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.47
  19. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.45
  20. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.45
  21. ^ Charlotte Zeepvat, The Camera and the Tsars: A Romanov Family Album, Sutton Publishing, 2004, p. 45
  22. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.47
  23. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.48
  24. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.46
  25. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.126
  26. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.230
  27. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.230
  28. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.230
  29. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.311
  30. ^ Robert K. Massie, Nicholas and Alexandra, 1967, p. 388
  31. ^ Gelardi, Julia (24 April 2012). The Romanov Women: From Spendour to Revolution from 1847-1918 (Reprint ed.). St. Martin's Griffin. pp. 175–177. ISBN 978-1250001610.
  32. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.159
  33. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.239
  34. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.90
  35. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.90
  36. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.90
  37. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.90
  38. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.90
  39. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.94
  40. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.95
  41. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.95
  42. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.126
  43. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.127
  44. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.128
  45. ^ Boston Daily Globe, 14 June 1897
  46. ^ a b Helen Rappaport, The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra, p. 191
  47. ^ Joseph T. Fuhrmann, The Complete Wartime Correspondence of Tsar Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra: April 1914-March 1917, page 356
  48. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.232
  49. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.274
  50. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.274
  51. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.274
  52. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.277
  53. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.278
  54. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.278
  55. ^ Massie, pp. 388-90; Nelipa (2010) The Murder of Grigorii Rasputin. A Conspiracy That Brought Down the Russian Empire, p. 493.
  56. ^ Massie, p. 389
  57. ^ John Curtis Perry and Constantine Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, Perseus Books Group, 1999, pp. 228-32.
  58. ^ Vorres, Ian (1965). The Last Grand Duchess. Scribner. ASIN B-0007-E0JK-0.
  59. ^ Perry and Pleshakov, pp. 263-4.
  60. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.159
  61. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.159
  62. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.159
  63. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.159
  64. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.241
  65. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.241
  66. ^ "Sotheby's Sells Tsar Family Jewelry Found in Swedish Archive". Bloomberg News. 28 August 2009. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
  67. ^ . Russian Imperial House. Russian Imperial House. Archived from the original on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  68. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.238
  69. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.238
  70. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.253
  71. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.254
  72. ^ Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p.254
  73. ^ a b c d Grossherzoglich Mecklenburg-Schwerinscher Staatskalendar, 1908, p. 3
  74. ^ "Real orden de Damas Nobles de la Reina Maria Luisa". Guía Oficial de España. 1919. p. 227. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  75. ^ "Elisabeth-orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, Vienna: Druck und Verlag der K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1918, p. 328

Sources

  • Julia P. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution; The Romanov Women 1847-1928, St. Martin's Griffin, 2011, ISBN 978-1250001610
  • Robert K. Massie, Nicholas and Alexandra, Dell Publishing Co., 1967, ISBN 0-440-16358-7
  • John Curtis Perry and Constantine Pleshakov, The Flight of the Romanovs, Basic Books, 1999, ISBN 0-465-02462-9


duchess, marie, mecklenburg, schwerin, other, people, named, grand, duchess, maria, russia, grand, duchess, maria, russia, disambiguation, later, grand, duchess, maria, pavlovna, miechen, russia, russian, Мари, Па, вловна, 1854, september, 1920, also, known, m. For other people named Grand Duchess Maria of Russia see Grand Duchess Maria of Russia disambiguation Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg Schwerin later Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna Miechen of Russia Russian Mari ya Pa vlovna 14 May O S 2 May 1854 6 September 1920 also known as Maria Pavlovna the Elder was the eldest daughter of Grand Duke Frederick Francis II of Mecklenburg Schwerin by his first wife Princess Augusta Reuss of Kostritz A prominent hostess in Saint Petersburg following her marriage in 1874 to the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia she was known by many as the grandest of the grand duchesses 1 Marie of Mecklenburg SchwerinGrand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of RussiaGrand Duchess Maria Pavlovna late 1880sBorn 1854 05 14 14 May 1854Ludwigslust Palace Ludwigslust Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg Schwerin German ConfederationDied6 September 1920 1920 09 06 aged 66 Hotel de la Souveraine Contrexeville FranceBurialChapel of St Vladimir and St Mary Magdalene ContrexevilleSpouseGrand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia m 1874 died 1909 wbr IssueGrand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich Kirill Vladimirovich Grand Duke of RussiaGrand Duke Boris VladimirovichGrand Duke Andrei VladimirovichElena Vladimirovna Princess Nicholas of Greece and DenmarkNamesMarie Alexandrine Elisabeth EleonoreHouseMecklenburg SchwerinFatherFrederick Francis II Grand Duke of Mecklenburg SchwerinMotherPrincess Augusta Reuss of KostritzReligionRussian Orthodoxprev Lutheranism Contents 1 Appearance and personality 2 Early life 3 Marriage 4 Religion 5 Life in Russia 6 Escape from Russia 7 Jewels 8 Children 9 Honours 10 Ancestry 11 References 12 SourcesAppearance and personality EditMarie was noted for her attractiveness and sense of style When Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught and Strathearn visited Germany in search of brides Queen Victoria noted that Marie was said to be very pretty 2 When they first met her future husband Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia admired her wonderfully expressive eyes 3 At her wedding Thomas W Knox observed that Vladimir s bride is good looking solid well formed with plump and finely rounded shoulders a neck neither long nor short regularly formed features with the exception of the nose which has a slight tendency to pugginess 4 At the coronation of her brother in law Alexander III her niece in law Marie of Edinburgh noted that she is not thin enough for classical lines but she wears her clothes better than any other woman present her shoulders are superb and as white as cream there is a smartness about her that no one else can attain 5 In 1910 author Elinor Glyn wrote that Marie was a most stately magnificent looking princess 6 Marie was famous for her wittiness and sociability Meriel Buchanan attended one of Marie s dinner parties at Vladimir Palace and she wrote that Marie know s exactly what to say to each individual person an inimitable gift which royalties do not always possess but which she herself had at her command in the fullest sense 7 When she visited Sofia Bulgaria she impressed A A Mossolov head of the court Chancellery with her wit and vivacity He wrote For three hours the Grand Duchess was the centre of animated and brilliant conversation She was talking to persons whom she had never before met and she did not make a single mistake 8 Author Elinor Glyn reflected that Marie had a very highly cultivated and far seeing mind with a delightful sense of humour and was adored by everyone 9 Marie was interested in literature In late 1909 she invited the popular British novelist Elinor Glyn to come to Russia to write a Russian based story She told Glyn Everyone always writes books about our peasants Come and write one about how the real people live 10 Glyn produced a piece of fiction called His Hour which she dedicated to Marie saying her kind appreciation of the finished work is a source of the deepest gratification to me 11 Glyn modeled one of the characters Princess Ardacheff after Marie 12 Like her husband Marie loved the arts After her husband s death Marie succeeded him as president of the Academy of Fine Arts 13 Marie was addicted to gambling The painter Henry Jones Thaddeus attended one of Marie s parties where she insisted that her guests play roulette 14 When she and her husband traveled abroad she liked to frequent the casinos of Monte Carlo 15 During Nicholas II s reign she defied a prohibition on the playing on roulette and baccarat in private homes and she was temporarily banned from Court 16 Early life EditMarie Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore was born a duchess of the Grand Ducal House of Mecklenburg to Frederick Francis II Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Schwerin the then Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Schwerin and his first wife Princess Augusta Reuss of Kostritz 1822 1862 in the Schloss Ludwigslust She was eight years old when her mother died in 1862 Her father married twice more Marriage Edit Pavlovna wearing her original sapphire tiara with the 137 carat centre stone Marie married Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia the third son of Alexander II of Russia She was one of the very few Royals with Slavic patriline to ever marry a male dynast of the House of Romanov Previously she had been engaged to George Albert I Prince of Schwarzburg Rudolstadt but broke it off as soon as she met Vladimir Marie and Vladimir married on 28 August 1874 The wedding took place in the chapel of the Winter Palace It was not as lavish as the wedding of Vladimir s sister Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia to the Duke of Edinburgh Lord Augustus Loftus noted Every thing went off very well although the marriage was not so resplendent as that of the Duke of Edinburgh At this season of the year this town is a desert and therefore only those came who were obliged to come 17 As the Russian Emperor s daughter in law Marie took on a new style Her Imperial Highness Marie and Vladimir had four sons and one daughter Upon her marriage she took the Russian name of Maria Pavlovna She was Emperor Paul I of Russia s great great granddaughter and she wished to emphasize her exalted ancestry with the patronymic Pavlovna 18 Religion EditFor three years Marie and Vladimir could not marry because Marie refused to convert from Lutheranism to the Russian Orthodox Church Vladimir s mother Empress Maria Alexandrovna was disappointed by Marie s refusal to convert She herself had converted from Lutheranism to Russian Orthodoxy and she thought that the Russian Orthodox church was quite good enough for any daughter in law of hers 19 She told Vladimir that she hoped that Marie would become Russian in body and in soul 20 indicating her hope that Marie would convert Emperor Alexander II finally agreed to let Vladimir marry Marie without insisting on her conversion to Orthodoxy 21 Every bride of a Russian Grand Duke needed to convert to Russian Orthodoxy before Marie so Marie s decision was shocking and unprecedented Lord Augustus Loftus noted that It is a matter of surprise here for a Foreign Princess married to a Grand Duke to retain her own religion but it is a process to which they will have to accustom themselves or they will find no wives for the Russian Grand Dukes I think it is a healthy practice and it will do them good 22 In a letter to Hamilton Fish Eugene Schuyler wrote The Grand Duchess will retain the Lutheran religion This is worthy of note as hitherto the Russian laws have required the wives of all grand dukes to adopt the orthodox Russian faith 23 Marie set the precedent for brides who did not have to convert to Russian Orthodoxy to marry Russian Grand Dukes At the time of Marie s marriage Alice Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine wrote to her mother Queen Victoria My mother in law tells me that since Miechen has been allowed to retain her religion this right will of course be conceded to all Princesses in the future 24 Many years later Alice s daughter Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine would use Marie s precedent to retain her Lutheran faith and marry Marie s brother in law Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia Marie was furious when her sister in law Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia converted to Russian Orthodoxy after her marriage Grand Duchess Elizabeth predicted Marie s response and she asked her father Louis IV Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine Please do not yet tell anybody at Darmstadt until I write again when Miechen Marie knows 25 In 1908 Marie converted to Orthodoxy The decision was unexpected because she had been Lutheran for 35 years 26 Meriel Buchanan daughter of a British ambassador to Russia defended Marie s conversion as sincere For some time past the Grand Duchess had turned more and more to the colour and ceremonial of the Russian Church She had prayed to the Virgin for the safety of her son Kirill when he was injured during the Russo Japanese War and seeing in his escape from death an answer to these prayers she finally adopted the Orthodox religion 27 However some believed that the ambitious Marie acted to improve the chances of her own sons ascending the throne 28 After Emperor Nicholas II s sickly son Tsesarevich Alexei and unmarried childless brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia Marie s husband and her sons were in line for the throne In 1916 Vladimir Purishkevich wrote in his diary I shall never forget the story of Ivan Grigorevich Scheglovitov former Minister of Justice He said that one day Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich asked him whether the descendants of the Vladimir line have any legal rights to the throne and if not why not Scheglovitov told him that the Grand Dukes had no rights whatsoever because their mother continued in the Lutheran faith even after marriage Boris left him but came back sometime later with a paper showing that the Grand Duchess had given up her Protestant religion and had embraced the Orthodox 29 Life in Russia EditMarie lived at the Vladimir Palace situated on the Palace Embankment on the Neva River Marie was famous for being one of the best hostesses in the capital During the reign of her nephew Emperor Nicholas II her Grand Ducal court was the most cosmopolitan and popular one in the capital 30 31 The painter Henry Jones Thaddeus recalled that she was the ideal hostess and that Her Imperial Highness was the life and soul of the company the most brilliant contributor to the general discussion 32 Meriel Buchanan attended Marie s dinner party at Vladimir Palace and she wrote Here one always met only the prettiest and smartest women the most distinguished men the most entertaining members of the diplomatic body 33 During Alexander II s reign Marie survived the Winter Palace explosion of February 1880 Revolutionaries had planted 125 pounds of dynamite in the dining room and the Imperial family narrowly avoided death only because Alexander II had unusually gone to dinner late 34 She told painter Henry Jones Thaddeus about her experience 35 She explained that she was late to the dinner because one of her children was ill At the palace Alexander II delayed going to the dining room to ask about her child She recalled that At this moment the most awful explosion rent the air The dining room vanished from our view and we were plunged into impenetrable darkness A poisonous gas filled the room suffocating us as well as adding to our horror 36 She reflected that It really seemed as if the hand of Providence had delayed the Czar s arrival otherwise we should have shared the same fate as the dining room 37 Marie was close to her father in law Alexander II She recalled that he was devoted to her and kindness itself 38 However she incurred his anger by refusing to accept his second wife Catherine Dolgorukov 39 She privately criticized Alexander II for his obsession with Catherine The creature seems to have him bound as in a spell to make him deaf and blind 40 She resented him for forcing his family to accept Catherine and she expressed her anger in a letter to the late Empress Maria s brother Louis III Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine The Tsar has commanded us as his subjects to be friendly with this wife if not he would force us to it You can imagine the internal conflict that agitates us all and the perpetual struggle between feelings duty and external pressure 41 Marie had a distant relationship with her sister in law Maria Feodorovna Maria Feodorovna disliked Marie because of her German origins 42 Marie openly declared that her husband would make a better Emperor than Maria Feodorovna s husband Alexander III of Russia 43 After the Borki train disaster in which Alexander III Maria Feodorovna and their children narrowly escaped death Marie allegedly said We shall never have such a chance again 44 Marie had an antagonistic relationship with Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra because of her ambitions for her own sons On 14 June 1897 the Boston Daily Globe reported that she had consulted a gypsy fortune teller who had predicted that one of her sons would sit on the throne of Russia 45 At this time Empress Alexandra had given birth to her third daughter Grand Duchess Maria As girls were ineligible for the Imperial Throne Emperor Nicholas heirs were his two unmarried childless brothers and his uncle Vladimir Marie s husband In 1912 Emperor Nicholas s only living brother Grand Duke Michael married a commoner which led Emperor Nicholas to strip him of his military command imperial honors and right as the heir presumptive to serve as regent for Tsesarevich Alexei should Emperor Nicholas die prematurely 46 According to the laws of the succession Marie s oldest son Kirill the heir presumptive now that Grand Duke Michael was ineligible and his own father Vladimir was dead would become regent should the Emperor die before Alexei turned 21 However Emperor Nicholas overruled the existing law and nominated his oldest daughter Grand Duchess Olga as regent with his wife Empress Alexandra as guardian during Alexei s minority 46 Marie was furious but Emperor Nicholas refused to change his mind In 1916 Marie approached Empress Alexandra about a potential marriage between Grand Duchess Olga and her second son Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich Empress Alexandra refused Marie s proposal claiming that she could not let a pure fresh girl 18 years his junior marry a well used half worn out blase young man 47 Marie was outraged by Empress Alexandra s abrupt refusal In 1909 Marie s husband died She was devastated by his death and wore mourning clothes for the rest of her life 48 During World War I Marie whole heartedly supported Russia Born a German princess she was troubled by the outbreak of WW1 but decided that she was now a Russian She reflected Neither in my heart nor my mind have I found anything which is not utterly devoted to my Russian fatherland it is my forty years residence in Russia all the happiness I have known here all the dreams that have come to me all the affection and kindness I have received which has given me a wholly Russian soul 49 She hated Wilhelm II German Emperor and denounced him in the strongest terms I am only a Mecklenburger on one point in my hatred for the Emperor William He represents what I have been taught from my childhood to detest the most the tyranny of the Hohenzollerns Yes it is the Hohenzollerns who have perverted demoralized degraded and humiliated Germany and gradually destroyed in her all elements of idealism and generosity refinement and charity 50 The French ambassador Maurice Paleologue was impressed by Marie s long diatribe which made me feel all the sentiments of inveterate hatred of mute and tenacious detestation which the small and once independent states of Germany have for the despotic house of Prussia 51 During WWI Marie supervised many projected for the Russian army She oversaw hospital trains for the troops Albert Stopford admired Marie s efficiency and skill in organizing claiming that Marie spar ed herself no trouble and was quite thorough 52 She developed a charity to give complete outfits and money to disabled Russian soldiers who were sent home 53 Granted permission by Emperor Nicholas she ran the charity with state money and money from her personal wealth 54 Like many other Romanovs Marie feared that Empress Alexandra would be the sole ruler of Russia after Nicholas took supreme command of the Russian armies on 23 August 1915 O S hoping this would lift morale It was widely speculated that along with her sons she contemplated a coup against the Emperor in the winter of 1916 17 that would force the Tsar s abdication and replacement by his son Tsesarevich Alexei and her son Grand Duke Kirill or Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich as regent 55 There is no documentary evidence to support this though the Duma president Mikhail Rodzianko famously reported that she said that the Empress must be annihilated 56 Escape from Russia EditMarie was the last of the Romanovs to escape Revolutionary Russia and the first to die in exile She remained in the war torn Caucasus with her two younger sons throughout 1917 and 1918 still hoping to make her eldest son Kirill Vladimirovich the Tsar As the Bolsheviks approached the group finally escaped aboard a fishing boat to Anapa in 1918 Maria spent fourteen months in Anapa refusing to join her son Boris in leaving Russia When opportunities for escape via Constantinople presented themselves she refused to leave for fear she would be subjected to the indignity of delousing She finally agreed to leave when the general of the White Army warned her that his side was losing the civil war Maria her son Andrei Andrei s mistress Mathilde Kschessinska and Andrei and Mathilde s son Vladimir boarded an Italian ship headed to Venice on 13 February 1920 57 Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia encountered Maria at the port of Novorossiysk in early 1920 Disregarding peril and hardship she stubbornly kept to all the trimmings of bygone splendour and glory And somehow she carried it off When even generals found themselves lucky to find a horse cart and an old nag to bring them to safety Aunt Miechen made a long journey in her own train It was battered all right but it was hers For the first time in my life I found it a pleasure to kiss her 58 She made her way from Venice to Switzerland and then to France where her health failed Staying at her villa now the Hotel La Souveraine she died on 6 September 1920 aged 66 surrounded by her family at Contrexeville 59 Jewels Edit Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna in middle age wearing the Vladimir Tiara Marie had a passion for jewels and her collection was renowned It included a 100 carat emerald once owned by her great great great grandmother Empress Catherine the Great and the 5 carat ruby of Josephine de Beauharnais In 1899 she and Vladimir received a number of jewels for their silver wedding anniversary 60 Nicholas II of Russia and Alexandra Feodorovna Alix of Hesse gave them an aigrette and diadem composed of magnificent diamonds 61 It was reported that the three stones of the aigrette alone are worth a fortune 62 Each grand duke and grand duchess gave them a golden plate which formed a collection of 36 plates the most magnificent service that can be imagined 63 Marie was a major client of Cartier and she bought many jewels from them 64 These jewels included an aigrette tiara with three curving aigrette bundles set with Indian cut briolettes like cascades of blossom that evoked the illusion of dewdrops shaken from a stem whenever they were moved a ruby tiara a kokoshnik tiara with a 137 carat sapphire in the center and a large stomacher with a 162 carat sapphire 65 Following the Revolution a family friend Albert Stopford rescued the jewels from her Palace safe and smuggled them out of Russia After the Duchess s death they were sold by her children to support their lives in exile Queen Mary Queen Consort of the United Kingdom purchased a Bolin tiara of diamond loops with pearl drops later worn by Queen Elizabeth II although the original gold frame has been replaced by Garrard with one of platinum Her niece by marriage Queen Marie Queen Consort of Romania purchased a sapphire kokoshnik style tiara by Cartier and Nancy Leeds later Princess Christopher of Greece the ruby parure Some of her emeralds were purchased by Barbara Hutton It had been rumored that some of the stones in Elizabeth Taylor s Bulgari Emerald necklace were from the Vladimir collection but this has been disproved by jeweler historian Vincent Meylan In 2008 a collection of cufflinks cigarette cases and other small jewellery items belonging to the Vladimir family were discovered in the archives of the Swedish foreign ministry having presumably been deposited at the Swedish Embassy in St Petersburg following the Revolution They were sold on behalf of the Vladimir heirs some of the proceeds were used to restore the Grand Duchess s tomb in Contrexeville 66 Children EditGrand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich of Russia 31 August 1875 16 March 1877 Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia 12 October 1876 12 October 1938 married Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe Coburg and Gotha Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia 24 November 1877 9 November 1943 Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia 14 May 1879 30 October 1956 Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia 17 January 1882 13 March 1957 married Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark Marie s eldest surviving son Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia married in 1905 his first cousin Victoria Melita of Saxe Coburg and Gotha daughter of Vladimir s sister the Duchess of Edinburgh and of Saxe Coburg and Gotha Other than the fact that first cousin marriages were not allowed she was also the former wife of Ernst Louis Grand Duke of Hesse the brother of the Empress This marriage was not approved by Nicholas II and Cyril was stripped of his imperial titles The treatment of her son created a strife between her husband and the Emperor However after several deaths in the family put Cyril third in the line of succession to the Imperial Throne Nicholas agreed to reinstate Cyril s Imperial titles and the latter s wife was acknowledged as HIH Grand Duchess Viktoria Fedorovna 67 Marie was a doting grandmother At least once a year her daughter Elena would bring her children to visit Marie s favorite was Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark Meriel Buchanan heard Marie say Marina is the cleverest one Marina has the sweetest nature and Marina is the most affectionate 68 Marie gave her granddaughters dresses dolls prams bicycles a pony and carriage and jewellery suitable for their ages such as silver muff chains watches strings of pearls and diamonds and turquoise pendants 69 She despised Kate Fox the nurse to Elena s children When Kate spanked her grandchildren she was furious and complained that that dreadful woman knocks them about 70 During the First Balkan War Elena sent her children to Paris to stay with Marie 71 Marie took her grandchildren out for drives in the Bois de Boulogne showed them off to her French friends took them to see puppet shows and gave them numerous toys presents and chic new dresses 72 Honours Edit Mecklenburg Dame s Decoration of the House Order of the Wendish Crown in Diamonds 73 Russian Empire Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Catherine 73 Kingdom of Prussia Dame of the Order of Louise 1st Division 73 Kingdom of Bavaria Dame of the Order of Theresa 73 Spain Dame of the Order of Queen Maria Luisa 30 September 1891 74 Austria Hungary Grand Cross of the Order of Elizabeth 1907 75 Ancestry EditAncestors of Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg Schwerin8 Frederick Louis Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Schwerin4 Paul Frederick Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Schwerin9 Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia2 Frederick Francis II Grand Duke of Mecklenburg Schwerin10 Frederick William III of Prussia5 Princess Alexandrine of Prussia11 Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg Strelitz1 Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg Schwerin12 Heinrich XLIV Prince Reuss of Kostritz6 Heinrich LXIII Prince Reuss of Kostritz13 Baroness Wilhelmine von Geuder genannt Rabensteiner3 Princess Augusta Reuss of Kostritz14 Count Heinrich of Stolberg Wernigerode7 Countess Eleonore of Stolberg Wernigerode15 Princess Johanna of Schonburg WaldenburgReferences Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maria Pavlovna Marie of Mecklenburg Schwerin Profile at www angelfire com Archived from the original on 25 March 2009 Retrieved 23 October 2008 Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna the elder Duchess of Mecklenburg the widow of the Emperor s uncle the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich The Grand Duchess Marie known as the grandest of the grand duchesses had refused to leave Russia on any ship that was going to dock in Constantinople for fear that she would be subjected to the indignity of delousing Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 45 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 44 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 48 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 7 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 240 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 239 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 240 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 241 Glyn Elinor Glyn p 178 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 241 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 241 1913 An End and a Beginning Virginia Cowles Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 159 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 221 Morgan Diane 2007 From Satan s Crown to the Holy Grail Emeralds in Myth Magic and History Westport Ct Praeger pp 134 ISBN 9780275991234 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 47 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 47 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 45 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 45 Charlotte Zeepvat The Camera and the Tsars A Romanov Family Album Sutton Publishing 2004 p 45 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 47 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 48 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 46 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 126 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 230 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 230 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 230 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 311 Robert K Massie Nicholas and Alexandra 1967 p 388 Gelardi Julia 24 April 2012 The Romanov Women From Spendour to Revolution from 1847 1918 Reprint ed St Martin s Griffin pp 175 177 ISBN 978 1250001610 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 159 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 239 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 90 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 90 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 90 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 90 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 90 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 94 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 95 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 95 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 126 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 127 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 128 Boston Daily Globe 14 June 1897 a b Helen Rappaport The Romanov Sisters The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra p 191 Joseph T Fuhrmann The Complete Wartime Correspondence of Tsar Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra April 1914 March 1917 page 356 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 232 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 274 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 274 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 274 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 277 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 278 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 278 Massie pp 388 90 Nelipa 2010 The Murder of Grigorii Rasputin A Conspiracy That Brought Down the Russian Empire p 493 Massie p 389 John Curtis Perry and Constantine Pleshakov The Flight of the Romanovs Perseus Books Group 1999 pp 228 32 Vorres Ian 1965 The Last Grand Duchess Scribner ASIN B 0007 E0JK 0 Perry and Pleshakov pp 263 4 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 159 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 159 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 159 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 159 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 241 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 241 Sotheby s Sells Tsar Family Jewelry Found in Swedish Archive Bloomberg News 28 August 2009 Retrieved 9 September 2009 Decree of Emperor Nicholas II Concerning the Recognition of the Wedding of Grand Duke Kirill Wladimirovich and Granting to His Wife and Descendants Those Rights Belonging to Members of the Russian Imperial Family Russian Imperial House Russian Imperial House Archived from the original on 13 January 2014 Retrieved 3 August 2014 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 238 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 238 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 253 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 254 Julia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution p 254 a b c d Grossherzoglich Mecklenburg Schwerinscher Staatskalendar 1908 p 3 Real orden de Damas Nobles de la Reina Maria Luisa Guia Oficial de Espana 1919 p 227 Retrieved 18 November 2020 Elisabeth orden Hof und Staatshandbuch der Osterreichisch Ungarischen Monarchie Vienna Druck und Verlag der K K Hof und Staatsdruckerei 1918 p 328Sources EditJulia P Gelardi From Splendor to Revolution The Romanov Women 1847 1928 St Martin s Griffin 2011 ISBN 978 1250001610 Robert K Massie Nicholas and Alexandra Dell Publishing Co 1967 ISBN 0 440 16358 7 John Curtis Perry and Constantine Pleshakov The Flight of the Romanovs Basic Books 1999 ISBN 0 465 02462 9 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg Schwerin amp oldid 1133940311, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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