Birth of son to the Heir to the Imperial throne of Russia

The Office of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, today issued the following statement concerning the birth of HSH Prince Alexander Georgievich, son of the heir to the Imperial throne of Russia, Grand Duke George of Russia, and Princess Victoria Romanovna:

On October 21, 2022, Our daughter-in-law, Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria Romanovna, the spouse of Our son and heir His Imperial Highness The Tsesarevich and Grand Duke George of Russia, was delivered of a son, Our grandson, who has been given the name Alexander.

Welcoming this new addition to Our Family as a sign of God's grace, I ask all Our countrymen to offer fervent prayers to the Almighty for the health and well-being of the newborn. In accordance with Our current Family Law and the Family Act of September 14/27, 2020, Our grandson will be called His Serene Highness Prince Alexander Georgievich.

Issued in Madrid, 21 October, in the Year 2022 since the Nativity of Christ, and in the twenty-first year [sic!] of our succession to the rights and duties of Our August Ancestors - the Emperors of All the Russia.

H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia

As far as I understand it the head of the Russian Imperial House has previously declared that the marriage between George and Victoria is not dynastic, which means that Prince Alexander as of now is not a dynast. However, it is expected that Grand Duke George when he succeeds to the headship will declare his marriage as dynastic and that by then his son will become first in line to the throne.

The pregnancy was announced by the Russian Imperial House on 21 May 2022. Two months later we were informed that the couple expected a boy. Grand Duke George and Princess Victoria Romanovna, the former Rebecca Virginia Bettarini, were married on 1 October 2021.

Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 1, 2022

I received my copy of the lastest issue of Royalty Digest Quarterly – no. 1, 2022 – about a month ago. I have been involved in several genealogy projects since then, so my blog was put on hold for a while. I am almost always involved in various genealogy projects, so I guess it is a bad excuse, but I am enjoying my genealogy research so much ...

Anyway ... The editor Ted Rosvall usually stays away from politics in his Editor's Corner, but this time he has made an exception. He has chosen to comment on the ongoing war in Ukraine and ends by writing: «Royalty Digest Quarterly stands behind the Ukrainian people and their brave leaders in their struggle for a free and independent Ukraine». So do I! Most members of «the European Royal Family» have shown sympathy with Ukraine in various ways since the Russian invasion in February. It cannot have been easy for Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, whose family ruled the Russian Empire, which included what is nbow the Russian Federation and Ukraine, for several hundred years, but I think she made her views on the war clear in her statement of 24 February. 

There are two church-related articles in this issue. Edward W. Hanson shows in his article Royal Priests, Monks and Nuns that quite a few royals, especially members of Catholic families, have taken holy vows throughout the years. The author Edward Hanson is an historian as well as a priest in the Church of England, so I can well understand that he is interested in this topic. Jonathan Iglesias Sancho and Blanca Briones Conzáles on the other hand has written an interesting piece on the relationship between the Romanovs and the Vatican.

The front page gives an illustration of King Gustaf V and Queen Victoria of Sweden, which means that the first issue of 2022 contains the second part of The Bernadottes of Sweden - A Family Album, written by the editor himself. The number of illustrations – 133 in all, if I have managed to count correctly – must be a new record in this series of family albums. In addition there is one page with a genealogical table showing the descendants of King Gustaf V.

Next one out is Michael L. Nash' enjoyable article "Collecting all the Sunshine .....". The First Modern Royal Family, which describes the wedding between Princess Mary (the Princess Royal) and Henry Lascelles (then Viscount Lascelles, later the 6th Earl of Harewood, in 1922.

Then Eric Lowe continues his series Elegant Royals – Some favorites from my collection, before Ove Mogensens tells the story of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in his article series Tombs, Graves and Monuments in Thuringia (part. VI).

Prince Eugen of Sweden (1865–1947) was a well-known artist in Scandinavia and also a well-liked member of the royal family. But perhaps not so well-known outside Sweden, Norway and perhaps also Denmark. He is the topic of Coryne Hall's Little-Known Royals. I really enjoyed my visit to Prince Eugen's Waldemarsudde in Sweden when I visited it back in 2006. I can really recommend it.

Prince Eugen's house and grave at Waldemarsudde. © 2006 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth.

The World Wide Web of Royalty this time brings news of the Imperial, Royal or Princely houses of Austria, Austria-Este, Luxembourg, Prussia, and Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Information about Royalty Digest Quarterly can be found at its editor's website Royalbooks.se. See earlier presentations of RDQ here. See also its Facebook page.

Heir to the Imperial throne of Russia marries

The religious wedding of the Tsesarevich of Russia, Grand Duke George, and the former Rebecca Virginia Bettarini, who took the name Victoria Romanovna following her conversion to the Orthodox faith in July 2020, took place in the St. Isaac Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia on 1 October 2021. The civil wedding took place on 24 September 2021 in the Moscow City Hall. 

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich is the only son of the head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and her former husband Prince Franz Wilhelm of Russia. Victoria Romanovna, b. Rome 18 May 1982, is the daughter of Roberto Bettarini and Carla Virginia Bettarini, née Cacciatore. The wedding was announced on 21 january 2021. As far as I understand it the head of the Russian Imperial House has declared the union not to be dynastic.

The wedding was attended by about 1500 people, while 500 attended the gala dinner afterwards. The wedding progran can be viewed at the website of the Russian Legitimist. Please see the blogs Netty Royal and Royal Musings for more details.

Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 2, 2018

The latest issue of Royalty Digest Quarterly (no. 2, 2018) was waiting for me on my return from Australia 12 days ago. The cover is green and beautiful, and the family photo is from the christening of Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma in 1926, third child of Prince René and Princess Margrethe, née Princess of Denmark and a brother of the late Queen Anne of Romania. Prince Michel died on 7 July this year.

The choice of cover photo signals which family has been rewarded with A Family Album article by the magazine's returning contributor and historical consultant, Charlotte Zeepvat. The readers are treated with the traditional introductory piece about The House of Bourbon-Parma and a large selection of photos and other illustrations – 99 in all, if I have got it right – a number which includes a map and a photo of the Ducal Palace (Palazzo del Giardino) in Parma. The family is large, so you will also find four pages with family tables as well.

Palazzo del Giardino, Parma. Photo: © 2007 Szeder László/Wikimedia Commons.

The first article in this issue, Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, is written by Marlene A. Eilers Koenig. The duchess, b. 1878, d. 1948, who was the daughter Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich (1848–1914) and Grand Duchess Elizabeth, née Princess of Anhalt (1857–1933), had quite a challenging life, having among others an illegitimate child with a footman named Hecht and a rather sad marriage to a Count George Jamatel. Koenig gives a good account of it all. The baby was adopted, and naturally I keep wondering if he or she has ever been identified.

100 years ago this summer, Emperor Nicholas II of the Russias and his family as well as many other members of the Romanov dynasty were murdered. Coryne Hall has contributed with the excellent article Caught in Revolution – Miss White and the Paley Family. Annie Mary White (1873–1940s) was in 1914 employed by Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich (1860–1919) and Olga Countess of Hohenfelsen, née Karnovitz (1866–1929), later created Princess Paley. Miss White played the role as a companion to their daughters. If you only have time for one article in the current issue, this is the one! The genealogist in me of course wonders if it is possible to find the exact date of death for Miss White. A common name, yes, but her death is of course registered somewhere. I had no immediate success when searching for it on Ancestry.com and Findmypast.co.uk, though. I guess I will leave it to someone else ...

The next one out, the article Double Wedding. Two Princesses and Their Different Destinies by Alberto Penna Rodrigues, covers the weddings in 1802 of Princess Maria Antonia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1784–1806) to the then Prince of Asturias, later Fernando VII (1784–1833) and Infanta Maria Isabel (1789–1848) to the then Duke of Calabria, later King Francis I (Francesco I)  of Bourbon Two-Sicilies (1777–1830). An interesting read, but a bit heavy, packed with details and with so many names that a little family table of the two most important families had been in place.

In the series  Little-Known Royals Coryne Hall pays attention to Princess Eugenie of Greece and Denmark (1910–1989), daughter of Prince George (1869–1957) and Princess Marie Bonaparte (1882–1962), and a first cousin to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. She made two marriages, the first to Prince Dominic Radziwill, the second to Prince Raymundo della Torre e Tasso, Duke of Castel Duino, and divorced both of them. She is described as a talented writer, but did she ever publish anything?

Finally, The column The World-Wide Web of Royalty brings news from the royal or princely families of Isenburg, United Kingdom, Denmark, Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Saxony, Saxony-Weimar, Sweden, Waldeck and Pyrmont and Württemberg.

Information on Royalty Digest Quarterly can be found at its editor's website Royalbooks.se. See earlier presentation of RDQ here. See also its Facebook page.  

Long break

 View of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The photo is taken from Grandview Avenue.

 What is in the water at the Lake Farmpark, Kirtland, Ohio...

The rental car we used during the 3 weeks' long visit. A Buick Enclave, one of the best cars I ahve ever driven. Unfortunately no company in Norway imports this brand.

I haven't blogged for quite a while. The long break was mainly caused by my visit to the United States from 13 July to 4 August and work and other commitments both before and after my vacation. I am still quite busy with various commitments both at and off work, so I am not sure how often I will be able to write. Just have to wait and see how things develop. The work on my website is progressing slowly as well, but I will soon pay the bills to continue Hoelseth.com for at least one more year.

My round-trip in the United States together with my wife and daughter took me to some familiar but also many new places: Arlington, Alexandria and Williamsburg, Virginia; Rockville, Maryland; Outer Banks and Raleigh, North Carolina; Charleston, West Virginia; Franklin and Kirtland, Ohio (with excursions!); Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Gaithersburg, Maryland and at the end of the tour Alexandria, Virginia once again.

The purpose of the visit was first of all to visit family and friends besides my wife attending a conference in Pittsburgh, but we got to do some sightseeing as well, so rest assure that the round trip will result in many blog articles. I have seen several memorials, Colonial Williamsburg, 2 state capitols, 3 presidential graves (two of them for the first time), one Romanov-related grave, 3 cemeteries (again two of them for the first time), several museums and much more. Of course I had to do several "children-friendly" things as well, as for instance several children's museums, a farmpark and Pittsburgh Zoo, but they will most likely not be covered in my blog. The most pleasant surprise was perhaps Old Town Alexandria in Virginia. Don't spend all your days exploring Washington DC. Go to Alexandria! Or stay in Alexandria (or Arlington), as the hotels are usually cheaper there, and take day visits to DC instead!

There are also many other blog articles waiting to be written, about numerous cemetery visits in and outside Oslo and other visits I have made in Norway and abroad. It is just a matter of getting the time to write... 

Kadriorg Palace and Park, Tallinn, Estonia

(1) Kadriorg Palace, today Kadriorg Art Museum.

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(5) The back side of the palace with the garden.

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(10) The Presidential Palace can be seen in the background.

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(12) Interior.

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(17) The Presidential Palace.

(18) Peter The Great House Museum.

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(20) The Russalka monument - a sculpture of an angel facing the sea - is a memorial to the military ship Russalka which sunk in 1893. The sun made it too difficult to get a decent photo of the angel's face...

(21) Statue of the Estonian writer Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803-1882).

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The construction of Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn, Estonia, started in 1718 on the order of Emperor Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great) (1672-1682-1725), but was not completed before after his death. It was named after his second wife Catherine (1684-1725-1727), née Marta Helena Skawrońska, who succeeded him on his death in 1725 and enjoyed a short reign before she died 2 years later. The German name of the baroque-style palace, which was designed by the Italian architect Niccolo Michetti, was Catherinethal ("Catherine's Valley"). The name by which the palace is better known today, Kadriorg - "Kadri" is an Estonian version of "Catherine" - was first established in the 20th century.

The palace was meant to be the summer residence of the Russian Emperor (Czar) when staying in Tallinn, and according to the official website, "Most of the Russian rulers, from Peter’s daughter Elizabeth, to the last Romanov emperor Nicholas II", have visited it. For a short period during the first Estonian independence, the palace served as the president's office, before the new presidential palace was built. Today the palace houses an art museum, a branch of the Art Museum of Estonia.

In the Kadriorg Park you can also find the Presidential Palace, which was finished in 1938, and which served its purpose once again from 1991 when the Republic of Estonia got independent for the second time, as well as the Peter The Great House Museum, Kumu Art Museum, the Swan Pond and the Russalka monument. Peter The Great used to stay in what is now a small museum during his visits to Tallinn during the construction work of the palace. Some of Peter's furniture can be viewed in the museum.

Kadriorg Palace and the park with the same name is only a short walk from Tallinn's old city. It can also be reached by taking tram no. 1 or 3.

All the photos were taken on Sunday 6 November 2011.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia Remembered (1882-1960)

Yesterday, 24 November, marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Grand Duchess (or perhaps more correctly translated Grand Princess*) Olga Alexandrovna of Russia. Paul Gilbert, editor of Royal Russia, has published the following article, which is well worth reading:

The Grand Duchess of Russia Olga Alexandrovna

The Grand Princess was born in 1882 as the youngest of six children born to Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna (née Princess Dagmar of Denmark). The Grand Princess managed to flee Russia after the resolution together with her second husband, Nikolai Kulikovsky and eventually settled in Canada.

See also the article The Unfaiding Light of Charity. Grand Duchess Olga As a Philanthropist And Painter at the history internet magazine History-gatchina.ru, as well as the website of Grand Princess Olga's Memorial Fund.

Ballerup Museum in Pederstrup, Denmark has a permanent exhibition containing around 100 oilpaintings and watercolours made by the late Grand Princess. She lived in Ballerup from 1930 to 1948.

The grand princess is buried at York Cemetery in Toronto, Canada, something I missed out on during my visit in 2008.

*Paul Gilbert used "Grand Duchess" in the subject title of the press release I received last night, which is why I have used it rather than "Grand Princess" in the subject title of my blog article.

The article was updated on 26 November 2010 at 11.15 (link corrected).

Cimetière de Passy, Paris, France

Pearl White (1889-1938, US American silent film star.

Bao Dai (1913-1997), the last Emperor of Vietnam.

The last resting place of the Georgian Prince David Dimitry Tsouloukidze and his wife Princess Emma, née Dunbar.

Tomb of the Russian artist Marie Bashkirtseff (1860-1884). According to Wikipedia her tomb is a recreation of her studio and has been declared a historical monument by the French government.

Grave of Prince Leila of Iran (1970-2001), daughter of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Grave of Princess Ghislaine of Monaco (1900-1991), née Dommanget, spouse of Prince Louis II (1870-1922-1949).

Grave of the artist Édouard Manet (1832-1883).

Grave of Maurice Bellonte (1896-1984), who together with Dieudonné Costes made the first east to west crossing of the Atlantic by plane in 1930.

Grave of Princess Nathalia Romanovskaya-Brassova (1880-1952), née Cheremetevskya, wife of Grand Prince Michael of Russia (1878-1918), and of their son Count Georgy Brassov (1910-1931).

Grave of (among others) Prince Claude Beguin Billecoco, Duke of Durazzzo (1914-2001), Charles Baron Tascher de La Pagerie (1811-1869) and Princess Sophie Therese of Leyen and Hohengeroldseck (1798-1876), née Countess of Schönborn-Bucheim.

Grave of Count Louis Nicolas Wilmar de La Roche d'Oisy (1806-1885).

No doubt about the profession of this bloke!

General view of the cemetery.

Artistic.

Grave of Count Stefan Czarnecki (1904-1971).

General view of the cemetery.

I wonder if the deceased's grave can be identified by the arms?

The graves of noble families at Passy Cemetery are numerous...

All photos: © 2009 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth

Cimetière de Passy at 2 Rue du Commandant-Schloesing in Paris can be reached by the metro. The nearest station is Trocadéro (line 6 and 9), but it is also only a short walk from the Eiffel Tower.

References

• Cimetière de Passy (Wikipedia)
• Cimetière de Passy (Cimetières de France et d'ailleurs)
• Point d'Interrogation
• Mas Bellonte
• Von der Leyen (Wikipedia, in German)