Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia

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Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovitch Romanov of Russia (Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov)

Russian: Великий Князь Кирилл Владимирович Романов
Also Known As: "Kirill"
Birthdate:
Birthplace: Tsarskoye Selo, Russia (Russian Federation)
Death: October 12, 1938 (62)
Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
Place of Burial: Saint Petersburg, gorod Sankt-Peterburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Immediate Family:

Son of Vladimir Alexandrovich Romanov, Grand Duke of Russia and Maria Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore
Husband of Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Father of Princess Maria Kirillovna Leiningen; Princess Kyra Кирилловна of Prussia and Prince Vladimir Kirillovich Romanov
Brother of Grand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich of Russia; Grand Duke of Russia Boris Vladimirovich Romanov; Grand Prince Andrei Vladimirovich Vladimirovich Romanov and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia

Occupation: Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia
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About Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia

Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia (Russian: Кири́лл Влади́мирович Рома́нов; Kirill Vladimirovich Romanov; 12 October [O.S. 30 September] 1876 – 12 October 1938) was former head of the House of Romanov and a son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Emperor Alexander II and a first cousin of Nicholas II, Russia's last tsar.

Grand Duke Kirill followed a career in the Russian navy serving for 20 years in the Naval Guards. He took part in the Russo-Japanese War, barely surviving the sinking of the battleship Petropavlovsk at Port Arthur in April 1904. In 1905, he married his paternal first cousin, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who both defied Nicholas II by not obtaining his consent. They had two daughters and settled in Paris before they were allowed to visit Russia in 1909. In 1910 they moved to Russia.

In World War I, Grand Duke Kirill was appointed Commander of the Naval Depot of the Guards in 1915. He achieved the rank of rear admiral in the Imperial Navy in 1916. During the February Revolution of 1917, Kirill marched to the Tauride Palace at the head of the Naval Guards and swore allegiance to the Russian Provisional Government.

During the rule of the Provisional Governmental in the summer 1917, Kirill escaped to Finland, where his wife gave birth to the couple's only son. In exile, they lived for some years among his wife's relatives in Germany and, from the late 1920s, on an estate they bought in Saint-Briac, France.

With the murder of his cousins Nicholas II and Grand Duke Michael, Kirill proclaimed himself to be the head of the Imperial Family of Russia and, as next in line to the throne, as the Guardian of the Throne in 1924. Kirill proclaimed himself emperor-in-exile in 1926. He worked for the restoration of the monarchy from exile for the rest of his life, but his claims were contested by some factions of the monarchists in a division that continues today.

He wrote a book of memoirs, My Life in Russia's Service, which was published after his death. His granddaughter, Maria Vladimirovna, is one of two claimants to the headship of the House of Romanov.

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Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia's Timeline

1876
October 12, 1876
Tsarskoye Selo, Russia (Russian Federation)
October 12, 1876
- October 12, 1938
Saint Petersburg, gorod Sankt-Peterburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia (Russian Federation)
December 6, 1876
Pushkin, gorod Sankt-Peterburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia (Russian Federation)
1907
February 2, 1907
Coburg, Bavaria, Germany
1909
May 9, 1909
Paris, France
1917
August 30, 1917
Борго, Финляндия, Россия (Russian Federation)
1924
August 31, 1924
- October 12, 1938
Age 47
Saint Petersburg, gorod Sankt-Peterburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia (Russian Federation)
1938
October 12, 1938
Age 62
Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
1995
March 7, 1995
Age 62
Grand Ducal Mausoleum, Peter and Paul Fortress, Saint Petersburg, gorod Sankt-Peterburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia (Russian Federation)