30 Years Since the Death of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia

Today marks the passage of thirty years since the death of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia.

The grand duke in Miami.

In January 1992, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich received an invitation to give a speech at the Northern Trust Bank of Florida, located in Miami. The address was to be given by the grand duke following a breakfast and before around 1,500 guests from the business community. Northern Trust Bank had asked His Imperial Highness to speak about "The Imperial Family and the Future of the Russians." The grand duke initially declined the invitation, but later accepted as he felt that it was important for the United States and Europe to invest in former Soviet states, as well as to provide them economic assistance to assist their transition out of Communism. The grand duke decided that it was his patriotic duty as a Russian to agree to the trip given the large number of influential business persons who would be in attendance. Therefore, preparations for this transatlantic visit were made. Grand Duke Vladimir and his wife Grand Duchess Leonida arrived in Miami on Monday, 20 April. The couple were accompanied by their friends, Prince Nicholas and Princess Nelly Ouroussoff, who flew in from Paris; the princess acted as a lady-in-waiting to the grand duchess during the trip. Brien Horan, the attorney of the grand duke, arrived on the evening of 20 April in Miami from Connecticut. The small imperial entourage stayed at the Omni International Hotel.  

Grand Duke Vladimir speaking with reporters, 21 April 1992.

On the morning of Tuesday, 21 April, Grand Duke Vladimir and Grand Duchess Leonida were joined by Prince and Princess Ouroussoff and Mr Horan in their suite for a working breakfast. They discussed the itinerary for the trip and caught up on personal news. At 10:15am, grand ducal couple and their retinue left the Omni and got into a limousine to take them to the Northern Trust Bank, where they arrived at 10:40am. A press conference was on the schedule for the grand duke this morning. Two journalists from the Miami Herald and Miami Today interviewed the grand duke. Grand Duke Vladimir told them: "I am now happier now than I ever was before because of the possibility of being in contact with my homeland. To be on one's own soil with one's own people is the greatest thing one can ask in life." The grand duke then walked into an adjourning conference room at 11:00am to meet with the other gathered journalists. The press conference commenced; the first several questions were posed to Grand Duke Vladimir in Spanish, which he answered in the same language, as it was one of the five languages in which he was fluent. The grand duke stated: "What I hope is that the youth of Russia, who have suffered so long under the yoke of Communism, will return to the monarchy. I hope that they will join together for a brighter future for all Russians." Reporter Ariel Remos of the Diario Las Americas recalled that the grand duke was speaking on the current situation in Russia: "These young people who live under the communist yoke think naturally of what Russia was before, and look for the possibility to unite again the prosperous past with a future that will be prosperous also." Seconds after giving this reply, Grand Duke Vladimir slumped over, unconscious; he was then moved from his chair to the floor and CPR commenced. It was about 11:20am. 

Paramedics take Grand Duke Vladimir to a waiting ambulance. His wife, Grand Duchess Leonida, can be seen at the left.

An emergency crew arrived to transport the grand duke to hospital. His Imperial Highness was transported to Mercy Hospital. Dr Jose Centurion worked for almost two hours attempting, ultimately unsuccessfully, to revive the grand duke. Sister Elizabeth Worley, the chairman of Mercy Hospital's board of trustees, provided Grand Duchess Leonida with some comfort by keeping journalists at bay. An Orthodox priest was called to the hospital to administer the last rites. Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia, Head of the Imperial House, was pronounced dead at 1:54pm. A rupture of an artery in his abdomen was the cause of death. The grand duke was seventy-four years-old.

Prince Nicholas Ouroussoff delivers the grand duke's speech. Photo (c) Marice Cohn Band.

Just widowed, Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna made the decision that Prince Ouroussoff should deliver her husband's speech the following day. This had, after all, been the reason that the grand duke had for making this trip to the United States of America: to make its people and those who might read his speech more aware of the situation in Russia and the needs of its people after the fall of Communism. On Wednesday, 22 April, Grand Duchess Leonida joined Mr Brien Horan and Prince Ouroussoff at 8:00am. Mr Horan introduced the prince to the over one thousand guests. They had originally hoped to hear his words directly from the grand duke, who had written the address some days beforehand. This particular segment of the grand duke's words were particularly poignant: "My wife, my daughter, and my grandson and I are Russians. We wish to participate and contribute in any way possible, whether official or unofficial, public or private, to the progress of our country. We all thank God that our country has been delivered from communism, and we are also grateful that this long and involuntary exile is ending." Prince  Ouroussoff was overcome with emotion several times while delivering the address of his late friend.

Grand Duke George of Russia Recovering From Surgery

The following communiqué has been released by the Russian Imperial Chancellery:

 

2022-03-21 Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich underwent surgery

On Sunday, March 20, 2022, H.I.H.  Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich was hospitalized and urgently operated on due to an abdominal hernia.

The operation was successful.  In the following days, His Imperial Highness will be discharged from the clinic and return home.

 

We wish the Grand Duke a full and fast recovery.

Grand Duke George of Russia and Victoria Bettarini Meet With Russian Patriarch Kirill

2021-09-12 The Tsesarevich George of Russia and his fiancée Miss Victoria Romanovna Bettarini visit St. Petersburg

On September 12, 2021, H.I.H. The Tsesarevich and Grand Duke George of Russia and his fiancée Miss Victoria Romanovna Bettarini arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia’s northern capital, on the invitation of His Eminence Metropolitan Varsonofii of St. Petersburg and Ladoga to take part in church services marking the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Alexander Nevsky and the feast day of the translation of his holy relics from the city of Vladimir to St. Petersburg in 1724. The Grand Duke and his fiancée were accompanied by Kirill Kirillovich Nemirovich-Danchenko, the head of the Office for Relations with Governmental and Civil organizations in the Chancellery of the Imperial House of Russia. The Grand Duke and Victoria Romanovna Bettarini attended the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra, which was officiated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Concelebrating with His Holiness were Their Eminences Metropolitan Vladimir of Kishinev and All Moldova, Metropolitan Vikentii of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, Metropolitan Varsonofii of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, Metropolitan Pavel of Krutitsky and Kolomna, Metropolitan Ilarion of Volokolamsk, Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk and Zaslavsk, Metropolitan Dionisii of Voskresensk, Metropolitan Feodor of Volgograd and Kamyshin, Metropolitan Aleksei of Cheliabinsk and Miass, Archbishop Nikanor of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, the abbot of the Lavra His Grace Bishop Nazarii of Kronstadt and the monastic brethren, Their Graces Bishop Ignatii of Vyborg and Priozersk, Bishop Mstislav of Tikhvin and Lodeinoe Pole, Bishop Mitrofan of Gatchina and Luga, Bishop Silouan of Lyskovo and Lukoyanov, Bishop Silouan of Peterhof, and also Archpriests Bogdan Soiko, Sergei Kuksevich, Vladimir Sorokin, Gennadii Bartov, Alexander Budnikov, Gennadii Zverev, Evgenii Shogenov, and Alexander Rumiantsev, Archimandrite Aleksei (Ganzhin), Hegumen Filaret (Priashnikov), and other clergy from St. Petersburg and Moscow. Among the laity attending the service were the Chair of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko; the Plenipotentiary of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwest Federal District, Alexander Gutsan; the Governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov; the Governor of the Leningrad Region, Alexander Drozdenko; the First Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, Sergei Obryvalin; the Chair of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, Vyacheslav Makarov; and the Mayor of Belgrade (Serbia), Zoran Radojičić. The Grand Duke and his bride received the Holy Mysteries of Christ and, after the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, took part in the Patriarchal Procession of the Cross, during which the chest with the relics of the Holy Right-Believing Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky was brought into the square in front of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. An intercessory prayer service, or moleben, followed. In the afternoon, the Tsesarevich George of Russia and Miss Victoria Romanovna Bettarini attended a reception at the residence of the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, where the Grand Duke and his fiancée had the opportunity to chat with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. His Imperial Highness congratulated the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church on this important anniversary and feast day, and took the opportunity formally to introduce his fiancée to His Holiness. The Patriarch congratulated the Grand Duke and Victoria Romanovna on their upcoming marriage ceremony, and offered them his blessing and best wishes. Later the Tsesarevich and Victoria Romanovna went to the St. Nicholas-Holy Epiphany Naval Cathedral of St. Petersburg, where they took part in the ceremony of the translation to this cathedral of a fragment of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia, which came to Russia from Bari through the efforts of the famous philanthropist Prince V. N. Svirsky-Zhimirov. After a moleben, the Grand Duke and Victoria Romanovna Bettarini venerated the chest with the relics and thanked Prince V. N. Svirsky-Zhimirov for his service to the Russian Orthodox Church. Throughout the day, Grand Duke George met and spoke with many of his countrymen who had traveled to St. Petersburg from all over Russia to attend these celebrations. They warmly expressed their sincerest best wishes on the upcoming wedding and recalled their meetings and conversations with the Grand Duke’s mother, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, during her many trips to different regions of our homeland. That evening, after attending a working meeting, the Grand Duke George of Russia and Miss Victoria Bettarini returned to Moscow.

The above article was previously published online here (in Russian): http://www.dobrieludi.com/articles/2454/.