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Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Maria Pavlovna of Russia)
Encyclopedia
Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (later Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, known as "Miechen" or "Maria Pavlovna the Elder"; 14 May 1854 – 6 September 1920) was born Marie Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
, daughter of Grand Duke Frederick Francis II
of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
and Princess Augusta of Reuss-Köstritz. A prominent hostess in St Petersburg, she was known as the grandest of the grand duchesses
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 of Reuss-Köstritz (1822–1862) - in the Schloss Ludwigslust
. She was eight years old when her mother died in 1862. Her father married twice more.
, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia
(22 April 1847 – 17 February 1909) on 28 August 1874, being one of the very few princesses with Slavic
patriline to ever marry a male dynast of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov. She had been engaged to someone else, but broke it off as soon as she met Vladimir. It took three more years before they were permitted to marry as she had been raised a Lutheran and refused to convert to the Russian Orthodox Church
.
Tsar Alexander II finally agreed to let Vladimir marry her without insisting on her conversion to Orthodoxy. Upon her marriage she took the Russian name of Maria Pavlovna of Russia - the name she is best known by. Maria remained Lutheran throughout most of her marriage, but converted to Orthodoxy later in her marriage, some said to give her son Kirill a better chance at the throne. As a result of marrying a son of an Emperor of Russia, she took on a new style; Her Imperial Highness
as her husband did; the couple had four sons and one daughter.
All of Maria's children were born at the Catherine Palace
, Tsarskoye Selo
. Her 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. This marriage was disapproved 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 given the title Grand Duchess Viktoria Fedorovna.
situated on the famously aristocratic Palace Embankment
on the Neva River
. It was there that she established her reputation as being one of best hostesses in the capital. It was often joked that she would deliberately try to outdo the Imperial Court at the nearby Winter Palace
.
She was considered the grandest of the Grand Duchesses, and formed an alternate court in the later years of the reign of her nephew Nicholas II The Grand Duchess hated The Tsar and Tsarina towards the end of the dynasty (especially the Tsarina). Along with her sons, she contemplated a coup against the Tsar in the winter of 1916–17, that would force the Tsar's abdication and replacement by her son, Grand Duke Kirill, as regent. In seeking support for the coup, she famously told Duma
president Mikhail Rodzianko that the Empress must be "annihilated".
In 1909, her husband died and she succeeded him as president of the Academy of Fine Arts.
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.
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia
encountered Maria at the port of Novorossik 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..."
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), where she died on 6 September 1920, aged 66, surrounded by her family at Contrexéville
. With the help of a family friend, her renowned jewel collection was smuggled out of Russia in a diplomatic bag. One of her tiaras is today owned by Queen Elizabeth II.
At her death her famous collection of jewels were divided up between her children; Grand Duke Boris gained the emerald
s, Grand Duke Cyril gained her pearl
s, Andrei got her rubies
and her only daughter Elena received her diamond
s. A batch of cufflinks and cigarette cases were found in 2008 in the archives of the Swedish foreign ministry. She had deposited them at the Swedish Embassy in Saint Petersburg
before she fled.
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1348, when Albert II of Mecklenburg and his younger brother John were raised to Dukes of Mecklenburg by King Charles IV...
, daughter of Grand Duke Frederick Francis II
Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Frederick Francis II was a Prussian officer and the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, reigning from 7 March 1842 until 15 April 1883.-Biography:...
of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1348, when Albert II of Mecklenburg and his younger brother John were raised to Dukes of Mecklenburg by King Charles IV...
and Princess Augusta of Reuss-Köstritz. A prominent hostess in St Petersburg, she was known as the grandest of the grand duchesses
Life
Marie Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore von Mecklenburg-Schwerin was born a duchess of the Grand DucalGrand Duke
The title grand duke is used in Western Europe and particularly in Germanic countries for provincial sovereigns. Grand duke is of a protocolary rank below a king but higher than a sovereign duke. Grand duke is also the usual and established translation of grand prince in languages which do not...
House of Mecklenburg
House of Mecklenburg
The House of Mecklenburg is a North German dynasty of West Slavic origin that ruled until 1918.- Origins :Niklot was a lord of the Wendish tribe of Obotrites. When the Holy Roman Empire expanded eastwards, notably to the coast of Baltic in 13th century, a portion of Obotrite lords allied with...
to Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Frederick Francis II was a Prussian officer and the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, reigning from 7 March 1842 until 15 April 1883.-Biography:...
- the then Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and his first wife, Princess Augusta of Reuss-Köstritz (1822–1862) - in the Schloss Ludwigslust
Schloss Ludwigslust
Schloss Ludwigslust is a castle in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, northern Germany. It was built as a hunting lodge, rebuilt as a luxurious retreat from the ducal capital, Schwerin, then became for a time the center of government...
. She was eight years old when her mother died in 1862. Her father married twice more.
Marriage
She married the third son of Alexander II of RussiaAlexander II of Russia
Alexander II , also known as Alexander the Liberator was the Emperor of the Russian Empire from 3 March 1855 until his assassination in 1881...
, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia ) was a son of Emperor Alexander II of Russia...
(22 April 1847 – 17 February 1909) on 28 August 1874, being one of the very few princesses with Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
patriline to ever marry a male dynast of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov. She had been engaged to someone else, but broke it off as soon as she met Vladimir. It took three more years before they were permitted to marry as she had been raised a Lutheran and refused to convert to the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
.
Tsar Alexander II finally agreed to let Vladimir marry her without insisting on her conversion to Orthodoxy. Upon her marriage she took the Russian name of Maria Pavlovna of Russia - the name she is best known by. Maria remained Lutheran throughout most of her marriage, but converted to Orthodoxy later in her marriage, some said to give her son Kirill a better chance at the throne. As a result of marrying a son of an Emperor of Russia, she took on a new style; Her Imperial Highness
Imperial Highness
His/Her Imperial Highness is a style used by members of an imperial family to denote imperial - as opposed to royal - status to show that the holder in question is descended from an Emperor rather than a King .Today the style has mainly fallen from use with the exception of the Imperial Family of...
as her husband did; the couple had four sons and one daughter.
Children
- Grand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich of Russia (31 August 1875 – 16 March 1877)
- Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of RussiaGrand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of RussiaGrand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia was a member of the Russian Imperial Family. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the deaths of Tsar Nicholas II and his brother Michael, Cyril assumed the Headship of the Imperial Family of Russia and later the title Emperor and Autocrat of all the...
(12 October 1876 – 12 October 1938) - Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of RussiaGrand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of RussiaGrand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia was a son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Czar Alexander II of Russia and a first cousin of Czar Nicholas II. He followed a military career and was a Major General in the Russian Army. He took part in the Russo-Japanese War and...
(24 November 1877 – 9 November 1943) - Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of RussiaGrand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of RussiaGrand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia was a Russian grand duke, the youngest son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna.-Biography:...
(14 May 1879 – 30 October 1956) - Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of RussiaGrand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of RussiaGrand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia 17 January 1882 – 13 March 1957, sometimes known as Helen, Helena, Helene, Ellen, Yelena, Hélène, or Eleni, was a Russian grand duchess as the daughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin...
. (17 January 1882 – 13 March 1957) She married Prince Nicholas of Greece and DenmarkPrince Nicholas of Greece and DenmarkPrince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark , of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the fourth child and third son of George I, King of the Hellenes, and of Queen Olga. He was known as "Greek Nicky" in the family to distinguish him from his cousin Czar Nicholas II of Russia...
.
All of Maria's children were born at the Catherine Palace
Catherine Palace
The Catherine Palace was the Rococo summer residence of the Russian tsars, located in the town of Tsarskoye Selo , 25 km south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia.- History :...
, Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo is the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of St. Petersburg. It is now part of the town of Pushkin and of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.-History:In...
. Her 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. This marriage was disapproved 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 given the title Grand Duchess Viktoria Fedorovna.
Life
During her life in Russia, she lived at her husband's beloved Vladimir PalaceVladimir Palace
The Vladimir Palace was the last imperial palace to be constructed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was designed by a team of architects for Alexander II's son, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia...
situated on the famously aristocratic Palace Embankment
Palace Embankment
The Palace Embankment or Palace Quay is a street along the Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg which contains the complex of the Hermitage Museum buildings , the Hermitage Theatre, the Marble Palace, the Vladimir Palace, the New Michael Palace and the Summer Garden.The street was laid out...
on the Neva River
Neva River
The Neva is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length , it is the third largest river in Europe in terms of average discharge .The Neva is the only river flowing from Lake...
. It was there that she established her reputation as being one of best hostesses in the capital. It was often joked that she would deliberately try to outdo the Imperial Court at the nearby Winter Palace
Winter Palace
The Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian monarchs. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and...
.
She was considered the grandest of the Grand Duchesses, and formed an alternate court in the later years of the reign of her nephew Nicholas II The Grand Duchess hated The Tsar and Tsarina towards the end of the dynasty (especially the Tsarina). Along with her sons, she contemplated a coup against the Tsar in the winter of 1916–17, that would force the Tsar's abdication and replacement by her son, Grand Duke Kirill, as regent. In seeking support for the coup, she famously told Duma
Duma
A Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the...
president Mikhail Rodzianko that the Empress must be "annihilated".
In 1909, her husband died and she succeeded him as president of the Academy of Fine Arts.
Escape from Russia
The Grand Duchess held the distinction to be the last of the Romanovs to escape Revolutionary Russia, as well as the first to die in exile. She remained in the war-torn Caucausus 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 AnapaAnapa
Anapa is a town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the northern coast of the Black Sea near the Sea of Azov. It was originally a seaport for the Natkhuay tribe of the Adyghe people. Population: The town boasts a number of sanatoria and hotels...
in 1918. Maria spent fourteen months in Anapa, refusing to join her son Boris in leaving Russia. When opportunities for escape via Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
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
Mathilde Kschessinska
Mathilda-Marie Feliksovna Kschessinskaya She was known in the West as Mathilde Kschessinska or Matilda Kshesinskaya.- Life :Kschessinska was born at Ligovo, near Peterhof. Like all her Polish family, to whom she was known as Matylda Krzesińska, Mathilde performed at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre...
, and Andrei and Mathilde's son Vladimir, boarded an Italian ship headed to Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
on 13 February 1920.
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia was the youngest child of Emperor Alexander III of Russia. Her older brother was Tsar Nicholas II....
encountered Maria at the port of Novorossik 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..."
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), where she died on 6 September 1920, aged 66, surrounded by her family at Contrexéville
Contrexéville
Contrexéville is a commune of north-eastern France, in the Vosges département. Inhabitants are called Contrexévillois.The reputation of Contrexéville as a health resort dates from 1864, when development began by a company, the Société des Eaux de Contrexéville.-Twin towns:Contrexéville is twinned...
. With the help of a family friend, her renowned jewel collection was smuggled out of Russia in a diplomatic bag. One of her tiaras is today owned by Queen Elizabeth II.
At her death her famous collection of jewels were divided up between her children; Grand Duke Boris gained the emerald
Emerald
Emerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...
s, Grand Duke Cyril gained her pearl
Pearl
A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue of a living shelled mollusk. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is made up of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other...
s, Andrei got her rubies
Ruby
A ruby is a pink to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum . The red color is caused mainly by the presence of the element chromium. Its name comes from ruber, Latin for red. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires...
and her only daughter Elena received her diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
s. A batch of cufflinks and cigarette cases were found in 2008 in the archives of the Swedish foreign ministry. She had deposited them at the Swedish Embassy in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
before she fled.
Ancestry
Titles and Styles
- 14 May 1854 – 28 August 1874 Her HighnessHighnessHighness, often used with a possessive adjective , is an attribute referring to the rank of the dynasty in an address...
Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin - 28 August 1874 – 6 September 1920 Her Imperial HighnessImperial HighnessHis/Her Imperial Highness is a style used by members of an imperial family to denote imperial - as opposed to royal - status to show that the holder in question is descended from an Emperor rather than a King .Today the style has mainly fallen from use with the exception of the Imperial Family of...
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia