Russia recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of early reforms which later led to what history now refers to as perestroika. At that time, most of the European countries that had experimented with building socialism along with Russia became democratic states or even joined a united Europe. In Russia, the word ‘democracy’ was rapidly associated with the term ‘sovereign’. According to the Russian Federation’s Constitution, “Russia is a democratic federal constitutional state with a republican form of government.” In other words, Russia is a republic where, “multiethnic people hold sovereignty and are the sole source of power”. In spite of this, the people are left with less and less tools to exercise that power. The absence of political competition, the abolition of gubernatorial elections and the extension of presidential powers have all served to reduce the Russian people’s constitutional rights to such an extent that but a shadow of them remain. But that's not even the point. Russia has not resolved the issue as to where its future lies and what its identity should truly be. Does it want to be European or somewhat more Eurasian? Should it be a democracy or a dictatorship? Should the government be elected or appointed? The words ‘democracy’ and ‘liberalism’ have not become unambiguously positive terms in modern Russian language and often ring more like deprecatory words. The Russian people are confronted with an eclectic collection of political images, characterised by a mixture of Pre-Revolutionary and Soviet characters with two-headed eagles standing side by side with red stars. This phenomenon is even more clearly demonstrated by “Mikhalkovs’ Anthem”, where the old Soviet music is complemented by a slightly retouched text. So just where is Russia really headed? At the moment, the nation simply appears to be treading water.
That “Russia is a country of surprises” may be a worn-out expression but it has not lost its relevance. Can the power known as Russia – comprising its many districts, territories and 140 million people – ‘take a sudden turn’ as they say in the Navy, which indeed has often been the case throughout the nation’s history? Generally speaking, can Russia return to a monarchy? A few years ago, the question would not have aroused more than a condescending smile. But does it still sound quite so unbelievable today? In March of this year, MGIMO’s eminent historian Professor Andrei Zubov stated that an estimated 9% of Russians would prefer a return to some form of monarchical government. Although 9% may seem like a relatively small figure, it represents over 13 million people – the equivalent of a mid-size European country’s total population! Naturally, it is absurd to discuss the restoration of autocracy today. However, if an emperor took on the position as a constitutional monarch it would consolidate society and the monarchist concept would less resemble the plot of JRR Tolkien’s “Return of the King”.
There have been many examples of restoration – let’s just cast our minds back to Spain’s recent history. And are modern monarchies really such a bad thing? Many of the countries with the world’s highest standards of living have exactly that form of government. The Dutch, the Swedes as well as the Danes genuinely love their kings and are proud of them. The sceptre, a symbol, a moral reference point – this is exactly what modern Russia is so desperately seeking. Although one can not turn back the clock, Russia’s tendency to sanctify authority means that believing in miracles has the capacity to influence history there. The good king, the peacemaker king, God’s Anointed, the people’s conscience – these are not empty terms in Russia. They have the power to awaken hopes of gaining more equitable power, a power that would not be stolen but voluntarily handed over, and finally bring with it long awaited prosperity.
Several Russian monarchist movements emerged in the late 1980s; the Legitimists, the Nepredreshentsy (supporting an un-predetermined ruler) and the Council Monarchists (favouring a monarch elected by an all-Russian national assembly). These differing factions continue to fiercely debate over the various manners of restoring the monarchy. Who could best represent both old and new traditions, thereby becoming a symbol for the entire nation? The Monarchists have put forward various - and occasionally surprising – candidates to occupy Russia’s vacant throne. In addition to Romanovs and Ruriks, or heirs descended from both these Russian dynasties, the names of Serbian rulers such as Kara or ević or Nemanjic have been suggested. Other exotic options include Marshal Zhukov’s descendants, ostensibly complying with a tradition set by some Napoleonic generals who acceded to European thrones.
One cannot disregard the impact on public perception of Orthodox prophecies pointing to the coming of a new sovereign in Russia, especially as the nation is attempting to base itself on its religious roots. For example, the esteemed Russian Saint Seraphim of Sarov (1754–1833) mentions a certain king, who will be present at the time of Seraphim’s resurrection, “There will be an Easter in summertime, what joy! The king and the whole royal family will come to us!” John of Kronstadt (1829–1908), who predicted the Russian Revolution and the death of the royal family, also declared to, “anticipate the recovery of an even more strong and powerful Russia. The new Russia will be erected on the bones of martyrs as a strong foundation for the old model, strong with faith in Christ, God and the Holy Trinity - and will fulfil Prince Vladimir’s covenant, emerging as a unified Church”. Archbishop Theophanes of Poltava, Confessor to the royal family (1874–1940), uttered these words in 1930, “Monarchy and autocratic power will be restored in Russia. The Lord chose the future king. He will be a passionate man of faith, with a brilliant mind and an iron will – Russia will rise from the dead, and will surprise the whole world. Orthodoxy will be revived and will triumph in Russia. However, it will not be the traditional form of Orthodoxy that we knew before, but rather a new version of the Orthodox Church. God Himself will put a strong king on the throne. He will be a great reformer and have a strong sense of Orthodox faith. He will overthrow the Church’s false leadership; he will be an outstanding person with a pure, holy soul. He will be strong willed. His maternal line will descend from the Romanov dynasty”.
In a Russian context, Romanov is indeed the first name that is associated with terms like ‘king’ or ‘monarch’. The regicide and subsequent canonisation of the imperial family, the people's repentance, the transfer of the Romanov’s remains to Peter and Paul Cathedral – all this indicates that the Romanov family is considered to be the last Russian dynasty. Alas, few direct descendants of the imperial family escaped from being slaughtered by the Bolsheviks. The remaining, modern day Romanovs have either divorced and/or contracted so-called ‘inappropriate’, morganatic marriages while surviving the difficult conditions emigration imposed on imperial family members during the 20th Century.
After all, if the law of succession established by the Emperor Paul I in 1797 is strictly applied, children issued from these marriages are “excluded from the imperial family“. On the other hand, there have been a lot of exceptions to the rules throughout history in general, and Russian history in particular. All this gives rise to discrepancies on interpreting the rights of succession to the Russian throne.
As a matter of fact, the controversy surrounding the Russian crown began immediately after the Bolshevik assassination of Nicholas II and his immediate family. In 1924, Nicholas’ cousin Cyril Vladimirovich (1876–1938), declared himself to be Emperor of all Russia as Kirill the First. But various issues - including his marriage to divorcée Princess Victoria Melita, his supportof the February Revolution and the Constituent Assembly, his links with European Masonic lodges and the Vatican during his years in exile – all served to alienate Vladimirovich from a faction of Russian monarchists. Although his son, Vladimir Kirillovitch (1917–1992), ruled the Russian Imperial House for half a century, he didn’t use the title of Emperor.
The rights Vladimir Kirillovich’s descendants have to calling themselves heirs to the throne are even more controversial from a formal point of view. In 1948, Grand Prince Vladimir married Leonida Georgievna (1914–2010), née Princess Bagration-Mukhranski and descended from Georgian kings, in Lausanne. It was Leonida Georgiyevna’s second marriage, as her first marriage to an American businessman was dissolved in 1937. Both her divorce and the fact that the Bagration Mukhrani family ceased to be a ‘ruling house’ after Georgia was absorbed by the Russian Empire give good grounds for considering Vladimir Kirillovich’s marriage to be morganatic. Despite these issues, the head of the Imperial House proclaimed his daughter Maria Vladimirovna (born in 1953) as the “throne’s locum tenens” in 1969.
Vladimir Kirillovich and Leonida Georgiyevna didn’t have any sons. After the death of Alexander III’s grandson, Vasily Akexandrovitch (1907–1989), Maria Vladimirovna was officially proclaimed heir to the throne and led the Imperial House after Vladimir Kirillovich’s death. A faction of Russian monarchists refer to Alexander II’s great-great-granddaughter Maria Vladimirovna not only as the “throne’s locum tenens”, but as the Empress. In 1976, she married Prussian Prince Franz Wilhelm of Hohenzollern, who converted to the Orthodox Church and became Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich. Although the couple later divorced, their son Georgi Mikhaïlovich – who is a direct descendant of Kings William II, Alexander II and Queen Victoria – was born in 1981. Georgi Mikhaïlovich is actually referred to as heir to the throne and the future Russian emperor by a faction of the monarchists. However, this does not prevent their opponents from considering Maria Vladimirovna’s son as being exclusively descended from the Hohenzollern dynasty.
In the 1990s, Leonida Georgievna, Maria Vladimirovna and Georgi Mikhailovich became the first Romanovs to be seen by the whole country when they accompanied Grand Prince Vladimir Kirillovich’s coffin for burial inthe grand-ducal tomb at St. Petersburg’s Peter and Paul Cathedral. It was the first royal funeral in post-Soviet Russia and the Russian press began referring to George Mikhailovich as the heir to the throne. Once the Iron Curtain was raised, it opened the way for other Romanovs. Today, a lot of the work to help poor Russians is led by the ‘Romanovs for Russia’ charitable foundation, headed by Nicholas II’s grand-nephew Dmitry Romanovich (b. 1926). The royal dynasty’s descendants – none of whom ever returned to live in Russia, incidentally – do not impose any property-related or political demands on the Russian authorities. Maria Vladimirovna brought practically the only suit against the Russian public prosecutor’s office, which regarded rehabilitating the royal family who had been shot. The arguments that the Romanovs themselves put forward on the possibility of restoring the Russian monarchy are still purely theoretical in nature and are usually limited to the ‘monarchy in Russia can only be restored if the people want it’ attitude.
However, those who support the nation-wide election of a Russian monarch don’t consider that the future Russian tsar must necessarily be a Romanov. After all, the dynasty’s first emperor was likewise elected among several candidates in 1613 by the “Zemsky Sobor”. Incidentally, back then one of the arguments in favour of the Romanovs was their relationship to the Rurik dynasty through Anastasia, Ivan the Terrible’s first wife. Descendants of the mysterious Prince Rurik are still alive today as Yaroslav the Wise’s daughter Anne, who was queen of France, brought Rurik’s genes to many prosperous European dynasties and further abroad as well. For example, genealogical studies have shown that Rurik is one of George Bush’s ancestors.
There’s always been talk of Ruriks in Russia, with characters from Obolensky, Gagarin and Vyazemsky to the famed Russian poet Alexander Pushkin rumoured to be among Rurik’s descendants. Prince Georgy Yurevsky is one such particular descendant, combining both Russian dynasties. Yurevsky is a Zurich Law School graduate, a talented businessman and an excellent tennis player. This great-grandson of Emperor Alexander II and Ekaterina Dolgorukaya lives in Switzerland. The Yuryevskies are also related to Alexander Pushkin - Olga Alexandrovna Yuryevska, the eldest of the Emperor and Catherine Dolgorukoi’s daughters, married Count von Merenberg, who was one of Alexander Pushkin’s grandsons.
Rurik the legendary Viking’s progeny are widely scattered around the world; who knows who else will be discovered to carry the Russian state founder’s genes? It may even turn out to be someone already at the Kremlin - who apparently wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to appeal to the age-old Russian desire for sanctified power. The term ‘empire’ is increasingly being used in contemporary Russia, merging both ‘white’ and ‘red’ elements in its ideological concept. And what’s an Empire without an Emperor?
