Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia: Difference between revisions
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===Descendant=== |
===Descendant=== |
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[[Paul R. Ilyinsky]] (1928–2004) was his only son, by his [[morganatic]] wife Audrey Emery. |
[[Paul R. Ilyinsky]] (1928–2004) was his only son, by his [[morganatic]] wife Audrey Emery. |
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>>[[Ana D. Romanova]] (1937-present) is his daughter, by his [[royal dynastic]] second wife Elisabetha of Romania |
>>[[Ana D. Romanova]] (1937-present) is his daughter, by his [[royal dynastic]] second wife Elisabetha of Romania. |
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==Ancestry== |
==Ancestry== |
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* http://adevarul.ro/locale/timisoara/elisabeta-romania-printesa-capricioasa-s-a-retras-conacul-banloc-1_517318fb053c7dd83f2d0e65/index.html |
* http://adevarul.ro/locale/timisoara/elisabeta-romania-printesa-capricioasa-s-a-retras-conacul-banloc-1_517318fb053c7dd83f2d0e65/index.html |
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* Lillian Hellman: A Life with Foxes and Scoundrels (2005), by Deborah Martinson, PhD. (Associate Professor and Chair of English Writing at Occidental College) |
* Lillian Hellman: A Life with Foxes and Scoundrels (2005), by Deborah Martinson, PhD. (Associate Professor and Chair of English Writing at Occidental College) |
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>>* https://www.facebook.com/ana.romanova25?fref=ts |
>>* https://www.facebook.com/ana.romanova25?fref=ts |
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{{Russian grand dukes}} |
{{Russian grand dukes}} |
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Revision as of 17:13, 10 November 2013
| Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Born | 18 September 1891 Ilyinsky near Moscow, Russian Empire | ||||
| Died | 5 March 1941 (aged 49) Davos, Graubünden, Switzerland | ||||
| Spouse | Audrey Emery Elisabeth of Romania | ||||
| Issue | Prince Paul Dmitriievich Romanovsky-Ilyinsky Grand Duchess Ana Dmitriievna Romanova | ||||
| |||||
| House | House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov | ||||
| Father | Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia | ||||
| Mother | Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark | ||||
Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia (Дмитрий Павлович Романов) (18 September 1891 – 5 March 1941) was a Russian imperial dynast. He is known for being involved in the murder of the mystic peasant faith healer Grigori Rasputin, whom he felt held undue sway over Tsar Nicholas II.
Biography
Early life
Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich was born at Ilinskoe near Moscow, the second child and son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich and a grandson of Alexander II of Russia; thus, he was a first cousin of Nicholas II of Russia. Dmitri Pavlovich's mother, Alexandra Georgievna of Greece was a daughter of George I of Greece and his Queen consort, Olga Konstantinovna of Russia. As such, he was also a first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Dmitri and his sister Maria were mostly raised by their uncle and aunt, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia and his wife, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, the elder sister of Tsarina Alexandra.
His mother, Alexandra, was seven months' pregnant with him when, while out with friends, she jumped into a boat, falling as she got in. The next day, she collapsed in the middle of a ball from violent labor pains brought on by the previous day's activities; Dmitri was born in the hours following the accident. Alexandra slipped into a coma, from which she never emerged. Although doctors had no hope for Dmitri's survival, he lived, with the help of Grand Duke Sergei, who gave the premature Dmitri the baths prescribed by the doctors, wrapped him in cotton wool and kept him in a cradle filled with hot water bottles to keep his temperature regulated. "I am enjoying raising Dmitri," Sergei wrote in his diary.[1]
In 1905, Sergei, then governor-general of Moscow, was murdered by socialists during the 1905 Revolution. The bomber had refrained from an earlier attack because he saw that Grand Duchess Elizabeth, fifteen-year-old Maria and her younger brother Dmitri were in the carriage and he did not want to kill women and children.[2] A second attack a few days later succeeded in killing Sergei. Dmitri rushed with his aunt and sister and saw Sergei's broken body in the snow. After this incident, young Dmitri was sent to live with the tsar and his family. At some point, there was even speculation whether he might be made heir in place of the hemophiliac tsarevich by marrying the tsar's eldest daughter, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna.
As usual in his circle at the time, Dmitri Pavlovich joined a guards regiment as an officer. He is reputed to have been a very good equestrian, and competed in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, coming seventh. Before World War I, he instigated the idea of a national Russian sports competition, the very beginning of what under Soviet rule became the Spartakiad.
Adulthood
Throughout his life, Dmitri Pavlovich was known as a great womanizer. Among his lovers were popular Russian ballerina and early film actress Vera Karalli[3] and Pauline Fairfax Potter, an American fashion designer and writer. He also temporarily pursued the Duchess of Marlborough (the American-born Consuelo Vanderbilt), who was separated, and later divorced, from the Duke of Marlborough. The fact that Dmitri Pavlovich was both 16 years the Duchess' junior, and economically challenged, did not assist his case. His most notable affairs were with Natasha Sheremetyev, morganatic wife of his cousin, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, and in the early 1920s with Coco Chanel; however, the one (reputed) affair that had the most influence on the course of his life and that effectively gave him his place in history was with another man: cross-dressing and presumably[dubious – discuss] bisexual Prince Felix Yusupov, with whom he had a relationship in the winter of 1912/1913 that caused quite a scandal. It was this relationship that caused the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna to decide against Dmitri marrying her eldest daughter, the Grand Duchess Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna. Later, in 1916, Felix was the one who involved him in the murder of Grigori Rasputin.
Older sources (among them Felix's own memoirs) always maintained that the murder of Rasputin was Felix's idea, and that Dmitri was only involved because he owned a car that could move unimpeded through the strictly controlled city of St. Petersburg in wartime because of its imperial standard. Newer research, particularly that of Edvard Radzinsky in his book The Rasputin File, has proposed the idea that the murder originated with Dmitri, and that he probably fired the shot that ultimately stopped the dying Rasputin from escaping. It is thought that the story subsequently told by the conspirators was concocted to protect Dmitri from a stain that would endanger his chances of succeeding to the throne of Russia.
As a direct result of his involvement in the murder, Dmitri Pavlovich was sent to the Persian front, which ultimately saved his life; most of his relatives were executed by the Bolsheviks, including his father, his aunt Elizabeth, and his morganatic half-brother Vladimir Paley, but he himself escaped, with British help, via Teheran and Bombay to London.
Outside Russia
In London in 1919, he met Felix Yusupov again, but they soon fell out; officially over Felix's open gloating in the press of having killed Rasputin, which would endanger Dmitri's chances of a succession to the throne (still thought possible at that stage) by mere association. According to Felix's memoirs, the real reason for their estrangement was that Dmitri did not believe the restoration of the Russian monarchy was possible, but some self-serving elements around him tried to keep up appearances, and elbowed the dangerously disreputable Felix out.
Dmitri Pavlovich's sister Marie had, like many aristocratic Russians in exile, found a niche for herself in the rising Paris fashion industry by founding a business called Kitmir that specialised in bead and sequin embroidery and did much work for Chanel. (Dmitri himself found work as a Champagne salesman.) This way, Dmitri met Coco Chanel, eleven years his elder just like Natasha had been, with whom he conducted a brief affair in 1921. Through Dmitri and Marie's contacts in the industry, Chanel met perfumers in Grasse, and master perfumer Ernest Beaux, which led to the creation of the famed Chanel No. 5 perfume — involvement in the creation of which is Dmitri's second claim to historic importance.
Dmitri married an American heiress, Audrey Emery, in 1927 morganatically, procuring for her the title of Princess Romanovskaya-Ilyinskaya and the style of Serene Highness from his cousin Cyril for her as the marriage officially was regarded as unequal. The two had a son, Prince Paul Romanovsky-Ilyinsky, who was elected Mayor of Palm Beach, Florida in 1989, and thus the only Romanov descendant known to have held elected public office. Following the fall of communist Russia in 1991, a delegation of Russian royalists approached Paul Ilyinsky and asked him to assume the title of Tsar, a position he declined.[4] Dmitri and Audrey were divorced in 1937.
Also during the 1930s, Dmitri was embroiled with the somewhat fascist Young Russian (in Russian: Союз Младороссов) movement around Alexander Kazembek, who was later found out to have been a possible Soviet agent provocateur - a thoroughly dishonourable affair. However, Dmitri reputedly rebuked later advances from Hitler to lead exiled Russian nobles within the German army against the Bolsheviks with the firm statement that nothing would induce him to fight against fellow Russians. However, at that time Dmitri was in no condition to fight at all any more.
>>After his divorce, Dmitri and Elisabetha of ROmania began a romantic relationship in 1937. Elisabetha and Dmitri spent considerable time together during her mother's illness and care at a sanatorium near Dresden. According to the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmarigen (Prince Karl Fredrich Hohenzollern-Sigmarigen), the office of Peter Broadmann- CEO and Finance Director at Sigmarigen, historians identify the marriage, however, documents were not saved. The couple resided at Elisabetha's private residence at Banloc, Timis, on the Hungarian border. Much of this story and the people surrounding it disappeared during World War II. Then history became more secretive for the Romanians as they became dominated by a Soviet state. The child, known as Grand Duchess Ana Romanova, has sought the assistance of historians and investigators to assist her in piecing her life together. Historian and investigator, Harry Binkow, has worked with the Princess for three years gathering authenticated documents, artifacts, and interviews with those parties who hold archives in the family. According to The House of Hohenzollern-Sigmarigen, on the 17 July 2013 at Sigmarigen, the following statement has been released. <<Another deception by Harry Binkow.
>>"... as far as we know there was a marriage between Elisabeth of Romania and Dmitri of Russia, but there is not save information, if they had children together. It also can be that children came into the marriage from the side of Dmitri of Russia which are not direct descendants of the marriage between Elisabeth and Dmitri". - Peter Brodmann, Group Prince of Hohenzollern - Investments. <<Another deception by Harry Binkow.
Through the books authored by Dmitri Pavlovich's sister, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, much is learned about her brother. After his divorce decree, Dmitri spent a considerable amount of his time with the Romanian royal family. In particularly, Elisabetha. Photographs of the two together at a reunion at Ahlbeck, Germany in 1937 confirm their association and close proximity to Queen Marie while receiving treatment. A daughter was born by cesarean section, 27 October 1937, performed by an American physician who was a recent graduate of Stanford University (OB/GYN)who was in Europe as a consultant to Queen Marie of Romania's physicians at the sanatorium near Dresden, Emil von Dessonneck. Hidden from her uncle Carol II, this baby became the ward of Princess Ileana. She was placed in a foster home at the time of the Anschluss with Austria in 1938, and was often shuttled between Germany and Austria. American author of plays, screenplays, and memoirs, Lillian Florence "Lilly" Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) wrote several plays on her experiences and relationships with the Romanian Princesses that worked with the underground in Europe to defeat Fascism. Her story "Julia", in the book "Pentimento: A Book of Portraits" (1973), identifies the disappearance of the baby. This story later became a film, "Julia" (1977) which starred Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, and Meryl Streep. Vanessa Redgrave won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role as the title-named character, Julia, and Jason Robards won his second consecutive Best Actor in a Supporting Role award. The film was Meryl Streep's first cinema debut. Another play, "Watch on the Rhine" (1941), identifies political and sinister corruption of the Nazi regime in Europe. Hellman's depositions reveal only loyalty to families and individuals during the Cold War who still lived within the iron curtain of soviet states. Hellman refused to give their names. Eventually, Princess Ileana immigrated to The United States. The baby, Ana Dmitriievna, arrived in Massachusetts from Germany in 1968. The two were reunited in 1988 by telephone as Ileana, now Mother Alexandra was then Abbess at her Monastery of the Transfiguration, Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. They met privately there in June 6, 1990, in the presence of an Orthodox priest and Ana Dmitriievna Romanova's thirteen year old son. Mother Alexandra shared with her this most difficult story, her apologies and grief for what had been a most unwarranted childhood, as well as the fear of her elimination due to greedy relatives. Ana Romanova is the only full biological first cousin of King Michael I of Romania. Like King Michael I, Ana Romanova is a third cousin of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Death
Despite his athletic interests, Dmitri Pavlovich's health had always been somewhat frail, and in the 1930s his chronic tuberculosis became acute and necessitated extended stays at a sanatorium in Davos, Switzerland, where he died in 1941 from acute uremia following complications after having been pronounced cured. Rumours circulated that either the Bolsheviks finally got him (or that Hitler had taken his firm "no" badly), but soon lost relevance in the general clamour and mayhem of World War II.
After the war, Dmitri was reburied in the palace chapel on the island of Mainau in Lake Constance in southern Germany as a favour to his sister Marie, as her son Count Lennart Bernadotte owned the property there.
Descendant
Paul R. Ilyinsky (1928–2004) was his only son, by his morganatic wife Audrey Emery. >>Ana D. Romanova (1937-present) is his daughter, by his royal dynastic second wife Elisabetha of Romania.
Ancestry
References
- ^ Perry, John Curtis, and Pleshakov, Constantine, The Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Saga, Basic Books, 1999, p. 43
- ^ Maylunas, Andrei, and Mironenko, Sergei, A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas and Alexandra: Their Own Story, Doubleday, 1997, p. 258
- ^ Radzinsky, Edvard, The Rasputin File, Doubleday, 2000, pp. 476-477
- ^ Xavier Waterkeyn Assassination: Political murder through the ages New Holland Publishers p.111 ISBN 978-1-74110-566-7
- Perry, John Curtis and Pleshakov, Constantine, The Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Saga. New York, 1999.
- Crawford, Rosemary and Donald, Michael and Natasha. London, 1997.
- Radzinsky, Edvard, Rasputin: The Last Word. London, 2000.
- Youssoupoff, Prince Félix, Mémoires. Paris 1990 (reprint).
- http://www.hohenzollern.com/beteiligungen/slg-baumaerkte.php
- Grand Duchess Marie of Russia (ed Russell Lord), Education of a Princess - a Memoir, 1930, ASIN: B000K5SJJ4
- Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, A Princess in Exile, 1932, ASIN: B000TG41CS
- http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeta_de_Rom%C3%A2nia
- http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6454/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watch_on_the_Rhine_(play)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_(1977_film)
- The Romanovs: The Final Chapter (Random House, 1995) by Robert K. Massie, pgs 210-212, 213, 217, and 218 ISBN 0-394-58048-6 and ISBN 0-679-43572-7
- http://www.stspress.com/products-page/books/royal-monastic-princess-ileana-of-romania/
- http://adevarul.ro/locale/timisoara/elisabeta-romania-printesa-capricioasa-s-a-retras-conacul-banloc-1_517318fb053c7dd83f2d0e65/index.html
- Lillian Hellman: A Life with Foxes and Scoundrels (2005), by Deborah Martinson, PhD. (Associate Professor and Chair of English Writing at Occidental College)