Memory Eternal: H.I.M. the Dowager Empress Leonida (Romanov) has reposed

MOSCOW, May 24 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow Patriarchate expressed its condolences on Monday over the death of Grand Duchess of Russia Leonida Georgievna Romanov.

"Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna, who had lived a very dramatic, complicated and long life, never forgot Russia," archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who is in charge of the Russian Orthodox Church's relations with society, said.

The de-jure empress, the eldest representative of the Romanov family, died late on Sunday at the age of 95 in Madrid.

"Yesterday, the senior priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate in Madrid, Father Andrei Korodchkin, visited her and administered the Holy Mysteries. Towards evening, there was deterioration [in her health], and the monarchess was taken to hospital," spokesman for the Romanov house Alexander Zakatov said.

He said Leonida Georgievna's daughter and Head of the Romanov Dynasty Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, remained by her mother's side until the end.

Leonida Georgievna was the last representative of the Romanov Imperial House born before the Russian Revolution in 1914. She was descended from the House of Mukhrani, a collateral branch of the Bagrationi dynasty. Her family ruled ancient Georgia and Armenia from the early Middle Ages until the beginning of the 16th century.

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It is reported that she is to be laid to rest in the imperial crypt at the Fortress of Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg.

May her memory be eternal!