Patriarch Kirill, a known supporter of the monarchy, met with HIH the Grand Duchess Maria Valimirovna. Among other topics they discussed the remains of St. Nicholas II and his family who were massacred by the Communists in 1918. The Imperial Family has been glorified (canonized) as Passion Bearers by the Russian Orthodox Church and in recent years were legally declared victims of political repression by the Russian Government.
Read the story here.
The 4th Century Science of St Macrina (I)
11 hours ago
6 comments:
Forgive my ignorance here but do the Romanovs have actual living heirs today?
If so, have they attempted to stake their claim on the stolen millions in bank accounts and assets? What was the result?
Yes, there are heirs though there is not unanimity on who the rightful claimant is. The law of succession enacted by Paul I was quite strict on a number of levels including who one could marry and remain in the line of succession. It also precluded female succession to the throne unless there were no eligible male Romanovs. This now seems to be the case given the large number of morganatic marriages that have taken place since the revolution. While there is some division in the Imperial Family most of the hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church seem to recognize Maria as the heir to the throne and she is generally accorded that title by the Russian press.
As for the confiscated wealth of the Imperial Family it is in dispute. Thus far the Russian Government is refusing to consider returning it to the family. And in fairness it is inconceivable that the vast estates and art collections would be returned. Even if the monarchy were restored my guess is that most of this would be considered property of the state and not the Imperial Family.
From what I understand, they *should* also have a claim on the multiple hundreds of millions that were deposited in European and American banks at the time of the slaughter which is separate from what the Russian Government apparently currently holds.
Jason here has been a persistent myth about a Romanov fortune in Swiss banks etc. But this has been investigated by numerous historians and government officials and found to be an urban legend. What money was held overseas (there was not that much) was repatriated back to Russia very early in the war.
Do you or anyone else reading this have a recommendation on a good source for this information? I have read that The Observer confirmed the Romanovs were clients of Barings, where they had deposits marked at approximately 40M pounds. I didn't know this had been returned.
I can't comment on the Observer's report not having read it. But some members of the family had private accounts overseas. Those that were not repatriated by the family to Russia were never touched by the Communists who had no legal standing to claim the accounts. The Swiss would have told them to bugger off. But most of that money was spent by the owners or their legal heirs. These were by and large people used to a high standard of living and not very well grounded in a world where money did not automatically flow into their accounts. A few members of the family still have significant assets based on money or valuable artifacts they were able to get out of Russia. But in general most Romanov's today are typical upper class professionals who work for a living.
Almost all of the Czar's money was in Russia and he was the family banker. The Reds got all of that.
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