Grand Duke Kyrill (1876-1938) and Grand Duchess Victoria Melita 'Ducky' (1876-1936)

[AristoCat]

Originally Posted by Royal Fan

Very cool clip werent that brance of the Family known to be Haughty?

And virulently ambitious; Marie wanted her son Boris married to Olga, the eldest daughter of Nicholas II and Alexandra vehemently vetoed it on the grounds that Boris was too immoral and moved in too fast of a set. Marie was actively plotting at one point to stage a coup and then depose Nicholas and Alexandra.

[Cory]

Remembering the marriage of Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, Grand Duke Kyrill sister:

Noblesse & Royautés » Mariées du Gotha : Elena de Russie, princesse de Grèce

[Grandduchess24]

Didn't czar Nicholas II have some sort of tension towards his cousins who married each other ?

[branchg]

Originally Posted by Grandduchess24

Didn't czar Nicholas II have some sort of tension towards his cousins who married each other ?

Nicholas II objected to Cyril's marriage to Victoria and banished him from Russia for marrying without seeking his permission, something that was required by the Pauline Laws. Ducky was denied the title of Grand Duchess and Cyril's estates and income were seized.

Later, he forgave them and they were allowed to return to Russia. He issued a decree recognizing Victoria as HIH Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna (she converted to Orthodoxy in France) and Marie was recognized as a Princess of the Blood Imperial.

The cousin issue was irrelevant to the Emperor. Many of his relatives married their cousins and this was typical of royal marriages at the time.

[NGalitzine]

Nicholas II refused permission to his brother Michael to marry Beatrice of Saxe Coburg Gotha because they were 1st cousins, much to the distress of both Beatrice and her mother. The Russian Orthodox Church does not approve of 1st cousin marriages.

[fearghas]

Originally Posted by Grandduchess24

Didn't czar Nicholas II have some sort of tension towards his cousins who married each other ?

Much of his antipothy towards Ducky and Cyril may have been fostered by his wife who detested the woman who divorced the tsarinas brother.

[branchg]

Originally Posted by NGalitzine

Nicholas II refused permission to his brother Michael to marry Beatrice of Saxe Coburg Gotha because they were 1st cousins, much to the distress of both Beatrice and her mother. The Russian Orthodox Church does not approve of 1st cousin marriages.

Yes, this is true, although Nicholas may have felt it was too controversial for Grand Duke Michael, much closer in succession to the throne than Cyril Vladimirovich, to enter into such a marriage.

However, the Tsar was the final authority over both Church and Imperial House and could authorize exceptions to any or all of the Statutes, including religious ones.

[Ultramare]

@NGalitzine: The Roman Cartholic Church also doesn´t allow 1st cousin marriages. Do the Lutheran Churches allow it?

[fearghas]

Originally Posted by Ultramare

@NGalitzine: The Roman Cartholic Church also doesn´t allow 1st cousin marriages. Do the Lutheran Churches allow it?

The church may nor allow it but it didn't stop many Catholics (royal or otherwise) from marrying their first cousins.

[Grandduchess24]

And yet princess Victoria melita married to her cousins and I guess it was okay?
Firstly to grand duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse to whom they had a daughter but she died young and then secondly to Cyril to which she had 3 children I personally find it weird to marry your cousin and then have children with them.

[Vasillisos Markos]

My dear Grandduchess24.

Yes, to us common folk it does seem strange but to the royals it was not strange at all. The pharoahs of Egypt even married siblings! I have not made as study of familial marriages but in the deep South of not long ago, it was not uncommon for cousins to marry in the United States. So it is really not so strange that royals intermarried, especially when their ranks were dwindling.

[XeniaCasaraghi]

The pharaohs of Egypt reigned centuries ago, the royals being discussed reigned 1 century ago when the idea of royals needing to marry each other was just starting it's decline.
I don't recall reading that Nicholas had a particular personal position on first cousin marriage.
I do wonder why Russian Orthodoxy says no but the other European religions were ok with it, even after the disaster of the Hapsburg's.

[Vasillisos Markos]

My dear XeniaCasaraghi,

My point in referencing the pharoahs is that royalty wished to keep itself as royal as possible -- by this I mean that royal blood wished or was commanded to marry others of royal blood. That's why there certain marriages were morganatic when one married beneath his or her royal rank and as a consequence their children lost their royal status.

Because of this desire to marry other royals, I believe royalty was not adverse to marrying relatives because of course their blood was royal. Things have changed today but for centuries this was the way it was.

[Russophile]

Arranged mostly, as we all know, however as in Kyril and Ducky's case true love.