Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna: Current Claimant to the Throne 1: 2003 - Oct 2006

[Danjel]

Grand Duchess Maria, the cureent heir to the Imperial throne

 

[Danjel]

her wedding

 

[hillary_nugent]

Do the existing Russian Royal families get to be recognised by their royal titles? do they get special treatment and stuff?

 

[Marengo]

only out of courtesey, just like all the other royals from vanished monarchies. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna, head of the imperial house attended the wedding of Felipe and Letizia and the Kulikovski's and Prince Dmitri Romanov attended the wedding of Frederik and Mary

 

[semisquare]

are there any people who can claim the russian throne?

 

[Warren]

Romanov Claimants

are there any people who can claim the Russian throne?

Yes. There are two rival claimants: Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, and Prince Nikolai Romanov.

Grand Duke Vladimir succeeded his father, Grand Duke Kirill, as Head of the Imperial House of Russia in 1938.

Vladimir had one child, HIH Grand Duchess Maria (born 1953), who succeeded her father on his death in 1992. She was married to HRH Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia, and has one child, HIH Grand Duke Georgi (b 1981).

The other claimant is Prince Nikolai (b 1922), who styles himself "Chief of the Family Romanov."

The details of why Nikolai doesn't recognise the claims of Grand Duchess Maria are too detailed to go into here, but basically rest on the supposed "non-equal" status of Maria's mother, Grand Duchess Leonida, who was born a Princess Bagration-Mukhransky. Her family were once Kings of Georgia, so it is open to fruitless debate as to how "equal" or "unequal" this marriage was.

In any case, the mother of Nikolai was a countess.

In terms of being the most senior Romanov alive today by direct descent from Tsar Alexander II, Grand Duchess Maria is the more logical claimant. However, others will debate this (endlessly!).

An off-topic side-issue: Vladimir-Maria-Georgi are all descendants of Queen Victoria, as Grand Duke Kirill married Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh (and Saxe-Coburg & Gotha), the daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Victoria's second son.

In another twist to the tale, Prince Alfred married Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, the only daughter of Tsar Alexander II, while Grand Duke Kirill's father was a son of the same Tsar.
.

 

[Von Schlesian]

Vladimir's daughter, Grand Duchess Maria, his widow, Grand Duchess Leonida, and her son, Grand Duke George (Prince of Prussia as well), have been very active in visiting Russia, are well-received by the Government and maintain strong relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Of course, this too has been very controversial with the remaining family, headed by Prince Nicholas Romanov, a morganatic descendant who heads the Family Association, contesting the status and treatment of Maria, whom they do not recognize as the curatrix of the Imperial throne.

This is quite true. I am in quite close contact with very strong supporters of Grand Duchess Maria who also feel the opposite is true. That Prince Nicholas Romanov (due to his morganatic birth), is also un-rightfully referred to as the Head of the Imperial family, and not a legitimate heir (according to the statutes of 1797).
In my opinion, if morganatic marriage affects the Royal House of Hohenzollern, it should affect the Imperial House of Romanov as well, however that doesn't mean I in any way support replacing Prince Nicholas, it was just an interesting point.

 

[Sean.~]

This is quite true. I am in quite close contact with very strong supporters of Grand Duchess Maria who also feel the opposite is true. That Prince Nicholas Romanov (due to his morganatic birth), is also un-rightfully referred to as the Head of the Imperial family, and not a legitimate heir (according to the statutes of 1797).
In my opinion, if morganatic marriage affects the Royal House of Hohenzollern, it should affect the Imperial House of Romanov as well, however that doesn't mean I in any way support replacing Prince Nicholas, it was just an interesting point.

Nicholas wouldn't even be a Prince under the house laws. Well, at least not a "Prince Romanov", as no such title existed for morganauts in Imperial Russia. Moroever, when cornered, he claims that he isnt claiming to be head of the Imperial Family, but rather head of the family association. AFAIC, he's full of himself. There are other more senior line descendants who would qualify for the position over him.

Moreover, he holds that Maria's father's marriage was not equal and this is why he disputes her claim. He's even referred to her publicly, in print as his "obese cousin".

 

[Sean.~]

This is not quite accurate. None of the former nobility or Romanovs who remained in Russia at the time of Lenin survived the Revolution. They were all executed. The survivors had either escaped from Russia or were living in another country at the time of the Revolution.

After the deaths of the Tsar and his family, the next eligible dynast under the Pauline laws was Grand Duke Cyril, a cousin of Nicholas II. He became the Head of the Imperial House in exile, while the Tsar's mother, Dowager Empress Marie, and his two sisters, Grand Duchess Xenia and Grand Duchess Olga, lived in Denmark and England.

Cyril's family, the children of Grand Duke Vladimir and his wife, Grand Duchess Marie Pavolvna, included Grand Duke Boris, Grand Duke Andrew and Grand Duchess Helen (who married Prince Nicholas of Greece and is the mother of Princess Marina, who became the Duchess of Kent) all survived as did another uncle, Grand Duke Nicholas.

There were other, more senior line survivors than the Nichaelovichi (NIcholas's brother survived, too). There were numerous Constaninovichi survivors (Princess Vera Constaninova, the last undisputed dynast, died three yeas ago in the states), Mihailovichi survivors, and the Pavlovichi (direct descendants of Alexander II).

 

[Alice Vilghelmina]

Vladimir's daughter, Grand Duchess Maria, his widow, Grand Duchess Leonida, and her son, Grand Duke George (Prince of Prussia as well), have been very active in visiting Russia, are well-received by the Government and maintain strong relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.
.

yes, they visited "motherland", tried to draw attention and to make people respect them, but....One visit about 6=7 years ago is nothing, cause Russians respect their own last royalties but royal descendants......many of them don't speak Russian and have a quarter of Russian blood in good case. They are interested in Russia only for the sake of a political benefit. no more.

 

[Alice Vilghelmina]

Other case is interesting to me.

Nicolas and all family recognize the great-grandson of Alexander II ( from the morganatic marriage with princess Ekaterina Dolgorukaja-Jurjevskaja.) Dmitriy partly.

They recognize him as a member of Romanov/s family, but do not let him to be in the Association
Though on a maternal line he's more notablethen Nicolas and other "legal" members cause the ancestors of Ekaterina were Rjurikovichi.

 

[Vecchiolarry]

Royal Elections......

Hello Alice,

It is nice to hear from somebody in Russia.

I don't pretend to know who is the legitimate claimant to the Russian Throne. But if ever the Russian people wanted a monarchy again perhaps they would have to do what they did in 1613 abd elect a candidate.

Then, the Michaelovichi, Nicholaivichi, Constantinovichi and Pavlovichi and certainly the Rurikovichi could campaign for the Throne!!!!

Regards,
Larry

 

[Alice Vilghelmina]

It is nice to hear from somebody in Russia.

Thanks, Larry

I don't pretend to know who is the legitimate claimant to the Russian Throne. But if ever the Russian people wanted a monarchy again perhaps they would have to do what they did in 1613 abd elect a candidate.

Then, the Michaelovichi, Nicholaivichi, Constantinovichi and Pavlovichi and certainly the Rurikovichi could campaign for the Throne!!!!

May be but the question of the inheritance is very difficult and confused, cause the straight heir is absent. Young brother of Nikolay II, Mikhail refused from the right of the throne. That days there weren't very many members of the family who wants to wear the crone. Then cousin of the Nikolas Kirill decided to do it independent from the opinion of others.

But it’s not legitimate, cause the heir could be sun/daughter of the ruling king or his granddaughter/grandsun on paternal line. So now nobody could be the heir. Those Romanovs who live aboard are alien for us.
Maria Vladimirovna was a political card of Yeltsin. It was very favorable for both sides.
Putin doesn’t need in such actions.

What’s about elections.

Unfortunately Russians perceive any ruler ( General Secretary, President or somebody else) like a “Tsar-Father”, so Russian people will not insist to revive the monarchy.

 

[Sean.~]

Yes, according to the Russian imperial rules, Prince Georgiy does not qualify for a throne because Emperor Paul established a law according to which the throne could only go to male decendents of the Romanov family. I guess he was really annoyed by the fact that his mother continued to rule the counry long after he reached an appropriate age. The law was one of the major reasons Nicholas II and his wife were so anxious to have a son!

That's not entirely correct. Women could indeed succeed to the throne, however, only after all male dynasts. The argument is that Maria Vladimorovna (and her son after her) are the the legitimate claimants because there are no qualified male dynasts left who. They are all morganauts.

 

[Sean.~]

Are there still alot of Romanovs in Russia? I'm very interested in the last Tsar and his family, and the Anastasia mystery. I know almost everything about them, but I wasn't aware that there were still so many Romanovs.

No, not really in Russia -- at least not known/recognized legitimate descendants. The exception would be the Iskenders (I think there is only one), who descend from the unequal union of Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich, son of Grand Duke Constantine Nichaelovich.

 

[branchg]

Nicholas wouldn't even be a Prince under the house laws. Well, at least not a "Prince Romanov", as no such title existed for morganauts in Imperial Russia. Moroever, when cornered, he claims that he isnt claiming to be head of the Imperial Family, but rather head of the family association. AFAIC, he's full of himself. There are other more senior line descendants who would qualify for the position over him.

Moreover, he holds that Maria's father's marriage was not equal and this is why he disputes her claim. He's even referred to her publicly, in print as his "obese cousin".

There is no question under the Imperial Pauline Laws that Nicholas Romanov is not a dynast. At most, he would have been a Prince Romanovsky with the style of Serene Highness, which he is not, because his father never sought a morganatic style from Grand Duke Cyril. Therefore, he is simply the senior surviving morganatic male descendant with the death of Paul Ilyinsky, former mayor of Palm Beach, Fla. and head of a family association.

However, it is true there is certainly some controversy as to whether Maria's mother, Leonida Bagration, was truly royal under the old rules. The Pauline Laws required dynasts to make an equal marriage to a "sovereign" house in order to qualify for succession to the throne.

At the time of the Revolution, the Bagrations of Georgia were part of the Nobility, although this was in violation of the treaty between Georgia and Russia, which stated they would retain their status as Royal Highnesses after being absorbed into the Russian Empire.

In exile, Grand Duke Vladimir later issued an imperial manifesto in response to a question of the status of the Bagrations from the Count of Barcelona. At that time, he reviewed the status of the family and ruled that if the imperial throne was restored, he would restore the status of the family to Royal Highnesses and Prince/Princess of Georgia, as called for in the treaty.

The Count accepted this and allowed a Bagration to marry into the Spanish royal family, but it was not considered to be an equal marriage. So, even here, the imperial perogative of the head of the house was certainly respected to a degree, but not completely. I personally do not think she is from an equal, sovereign house as a Bagration.

Many royals in Europe, with the notable exception of His Majesty King Juan Carlos, do not recognize Maria as the Head of the Imperial House of Romanov. Instead, most of them believe the Romanov dynasty died with the death of Grand Duke Vladimir. They certainly do not recognize Maria's son, George, as a Grand Duke of Russia. He is correctly known as George, Prince von Prussia, and is a member of the House of Hohenzollern.

 

[branchg]

There were other, more senior line survivors than the Nichaelovichi (NIcholas's brother survived, too). There were numerous Constaninovichi survivors (Princess Vera Constaninova, the last undisputed dynast, died three yeas ago in the states), Mihailovichi survivors, and the Pavlovichi (direct descendants of Alexander II).

Princess Vera was definitely the last of the undisputed dynasts. Even Vladimir, some argue, was not eligible due to his marriage to Leonida Bagration. So, there probably is no eligible dynast anymore.

 

[Sean.~]

Princess Vera was definitely the last of the undisputed dynasts. Even Vladimir, some argue, was not eligible due to his marriage to Leonida Bagration. So, there probably is no eligible dynast anymore.

Ekaterina Ionova, daughter of Prince Ioan Constantinovich and Helen of Serbia, and niece of the aforementioned Vera Constantinova. She 'renounced', though.

 

[branchg]

yes, they visited "motherland", tried to draw attention and to make people respect them, but....One visit about 6=7 years ago is nothing, cause Russians respect their own last royalties but royal descendants......many of them don't speak Russian and have a quarter of Russian blood in good case. They are interested in Russia only for the sake of a political benefit. no more.

Well, that's certainly not true of Maria. Her father, Grand Duke Vladimir, was at least two-thirds Russian and married an Orthodox Russian, Leonida Bagration. Maria is highly educated and fluent in Russian, French, Spanish and English.

 

[branchg]

There is dispute to who is the real heir of the Imperial throne.

Grand Duke Vladimir and his wife (whom some believe has a falsified royal pedigree from Georgia) only had one daughter, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna. Grand Duke Vladmir issued a decree riding the Imperial House of the Salic Law allowing his daughter to be the heir. Many Russian royals disagree with the Proclamation and consider the Grand Duchess ineligible. Thus the throne would pass to the next highest Prince who was Nicholas Romanov until he passed on.

That's not true. Leonida is unquestionably a Princess Bagration, however, the real issue is whether Vladimir's marriage meets the requirements of the Pauline laws that a dynast make a equal marriage to a sovereign house in order to qualify for the succession. On this point, Vladimir's claim is greatly weakened.

The Bagrations ruled the Kingdom of Georgia as Princes. However, there is no question the Romanov Tsars forcibly annexed Georgia into the Russian Empire and The Bagrations were stripped of their royal status and made members of the Russian Nobility. The terms of the treaty included a provision in which the head of the Bagration dynasty was to remain a Royal Highness and Prince of Georgia, but this never happened.

It is highly unlikely a marriage to a Bagration would have been viewed by the Tsar as meeting the requirement of the Pauline Laws as an equal marriage. The marriage would have been treated as honorable, but morganatic in all likelihood.

Maria's son is a Hohenzollern, not a Romanov. She married a Prince of Prussia and her son takes his name from him, not her. In reality, the Romanovs have no eligible dynasts left.

 

[Idriel]

Grand Princess Maria Wladimirovna of Russia News

From Interfax

Head of the Romanov House continues to seek rehabilitation of the last Russian Emperor

Moscow, September 1, Interfax - The head of the Russian Imperial house Maria Vladimirovna Romanova seeks official rehabilitation of the Imperial Family and other innocent victims of the family, irrespective of the difficulties on the way.

‘No matter how big the obstacles might be, the rehabilitation of the imperial martyrs it is necessary for modern Russia - the Russian state ought to renounce all the bloody crimes of the past and restore the succession in the centuries-long history of the Fatherland’, - Romanova said in the interview published by Rossiiskie Vesti weekly Thursday.

The great duchess finds it perplexing why the restoration of justice concerning all innocent martyrs proceeds with many difficulties. Such tardiness is often explained by that the martyrs do not need rehabilitation.

It goes without saying that martyrs do not need anything. They stand before God’ throne and pray for their people. Even canonization is more important for us, not for them, not to mention rehabilitation, she thinks.

For that not withstanding, Romanova is happy to get the finally issued official death certificates for the members the Imperial Family, as that has put an end to the disputes about people who claimed to be descendants of Tsar Nicholas II.

 

[Marengo]

Thanks Idriel! I hope Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna will succeed in this task. Good to see that at least interfax recognises her as head of the imperial family


But on the other hand, should now ordinairy russians ask from her to apologise for all the terrible things the Romanov dynasty has done to Russians?

What is her son, Grand Duke George Michaelovitch doing these days btw?

 

[branchg]

Maria is dreaming if she thinks the Russian government will ever consider restoring the imperial throne. They already have a new Tsar and his name is Vladimir Putin.

Maria's claim to the Romanov imperial headship is controversial. Under the Pauline Laws, she would technically be morganatic because her father, Grand Duke Vladimir, married Leondia Bagration, who was not from a "reigning sovereign house" as defined under the Imperial Statute. The Bagrations of Georgia were absorbed into the Russian Nobility and lost their sovereign status when Russia annexed Georgia into the Empire.

Vladimir insisted throughout his life that Leonida was a royal and the remaining dynasts had not married equally, therefore, he proclaimed his daughter, Maria, as curatrix of the throne due to the state of his family's marriages. But, he too was married morganatically and therefore, the dynasty died with his death, and there are no remaining eligible dynasts in the family line.

King Juan Carlos, as a matter of courtesy and recognition of the fact Maria has lived in Spain for many years, recognizes her as the head of the imperial house, but no other sovereigns in Europe do.

 

[BeatrixFan]

Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna

Hello All,

I thought I'd start a new topic on the Grand Duchess. Is there any news from her, any photographs etc?

Does anyone on this list dispute her claim?

I personally believe her to be the true heiress and she has worked so hard for Russia and it's people that she truly deserves to return in her rightful place.

I am sure Russia will one day restore it's monarchy. I think that Yugoslavia and Romania will do so too. Now the truth can be told, they will realise that their monarchs were badly treated.

What do we think?

 

[tiaraprin]

This is a complicated situation. If you follow the true rules of the Russian succession, she is not the legitimate heir.

Her father did not marry a legitimate royal princess, something necessary for the succession. Her mother's princess status is quite ambiguous. Her mother is not considered a royal princess by the majority of Royals and therefore do not accept Maria as the legitimate heir.

The Russian succession also does not allow for female succession. It has not been agreed on by the Romanov family.

 

[Layla1971]

Sorry I don't like to contradict, but the family does allow female succession if there aren't any legitimate male heirs and the female is the closest surviving legitimate relative of that heir.

As for her rights, the marriage of her mother Leonida Georgievna Bagration-Moukhransky was considered by her opponents to be morganatic, and therefore against dynastic laws.

The royal status of the Bagration-Moukhranskys was questioned. The Bagration-Moukhransky were a minor branch of the Bagrationi dynasty which once ruled the nation of Georgia. They claimed to be the sole surviving branch of the Bagrationi family, a claim that turned out to be false(in the 1990's members of the family were found living in Georgia).

Pauline Law dictates that 'A person of the Imperial Family who has contracted marriage with a person of a status unequal to his, that is, not belonging to a Royal or Ruling House, cannot pass on to that person or to the posterity that might issue from such a marriage the rights that belong to members of the Imperial Family'.

There are two sides to the argument:
1 - Only the Emperor (by tradition) was allowed to decide if a marriage was in accordance with the succession laws or not.

Vladimir (Maria's father), who was the self-proclaimed Emperor at the time, had decided two years before his own marriage that the Bagrations were of "corresponding rank", in a letter to Prince Ferdinand of Spain regarding the latter's daughter's marriage to Prince Irakly Bagration

On the other hand, though it was approved by Vladimir, some say that the marriage is clearly morganatic (because of rank disparity between spouses) and cannot be considered otherwise by decision of anyone.
And, if that marriage, between a dynast and a subject noblewoman (a wife who is of high aristocratic birth, such as a princess, but a subject of the Empire and not of a sovereign family of reigning monarchs) is not morganatic, then marriages between other dynasts and subject noblewomen were not morganatic either, and therefore some Romanov princes are also dynasts - the male descent is thus not totally extinct (for example, if a Russian imperial dynast may equally marry a Princess Bagration-Moukhransky, then another dynasts obviously may, equality preserved, marry such personages as daughter of Duke Sasso-Ruffo, Princess Irina Paley who is descended from the same Romanov tsars, Princess Natalia Galitzina and Princess Alexandra Galitzina [descendants of medieval sovereigns of Lithuania and Belarussia, as high an ancestry as that of the Moukhran Bagrations, distant descendants of medieval sovereigns in Georgia], meaning that children born of such marriages of dynasts are as much heirs of Russia as Maria Vladimirovna. This would mean that no female is yet requisite to succession, and that apparently Michael Andreyevitsh Romanov, born 1920, is the present Head of imperial family).

There are also debates that her grandparents marriage was not approved of by the then Emperor, but the marriage was later approved by Emperor Nicholas II in 1907 and he gave her the style and title of 'Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna of Russia'.

There are many other debates, but I don't have the time to go into them now!

 

[BeatrixFan]

Re:

Layla has really pointed out all the major arguments of the case I feel. Well done Layla! It's the fact that the Tsar approved the marriage in 1907 that makes me believe that she is most definately the true heir to the Russian Throne.

Whether she takes her place on the Russian Throne is another matter entirely!

 

[Layla1971]

I'm sorry I didn't get to finish the post properly last time, but here is some more info for everyone.

Although I agree with you BeatrixFan about the Emperors approval of the marriage in 1907, I must also add that if the Emperor considered the marriage not to be morganatic, then can't it be said the other, equally morganatic or legal marriages (depending on how you see it), can be deemed legal according to dynastic laws?

Therefore all marriages between dynasts and subject noblewomen/men could produce children who would be allowed to take their place in the line of dynastic succession alongside (so to speak, because it is succession after all) children of dynast to dynast marriages.

Also in reference to my statement about more debates, opponents debate that Maria's grandfather, whose full title was 'HIH Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovitch', married a divorcée, whose former husband was HRH Grand Duke Ernest Ludwig of Hesse.
Maria's supporters counter by saying the laws governing the succession do not include laws forbidding marriages to divorcées.

And Grand Duke Cyril and Grand Duchess Viktoria were first cousins, and first cousins marrying was prohibited by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Maria's supporters point out that all her opponents derive their own claims from being descendants of Emperor Nicholas I whose wife was his second cousin, a relationship also forbidden by the Russian Orthodox Church.
If a church prohibition of consanguinity renders children of such a marriage ineligible to succeed, then none of today's claimants are eligible either, nor could Alexander II, Alexander III or Nicholas II ever have succeeded to the throne (and since they succeeded, their cases prove the prevalent application of dynastic law that a child of a prohibited marriage is not barred from succession.

None of the claimants say they have a better claim than Maria, they just say that she does not have a valid claim herself.

Maria's supporters also counter the consanguinity objection on the basis that the Emperor gave his approval to the marriage, and the Emperor was then the supreme head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Again Maria's opponents counter saying that the Emperor was not able to change Church Law by his own decision. Instead, an act in ecclesiastical synods or councils would have been needed. However, the Orthodox Church does not condemn children of consanguineous marriages nor their rights to inheritance, so this argument is basically weak anyway.

Another argument is that at the time of their marriage, Grand Duchess Viktoria was a Protestant, not Orthodox..
Maria and her supporters counter that this objection is overcome by the Emperor's approval of the marriage. According to them, under dynastic law, the Emperor designated which of the dynasts had to marry Orthodox women; usually such requirement was placed on persons who were high on the succession line. At the time of his marriage, Grand Duke Cyril was not one of these people. There exists no prohibition of the Orthodox church for its members to marry Protestants. And later, Viktoria Fedorovna embraced the Orthodox faith, receiving a published accolade from the Emperor Nicholas II. At the time of Vladimir Cyrillovich's birth, his mother already had long been Orthodox.

My last post referred to female succession and I'll continue in more detail now, the opponents say that under the laws of the Russian Empire as they stood in 1917, no female could take the throne of Russia. This argument is not valid because Emperor Paul I of Russia established in the succession laws that upon extinction of male dynasts, females could succeed. While there are still a large number of males among Romanov descendants, Maria's supporters do not consider them to be dynasts.

Neither Maria Vladimirovna nor Nicholas Romanov nor any other prince Romanov pursues a position that can actually be solved in law, since the Headship of Imperial Russia is not a property or like which would be justiciable somewhere in functioning courts.
Unless for some reason the monarchy in Russia rises to power again, there will never be any real resolution to this quarrel.

Maria has openly stated that she considers herself the Curatrix to the Throne, as do many monarchists in Russia. Her father's claim as Tsar in Exile was very disputed by other members of his family. One said: "To say the family is divided is a euphemism. The family is raving mad." Maria hopes for the restoration of the monarchy someday, but polls have shown a very discouraging future for the Romanov family.

 

[branchg]

There is really no question that Maria's father, Grand Duke Vladimir, was the rightful Head of the Imperial House. The controversy is whether he made an equal marriage under the Pauline Laws when he married Leonida Bagration. Most royalists agree this marriage would not have been considered "equal" under the imperial rules because the Bagrations lost their sovereign status when Georgia was absorbed into the Russian Empire. They became part of the Russian Nobility, although the original treaty did call for the Head of the Bagration Dynasty to remain a Royal Highness and Prince of Georgia.

On the other hand, Grand Duke Vladimir was the Head of the Imperial House and de-facto Emperor. Since Russia was an absolute monarchy, it could be argued that Vladimir alone had the right to determine whether a marriage met the requirement of the Pauline Laws. The problem with this line of reasoning is "what's good for the goose, is good for the gander". If Vladimir ruled a marriage to a Bagration princess constituted an equal marriage, then many other male line of senior descent could also argue their marriages to other noble Russian families were equal as well. Given this dispensation, then there are more eligible dynasts who would be valid and come before Maria in the line of succession.

In my opinion, Grand Duke Vladimir was the last Romanov dynast and the family's claim died with him. Maria is the daughter of an honorable, but morganatic marriage, and does not meet the requirements of the Pauline Laws for succession. There are no eligible dynasts left in the family lines.

 

[Benjamin]

Here are some pictures of Her Imperial Highness (or Her Imperial Majesty to some):
One of Maria- http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/ed/Empressmaria.PNG
Maria and George: http://www.peterkurth.com/ROMANOV%20BONES_files/image032.jpg
And some more of Maria:
http://www.freewebs.com/royalwomen/MariaV.PNG
http://www.freewebs.com/royalwomen/MariaV2.PNG
http://www.freewebs.com/royalwomen/ad3.PNG
http://www.freewebs.com/royalwomen/untitled.PNG