Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia is the name and title used by three relatively prominent members of the
Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov family.
:''Main article:
Maria Pavlovna of RussiaGrand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, known as "Miechen" or "Maria Pavlovna the Elder" (
May 14,
1854 -
September 6,
1920) was born Marie Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, daughter of Grand Duke
Friedrich Franz II of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Augusta of Reuss-Köstritz.
She married the third son of
Alexander II of Russia,
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia (
April 22,
1847 -
February 17,
1909) on
August 28,
1874. They had four sons, Alexander Vladimirovich,
Kirill Vladimirovich, Boris Vladimirovich, and Andrei Vladimirovich, and one daughter,
Elena Vladimirovna.
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Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, Princess Wilhelm of Sweden with her son, Lennart |
Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, known as "Maria Pavlovna the Younger" (In
Russian 'еликая Княгиня Мария Павловна) (
April 6/
April 18,
1890 -
December 13,
1958) was a daughter of
Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich and
Alexandra Georgievna of Greece.
Her paternal grandparents were
Alexander II of Russia and
Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Her maternal grandparents were
George I of Greece and
Olga Konstantinovna of Russia, his queen consort.
Her mother,
Alexandra Georgievna of Greece died after she had given birth to Maria's brother Grand Duke
Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia and the two children were left alone with their father. Until she was six, she didn't speak a word in
Russian as all of her governesses spoke
English. Later she had another governess,
mademoiselle Hélène who taught her
French and stayed with her until her marriage.
In 1902 her father married
Olga Valerianovna Paley; as the marriage was unapproved by
Nicholas II, he was exiled. Maria and Dmitri were given under custody of their childless uncle,
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia and his wife
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna. Maria had a somewhat strained relationship with her aunt, who was the only mother she had ever really known, as her own mother died when she was a toddler. Maria wrote in her memoirs that her aunt was somewhat cold with her and she felt that Grand Duchess Elizabeth had rushed her into marriage. Maria had a half-brother and two half-sisters from her father's second marriage, but didn't have much contact with them until all of them were grown because of the circumstances of her father's second marriage. In 1905 her uncle was killed by a bomb during the 1905 Revolution.
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Maria Pavlovna and prince Wilhelm at the time of their marriage in 1908. |
A year later she was engaged to
Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Sudermannia (
June 17,
1884 -
June 5,
1965), whom she married on
May 3,
1908 and divorced in 1914. Wilhelm was the second son of King
Gustav V of
Sweden and
Victoria of Baden. Maria herself was a daughter of the ducal house of
Holstein-Gottorp, which holds its rights to the Swedish throne, inherited from her ancestress
Hedvig Sophia of Sweden, duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, eldest sister of the childless
Charles XII of Sweden.
Maria and Wilhelm had a single son:
Lennart, Duke of
Smalandia and later Count
Bernadotte af Wisborg (
1909-
2004). Maria left her son behind in Sweden after the divorce and saw him rarely thereafter. In an interview as an adult, her son indicated that he had a distant relationship with his mother and she didn't relate well to her grandchildren.
During
World War I she worked as a nurse in
Pskov. After the revolution Maria fled to
Paris and later moved to
London where she met her brother Dmitri. Maria's first years of exile were financed by the jewels she had had smuggled to
Sweden before escaping
Russia. She was deprived of her properties and opened a quality sewing and textile shop "Kitmir" in Paris, becoming a somewhat successful entrepreneur in the Parisian fashion industry.
She also met crown prince
Gustaf Adolf of Sweden in London who gave her back her smuggled jewelry. She went back to
Paris and lived in
Europe including
Germany,
Sweden and in
Biarritz and in
Spain on the invitation of the
Spanish queen. She lived 12 years in the
United States before moving to
Argentina because the USA was a country that recognized
Soviet Union. She lived in
Buenos Aires and after
WWII in
Europe.
She married her second husband
His Illustriousness Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Putiatine in September
1917. They had one son,
His Illustriousness Prince Roman Sergeievich Putiatine (June
1918-
1919). Maria and her second husband left baby Roman in the care of his parents when they fled the country. The baby later died of an illness.
She died in
1958 in the border town of
Konstanz in
Germany. Later on her son buried her brother Dmitri next to her.
* Genealogy of the Romanov Imperial House [
1].
