andré vladimirovitch romanoff

Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich (1879-1956) was the younger son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847-1909) brother of Emperor Alexander III and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1854-1920)(née Princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin). Like most representatives of the imperial family, he had received a military education — he graduated from the Mikhailovsky artillery school and the Alexander Academy of Military Law. Andrey Vladimirovich participated in the First World War, he entered the active army in October 1914; from May 7, 1915 he was commander of the Horse Guards Artillery Corps, then major-general of the emperor's retinue, commander of the 130th Kherson Cavalry Regiment.

After the revolution, he lived in Kislovodsk with his mother and brother Boris, joined by the ballerina Mathilde Kschesinska and her son Vova, then in Novorossiysk, from where they left Russia in February 1920 to go to France in the Mathilde's villa at Cap d'ail. On September 6, 1920, in Contrexeville, Andrei's mother died, and on 01/30/1921 in Cannes, he married M. F. Kschesinska (to whom the Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich granted the title of Princess Krasinsky on 11/30/1926, and the 07.28.1935- from the title of Serene Princess Romanovsky-Krasinsky). As legitimist monarchist, Andrei Vladimirovich actively supported his older brother, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, who took the title of Emperor of All Russia in exile in 1924. The Grand Duke and his family settled in Paris, in a small private mansion located at 10 Villa Molitor, in the 16th arrondissement, and had to survive thanks to the dance lessons given by his wife on the ground floor. He was one of the few members of the Romanoff family to believe Anna Anderson's words. She then introduced herself as Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the late Nicholas II. During his first meeting with Anna Anderson, Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich found that her face was marked with deep sadness, but her smile was truly that of Anastasia. He provided him with lifelong financial assistance.

Honorary President of the Union of the Izmailovo Regiment (1925), also Honorary President of the Union of Mutual Assistance of Officers of the Imperial Guard of the Horse Artillery. President of the Russian Historical and Genealogical Society (Paris), from 1947 president of the Association of Guards. He was the last Grand Duke of the House of Romanoff after the death in 1943 of his brother Boris Vladimirovich.