Moscow, September 30 – The former imperial capital of Russia is set to host the wedding of a descendant of the Russian royal family in the first such event in more than a century.
Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov will marry Italian fiancee Victoria Romanovna Bettarini on Friday at St. Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg in an elaborate religious ceremony attended by hundreds of foreign guests.
Russia’s last Czar Nicholas II, his wife and five children were killed by a revolutionary firing squad in the basement of a merchant’s house in Yekaterinburg, a city 900 miles east of Moscow, in July 1918.
“It was the first place in Russia that we returned to,” George Mikhailovich, 40, told the Fontanka.ru news site about the choice of St. Petersburg for their wedding.
“It’s very close to the family.
Georg Mikhailovich was born in Spain to Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia – the self-proclaimed heir to the Imperial Throne of Russia – and her husband, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich of Russia. He lived in France and Spain for most of his life.
His great-grandfather, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, managed to escape Bolshevik violence in Finland during the 1917 revolution. He and his family then moved to Western Europe.
George Mikhailovich first visited Russia in 1992 and now lives in Moscow where he works on several charity projects.
Bettarini, 39, converted to the Russian Orthodox religion last year and took the name Victoria Romanovna.
The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia for 300 years before the abdication of Nicholas II in 1917, setting Russia on the path of Bolshevik revolution, civil war and 70 years of communist rule.
The Russian Orthodox Church canonized Nicholas II in 2000, after being portrayed as a weak leader by Soviet authorities.
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