Russia returns to tsarist pomp for first royal wedding in more than a century

Tsarist luxury and pageantry will return to Russia this Friday, with the first royal wedding in over a century. Heir to the throne, Jorge of Russia, and a daughter of Italian diplomats, Rebecca Bettarini, got married in a ceremony that will take place in St. Isaac’s Cathedral in the former imperial capital, Saint PETERSBOURG.

“It will be a traditional Russian wedding. I think it will symbolize the great history of Russia and its great culture,” the bride told EFE, already known as Victoria Románova after converting to the Orthodox creed.

A marriage that turned out high

Everything is ready in St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia, for the arrival of several hundred wedding guests, including members of royalty.

St. Petersburg, the hometown of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has not seen an event of this magnitude since will cease to be the capital of the Russian Empire after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.

Tonight, guests will be able to congratulate the bride and groom in advance at a cocktail party at the Vladimir Palace.

Even the coronavirus pandemic will not prevent Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, built by the French Auguste de Montferrand with the precious collaboration with the Spanish engineer Agustín de Betancourt, organize a spectacular religious ceremony, since the civil bond took place a week ago.

The temple, a 365-day-a-year museum, will close tomorrow until 2:00 p.m. local time.

This Thursday you could see employees put the finishing touches, cleaning the icons and changing the candles of the spectacular altar, which includes marble in various colors, malachite and lazurite.

It is known that the bride will wear a dress from an Italian designer and a tiara with more than 400 diamonds in the style of traditional kokoshnik, Russian headdresses.

The wedding will last two hours and the witness will be the head of the Georgian royal household, David Bagration-Mujranski, also born in Madrid as a groom.

They confirmed their presence Simeon of Bulgaria, Fouad II of Egypt, Leka II of Albania, Eduardo Pío of Braganza, as well as representatives of the royal houses of Italy, Germany and Belgium.

The presence of great personalities of Russian society, although for the moment we do not know who will be the representation of the Kremlin, who did not want to comment on the question.

“In Moscow, St. Petersburg, every day many weddings are celebrated and we always wish the bride and groom happiness,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to a question from EFE.

The Russian Orthodox Church, great standard bearer of the monarchy in this country and of the canonization of the family of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, assassinated by the Bolsheviks in 1918, is the great promoter of this religious marriage.

A very Spanish Tsarevich, a very European bride

Jorge de Russia was born in Madrid on March 13, 1981. Baptized two months later, he is the godson of King Juan Carlos. His mother is María Románova and his father, Francisco Guillermo de Prusia. Have kinship with the main royal houses in Europe.

He studied law at Oxford and worked in the European Parliament, in the office of the European Commissioner for Transport and Energy, then in the private sector in Russian companies such as the Norníkel consortium.

The Tsarevich is not a direct descendant of the last Tsar, since his grandfather Kiril I, who ascended the throne in exile in 1924, he was first cousin of Nicholas II and grandson of Alexander II.

As María Románova said at the time to EFE, the Russian Imperial Household does not forget “the noble gesture of King Alfonso XIII of Spain, who offered refuge to Nicholas II and his family at a time when other Russian allied powers refused to do so. “

Rebecca Bettarini was born in Rome on May 8, 1982. She spent her childhood in Paris, Venice, Rome and Baghdad, where her father was posted. He lived four years in Venezuela, that’s why he speaks Spanish.

He attended the European School in Brussels and then studied political science in Rome. Between 2005 and 2017, he worked for the industrial group Finmeccanica, first in Italy and then in Brussels. Since 2017, she has been the director of the Imperial Russian Foundation.

Jorge from Russia and Rebecca Bettarini they have been together for a decade. They lived 6 years in Brussels and now They have been in Moscow for almost three, where they decided to settle.

“I marry the best traveling companion and the one person supporting me,” the Grand Duke told EFE.

Tsarevich’s grandparents returned to their country at the end of 1991, even before the formal disappearance of the USSR invited by the mayor of Saint Petersburg and Putin’s political godfather, Anatoly Sobchak, on the occasion of the recovery of the original name of the city, which was called Leningrad in Soviet times.

With information from the EFE agency