The heir to the last married Russian Czar, 104 years after the Revolution

It’s a unprecedented fact in Russia since the Revolution of 1917. The heir of the last Russian tsar, executed by the Bolsheviks, got married this Friday in St. Petersburg in the presence of several kings of Europe.

Grand Duke Georgy Romanov, 40, married Italian Rebecca Bettarini, 39.

The ceremony took place in Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, in the heart of the former imperial capital, in the north-west of the country.

During the ceremony, the couple walked into the temple, each with a candle in their hand, behind two priests in golden robes, according to an AFP photographer present at the scene.

The tsar’s heir, with a thin gray beard, wore a black suit and a yellow waistcoat, while his fiancee wore a long white dress with the emblems of the Russian Empire embroidered in gold.

Several young women and girls, dressed in traditional Russian costumes, they helped the bride to wear her dress.

Following Orthodox tradition, they put a crown on the future husband and wife.

Presence of European royalty

According to the organizers, there were around 1,500 guests, including Queen Emeritus of Spain Sofia, the deposed King of Bulgaria Simeon II and his wife Margaret, Princess Lea of ​​Belgium and others. representatives of European royal families.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and her husband Gauthier Destenay were also invited, as was Russian diplomacy spokeswoman Maria Zajárova.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman told reporters that the president “I hadn’t planned to congratulate the young couple”. “This wedding is not on our agenda,” said Dmitry Peskov.

Galina Bobrova, a resident of St. Petersburg, approached St. Isaac’s Cathedral on Friday morning to see the Tsar’s heir and his fiancee.

“I wish you all happiness. Obviously, the monarchy is part of our past, but I find it interesting,” he told AFP.

The lineage of an heir

The last marriage in Russia of a member of the Romanov family was that of Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra 127 years ago.

Born in Madrid and graduated from Oxford, Gueorgui Romanov is the son of Grand Duchess Maria Romanova, granddaughter of Grand Duke Kirill.

The latter was a cousin of Nicholas II, the last tsar of the Romanov dynasty, who reigned over 300 years in Russia until the revolution of February 1917.

The Bolsheviks captured the fallen monarch and slaughtered him a year later, in the Urals, along with his wife, Empress Alexandra, their four daughters and their son.

Long buried in a place kept secret by the Soviet power, their remains were transferred in 1998 to St. Petersburg Cathedral.

They were canonized in 2000 by the Russian Orthodox Church and officially recognized in 2008 as victims of Bolshevism for justice.

Grand Duke Georgi Romanov met his fiancee in Brussels, where both work for the European institutions.

Rebecca Bettarini, the daughter of a diplomat, converted to the Orthodox religion and was renamed Victoria Romanovna.

Based in Moscow For three years, near the Kremlin, the Grand Duke claims to have engaged in charitable projects.

In an interview with Russian media Fontanka, published Wednesday, he said he chose to get married in St. Petersburg for “many reasons”.

This city, according to him, represents “the history of Russia, the history of the Romanov house“.

Source: AFP