Press Release on the Official Visit of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna, and H.I.H. the Heir, Tsetsarevich, and Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich, to St. Petersburg on the First Anniversary of the Blessed Repose of H.I.H. Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna 22-24 May 2011.

On May 22-24, 2011, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna, and H.I.H. the Heir, Tsetsarevich, and Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich, made an official visit to St. Petersburg on the first anniversary of the blessed repose of H.I.H. Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna, who reposed in the Lord at the age of 96, in Madrid on May 10/23, 2010, and was buried in the Family Crypt of the House of Romanoff in Ss. Peter and Paul Fortress on May 21/June 3, 2010.

On May 22, the Grand Duchess and her son arrived in St. Petersburg from Paris.

On May 23, in the Family Crypt in the Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral of the Ss. Peter and Paul Fortress, a panikhida for Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna was served at her grave by His Grace, Bishop Nazarii of Vyborg, the vicar bishop of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Eparchy, along with many other clergy. After the panikhida, Their Imperial Highnesses spent an hour talking with their countrymen and others who had come to attend the service from all corners of the Russian Federation, and from other countries that had never been part of the former Russian Empire. Vice-President A. I. Korolev of the Transdnistria Moldavian Republic conveyed to the Grand Duchess and Grand Duke an invitation from President Smirnov to attend the consecration of the restored Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevskii in the city of Bendery. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna presented the devices and medals of the Imperial Order of St. Anna to those who had recently been elevated to its ranks, including the crew of the yacht “Peter I,” which, for the first time in history of sailing, had circumnavigated the Arctic Ocean in one season (the expedition sailed under the official patronage of the Head of the House of Romanoff and departed on its voyage after a personal sendoff from the Grand Duchess and her heir).

Then Their Imperial Highness went to the Alexander Nevskii Lavra to meet with His Eminence, Metropolitan Wladimir of St. Petersburg and Ladoga. Metropolitan Wladimir recounted his meetings with the reposed Grand Duchess, discussed recent events in the life of the diocese, and warmly bid farewell to the Head of the House of Romanoff and her Heir. At the end of their meeting, there was a brief ceremony during which Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna awarded, on the request of His Eminence Metropolitan Wladimr, the Imperial Order of St. Anna to the abbot of Holy Trinity-St. Alexander Svirskii Monastery, Archimandrite Lukian, who has been appointed vicar bishop of Lodeinoe Pole of the St. Petersburg Diocese.

At 3:00 in the afternoon, there was a memorial luncheon hosted by Prince V. O. Lopukhin, the executor for the reposed Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna.

That evening, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna, gave an audience to a delegation from the Transdnistria Moldavian Republic, headed by Vice-President A. I. Korolev; to members of several civic organizations (the movement “For Faith and Fatherland,” the Inter-Regional Monarchist Movement, the Russian Imperial Union-Order, and others); representatives of the Russian Nobility Association; and also to several individuals who came to St. Petersburg from various regions of the Russian Federation and from other countries. The Grand Duchess received reports from the Director of the Legal Department of Her Imperial Highness’s Chancellery, G. Iu. Luk’ianov, and from the Master of Heraldry and the Director of the Office of Heraldry of H.I.H.’s Chancellery, S. V. Dumin. Her Imperial Highness responded to their reports and gave them each various assignments to perform on her behalf.

On May 24, 2011, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna, departed for Kiev, where her official visit to Ukraine began. That same day, H.I.H. the Heir, Tsetsarevich and Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich flew back to Brussels.

A.N. Zakatov
Director of H.I.H.’s Chancellery