Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia (2 February 1907 – 25 October 1951) was the eldest daughter of
Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia and
Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna. She was born in
Coburg when her parents were in exile because their marriage had not been approved by
Tsar Nicholas II. She was generally called "Marie," the French version of her name, or by the Russian nickname "Masha." The family returned to Russia prior to
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, but was forced to flee following the
Russian Revolution of 1917.
Biography
Early life
Maria was raised in Coburg and in
Saint-Briac,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. She was born ''Princess Maria Kirillovna of Russia'', but her father granted her the title Grand Duchess of Russia with the style ''
Imperial Highness'' when he declared himself Guardian of the Throne in 1921. As a child, the dark-haired, dark-eyed Maria took after her maternal grandmother,
Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (russian: Мария Александровна; – 24 October 1920) was the fifth child and only surviving daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine; she wa ...
, in appearance, with a wide, round face
[Sullivan, p. 374] and a tendency to be overweight and to look older than her actual age when she was still a teenager. She was described as "shy and easy-going",
but also had her share of mishaps. In 1921, when she was fifteen, the "flighty"
[Van der Kiste, p. 157] Maria visited her aunt,
Queen Marie of Romania
Marie (born Princess Marie Alexandra Victoria of Edinburgh; 29 October 1875 – 18 July 1938) was the last Queen of Romania as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania, King Ferdinand I.
Marie was born into the British royal family. Her parent ...
, and carried on a flirtation with the son-in-law of a lady-in-waiting at the Romanian court.
Her fifteen-year-old cousin,
Princess Ileana of Romania
Princess Ileana of Romania, also known as Mother Alexandra (23 December 1908 – 21 January 1991), was the youngest daughter of King Ferdinand I of Romania and his consort, Queen Marie of Romania. She was a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria ...
, spread rumors about the flirtation when Maria returned home, resulting in strained relations between Marie of Romania and Maria's mother, Victoria.
The conflict was eventually smoothed over.
Marriage and issue
The following year, on 24 February 1925, Maria was engaged to
Karl, 6th Prince of Leiningen (13 February 1898 – 2 August 1946), and they were married on 25 November. Victoria was at her daughter's bedside when she gave birth to her first child, Emich Kirill, in 1926. She also attended the subsequent births of Maria's children. Maria had seven children in all, one of whom died in infancy during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Her husband was forced to join the German army and was taken captive by the
Soviets
Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union.
Nationality policy in th ...
at the end of World War II. He died of starvation in a Russian concentration camp in 1946. Maria, left with little money, struggled to support her surviving six children. She died five years later of a heart attack at age forty-four.
[Sullivan, p. 408]
Maria had seven children:
*
Prince ''Emich'' Kirill Ferdinand Hermann of Leiningen (18 October 1926 – 30 October 1991); married Duchess Eilika of Oldenburg on 10 August 1950. They had four children.
*
Prince ''Karl'' Vladimir Ernst Heinrich of Leiningen (2 January 1928 – 28 September 1990) married
Princess Marie Louise of Bulgaria
Princess Marie Louise of Bulgaria ( bg, Княгиня Мария Луиза Българска; born 13 January 1933, Sofia) is the daughter of Tsar Boris III and Tsaritsa Ioanna and the older sister of Simeon II of Bulgaria. Montgomery-Mass ...
on 20 February 1957 and they were divorced on 4 December 1968. They had two sons.
* Princess ''Kira'' Melita Feodora Marie Victoria Alexandra of Leiningen (18 July 1930 – 24 September 2006) married
Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia on 18 September 1963. They had three children.
*
Princess ''Margarita'' Ileana Victoria of Leiningen (9 May 1932 – 16 June 1994) married
Frederick William, Prince of Hohenzollern on 5 January 1951. They had three sons.
*
Princess ''Mechtilde'' Alexandra of Leiningen (2 January 1936 - 12 February 2021) married Karl Anton Bauscher on 25 November 1961. They had three sons.
* Prince ''Friedrich Wilhelm'' Berthold of Leiningen (18 June 1938 – 29 August 1999)
* Prince ''Peter'' Victor of Leiningen (23 December 1942 – 12 January 1943)
Ancestry
Notes
References
*Michael John Sullivan, ''A Fatal Passion: The Story of the Uncrowned Last Empress of Russia,'' Random House, 1997,
*John Van der Kiste, ''Princess Victoria Melita'', Sutton Publishing, 1991,
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria Kirillovna of Russia, Grand Duchess
Maria Kirillovna of Russia, Grand Duchess
1951 deaths
Princesses of royal blood (Russia)
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Romania
Princesses of Leiningen
Leiningen family
People from Coburg
White Russian emigrants to Romania