Princess Anastasia Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro (4 January
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O.S._23_December_1867">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html"_;"title="nowiki/>Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._23_December_18671868_–_25_November_1935)_was_the_daughter_of_Nicholas_I_of_Montenegro.html" ;"title="Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 23 December 1867">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>
O.S._23_December_18671868_–_25_November_1935)_was_the_daughter_of_Nicholas_I_of_Montenegro">King_Nikola_I_Petrović-Njegoš_of_Montenegro_(1841–1921)_and_his_wife,_
O.S._23_December_18671868_–_25_November_1935)_was_the_daughter_of_Nicholas_I_of_Montenegro">King_Nikola_I_Petrović-Njegoš_of_Montenegro_(1841–1921)_and_his_wife,_Milena_of_Montenegro">Queen_Milena_(1847–1923).__Through_her_second_marriage,_she_became_Grand_Duchess_Anastasia_Nikolaevna_Romanova_of_Russia.__She_and_her_sister_"Militza"_(Milica_of_Montenegro.html" "title="Milena_of_Montenegro.html" ;"title="Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 23 December 18671868 – 25 November 1935) was the daughter of Nicholas I of Montenegro">King Nikola I Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro (1841–1921) and his wife, Milena of Montenegro">Queen Milena (1847–1923). Through her second marriage, she became Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova of Russia. She and her sister "Militza" (Milica of Montenegro">Princess Milica
Princess Milica Hrebeljanović née Nemanjić ( sr, Милица Немањић Хребељановић · ca. 1335 – November 11, 1405) also known as Empress (''Tsaritsa'') Milica, was a royal consort of Serbia by marriage to Prince Lazar, ...
), having married Russian royal brothers, were known colloquially as the "Montenegrin princesses" during the last days of Imperial Russia, and may have contributed to its downfall by the introduction of Grigori Rasputin to the Alexandra Fyodorovna (Alix of Hesse), Empress Alexandra.
Life
Early life
Princess Anastasia was born in
Cetinje
Cetinje (, ) is a town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital (''prijestonica'' / приjестоница) of Montenegro and is the location of several national institutions, including the official residence of the president of Montenegro ...
,
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
, on 4 January 1868, the third child and third daughter of her parents. Although named Anastasia at birth, after her paternal grandmother, she was often known ''Princess Stana Petrovich Njegosh of Montenegro''. As of the date of her father's assumption of the title and style of ''
Royal Highness
Royal Highness is a style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes or princesses. Monarchs and their consorts are usually styled ''Majesty''.
When used as a direct form of address, spoken or written, it takes ...
'' in 1900, she became known as
''Her Royal Highness'' Princess Stana Petrovich Njegosh of Montenegro. She retained her childhood nickname of "Stana" to close relations.
Anastasia was educated at the
Smolny Institute
The Smolny Institute (russian: Смольный институт, ''Smol'niy institut'') is a Palladian edifice in Saint Petersburg that has played a major part in the history of Russia.
History
The building was commissioned from Giacomo Quar ...
with her older sister,
Princess Milica
Princess Milica Hrebeljanović née Nemanjić ( sr, Милица Немањић Хребељановић · ca. 1335 – November 11, 1405) also known as Empress (''Tsaritsa'') Milica, was a royal consort of Serbia by marriage to Prince Lazar, ...
.
[The Memoirs of Count Witte]
First marriage
On 28 August n.s., 1889, at the Imperial Russian
Palace of Peterhof, Stana married
Prince George Maximilianovich of Leuchtenberg (later the
Duke of Leuchtenberg
Duke of Leuchtenberg was a title created twice by List of rulers of Bavaria, the monarchs of Bavaria for their relatives. The first creation was awarded by Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria to his son Maximilian Philipp Hieronymus, upon whose death ...
.) The Duke had previously been married and widowed, with one son,
Alexander Georgievich, from his prior marriage to Princess
Therese of Oldenburg. The couple had two children:
*
Sergei Georgievich, 8th Duke von Leuchtenberg (1890–1974).
*
Elena Georgievena, Duchess of Leuchtenberg, Princess Romanovskaya (1892–1971). She married on 18 July 1917, in Yalta, Count
Stefan Tyszkiewicz (1894–1976, London). He was son of Count Władysław Tyszkiewicz and Princess Krystyna Maria
Lubomirska. By birth he was a member of powerful and wealthy
Tyszkiewicz family
Tyszkiewicz is the name of the Tyszkiewicz family, a Polish–Lithuanian magnate noble family of Ruthenian origin. The Lithuanian equivalent is Tiškevičius; it is frequently transliterated from Russian and Belarusian as Tyshkevich.
Other people ...
, one of few families which belonged to
Magnates of Poland and Lithuania
The magnates of Poland and Lithuania () were an aristocracy of Polish-Lithuanian nobility ('' szlachta'') that existed in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, from the 1569 Union of Lublin, in the Polish–Lit ...
.
Second marriage
On 29 April 1907, at the age of 39, Anastasia was married to
Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929). The marriage was childless. Both her husbands were descendants of
Emperor Nicholas I of Russia (1796–1855): the first one was his grandson through a maternal line, and the second one was his grandson through a direct male line.
Both Anastasia and her second husband Nicholas were religious
Eastern Orthodox Christians
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
, with a tendency to and interest in
Persian mysticism
Persian mysticism, or the Persian love tradition, is a traditional interpretation of existence, life and love, reliant upon revelatory and heart-felt principles in reasoning. Though partially sourced from the mystical Zoroastrian traditions of the ...
. Since the
Montenegrins
Montenegrins ( cnr, Црногорци, Crnogorci, or ; lit. "Black Mountain People") are a South Slavic ethnic group that share a common Montenegrin culture, history, and language, identified with the country of Montenegro.
Genetics
Accordin ...
were a fiercely
Slavic, anti-Turkish people from the
Balkans
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
, Anastasia reinforced the
Pan Slav tendencies of Nicholas. Her sister,
Princess Milica
Princess Milica Hrebeljanović née Nemanjić ( sr, Милица Немањић Хребељановић · ca. 1335 – November 11, 1405) also known as Empress (''Tsaritsa'') Milica, was a royal consort of Serbia by marriage to Prince Lazar, ...
(
Cetinje
Cetinje (, ) is a town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital (''prijestonica'' / приjестоница) of Montenegro and is the location of several national institutions, including the official residence of the president of Montenegro ...
,
Montenegro
)
, image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Podgorica
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, official_languages = M ...
, 26 July 1866 –
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
,
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, 5 September 1951) was married to
Grand Duke Peter Nicolaievich Romanov of Russia, brother of Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaevich. The two Montenegrin princesses were thus also sisters-in-law, as their husbands were brothers.
Anastasia and her sister were intrigued by the more mystical side of the
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
religion; they were early supporters of the French seer "Dr."
Philippe Vachot[Rasputin: The Saint Who Sinned] and of the ''starets''
Rasputin
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (; rus, links=no, Григорий Ефимович Распутин ; – ) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, thus ga ...
, and introduced both in turn
to the
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the last Tsarina of Russia.
According to popular Russian belief, the influence of Rasputin was instrumental in the downfall of the Romanov family.
Anastasia's husband, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929), was Commander in Chief of the Russian Army during the first year of World War I, carrying out campaigns on the Austro-German front and in the Caucasus. His Supreme Commandership was terminated by Tsar Nicholas on 21 August 1915.
Post-revolution
In March 1917, the last Tsar was overthrown and the ruling
Romanov
The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to th ...
family removed from power by the
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
. Anastasia and her husband lived from 1917–1919 first in the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
, then in the
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
. From
Yalta
Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crimea ...
in the Crimea, Anastasia and her husband escaped Russia in 1919 aboard a British battleship,
HMS ''Marlborough''. They settled briefly in Italy, living with her sister
Elena, Queen of Italy and later in France, spending winters on the
Riviera
''Riviera'' () is an Italian word which means "coastline", ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria, in the form ''Riviera ligure'', then shortened in English. The two areas ...
.
She died in Cap d'Antibes on 15 November 1935, having outlived her husband by six years. Grand Duchess Anastasia and her husband died in exile and were originally buried in the church of St. Archangel Michael in Cannes, France. Requests to transfer their remains came from
Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia
Nicholas Romanovich Romanov (russian: Николай Романович Романов; 26 September 1922 – 15 September 2014) was a claimant to the headship of the House of Romanov and president of the Romanov Family Association. Although undou ...
, who died in 2014 and
Prince Dimitri Romanov
Dimitri Romanovich Romanov (russian: Дмитрий Романович Романов; 17 May 1926 – 31 December 2016) was a descendant of Russia's former ruling dynasty, a banker, philanthropist, and author. He was also a claimant to the heads ...
(who died in 2016), and were made in 2014. Their remains were re-buried in Moscow, at the
Bratsky military cemetery in May 2015.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anastasia Of Montenegro
1868 births
1935 deaths
Montenegrin princesses
Eastern Orthodox Christians from Montenegro
Petrović-Njegoš dynasty
People from Cetinje
Beauharnais
Duchesses of Leuchtenberg
Russian grand duchesses by marriage
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Italy
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France
Burials at Bratsky Cemetery, Moscow
Daughters of kings