Princess Vera Constantinovna of Russia, also Vera Konstantinovna (russian: link=no, Вера Константиновна Романова; 24 April 1906 – 11 January 2001), was the youngest child of
Grand Duke Konstantine Konstantinovich of Russia and his wife,
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna. A great-granddaughter of Tsar
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , group=pron ( – ) was List of Russian rulers, Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He was the third son of Paul I of Russia, Paul I and younger brother of his predecessor, Alexander I ...
, she was born in the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
and was a childhood playmate of the younger children of
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Pola ...
.
[King & Wilson, ''Gilded Prism'', p. 132] She lost much of her family during World War I and the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
. At age twelve, she escaped revolutionary Russia, fleeing with her mother and brother George to
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. She spent the rest of her long life in exile, first in Western Europe and from the 1950s in the United States.
Early life
![Princess Vera Constantinovna of Russia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Princess_Vera_Constantinovna_of_Russia.jpg)
Princess Vera Konstantinovna of Russia was born at
Pavlovsk on 24 April 1906. She was the youngest child among the nine children of
Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich of Russia
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia ( rus, Константи́н Константи́нович, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ, a=Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov.ru.vorb.oga; 22 August 1858 – 15 June 1915 ...
and his wife
Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna, born Princess Elizabeth of Saxe-Altenburg. She was going to be named Marianne in honor of her mother's favorite sister,
Princess Marie Anne of Saxe-Altenburg
Princess Marie Anne of Saxe-Altenburg (14 March 1864 – 3 May 1918) was the consort of Georg, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. As the eldest daughter of Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg and his wife Princess Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen, and a sister ...
, but her paternal aunt
Grand Duchess Vera Constantinovna of Russia
Grand Duchess Vera Konstantinovna of Russia (16 February 1854 – 11 April 1912), ) was a daughter of Grand Duke Konstantine Nicholaievich of Russia. She was a granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I and first cousin of Tsar Alexander III of Russia. ...
insisted that her niece should be named after her.
[Vera Constantinovna, ''Kadetskaya pereklichka''] Her godparents were her brother
Prince Constantine Constantinovich of Russia
Prince Constantine Constantinovich of Russia (''Константин Константинович''; 1 January 1891 – 18 July 1918), nicknamed Kostya by the family, was the third son and fourth child of Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovic ...
and
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Vera Constantinovna spent her first years in fabulous splendour during the last period of Imperial Russia. Her father, a respected poet, was a first cousin once removed of Tsar Nicholas II.
Princess Vera was eight years old when
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated and World War I broke out, in the summer of 1914. Vera was with her parents and her brother George in Germany visiting her maternal relatives in
Altenburg at the start of the war. The conflict took them by surprise, trapping them in Germany, an enemy country. It was thanks to the intervention of the German Empress,
Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein
, house = Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg
, father = Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein
, mother = Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Dolzig Palace ...
that they were allowed to return to Russia.
[King & Wilson, ''Gilded Prism'', p. 154] Vera's older siblings joined the Russian army in the military effort, and her favorite brother
Oleg
Oleg (russian: Олег), Oleh ( uk, Олег), or Aleh ( be, Алег) is an East Slavic given name. The name is very common in Russia, Ukraine and Belаrus. It derives from the Old Norse ''Helgi'' ( Helge), meaning "holy", "sacred", or "bless ...
was killed in action. She was considered too young and was not allowed to attend her brother's funeral. Her brother's death was just the first of many family misfortunes.
The following year, her father died of a heart attack in her presence. In a letter to her brother, she later described how she was sitting with her father in his study, when Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich began gasping. Princess Vera managed to push open a heavy door between her parents' studies, pushing aside several heavy plants that stood in front of the door, and ran to her mother crying that her father couldn't breathe. Her mother ran after her, but the grand duke had already died.
[Zeepvat, Charlotte, ''The Camera and the Tsars'', p. 185]
Revolution
After the death of her father, in 1916, Vera moved with her mother and her brother George to the
Marble Palace
Marble Palace (Мраморный дворец) is one of the first Neoclassical palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is situated between the Field of Mars and Palace Quay, slightly to the east from New Michael Palace.
Design and pre-1917 ...
in Petrograd, leaving Pavlovsk to her eldest brother
Prince Ivan Konstantinovich.
During the chaotic rule of the
Provisional Government
A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...
, and after the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, Princess Vera, her mother, and her brother
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...
, remained at Pavlovsk.
[King & Wilson, ''Gilded Prism'', p. 164] For a time, they lived a precarious existence, and her mother was forced to secretly sell family heirlooms to provide for the family. They stayed in the palace until the summer of 1918, when the revolution forced them to leave it and to take an apartment in the city.
During the Russian revolution, four of Vera's brothers were imprisoned 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 ...
. Only
Prince Gabriel was eventually released. Three of her brothers (
Ivan
Ivan () is a Slavic languages, Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John (given name), John) from Hebrew language, Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. T ...
,
Constantine
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
*Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...
and
Igor
Igor may refer to:
People
* Igor (given name), an East Slavic given name and a list of people with the name
* Mighty Igor (1931–2002), former American professional wrestler
* Igor Volkoff, a professional wrestler from NWA All-Star Wrestling
* ...
) were killed at
Alapaevsk
Alapayevsk (russian: Алапа́евск) is a town in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Neyva and Alapaikha rivers. Population: 44,263 ( 2002 census); 50,060 ( 1989 census); 49,000 (1968).
History
Alapayevsk is o ...
, along with other Romanov relatives, in July 1918.
Initially, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna was reluctant to leave Russia remembering her late husband's words, that if Russia was in need, it was a Romanov's duty to help. However, with their situation becoming increasingly dangerous, she accepted an offer made by her friend,
Queen Victoria of Sweden, through the Swedish Ambassador Edvard Brändström, to travel to
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
.
From
Kronstadt
Kronstadt (russian: Кроншта́дт, Kronshtadt ), also spelled Kronshtadt, Cronstadt or Kronštádt (from german: link=no, Krone for "crown" and ''Stadt'' for "city") is a Russian port city in Kronshtadtsky District of the federal city of ...
twelve-year-old Princess Vera escaped to
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
aboard the Swedish vessel ''Ångermanland'' in October 1918 with her mother, her brother George, and her young nephews (Prince Teymuraz Constantinovich and Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich of Russia) and nieces (Princess Natalia Konstantinovna Bagration-Mukhransky and Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia) when they were permitted 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 ...
to be taken by ship to
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, via
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...
to
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
and via
Mariehamn to
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
, at the invitation of
Queen Victoria of Sweden. At
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
harbor, they met Prince
Gustaf Adolf, who took them to the
royal palace. Later, Vsevolod and Catherine were able to reunite to their mother.
Exile
Princess Vera lived with her mother and her brother George for the next two years in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, first in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
and then in
Saltsjöbaden
Saltsjöbaden is a locality in Nacka Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 9,491 inhabitants in 2010. It is on the Baltic Sea coast, deep in the Stockholm Archipelago.
History
Saltsjöbaden () was developed as a resort by Knut Agathon Wa ...
. As Sweden proved too expensive to live in, Elizabeth Mavrikievna wrote a letter to
Albert I of Belgium
Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934.
Born in Brussels as the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-S ...
, asking him to allow them to move to his country. In 1920 they relocated to
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
where they were frequently ill. In 1922, Vera's uncle, Duke Ernest II of Saxe-Altenburg invited them to move to Germany.
Elizabeth Mavrikievna settled in the ancestral castle of her family near
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, in the small town of
Altenburg. Princess Vera followed her mother half a year later after spending sometime in
Oberstdorf
Oberstdorf ( Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in Germany and one of its highest towns.
At the&nb ...
in the
Allgäu
The Allgäu (Standard German: , also Allgovia) is a region in Swabia in southern Germany. It covers the south of Bavarian Swabia, southeastern Baden-Württemberg, and parts of Austria. The region stretches from the pre-alpine lands up to the A ...
region of the
Bavarian Alps recuperating from tuberculosis.
Her mother died of cancer on 24 March 1927 in Leipzig. Left alone and without sufficient means of subsistence, Vera Constantinovna moved to
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, with friends and shortly after relocated to London with her brother George.
When two years later, George moved to the United States, she returned to Altenburg. Princess Vera lived there for thirty years. Prince George died in New York City in 1938. Princess Vera lived in Germany through the difficult years of World War II.
[King & Wilson, ''Gilded Prism'', p. 190] During the War, she worked as a translator in a camp for prisoners of war. But German officials soon removed her from that position because she had tried to help fellow prisoners.
For many years, as she later recalled, she was haunted by the events of the Revolution.
"I used to have the same dream, as if I stood with my back to a pit and they were going to shoot me...my awakening was not less terrible than the dream itself, because I was constantly afraid to open my eyes and see that they had really come to take me to the execution".
At the end of World War II, in early 1945, American troops arrived in Altenburg.
On hearing that, according to the
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference (german: Potsdamer Konferenz) was held at Potsdam in the Soviet occupation zone from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to allow the three leading Allies to plan the postwar peace, while avoiding the mistakes of the Paris Pe ...
, Altenburg was going to be part of the zone of Soviet occupation, Princess Vera fled on foot.
With her cousin, Prince Ernst-Friedrich of Saxe-Altenburg, she had to walk 240 kilometers in 12 days, fleeing the advancing Soviet troops.
Once safe, Princess Vera settled in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
on 5 January 1946.
Until 1949 she worked as a translator in the British branch of the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
and later in the DP Medical Center.
When this one was closed, she worked at the reception in another British institution.
She belonged to no country, as she only had an ambiguous
Nansen passport
Nansen passports, originally and officially stateless persons passports, were internationally recognized refugee travel documents from 1922 to 1938, first issued by the League of Nations's Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees to stateles ...
, which gave her the ability to travel but no protections of statehood.
Despite this, she refused to take the protection offered to her by various European countries, considering herself Russian.
" I didn't leave Russia", she once declared, "Russia left me".
Last years
In 1951 she moved to the United States,
where her main activity was to work for the
Tolstoy Foundation The Tolstoy Foundation is a non-profit charitable and philanthropic organization. It was established on April 26, 1939, by Alexandra Tolstaya, the youngest daughter of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, and her friend Tatiana Schaufuss. Its headquarter ...
, which provided aid to Russians in need.
For the next decades she lived in New York, and was very active in charities. In November 1952 Vera Constantinovna became involved in the work of the Russian Children's Welfare Society where she continued her work there until 1969.
At the same time, she volunteered at the Fund of Assistance to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.
She retired in April 1971.
She regarded some of the émigré community, and some of their pretensions, with skepticism. She did not have the nostalgic idyll of many émigrés, but rather the memories of her childhood and her lost family.
[King & Wilson, ''Gilded Prism'', p. 191] The constant stream of visitors she regarded with some amusement and found rather trying. She did not care for those who would speak in awe-struck tones of the late Imperial family; she would often relate stories of their humanness and misbehavior. For her, the children of the last Tsar remained her childhood playmates, not distant figures for adoration.
She also regarded the canonization of the Romanovs, including her brothers and uncle, as a puzzling, peculiar move by the Church. Princess Vera wrote four short articles about her life for a magazine ''"Kadetskaya pereklichka"'' published by Union of the Russian Kadets in New York in 1972.
Princess Vera retained a certain aura of living history, being the last surviving member of the Romanov family who could remember Imperial Russia. Her two brothers and sister who managed to escape Russia all predeceased her. Prince Gabriel died in 1955, leaving no heirs, as did her brother Prince George, the victim of an early death at the age of 33 in 1938. Her sister,
Princess Tatiana, eventually took holy orders and became an Orthodox Nun. She died in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
in 1979.
Princess Vera died at the
Tolstoy Foundation The Tolstoy Foundation is a non-profit charitable and philanthropic organization. It was established on April 26, 1939, by Alexandra Tolstaya, the youngest daughter of the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, and her friend Tatiana Schaufuss. Its headquarter ...
's
elderly care
Elderly care, or simply eldercare (also known in parts of the English-speaking world as aged care), serves the needs and requirements of senior citizens. It encompasses assisted living, adult daycare, long-term care, nursing homes (often call ...
home in
Valley Cottage, New York
Valley Cottage is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, New York, United States. It is located northeast of West Nyack, northwest of Central Nyack east of Bardonia, south of Congers, northwest of Nyack, and west of ...
, on 11 January 2001, at the age of 95. She was buried next to her brother
Prince Georgy Konstantinovich at the cemetery of the Russian Orthodox Monastery of
Novo-Diveevo
Novo-Diveevo Convent (it is often spelled as Novo-Diveyevo, Novo-Diveievo or Novodiveevo, russian: Ново-Дивеево - "''New Diveyevo''") is a female monastic community in Nanuet, Rockland County, New York in the United States, that was fou ...
in
Nanuet
Nanuet is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Clarkstown, New York, Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, Rockland County, New York (state), New York, United States. The third largest hamlet in Clarkstown, it is ...
, New York. Of all the members of the Romanov family in Imperial Russia, only her niece
Princess Catherine Ivanovna outlived her. Princess Vera never married and left no children. In the spring of 2007 the
Pavlovsk Palace
Pavlovsk Palace (russian: Павловский дворец) is an 18th-century Russian Imperial residence built by the order of Catherine the Great for her son Grand Duke Paul, in Pavlovsk, within Saint Petersburg. After his death, ...
, where she was born, held an exhibit about her and her family, commemorating what would have been her 101st birthday.
Honours
*
House of 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 ...
:
Imperial Order of Saint Catherine, 1st Class
Archives
Vera Constantinovna's personal papers (including correspondence and photographs) are preserved in the "Romanov Family Papers" collection in the Hoover Institution Archives (Stanford, California, USA).
Ancestors
Notes
Bibliography
*King, Greg, and Penny Wilson. '' Gilded Prism''. Eurohistory, 2006.
*Zeepvat, Charlotte, ''The Camera and the Tsars'', Sutton Publishing, 2004, .
*Exhibition Catalog, ''Princess Vera Konstantinovna''. 100th birthday, Petronii, St Petersburg, 2007. (Russian)
*Princess Vera Constantinovna, ''Autobiographical articles Kadetskaya pereklichka''. Кадетская перекличка No. 3 New York, 1972. (Russian)
External links
Вера Константиновнаin Russian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vera Constantinovna Of Russia, Princess
1906 births
2001 deaths
House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Princesses of royal blood (Russia)
Russian Orthodox Christians from Russia
Russian anti-communists
Russian monarchists
White Russian emigrants to the United States
White Russian emigrants to Sweden
White Russian emigrants to Belgium
White Russian emigrants to Germany
Burials at Novo-Diveevo Russian Cemetery
Russian people of World War II
Women in World War II