Antique Imperial Russian Photos Grand Duke Kirill Romanov in Feather Bower
Bibelotslondon Ltd is a UK registered company based in London Bridge dealing in ephemera and curiosities from Britain and around the world. Our diverse inventory is carefully chosen and constantly evolving. We work very hard to offer the highest quality works at competitive prices. Our inventory is listed online, and we strive to keep our website completely up to date, so our customers can easily check availability.
We believe in offering clients items that are unique and rare for aficionados of the antique and collector's world. Bibelot is a late nineteenth century word derived from the French word bel'beautiful', meaning a small item of beauty, curiosity or interest.
The word ephemera is derived from the sixteenth century Greek word ephmera meaning a printed or hand written paper not meant to be retained for a long period of time. She became a noted society hostess, famed for her jewels. She married General Sir Arthur Henry Fitzroy Paget in 1878. Photographed at the Geisha Cottage in Cannes April 1900. It is accompanied by four other photos of friends at the Geisha Cottage at The Cannes Golf Club, now known as The Mandelieu Golf Club in Cannes. It is the oldest golf courset in the Alpes-Maritime, created by Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich, and modelled on St Andrews Golf Course in Scotland. Grand Duke Michael and his wife Countess Sophie von Merenberg, Countess Torby, learned how to play golf at North Berwick, a famous Scottish seaside resort on the Fife Coast. They were fascinated by this new game but also by the natural beauty of the different courses.Back on the Riviera, he bought a piece of land near Cannes and built a course there. For the 1892/1893 season, the Cannes Golf Club opened the 9 hole Old Course.
For a few years, the couple only spent the winter there but by 1899, they decided to settle there for a longer period. Very quickly, this winter paradise became the rendezvous of European aristocracy. The Prince of Wales future King Edward VII, passionate about golf came to play. In 1905, Pierre Lafitte published an article in his magazine Life in Grand Air: Golf de Cannes is one of the most delightful sports corners of France... Here it is mild in January and February.
The sun does not cook too much and, under the blue of the sky, the promenade of the golfers is delicious. They come from all countries.French, Americans and English meet every morning on the links, and fraternise in the love of the same sport. He was a son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Emperor Alexander II and a first cousin of Nicholas II, Russia's last Tsar. Grand Duke Kirill followed a career in the Russian navy serving during twenty years in the Naval Guards. He took part in the Russo-Japanese War, barely surviving the sinking of the battleship Petropavlovsk at Port Arthur in April 1904.
In 1905, he married his paternal first cousin, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They wed in defiance of Tsar Nicholas II prohibition. In retaliation, the Tsar stripped Kirill of his offices and honors, also initially banishing the couple from Russia.
They had two daughters and settled in Paris before being allowed to visit Russia in 1909. In 1910 they moved to Russia, where Nicholas II recognized their marriage. During World War I, Grand Duke Kirill was appointed Commander of the Naval Depot of the Guards in 1915 and in 1916, he achieved the rank of rear Admiral in the Imperial Navy.
During the February Revolution of 1917, Kirill marched to the Tauride Palace at the head of the Naval Guards swearing allegiance to the Russian Provisional Government. During the rule of the provisional governmental in the summer 1917, Kirill escaped to Finland where his wife gave birth to the couple's only son.
In exile they lived for some years among his wife's relatives in Germany, and from the late 1920s on an estate they bought in Saint-Briac. With the execution of his cousins Tsar Nicholas II and Grand Duke Michael, Kirill assumed the Headship of the Imperial Family of Russia and, as next in line to the throne as the Guardian of the Throne in 1924. Kirill proclaimed himself emperor in exile in 1926. He worked for the restoration of the monarchy from exile for the rest of his life, but his claims were contested by some factions of the monarchy movement in a division that subsists until today. He wrote a book of memoirs, My Life in Russia's Service, published after his death. His granddaughter, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, is the current claimant to the headship of the House of Romanov. Size: 8 x 10 cm approx. Photos form part of the description.