Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov

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Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov, around 1910

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov ( Russian Дмитрий Павлович Романов ; born September 6 . Jul / 18th September  1891 greg. In Ilyinskoye in Moscow ; † 5. March 1942 in Davos ) was a member of the House of Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp and co-conspirator in the Assassination of Rasputin .

Life

Dmitri was the only son of Grand Prince Pavel Alexandrovich Romanov (1860-1919) and his first wife Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark (1870-1891), daughter of the Greek King George I from the house Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg , and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna Romanova . On his father's side, he was a grandson of Tsar Alexander II and cousin (1st degree) of the last Tsar Nicholas II. Dmitri's mother died in his birth. Then he and his sister Maria grew up temporarily with his uncle Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrowitsch Romanow (1857-1905) and his wife Princess Elisabeth of Hesse-Darmstadt (1864-1918) , sister of Tsarina Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt (1872-1918) . When Dmitri's father had to go into exile in 1902 due to his marriage to Olga von Pistohlkors , they were again taken care of by their uncle and aunt. When his uncle Sergei, governor of Moscow, was killed in an assassination attempt by Ivan Kalyayev on February 17, 1905 , Dmitri joined the royal family.

Audrey and Grand Duke Dmitri

He later became an officer and took part in the Summer Olympics in Stockholm in 1912 (show jumping, 9th place individual, 5th place team). Before the First World War he had the idea of ​​a national Russian sports competition; the concept was later referred to as the Spartakiad in the Soviet Union . Dmitri was also a well-known philanderer; among his affairs were Coco Chanel , Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley , Vera Karalli and Pauline Fairfax-Potter , the future wife of Philippe de Rothschild .

The relationship with the bisexual Prince Felix Felixowitsch Jussupow caused a sensation in the winter of 1912/13, with him he was involved in the murder of Rasputin in 1916 . After the traveling preacher was murdered, Dmitri was transferred to the Persian front, which saved his life.

Most of his relatives were shot by the Bolsheviks , including his father, half-brother and aunt. With British help, he fled to London via Tehran and Bombay . In London in 1919 he met Felix Yusupov again, who was celebrated by the press for being the one who killed Rasputin. Dmitri worked as a champagne seller. In the summer of 1920, Dmitri met the French fashion designer Coco Chanel. From 1921/22 they had an affair , and Dmitri introduced them to the former court perfumer of the Russian tsars, Ernest Beaux , in Monte Carlo , who created the perfume Chanel No. 5 created.

On November 21, 1926, Dmitri married the wealthy American heiress Audrey Emery (1904–1971). Since this marriage did not comply with the house laws of the Romanovs, Dmitri's cousin Kyrill Vladimirovich Romanov gave her and her son the princely title of Romanowsky-Ilyinsky on July 28, 1935 . From the marriage, which was divorced on February 1, 1937, son Paul (1928-2004) was born.

Despite its sporting interests health was often weakened by Dmitri, and in the 1930s broke his chronic tuberculosis from which a stay in a sanatorium Schatzalp in Swiss Davos necessitated. There he died on March 5, 1942 and was buried in the forest cemetery in Davos. After the death of Dmitri's sister Maria in December 1958, Maria's son, Count Lennart Bernadotte , had Dmitri's remains transferred from Switzerland and buried both siblings in the castle chapel on the island of Mainau in Lake Constance .

swell

  • Nicolas Enache: La Descendance De Pierre Le Grand, Tsar De Russie (= Généalogies. 1). Sedopols, Paris 1983, ISBN 2-904177-01-9 .
  • Jacques Ferrand: Il est toujours des Romanov! (Les Romanovs en 1995). Self-published, Paris 1995.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles-Roux, Edmonde: Coco Chanel - One life . Zsolnay, Vienna / Darmstadt 1988, ISBN 3-552-04026-9 , p. 231 .
  2. Mazzeo, Tilar J .: Chanel No. 5. The story of the most famous perfume in the world . Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-455-50223-7 , pp. 66 ff .
  3. Buck, Susanne: murderer, fashion, dowry hunter . Jonas, Weimar 2019, p. 79 .
  4. Bernadotte, Count Lennart: Good night, little prince . Heyne, Munich 1978, p. 172 .