The first royal wedding since the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, which overthrew the Romanov monarchy, took place in Russia on October 1, with aristocrats traveling from all over Europe for the lavish ceremony.
Grand Duke Georgi Mikhailovich Romanov, 40, and his Italian fiancée Victoria Romanovna Betarini, 39, were married at St. Isaac’s Cathedral in the former imperial capital, St. Petersburg.
They met many years ago in Brussels, where they worked in various organizations within the European Union. At first they were friends, but at some point, as they remember themselves, they realized that this was fate. The Grand Duke made an original proposal – at the Brussels airport, presenting Rebecca with a gold ring with a ruby and diamonds inherited from his great-grandmother. He himself received it from his mother – the head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna – on the day of his majority. With instructions to hand it over to the future bride.
Hundreds of foreign guests traveled to Russia’s second-largest city for the Orthodox Christian ceremony, including royalty from 20 countries such as Bulgaria‘s last king, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Egypt and Sudan’s last king, Fuad II and Princess Lea of Belgium, AFP reported.
The guest list of about 1,500 people included other famous names such as Konstantin Malofeev, a monarchist and billionaire close to the Kremlin, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Betarini converted to the Orthodox faith last year.
The young bridesmaids, dressed in orange, wore the bride’s veil with the coat of arms of the Russian Empire embroidered in gold. Betarini also wore a tiara inlaid with diamonds, made by high-class jewelers “Chaumet”.
Surrounded by priests in golden robes, Romanov and Betarini shone as Metropolitan Bartholomew of St. Petersburg and Ladoga blessed.
“We are happy that you love Russia and participate in charity projects,” he said.
The ceremony included an exchange of wedding rings made by Faberge. For the first time, the jewelry house created wedding rings for members of the Romanov family “before the Russian Revolution”.
Some women wore designer hats and furs, and some men wore Cossack uniforms decorated with medals.
Natalia Grigorovich, a descendant of Ivan Grigorovich, the last naval minister of tsarist Russia, described the ceremony as “touching”.
“My heart rejoices,” she added.
After the ceremony, the honor guard, carrying swords, greeted the newlyweds as they kissed in front of the cathedral.
More than 500 guests were invited to attend the wedding dinner at the city’s Museum of Ethnography later today.
The last wedding in Russia of the Romanovs’ heir was that of Nicholas II and Alexandra 127 years ago.
Before the ceremony, Romanov said the couple chose to get married in St. Petersburg because it was the first place in the country where the family returned in the early 1990s.
St. Petersburg is “the history of Russia,” he added, “the history of the Romanov House.”
Born in Madrid, Romanov was the son of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna Romanova, who proclaimed herself heir to the imperial throne of Russia. She is the granddaughter of Grand Duke Cyril, cousin of Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar, executed along with his wife Alexandra and five children by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
Buried after their execution in a place long kept secret by the Soviet authorities, their bodies and those of their children were transferred in 1998 to Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The family was canonized by the Orthodox Church in 2000 as martyrs.
After the wedding, the newlyweds laid flowers at Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Romanov, who spent most of his life in France, graduated from Oxford and worked in the European Parliament. He also held a position in the Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel. The couple moved to Russia three years ago, first settling in the suburbs of Moscow before moving downtown to the Kremlin.
Now Romanov is working on several charity projects. He said he believed European and Russian royalty could help Moscow and the West mend broken ties.
“I think we can be ambassadors of goodwill,” he said.
“This marriage is by no means on our agenda,” Dmitry Peskov said.
Here is a wedding, put up for review by the general public: a sable, a new-made tiara, some teenagers with sabers, golden vests, golden coats of arms … it’s even strange that a choir of bears with balalaikas does not sing in the background.
The first impression of the “royal” wedding is crowded. And very, very solemn. Never before, perhaps since the October Revolution itself, has such a high concentration of titled persons been achieved in St. Petersburg. What is the SPIEF – only presidents and ministers are visiting the SPIEF, and kings, principles, princesses, dukes and duchesses have gathered in Isaac. In total, the wedding was attended by about 500 guests of honor.
Initially, the calculation was for 1,000, but the covid intervened, and the number of guests had to be reduced.
The bride’s wedding dress, as expected, was the main surprise and was kept secret from the groom. Russian designer Elina Samarina worked on a creamy white silk dress. The accent was made on the many-meter train, on which the golden Russian coat of arms was woven. And in Rebecca’s hair was a Chaumet diadem set with 438 diamonds in white gold. The couple’s outfits are then planned to be exhibited in the Russian Museum.
There was no shortage of pompous outfits. The official protocol (out of the corner of our eye we spied one of the invitations sent to the honored guests by the Chancellery of Her Imperial Majesty) ordered men to appear in uniforms or strict “day suits with a light tie”, and women – in “mid-length day dresses with a hat or mantle.”
In Isaac himself, the guests were distributed according to their status. The presidium directly opposite the entrance accommodated the relatives of the newlyweds – the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna herself and her cousin Helena Kerby on the part of her husband and diplomat Roberto Bettarini and Carl Virginia Cacchatore on the part of the bride.
The others lined up along the altar on the right hand.
The young people were crowned by the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga Barsanuphius himself. The translator helped him in this – he immediately translated the text of the solemn oath and wishes for long years and family well-being into English for foreign guests of honor and Mrs. Bettarini herself. The latter, by the way, created a real sensation with its appearance – she was dressed in a snow-white satin dress with a six-meter train, on which the imperial coat of arms flaunted. The train was carried by young ladies-in-waiting in emerald dresses.
The festive events, which were attended by representatives of monarchical dynasties from all over the world, lasted three days. On the eve of the wedding, in the evening, a welcome cocktail for foreign guests was held in the Vladimir Palace (House of Scientists). There, the chef of the celebrations, Vladimir Garkavy (he, for example, was responsible for gala lunches and dinners at the opening and closing of the Olympics in Sochi), arranged a performance: using liquid nitrogen, in the clubs coming from him, he prepared ice cream right in front of the guests – the waiters carried him gathered in eggs, stylized as Faberge.
Most of the visiting high-ranking guests, like newlyweds, stayed at the Astoria Hotel. By the way, on this occasion, the hotel provided the couple with a royal suite – a luxurious 310-meter suite overlooking St. Isaac’s Cathedral – with a ceremonial dining room, a library, two dressing rooms, fitness and massage rooms.
At the gala dinner at the Ethnographic Museum, Victoria Romanovna was in a fluffy dress without a train, with a cropped jacket thrown over her shoulders: this outfit was developed for her by designers Rim Acra and Elina Samarina. This dress had a neckline and embroidery in a delicate pearl color.
For the last reception, at the Constantine Palace, Mrs. Romanova chose a trouser suit. “The groom did not particularly prepare his wardrobe for the wedding, he put on his classic black tie suit,” the press secretary of Prince Georgy Mikhailovich told AIF. And on Saturday, the “royal wedding” took place in the Constantine Palace. The dress code for the second day was “smart casual” and Rebecca came out to the guests in a black trouser suit. There were pancakes, pies, fire cutlets and other dishes of Russian cuisine. “Look, don’t mix up the forks!” – I remember, the editor told me a few years ago, when I first came to dinner with the head of the House of Romanov. It worked out then, it has done well now – everything is democratic, without embarrassing frills. And where without dancing – “Kalinka” and “Barynya” to the accordion went with a bang from foreigners.
By the way, an interesting detail – according to our interlocutors from among the guests, the protocol forbade bringing flowers and gifts to the wedding; otherwise the newly minted spouses would simply drown in them. However, Georgy Romanov and Rebecca Bettarini were not left completely without gifts. So, for example, from the Ryazan region to St. Petersburg, specifically in order to pay tribute to the heirs of the imperial family, they brought a scarf of the finest hand-made embroidery, made in the technique “Kadomsky veniz”, which is almost lost in our days. Petersburg artists Sergei Morozov and Elizaveta Skorikova presented the youngsters with a full-length portrait of Princess Maria Vladimirovna – it took a whole year to create it. In addition, icons were presented – including an icon of Xenia of Petersburg from the chapel at the Smolensk cemetery – and commemorative coins, including those made of pure gold.
The newly-minted spouses were accompanied by an honor guard from among the soldiers of the Preobrazhensky Life Guards Regiment – in a word, everything is like the good old imperial times. At some point, shouts of “Bitter!” Were heard from the crowd. The young people succumbed to the general mood and right there, on the steps of the cathedral, gave each other the first kiss after the wedding. And then another one – especially for those photographers and cameramen who did not have time to catch this romantic moment. A few minutes later, a luxurious black Rolls-Royce, rumbling with a motor, took Georgy Romanov and his chosen one away – first to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where the couple laid flowers at the tomb of Alexander III, and then to the Ethnographic Museum for a dinner party.
But, in contrast to this theatricality, there is a civil ceremony of the same couple for a narrow circle: restrained colors and manners, everything is serious, everything is comme il faut. The etiquette in such things has been polished for centuries, everything has been thought out – from the degree of heirloom value of jewelry to the last napkin.
At the civil ceremony with Georgy Mikhailovich and Victoria, everything is as it should be, as at the weddings of other Romanovs, and even Maria Vladimirovna herself – the photos have been preserved, you can compare. Aristocracy and thoughtfulness in every smallest detail. So it was possible without kitsch? But for some reason, it was not without it. As if by the wedding they specifically wanted to emphasize: guys, we are not serious about the succession to the throne.
A spokesman for Vladimir Putin told reporters that the Kremlin has always wished happiness to all the newlyweds, but the president has no plans to congratulate the couple.
Reference to this article appears in Wikipedia
