In St. Isaac’s Cathedral on October 1, Grand Duke George and the daughter of the Italian diplomat Rebecca Bettarini got married. The ceremony was attended by a company of the guard of honor
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu brought to disciplinary responsibility officials of the Western Military District, who sent a guard of honor to the wedding of a descendant of the Romanov dynasty in St. Petersburg. This was reported by sources of the RIA Novosti and TASS agencies in the military department.
“An internal investigation has been carried out, as a result of which violations by individual officials of the requirements of the governing documents have been established,” the source told RIA Novosti.
He explained that the involvement of servicemen of the company of the guard of honor in the events is regulated by the normative legal acts of the Ministry of Defense.
The press service of the Western Military District did not comment on this information. RBC sent a request to the Ministry of Defense.
The wedding ceremony of one of the descendants of the Romanovs – Grand Duke George – and the daughter of Italian diplomat Rebecca Bettarini took place on October 1. The ceremony took place at St. Isaac’s Cathedral. This is the first marriage of a member of the imperial family in St. Petersburg in 120 years.
Representatives of nearly 20 royal houses were invited to the ceremony, as well as about 200 members of Russian public, cultural, charitable and social organizations, people from business and government, hierarchs and clerics of the Russian Orthodox Church.
During the ceremony, active servicemen in full dress were in the temple, standing at attention. At the end of the wedding, they greeted the newlyweds, saluting them with sabers on the porch of the church.
Alexander Zakatov, director of the chancellery of the head of the Russian Imperial House, said that the participation of a company of the guard of honor had been agreed in accordance with all the rules. “The organizers of the wedding with all authorities – state, church, military – all agreed in the manner prescribed by law,” – he said.
According to the press service of the Western Military District, a separate rifle company of the guard of honor provides rituals of meeting and seeing off official state, government and military delegations, garrison and citywide events with the participation of troops in St. Petersburg and the North-West region of the country.
Kremlin noted that the wedding of a descendant of the Romanovs is outside its competence. “Kremlin has no opinion on this matter. We do not consider this to be our question, ”said the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov. He added that Vladimir Putin will not congratulate the newlyweds. Almost none of the representatives of the administration of St. Petersburg and the highest officials of Russia were present at the wedding. Senator Lyudmila Narusova, widow of the first mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak, was spotted at the ceremony. As Fontanka noted, Grand Duke George visited Russia for the first time precisely at the invitation of Sobchak.
