What would happen if people found out an heir to the Romonov family existed?

Question

How would people in Russia react if they found out their long lost Royalty existed?

Answer 1

Tsar Nicholas II's family were murdered, so there is no direct lineage from Nicholas II himself. But the Romanov family was very large. I remember a maternal great great great grandson of Alexander III's sister or aunt (I forget the precise relation) taught my Russian History course at SUNY and brought numerous royalty heirlooms near semester's end - so the family is quite big and they haven't simply disappeared, heirs and all, even if there isn't such a prestige to the family name.

There was actually a small minority that stressed for a return to the monarchy in elections of 1992 and again in 199(6?). I believe they didn't receive more than 4 or 5 percent of the vote, but there is a very small part of the Russian population who would prefer a restored monarchy. Very, very small portion, so I wouldn't suggest you hold your breath for such a restoration :)

Answer 2

To answer your exact question without the 'what ifs".

Nothing.

First there is always an heir - even if it is a distant cousin. In this case they would live out their lives without anything happening aside from a couple of news articles.

Next - if (sorry - i used it) there was a direct heir - nothing would happen aside from celebrity status. If they used the media and situation right, they could become some like the Hiltons of the US - lots of media attention and no power. At best they may enter politics (unlikely given the current situation) and have some politic-celebrity status - like the Kennedys -current day- of the US.

Basically nothing would happen in the long run other than a footnote in the history books. My understanding of Russian history and current events leads me to think that too much has happened since the monarchy for them to have an impact if they resurfaced.

Answer 3

The current heir to the throne is the Tsar's cousin Princess Maria Vladimirovna Romanova-Hohenzollern who lives in Spain and, believe it or not, does go by "Her Imperial and Serene Highness the Empress of Russia" and has a small court in exile, though nobody's holding their breath. (Her husband is an heir to the similarly "dead as a doornail" Austro-Hungarian throne.) The Russian people have no interest in a tsar and the government certainly doesn't want it.

The Tsar's sisters and brother have living descendants as well (though the brother's descendants are officially illegitimate as the royal family never approved his marriage). They mostly eschewed notions of a return to the throne in later years; in fact, his youngest sister, the Grand Duchess Olga, lived (by choice) with an elderly Russian Jewish couple over a barber shop in blue collar neighborhood of Toronto- her neighbors thought she was an old eccentric when she said she was royal, but thought differently when she was invited to a reception for her cousin Queen Elizabeth II when she visited Canada in the 1950s.

If it were proven that one of the Tsar's children survived the massacre and produced heirs (for they would be dead of old age if nothing else now), then the only real change is that they MIGHT have a better claim than Maria Vladimirovna to a throne that's never going to be filled anyway. Of course it should be remembered that the Tsar formally abdicated his crown not only for himself but also for his descendants, passing it to his brother Mikhail (who was promptly shot by a firing squad and probably with the last words "THANKS NICKY!" on his lips), so it's possible that even if the Tsarevich survived and had 22 kids they'd still be discredited. Also, a member of the Russian royal family HAD to marry somebody of equally high birth or the marriage and its issue were not valid (which is why Mikhail's marriage was not valid: he married a commoner- and also why so many Russian princesses over the years wound up old maids in convents- they couldn't marry a Russian because the only Russians who were their equals were close relatives, while most western European royals would not marry Russians because it was also required that they had to convert to the Eastern Orthodox Church [and because, frankly, they tended to be on the ugly side]). Therefore, GD Maria Vladimirovna would still probably be the heir since she's the only living Romanov(a) with parents who were "legally compatible" (meaning both were royal), so if Anastasia survived and had a child with a soldier, even if her marriage to the soldier was performed by a priest, it would not be legal as she'd have to mate with a high ranking royal (almost like breeding Dachshunds).

Answer 4

They wouldn't care. Here is the news, an heir already exists, because if you keep killing family members, there is always at least a distant cousin left. Which there are.


Russia has yet to give anything to it's former royalty. Some "royals" have picked up property in other former communist states, but Russia isn't one of them.

Answer 5

First you would have to have incontrovertible proof that this person was a member of the family. IF this was proved I would say....run for it. The Russian Gov will probably be trying to kill you. I really don't think the country had been run any better by the leader who took over from the Romanov's. So Hopefully others would feel the same and want some order restored.

Answer 6

Well, that's highly unlikely, given there is a chance they may have found the remains of Alexei and the other daughter (Maria or Anastasia -- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070824/ap_on_re_eu/russia_czar_s_son_7_ )

But, given that this is rhetorical -- I don't think much of anything. Those with a romantic bent will eat it up, and they may become 15-minute celebrities. But I really don't see a push to put them back in power or anything like that.

Answer 7

They would spend the rest of their lives trying to prove it and fighting the opposition. It would probably go on for years in the courts and, what would here be to gain.
There was a book about this.