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Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia
Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia
	Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna in 1889
Grand Duchess consort of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Tenure	15 April 1883 – 10 April 1897
Born	28 July 1860; Peterhof Palace, Peterhof, Saint Petersburg, Empire of Russia
Died	11 March 1922 (aged 61); Èze, French Third Republic
Spouse	Friedrich Franz III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; (m. 1879; died 1897)
Issue	Alexandrine, Queen of Denmark; Friedrich Franz IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; Cecilie, Crown Princess of Germany; Alexis Louis de Wenden
House	Romanov
Father	Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia
Mother	Princess Cecilie of Baden
Religion	Russian Orthodox

Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia (Russian: Анастасия Михайловна; 28 July 1860 – 11 March 1922) was by birth member of the House of Romanov and a Grand Duchess of Russia and by marriage Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Early life

Anastasia was born as the only daughter and second child of Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and his wife, Princess Cecilie of Baden. Emperor Nicholas I of Russia was her paternal grandfather.

Biography

She was raised in the Caucasus, where she lived between 1862 and 1878 with her family. In 1879, aged only eighteen, she married Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who in 1883 became the reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She was described in her brother Sandro's memoirs: "We worshipped that tall, dark-haired girl, who was the exclusive favourite of our father; but when talking to her, we liked to pose as faithful knights ready and willing to execute the orders of our "dame sans merci". We put at her feet all the love stored during months and years of dull military drills. We were extremely jealous of her and felt a terrific heartache when the young Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin came to Tiflis."^[1]

The couple had three children, but her husband was plagued by ill health and they spent most of the year living abroad. The Grand Duchess never became used to her new country where she was unpopular. After the death of her husband in 1897, her visits to Schwerin were sparse. From 1898, she preferred driving her own automobiles over using carriages.

A strong-willed, independent and unconventional woman, she caused a royal scandal when in 1902 she had a child fathered by her personal secretary. In her widowhood, she lived most of the year in the South of France. During World War I, she decided to settle in neutral Switzerland, living in Lausanne. She died following a stroke a few years later.

Issue

Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna and her husband, Friedrich Franz III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, had three children:

Duchess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (24 December 1879 – 28 December 1952), who married King Christian X of Denmark on 26 April 1898. They had two sons.
Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (9 April 1882 – 17 November 1945), who married Princess Alexandra of Hanover on 7 June 1904. They had five children.
Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (20 September 1886 – 6 May 1954), who married Wilhelm, German Crown Prince on 6 June 1905. They have had six children.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna also had an illegitimate son with Vladimir Alexandrovich Paltov (1874 – 1944):

Alexis Louis de Wenden (23 December 1902 – 7 July 1976), who married Paulette Seux on 25 January 1929. They had two daughters: Xénia Anastasie Germaine Louis de Wenden (born 1930, who married Alain Brulé), and Anastasie Alexandrine Paule Louis de Wenden (1935–1995).

Legacy

Her nephew-by-marriage, Felix Yusupov, described the Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna in his memoirs:

"Although well over forty, she had lost none of her high spirits; she was kind and affectionate, but her eccentric and despotic nature made her rather formidable. She was an early riser and she used to telephone me at eight in the morning. If I happened to be out, she sent her servants all over Paris to look for me and sometimes took part in the search herself. I had to lunch, dine, go to the theater and supper with her almost every day. She usually slept through the first act of a play, and then woke up with a start to declare that the performance was stupid and that she wished to go somewhere else. We often changed theaters two or three times in one evening."^[2]

Her daughter, Crown Princess Cecilie, also wrote about her in her memoirs:

"She was like an ivory statue, delicate and transparent, and at the same time tall and slender and stately in her bearing; she was possessed of great charm and was kind and friendly with everyone. [...] My grandmother, after whom I was named, had brought up her only daughter with exceptional strictness and had accustomed her to submit unconditionally to the will of her mother and of her governess."^[3]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia

8. Paul I of Russia

4. Nicholas I of Russia

9. Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg

2. Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia

10. Frederick William III of Prussia

5. Princess Charlotte of Prussia

11. Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

1. Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia

12. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden

6. Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden

13. Baroness Louise Caroline Geyer of Geyersberg

3. Princess Cecilie of Baden

14. Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden

7. Princess Sophie of Sweden

15. Princess Frederica of Baden

Notes

^ Romanov, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (1931). Once A Grand Duke. British Library. p. 21. ISBN 9781528772068.
^ Yusupov, Felix (1953). Lost Splendor. New York: G.P. Putnam's sons. pp. 176–177.
^ of the German Empire and Prussia, Crown Princess Cecilie (1952). Remembrances. London: V. Gollancz, Ltd. pp. 25–27.

Bibliography

Alexander, Grand Duke of Russia. Once a Grand Duke. Cassell, London, 1932.
Domin, Marie-Agnes. Anastasia Mikailovna Romanova, Editions Atlantica, 2002. ISBN 2-84394-546-1.
Cockfield, Jamie H. White Crow. Praeger, 2002.
Mateos Sainz de Medrano. Ricardo. A Child of The Caucasus. Royalty Digest, Vol 3, N 1. July 1993.
Michael, Prince of Greece. Jewels of the Tsars. The Vedome Press, 2006.
Yussupov, Felix. Lost Splendor, 1952.
Zeepvat, Charlotte. The Camera and the Tsars. Sutton Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7509-3049-7.
Zeepvat, Charlotte. The other Anastasia: A woman who loved and who lived. Royalty Digest Quarterly. N2 2006. ISSN 1653-5219.

External links

Media related to Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia at Wikimedia Commons

German royalty
Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia House of Romanov Born: 28 July 1860 Died: 11 March 1922
Preceded by Princess Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt	Grand Duchess consort of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 15 April 1883 – 10 April 1897	Vacant Title next held by Princess Alexandra of Hanover