Rescued by the HMS Marlborough

[Annie]

After all the tragedies and horrible deaths that happened to the Romanovs and their entourages, thinking about those who escaped on the HMS Marlborough is like a miracle, all the lives saved. Everyone who escaped lived longer than if they had been killed by the approaching reds, which they most surely would have. So the time they got to live after their lives were spared was like a gift. It's also something to consider that while they lost almost everything they owned and most of their money and property, they won the most precious and irreplaceable possession of all- their lives. Maybe that was the most important thing of all. How lucky they all were, especially considering what became of so many others.

Think about how much of their lives were saved! I made a list of most of them, how long they lived, their ages in 1919 and how many years were spared them by getting away. It's a little bit of happy ending after all the sadness.

Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna 1847-1928
age in 1919: 72
life saved: 9 years



Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna 1875-1960
age in 1919: 44
life saved: 41 years



her children: (Andrei the oldest son was already in England with Sandro)




Feodor 1898-1968
age in 1919: 21
life saved: 49 years

Nikita 1900-1974
age in 1919 19
life saved: 55 years

Dmitri 1902-1978
age in 1919 17
life saved 59 years

Rostislav 1904-1978
age in 1919 15
life saved 59 years

Vasilli 1907-1989
age in 1919 12
life saved 70 years

Irina Alexandrovna Romanov Yussoupov 1895-1970
age in 1919 24
life saved 51 years



Prince Felix Yussoupov 1887-1967
age in 1919 32
life saved 48 years



Bebe Yussoupov 1915-1983
age in 1919 4
life saved 64 years



Princess Zenaida Yussoupov 1861-1939
age in 1919 58
life saved 20 years



Count Sumarakov-Elston ("Old Felix")Yussoupov 1856-1928
age in 1919 63
life saved 9 years

[Annie]

Nikolasha 1856-1929
age in 1919 63  
life saved 10 years

Peter Nikolaivich 1865-1931
age in 1919 54
life saved 12 years

Militsa 1866-1951
age in 1919 53
life saved 31 years

Stana 1868-1935
age in 1919 51
life saved 16 years

Marina Petrovna  1892-1981
age in 1919  27
life saved 62 years

Roman Petrovich 1896-1978
age in 1919 23
life saved 59 years

Nadejda  Petrovna 1898- 1988
age in 1919   21
life saved 69 years

[Hellfire]

It is a miracle that they got so many years of their lives back after they must have known that maybe thier lives were already counted.  unlike the other Romanov's that died in this revolution.  there are still more Romanov's that survived but were not mentioned.  in my pointof view the one who suffered among many was MF losing almost her entire family in just a few days.  

i know this is uncalled for but the Vladimirovich line of the Romanov's were a bunch of back stabbers deserting the family like that when every one were staying together as a family they went and pledged loyalty to the new government.  

Did they also leave on the HMS Marlborough?  or were they given safe passage by their alleigence?

[Annie]

It is a miracle that they got so many years of their lives back after they must have known that maybe thier lives were already counted.  unlike the other Romanov's that died in this revolution.  there are still more Romanov's that survived but were not mentioned.  in my pointof view the one who suffered among many was MF losing almost her entire family in just a few days.  

i know this is uncalled for but the Vladimirovich line of the Romanov's were a bunch of back stabbers deserting the family like that when every one were staying together as a family they went and pledged loyalty to the new government.  

Did they also leave on the HMS Marlborough?  or were they given safe passage by their alleigence?

I agree!

No, the Vladimirovichi were not with the others who were in the Crimea and escaped on the Marlborough. I don't know how they got out, but they were not friendly with these people. They were not well liked as you can image!

If anyone wants to make a list of other Romanovs who escaped, and how, I'd love to see that too. The story of the few remaining Konstantinovichis was interesting.

Olga Alexandrovna and her family walked out easily almost as commoners, I think.

[kenneth_elliott]

In googling the HMS Marlborough itself, I have come up with two different statements. The Royal Imperial British Navy refers to it as a dreadnought(very substantial small battleship). The Canadian marine lists refer to it as a "fake dreadnought" and that it was a rebuilt passenger liner, purchased from a Canadian passenger company at the onset of WWI. Comments please. This is a great thread. Some of these people look very relieved.

[Annie]

In googling the HMS Marlborough itself, I have come up with two different statements. The Royal Imperial British Navy refers to it as a dreadnought(very substantial small battleship). The Canadian marine lists refer to it as a "fake dreadnought" and that it was a rebuilt passenger liner, purchased from a Canadian passenger company at the onset of WWI. Comments please. This is a great thread. Some of these people look very relieved.

Thanks! I did read somewhere that it was a rebuilt liner, and also that when they found out they were taking more than just the Empress herself aboard they spent days redoing parts of it to accomodate passengers. There was a second ship that carried about 1000 ordinary people out of the town after the Empress declared she would not go unless everyone who wanted to flee was taken too. Most of those extras were put out in Constantinople because the British Navy urgently needed the ship back. Many of them ended up living poorly along dirt alleys, but it sure beat being killed by the Bolsheviks.

[grandduchessella]

[AGRBear]

Marvelous and an upbeat subject for the holidays.  

Thank you all.

AGRBear

[Val289]

Marvelous and an upbeat subject for the holidays.  

Thank you all.

AGRBear

I"ll second that!  What a great topic

[elisa_1872]

Does anyone know what became of the Marlborough after it rescued the members of the Imperial Family? What became of it, is it still in existence?

[Annie]

I just found out from googling that there have been SIX British Royal Navy ships to carry that name, including the current one, a frigate launched in 1989 and  still active today. There is so much on it, I have yet to find anything on the old one. I'll keep trying. If anyone else does, please post!

[Martyn]

What an interesting exercise.

[Phil_tomaselli]

Ten years ago or so I worked in Marlborough, a small market town in Wiltshire, England.  HMS Marlborough (whichever physical ship holds the name) has always had close links to the town.  I discovered that the Borough Council had photographs taken on HMS Marlborough of various Russians rescued from the Crimea and I tried to obtain copies.

Unfortunately a combination of a major fire in the town and my job changing meant that I was not able to follow this up.  I suspect that the photos were probably duplicates of ones already in circulation but will try and follow this up, just in case.

Phil Tomaselli

[grandduchessella]

I managed to glean a few more nuggets:

**Prince Roman (son of GD Peter and Militsa) was 23 when he and his family fled Russia from the Crimea. His wife,  Countess Praskovia Dmitrievna Sheremetev at the time of the revolution resided in the Caucasus and left Russia in April 1919 on the destroyer HMS Speedy. Her father Count Dimitri was born in 1867, served in the Chevaliers-Gardes Cavalry Regiment where he reached the rank of Colonel. The Count was also a childhood friend of  Nicholas II and served as  his Aide de Camp. In this capacity, he accompanied NII on many visits to the front during WW1. After the abdication, Count Dmitri chose the  northern Caucasus to avoid danger. Eventually the Bolsheviks made their way to the area and he then took to the mountains with other men in the area—armed and able-bodied. He eventually was able to escape in April 1919 on the British destroyer HMS Speedy. Count Dimitri died in Italy in 1943. Her mother was also a childhood friend of the Tsar and also of George and Xenia. She went to the Caucuses with her husband and also escaped on the HMS Speedy.

**Aboard the Marlborough, Xenia wrote:
Utter horror and nightmare! We were taken away by force: I do not understand anything and cannot think . . . horror! In the morning the Marlborough arrived at Yalta, and we were told to pack and board . . . pain and despair . . . anger—these are my feelings—and an awful awareness of my dishonesty towards the people whom I leave here, and we cover ourselves with shame in the eyes of foreigners . . . not to mention the sorrow I feel deserting . . . home, Motherland, everybody and everything.



**The Order of St. George Egg of 1916 commemorates the 1915 presentation of the Order of St. George to Tsar Nicholas II for his leadership during the First World War. Three years later the Dowager Empress had left on the battleship H.M.S. Marlborough. She took the Order of St. George Egg with her and thus, it became the only Imperial Egg to leave Russia in the possession of its original recipient. The simple (by Faberge standards) Order of St. George egg was another gesture to wartime austerity (by Romanov standards). Away from St. Petersburg supervising Red Cross activities in the south, she wrote to her son: "I thank you with all my heart for your lovely Egg, which dear old Fabergé brought himself. It is beautiful. I wish you, my darling Nickya, all the best things and success in everything. Your fondly loving old Mama."

**There were apparently 2 ships sent to the Crimea by the British. In order to insure her safety MF had been separated from the Nicholaeivichi. The Montenegrin Grand Duchesses, known as the "black peril" because of their devotion to occultism and mysticism, had been responsible for introducing the Empress Alexandra to Rasputin and supposedly an attempt on their lives by patriots was feared.

aboard the H.M.S. MARLBOROUGH

Dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna
Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna
Princess Irina Alexandrovna Yussoupova, her husband Prince Felix Yussoupov, and their daughter Princess Irina Yussoupova and in-laws Prince Felix Felixovich and Princess Zenaida Nicholaievna Yussoupov.
Prince Feodor Alexandrovich.
Prince Nikita Alexandrovich.
Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich.
Prince Rostislav Alexandrovich.
Prince Vassily Alexandrovich.

aboard the H.M.S. NELSON:

Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievich,
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaievna &  her two children by her first marriage (Prince Sergei Georgevich of Leuchtenberg and Princess Helen Georgevna of Leuchtenberg and her husband Count Stephan Tyszkiewicz).
Grand Duke Peter Nicholaievich
Grand Duchess Militza
Prince Roman Petrovich.
Princess Marina Petrovna
Princess Nadejda Petrovna Orlov, her husband (Prince Nicholas Vladimirovich Orlov) and their daughter (Princess Irina Nicholaievna Orlov).

[olga]

In order to insure her safety MF had been separated from the Nicholaeivichi.