Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna-elder, wife of GD Wladimir

[Eric_Lowe]

Yes. But I agree the tubulent nature of the revolution must have been a factor in her early death. However she was lucky to have escaped with her jewels in tact.

[Michael HR]

I agree with Eric. .At least she came out with something to live off and not destitute like so many people fleeing Russia at the time. Got to admire her spirit mind you. I had also never realized that Maria V looked so much like her and now I understand where the looks come from as there is a photo here with MP in army uniform and looks so much like MV. Fancy getting your own train across a revolution!

[Eric_Lowe]

Indeed...Miechen escaped with her own train...Olga A wrote that she had the urge to hug her aunt when she saw her. A lady who escaped with style...

You mean Maria V, her granddaughter ?

[Michael HR]

Sorry Eric yes, was not very clear

[Eric_Lowe]

No worries. She was sometimes referred to as Mushka in family letters. I don't think Miechen was as flirtacious as her granddaughter, who had such a reputation.

[Maria_Pavlovna]

you all mean "Maria Vladimirovna" ? that not her granddaughter, but her great-granddaughter.

Her grandchildren were:
By Kyril - Maria, Kyra and Vladimir of Russia
by Boris- (illegitimate and was not recognized) Boris Lacroix
By Andrei (maybe) - (illegitimate) Vladimir Romanovsky-Krasinsky
By Helen - Olga, Elisabeth and Marina of Greece & Denmark

Kyril's daughter was Maria Kyrilovna. so she was the only granddaughter named Maria.

[Eric_Lowe]

Indeed. But both Maries looked like Miechen ! Anyway you are right. :-)

[Maria_Pavlovna]

 Yep..

Miechen was quite beautiful in her youth while her granddaughter Maria K wasn't really. too much sweets between meals, her Aunt Ellen sadly noted. so she was pump and pretty like her cousin Mignon of Romania.

[Eric_Lowe]

Well...She and Marie K and Marie V have the same body shape. I don't think that Miechen was a slim beauty like Alix or Sisi even in her youth...she was more fleshy than that.

[Maria_Pavlovna]

Being "a beauty" doesn't mean you have to be slim, Eric.  :p

[Eric_Lowe]

Yes. That is why I said "slim beauty" than a "plump beauty" (Princess Louise Duchess of Argyll and Princess Louise of Belgiun fall into that catagory). Miechen seem to be to be staturesgues even in her youth, she claimed that she had more Slav blood than her husband.

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

she claimed that she had more Slav blood than her husband.

Lol, a bit of an exaggeration, considering that her husband's Slavic ancestors only started marrying foreigners in the 18th century, while her Wendic Slavic ancestors started marrying Germans and Scandinavians in the 13th century!

[Eric_Lowe]

That statement can be found in Kyrill's book "Me in Russia's Service". It was a boost that indicated that Miechen was proud of her Slav heritage...

[Carolath Habsburg]

Young Maria Pavlovna

[Maria_Pavlovna]

She wasn't beautiful, but she was pretty and dressed the best out of every high class woman of her time.