Tchelogovitov ruled that because Maria Pavlovna (elder) was NOT Pravoslavnaya when her children were born, under the laws of succession they were excluded. Somewhere in GARF is his report on the subject to Nicholas II. This whole statement is a waste of time and bid for attention from Georgie who has nothing anyway.
yawn indeed.
FA - can you expand on this - who is Tchelogovitov and what does "NOT Pravoslavnaya" mean? Do you know what Nicholas did with this report? Weren't the kids of Vladimir and Maria added to the imperial family genelogy book - the name of which escapes me at the moment....
Thanks Rob
dca
Russian Imperial Law is quite specific, especially on one point. In order to take the throne, amongst other requirements, the Grand Duke in question MUST be born to a Pravoslavnaya (Orthodox) Mother. Maria Pavlovna did not convert to Orthodoxy until 1905, well after her sons were born.
General Alexander Spiridovitch, Chief of Secret Security Police to the Emperor, in his Memoirs states as a matter of fact that Nicholas II asked Minister of Justice Tcheglovitov to prepare a report about succession rights to the Vladimirovichi descendants. The report stated without a question that, as a matter of Imperial Succession laws in the Minister's opinion, because Maria Pavlovna was not Pravoslavnaya (Russian Orthodox) on the day she was married, nor was she when her children were actually born, her children had no succession rights. The Ukaze issued by Alexander II giving his consent when Vladimir married Maria Pavlovna stipulated specifically that ONLY Vladimir kept his rights, not his children. Tcheglovitov was clear in the report that none of the Vladimirovtichi had succession rights to the Imperial Russian Throne because her adoption of Orthodoxy decades later was not "retroactive" because her sons were born to a non Pravoslavnaya mother. I hope that this document still might exist in GARF and one day it will be found. Spiridovitch was most clear that there were THREE copies of his report, one for Nicholas II, one was sent to Maria Pavlovna, and the third retained in his records.
Just because children are entered into the Almanach de Gotha doesn't mean that they can inherit.