No problem Susanna that's the problem with postings rather than a conversation I certainly didn't mean any offence.
To be fair to Maria I suspect her "pushiness" is in part the fact that over the past few years we've seen several former monarchies invite or permit their former monarch's or their heirs to return (Serbia and Roumania for example) and have granted them some kind of semi-official status - which presumably is what she is hoping for in the long run. I think in many ways its probably harder for her to surrender those hopes and behave differently given her family have spent nearly 90 years insisting that they were the senior line and to be fair with the exeption of Prince Nicholas' grand father and great uncle the dynasty did accept both Kyril and Vladimir as claimants. It was only in the 1960's that the remaining dynasts finally broke with Vladimir and to be fair it was largely his own fault.
As to the rest of the family I think most of them accepted a long time ago that the chance of any kind of restoration was fairly thin and they've got on with their own lives as you say behaving with dignity and emphasising that such matters as restoration rests with the Russian People as Michael Alexandrovitch stated in his 1917 manifesto.
As to the British Queen - I've very rarely seen her seated when she greets someone, it would be impolite to stay seated even if her position as monarch meant she could, but I could be wrong who knows.
You mentioned the status of the Vladimirovichi before 1917 - and it is an interesting one. I am no great expert but from everything I have read it would be difficult to argue that the Vladimirovichi were not regarded as dynasts prior to 1917.
Whilst it would be unthinkable for an Empress Consort or the wife of the heir to the throne not to have been Orthodox at their marriage I believe the Pauline Law only requires the wife of the heir to be Orthodox - when Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovitch married Marie Pavlovna he was fourth in line to the throne (behind his brother and his nephews Nicholas and George) - as he had consent to marry her and their children were all listed as dynasts I don't think her lack of conversion until later life would affect their rights.
As to Kyril's marriage - at the time of his marriage he was also fourth in line (after Alexei, Michael and his father Vladimir), true the Orthodox Church did not permit first cousins to marry, however other Romanov's had married first cousins, I also believe that in the case of such a marriage taking place the Russian Church doesn't regard the marriage as invalid. The Tsar was head of the church prior to 1917, Nicholas II in eventually recognising Kyril's marriage arguably dispensed any impediment to the marriage. He granted Victoria Melita the style Imperial Highness and Grand Duchess of Russia - their two daughters born before the revolution were listed in the court calendar as dynasts with the style Her Highness and Princess of Russia (as great granddaughters of a sovereign) and Victoria had converted to Orthodoxy long before the birth of her son Vladimir.
There is in one issue that would negate the relevance of morganatic marriages that i have recently read and would therefore arguably dismiss Maria Vladimirovna's claims to be the daughter of the last dynast - the fact that Nicholas II abdicated in favour of his brother Michael Alexandrovitch a Grand Duke who was in a morganatic marriage (which up to that point Nicholas clearly regarded as making his brother inelligable for the throne - just as Alexander I had regarded his brother Constantine's marriage in 1820 as making him inelligable to succeed him). You could at a stretch argue that Nicholas effectively abolished the equal marriage rule by his abdication in favour of Michael but of course Nicholas' abdication in favour of Michael is still disputed by those who adhere strictly to the Fundamental Rules. If that act did put an end to it then it would mean that the Russian Succession or claims would pass first to the male line Vladimirichi, thence to the Illyinsky decendants of Grand Duke Dimitri, thence to Prince Nicholas and his brother, thence to the Mikhailovichi (the descendants of Grand Duke Alexander and Grand Duchess Xenia) and only then to the senior surviving female dynast.
