Romanovfan wrote:
[i]was Micheal Romanov...but wasn't he the nephew of Tsar Ivan the Terrible...by MARRIAGE? If that's the case wouldn't that mean that all the Tsars following would be rulers only by marriage too or were there other blood relations thanks to royalty's famous tactic of imbreeding?
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I did some genealogical research on the claim of Michael Romanov [Michael I] to the Russian throne. Actually, although he was a great-nephew of Ivan the Terrible [by marriage] that was not his main justification for being able to claim the throne. Michael's paternal grandmother [i.e. the mother of Fedor Romanov] was Feodosiya Alexandrovna Shujskaya, a cousin of Ivan the Terrible and a direct descendant of Rurik.
So, there was not any absolute extinction of the royal family, or the beginning of a completely new dynasty. The Romanovs were still descendants of the original royal blood. Michael was, in relation to the House of Rurik, the same as George III [Great Britain] was in relationship to the House of Stuart.
Nicholas II of Russia, therefore, was still a direct blood descendant of the same family that had ruled Russia since the 9th century.