Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff
| Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President of the Romanov Family Association | |
| Tenure | 3 December 2017 – present |
| Predecessor | Prince Dimitri Romanovich |
| Born |
8 April 1950 London, United Kingdom |
| Spouse |
Thomas Mathew (m. 1975; separated 1989) |
| Issue |
Nicholas Mathew Francis Mathew Alexandra Mathew Thomas Mathew |
| House | Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov |
| Father | Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia |
| Mother | Nadine Sylvia Ada McDougall |
Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff (born 8 April 1950) is a Russian princess and descendant of the House of Romanov. She is the president of the Romanov Family Association.
Biography
| Russian imperial family |
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HH Prince Andrew Andreevich
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Extended imperial family
HSH Princess Kristia
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Princess Olga is the youngest child of Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia and the only one born of his second marriage in 1942, to Nadine Sylvia Ada McDougall (1908–2000). Her father was the son of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia, who belonged to a cadet branch of the Romanovs, and his wife Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, Tsar Nicholas II's sister. Olga Andreevna uses the English version of her family name, preferring 'Romanoff' to 'Romanova', the feminine form of her name in Russian. Prior to marriage she was known by the title and name, "Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff", but does not use a title currently.[1]
Educated in her mother's stately home in England by private tutors, she was told of her family's tragic imperial heritage in pre-revolutionary Russia as a child by her exiled father.[1] She joined the Romanov Family Association (RFA) in 1980 and, with other members, attended the long-delayed interment of Russia's last emperor and empress in St. Petersburg in 1998.[1] On 3 December 2017, nearly a year after the death of Prince Dimitri Romanovich Romanov on the last day of 2016, she was elected president of the RFA.[2] In the interim, the senior male Romanov descendant by primogeniture, Prince Andrew Andreyevich Romanov (born 1923), was chosen Honorary RFA president.
On July 17, 2018, the centenary of the murders of the Imperial family, Princess Olga with a dozen members of the Romanov Family Association, including His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent, attended two memorial services in St Petersburg, and took part in a liturgy dedicated to the 100th anniversary with governor Georgy Poltavchenko. Princess Olga and the RFA also paid their respects at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, where the remains of Nicholas II, his wife and three of his five children are buried.
She lives at Provender House in the hamlet of Provender, near Faversham in Kent,[3] where she has restored the 13th century mansion and opened it to tourists.[1][4] Having inherited the ageing mansion and 30-acre (12 ha) estate in 2000, she raised the money to have it refurbished by selling what was left of her father's cache of pre-revolutionary artefacts, most of which had long since been sold to the British royal family.[1]
In 2005, she was on Australian Princess (a reality show) giving advice to competitors.[1] During an interview on Channel 4 television's "Royal House of Windsor", she revealed that, contrary to the prevalent assumption, the fatal abandonment by the British of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and children to the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution was not due to the callousness of the British government of the day, but to the reluctance of his diffident cousin King George V.[1]
In 2017 she published a memoir, Princess Olga, A Wild and Barefoot Romanov.[5][6]
Marriage and children
Once considered a possible bride for her third cousin Charles, Prince of Wales,[7] she married Thomas Mathew (born 8 July 1945, son of Francis Mathew former manager of The Times), in nuptials at the Orthodox Cathedral of the Assumption and at the Brompton Oratory on 1 October 1975.[8] A member of the Irish gentry, he also had homes in England at South Kensington and in the vicinity of Hatchlands Park in Surrey.[8] They separated in 1989, having had issue:
- Nicholas Mathew (b. 6 December 1976);[9] married Judith Aird Stanely (b. 1 October 1976), three children : Thomas (b. 2004) Unknown (b. 2006) Isabella Florence (b. 2011).
- Francis-Alexander Mathew (b. 20 September 1979);[10] freelance photographer.[11] 2012 contestant on Ukraine version of The Bachelor.[12] Starred in season 2 of Secret Princes as "Prince Alexander".
- Alexandra Mathew (b. 20 April 1981)[9]
- Thomas Mathew (27 November 1987 – 20 April 1989)[9]
Title and styles
Notes
- ↑ Since the Russian revolution members of the Imperial family have tended to drop the territorial designation "of Russia" and use the princely title with the surname Romanoff.[8] However this title, and even her right to the surname Romanoff are disputed. ("if any person in the Imperial Family enters into a marriage with a person of a status unequal to His, that is, not belonging to any Royal or Ruling House, in such a case the person in the Imperial Family cannot pass on to the other person the rights which belong to Members of the Imperial Family, and the children issuing from such a marriage have no right of succession to the throne.")
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 The Telegraph. 25 March 2017. Princess Olga. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
- ↑ Russia Beyond. 11 December 2017. Romanovs Elect New Chairman to Spearhead Dynasty. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
- ↑ The East Kent Gazette. 24 August 2011. "Charming tale of the gardener and the maid"
- ↑ The East Kent Gazette. 25 May 2011. "A home fit for a princess..."
- ↑ "Princess Olga, A Wild and Barefoot Romanov". Shepheard-Walwyn Publishers. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
- ↑ http://www.ikonlondonmagazine.com/weeks-party-pictures-13102017
- ↑ Ghirardani, Jane (22 August 1998). "Safeway". Daily Mirror.
- 1 2 3 Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. "Burke's Royal Families of the World: Volume I Europe & Latin America, 1977, pp. 467, 472–473. ISBN 0-85011-023-8
- 1 2 3 "Person Page – 6601" www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 29 October 2013
- ↑ "Francis-Alexander Mathew-Romanov" VK.com. Retrieved 29 October 2013 – NOTE: The Peerage.com gives his birthdate as 26 September 1978
- ↑ "Francis Mathew Photographer". francismathew.com. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
- ↑ "Great-great nephew of Czar Nicholas II looks for love on Ukraine 'Bachelor'".
- ↑ "Dynastic Succession" Decree on the Imperial Succession of 1820 Archived 9 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine. 26 July 2009 imperialhouse.ru)
External links
Princess Olga Andreevna Romanoff Born: 8 April 1950 | ||
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
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| Preceded by Prince Dimitri Romanovich |
President of the Romanov Family Association 5 December 2017 – present |
Incumbent |