Tsardom of Russia/Russian Empire Index

Nicholas II, last Emperor of All Russia, reigned 1894 – 1917; Credit – Wikipedia

Russia had a series of monarchies (Prince of Novgorod, Grand Prince of Kiev, Grand Prince of Vladimir, Grand Prince of Moscow, Tsar of All Russia, and Emperor of All Russia) beginning in 862 with Rurik I, Prince of Novgorod.  In 1613, 16-year-old Michael Romanov (Mikhail Feodorovich Romanov) became the first ruler of the House of Romanov when he was elected Tsar of All Russia by the Russian nobility. The nobles had rejected several other candidates, and Michael then became the consensus candidate.

Peter I (the Great), originally reigned as Tsar of All Russia but in 1721, he was officially proclaimed Emperor of All Russia, the title of all subsequent Romanov rulers. Peter is known for his efforts in modernizing Russia. Perhaps his biggest accomplishment was the founding of the city of St. Petersburg. Peter was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he wanted Russia to have a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations.

The reign of the Romanovs had its dark side. Five of the last ten rulers of Russia were murdered or assassinated.

  • Ivan VI, an infant Emperor, reigned 1740 – 1741, deposed, imprisoned for 24 years, murdered
  • Peter III, reigned 1762, deposed, murdered
  • Paul I, reigned 1796 – 1801, assassinated
  • Alexander II, reigned 1855 – 1881, assassinated
  • Nicholas II, reigned 1894 – 1917, abdicated, executed

Russia would be ruled by the House of Romanov until the Russian Revolution of 1917.  The abdication of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia in March 1917 as a result of the February Revolution ended 304 years of Romanov rule. The Russian Republic was established under the Russian Provisional Government in the lead up to the Russian Civil War which ultimately led to the establishment of the Soviet Union. In 1918, Nicholas and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks.  Fifty-three Romanovs were living in Russia when Nicholas II abdicated in 1917. Eighteen were murdered and thirty-five escaped.

Russian Titles

  • Tsar (in Russian Царь) was used 1547–1721 to denote the male ruler of Russia. Tsar comes from Caesar, the Latin title of a Roman emperor. Tsar remained the popular designation of the Russian ruler despite the official change of style to Emperor in 1721.
  • Tsaritsa or Tsarina (in Russian Царица) was the title of the female ruler of Russia or the title of a Tsar’s wife. It was officially used from 1547 – 1721 when the title changed to Empress although Tsaritsa or Tsarina was sometimes still used.
  • Tsarevich (in Russian Царевич) was the title given to Tsars’ sons before the 18th century.
  • Tsarevna (in Russian Царевна) was used before the 18th century as the title for the daughter of a Tsar or the wife of a Tsarevich.
  • Emperor (in Russian император, pronounced imperator) was the title of the male ruler of Russia after 1721.
  • Empress (in Russia императрица, pronounced imperatritsa) was the title of the female ruler of Russia or the title of the Emperor’s wife after 1721.
  • After the 1797 Pauline House Laws, the following titles were used:
    • Tsesarevich (in Russian Цесаревич) was the title for the heir apparent.
    • Velikiy Knjaz (in Russian Великий Князь) meaning Grand Prince but commonly translated into English as Grand Duke, was the title of younger sons and male-line grandsons of Emperors or Empress Regnants of Russia.
    • Velikaia Knazhna (in Russian: Великая Княжна) meaning Grand Princess but commonly translated in English as Grand Duchess, was the title of daughters and male-line granddaughters of Emperors or Empress Regnants of Russia and wives of Grand Dukes of Russia.

Patronymics

  • For the rulers of Russia, English names are used in the index below with the Russian name and the patronymic in parentheses. In Russian, a patronymic is the second name derived from the father’s first name: the suffix -vich means “son of” and the suffixes -eva, -evna, -ova, and -ovna mean “daughter of”.

Below is an indexed listing with links to biographical articles about the Romanovs at Unofficial Royalty. If it says “Notable Issue” before a name, that means not all of the children for the parent of that person are listed. Also listed below are links to Romanov Weddings, Russian Miscellaneous Articles, and various Russian Content Areas.

House of Romanov Tsars and Emperors/Empresses (1613 – 1917)

Family of Michael I, Tsar of All Russia

Family of Alexei I, Tsar of All Russia

Family of Feodor III, Tsar of All Russia

Family of Ivan V, Tsar of All Russia

Family of Peter I (the Great) Emperor of All Russia

Family of Catherine I, Empress of All Russia

Peter II, Emperor of All Russia

Anna, Empress of All Russia

Ivan VI, Emperor of All Russia

  • Ivan VI, Emperor of All Russia (Ivan Antonovich, great-grandson of Ivan V, infant Emperor, reigned 1740 – 1741, deposed, imprisoned for 24 years, murdered, unmarried)

Elizabeth I, Empress of All Russia

Family of Peter III, Emperor of All Russia

  • Peter III, Emperor of All Russia (Pyotr Feodorovich, grandson of Peter the Great, reigned 1762, deposed, murdered)
  • Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst (took name Ekaterina Alexeievna, Catherine “the Great” II – see below)
    • Notable Issue: Paul I, Emperor of All Russia (see below)

Family of Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia

Family of Paul I, Emperor of All Russia

Family of Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia

Family of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia

Family of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia

Family of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia

Family of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia

Other Russian Royals

Romanov Weddings

Notable Russian Mistresses and Lovers

Notable Russian Favorites

Pretenders to the Russian Throne

The succession to the former Russian throne has been in dispute, mainly due to disagreements over the validity of marriages. In 1924, after Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (son of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and brother of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia) was declared legally dead, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, a male-line grandson of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, declared himself Guardian of the Throne and later assumed the title Emperor of All Russia. In 1938, upon the death of Kirill Vladimirovich, his son Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich assumed the Headship of the Imperial Family of Russia.

Vladimir Kirillovich’s only child, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna (born 1953), claims to have succeeded her father upon his death in 1992. Her claim to the Headship of the Imperial Family of Russia is based on a claim that all male lines of the Romanov family are either extinct, illegitimate, or morganatic, triggering semi-salic succession, and that she is the closest female to the last dynast. The claim of Maria Vladimirovna as Head of the Russian Imperial Family is disputed by the Romanov Family Association made up of the majority of the male-line descendants of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and father Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, male-line descendants of Nicholas I, never joined.

Pre-revolutionary Romanov house law allowed only those born of an equal marriage between a Romanov dynast and a member of a royal or sovereign house to be in the line of succession to the Russian throne. The throne could only pass to a female and through the female line upon the extinction of all legitimately-born, male dynasts. Maria Vladimiovna’s mother Princess Leonida of Bagration belonged to a family that had been kings in Georgia from medieval times until the early 19th century. However, no male line ancestor of Leonida had reigned as a king in Georgia since 1505 and her branch of the Bagrations, the House of Mukhrani, had been naturalized as non-ruling nobility of Russia after Georgia was annexed to the Russian empire in 1801. There is a precedent that a marriage between the House of Romanov and the House of Bragation-Mukhrani was unequal. The House of Bragation-Mukhrani did not possess sovereign status and was not recognized as an equal marriage by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia for the purpose of dynastic marriages at the time of the marriage of Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna of Russia and Prince Konstantine Bragation-Mukhrani in 1911, thirty-seven years before the marriage of Princess Leonida of Bragation-Mukhrani and Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia. The couple married but Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna was required to renounce her rights to the Russian throne and she was no longer a member of the House of Romanov because the marriage was unequal.

After the death of Vladimir Kirillovich in 1992, Prince Nicholas Romanov claimed that he was the Head of the Imperial Family of Russia. Except for Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, who said that the marriage of Nicholas’ parents was not in conformity with the house laws, Nicholas was recognized by the rest of the family as head of the Romanov family.

Descendants of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, eldest son of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia. Note: The legitimate male line of Alexander III died out with Nicholas II and his brothers Grand Duke George Alexandrovich and Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich.

  • LAST REIGNING: Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia (reigned 1894 – abdicated 1917, executed 1918)
  • Former: Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (younger brother of Nicholas II, executed 1918)
    • In March 1917, when Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne for himself and his hemophiliac only son, his brother Michael was proclaimed Emperor Michael II  but Michael stated that he took “the firm decision to assume the supreme power only if and when our great people, having elected by universal suffrage a Constituent Assembly to determine the form of government and lay down the fundamental law of the new Russian State, invest me with such power.” Of course, this never happened.

Descendants of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia via his second son Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia

  • Former: Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, grandson of Alexander II, (pretender, 1924 – 1938)
  • Former: Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, son of Kirill Vladimirovich, (pretender, 1938 – 1992)
  • Current: Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, daughter of Vladimir Kirillovich, (disputed pretender, 1992 – present)
  • Current Heir: Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia, also known as Prince George of Prussia through his father, son of Maria Vladimirovna (disputed heir, born 1981)
  • Current: Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen, also known by his Orthodox Russian name Nikolai Kirillovich Romanov, great-great-grandson of Alexander II, great-grandson of Kirill Vladimirovich, (disputed pretender, 2013 – present)
    • Line of Karl Emich from Alexander II: Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia → Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia → Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia → Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia → Emich, 7th Prince of Leiningen  → Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen
  • Current Heir: Andreas, 8th Prince of Leiningen, brother of Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen (disputed heir, born 1955, the claim will pass to Andreas and his descendants born of equal marriages upon the death of Karl Emich, and on the condition that they convert to Russian Orthodoxy, there is no indication that Andreas is interested in this claim)

Descendants of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia

  • Former: Prince Nicholas Romanov, great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia (disputed pretender 1992 – 2014)
    • Line of Nicholas and his brother Dmitri from Nicholas I: Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia → Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia → Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia → Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia → brothers Prince Nicholas Romanov and Prince Dmitri Romanov
  • Former: Prince Dmitri Romanov, great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia and brother of Prince Nicholas Romanov, (disputed pretender, 2014 – 2016)
  • Former: Prince Andrew Romanov, great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, (disputed pretender, 2016 – 2021)
    • Line of Andrew and his sons Alexis and Peter from Nicholas I: Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia → Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia → Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia → Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia → Prince Andrew Andreievich of Russia  → Prince Alexis Andreievich Romanov and Prince Peter Andreievich Romanov
  • Current: Prince Alexis Romanov, great-great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia and son of Prince Andrew Romanov (born 1953, disputed pretender 2021 – present)
  • Current Heir: Prince Peter Romanov, great-great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia and son of Prince Andrew Romanov from his second marriage (disputed heir, born 1961)

Russian Royal Churches

Russian Miscellaneous Articles

Russian Content Areas