Maria Vladimirovna
| Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna | |||||
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| Head of the House of Romanov (disputed) | |||||
| Tenure | 21 April 1992 – present | ||||
| Predecessor | Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich | ||||
| Heir apparent | Grand Duke George Mikhailovich | ||||
| Born |
23 December 1953 Madrid, Spain |
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| Spouse | Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia (m. 1976; div. 1985) |
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| Issue | Grand Duke George Mikhailovich | ||||
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| House | Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov | ||||
| Father | Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia | ||||
| Mother | Princess Leonida Bagration of Mukhrani | ||||
| Religion | Russian Orthodox Church | ||||
| Full name | |
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| Maria Vladimirovna Romanova |
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Styles of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna |
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| Reference style | Her Imperial Highness |
| Spoken style | Your Imperial Highness |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia (Russian: Мари́я Влади́мировна Рома́нова; born 23 December 1953 in Madrid), has been a claimant to the headship of the Imperial Family of Russia (who reigned as Emperors and Autocrats of All the Russias from 1613 to 1917) since 1992. Although she has used Grand Duchess of Russia as her title of pretence with the style Imperial Highness throughout her life, her right to do so is disputed. She is a great-great-granddaughter in the male line of Emperor Alexander II of Russia.
Maria Vladimirovna was born in Madrid, the only child of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia, head of the Imperial Family of Russia and titular Emperor of Russia, and Princess Leonida Bagration-Mukhrani of Georgian-Polish parentage. Her paternal grandparents were Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Victoria Fyodorovna (née Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha). Her godfather was Prince Nicholas of Romania and godmother, Queen Ioanna of Bulgaria.
Maria was educated in Madrid and Paris before studying Russian history and literature at Oxford University.
On 23 December 1969, upon reaching her dynastic majority, Maria swore an oath of loyalty to her father, to Russia, and to uphold the Fundamental Laws of Russia which governed succession to the defunct throne. At the same time, her father issued a controversial decree recognising her as heiress presumptive and declaring that, in the event he predeceased other dynastic Romanov males, then Maria would become the "Curatrix of the Imperial Throne" until the death of the last male dynast. This has been viewed as an attempt by her father to ensure the succession remained in his branch of the imperial family, while the heads of the other branches of the imperial family, the Princes Vsevolod Ioannovich of the Konstantinovichi, Roman Petrovich of the Nikolaevichi and Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of the Mihailovichi declared that her father's actions were illegal. As it happened, Vladimir Kirillovich, who died in 1992, outlived all the other male Romanov dynasts, and his daughter had no occasion to assume curatorship.
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