Death and Succession Dispute
Grand Duke Vladimir died of an apparent heart attack while addressing a gathering of Spanish-speaking bankers and investors in Miami, Florida, in the United States on 21 April 1992. His body was returned to Russia and he was buried with full pomp and splendour in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, the first Romanov to be honoured so much since the revolution. However, the press was careful to state that the honourable funeral "was regarded by civic and Russian authorities as an obligation to the Romanov family rather than a step toward restoration of the monarchy." According to a government spokesman, it was a way of "cleansing our guilt". As he was not a grandson of an Emperor his claimed title of Grand Duke of Russia caused problems as to what to put on his grave.
After his death, his daughter Maria assumed the Headship of the Imperial Family of Russia according to his line's interpretation of the Russian house laws. This was disputed by Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia who has also assumed for himself the Headship of the Imperial Family of Russia upon the death of Grand Duke Vladimir. Nicholas' position is that he is the most senior male dynast after the death of Vladimir as he believes the children of Grand Dukes of Russia who did not marry equally, would not be dynasts, while Princes of Russia only had to marry people of good standing and that their children would be dynasts. "The position of the Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna as Head of the Imperial House is acknowledged by most serious Russian Monarchist organizations and by most of those Heads of Royal Houses which continue to maintain relations with the Imperial House." according to scholar Guy Stair Sainty. (The Romanov Family Association, which the claim of Maria's cousin Nicholas to be head of the House of Romanov, believes that the marriage was morganatic.)
The Grand Duke was also the titular Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, a title held by the Tsars since 1773. As Holstein-Gottorp required a male heir, there is some debate as to who succeeded Vladimir. The title is usually said to have been inherited by his cousin Prince Paul Dimitrievich Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (an American who preferred to use the name Paul Ilyinski and was Mayor of Palm Beach, Florida). Grand Duke Vladimir appears to be the last person to have actually used the title.
Read more about this topic: Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich Of Russia
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