Post War and Marriage
After the war he spent most of his time living in Madrid, but with frequent stays at his property in Brittany, as well as in Paris.
Vladimir married Princess Leonida Georgievna Bagration-Moukhransky on 13 August 1948 in Lausanne. Romanov house law dictates that only those children who are the product of an "equal marriage"—between a Romanov prince and a princess from another royal, not just noble, house—are eligible to be included in the Imperial line of succession; children of morganatic marriages are excluded from the succession. Though Leonida's dynasty, the Bagrationi, had been kings in Georgia since the early medieval period, Leonida's branch had not been regnant in the male line as Kings of Georgia since 1505 and had been simply Russian nobility since then. Some controversy therefore arises as to whether Vladimir's marriage to Leonida was equal or morganatic, and therefore whether his claim to the Imperial throne passed to his daughter Maria or out of his branch of the family upon his death. The position of both Vladimir and Maria is that the marriage was equal, and Vladimir's claim passed to Maria. Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna, the daughter of the Head of the Georgian Royal House, H.R.H. Prince George Alexandrovich Bagration-Mukhrani. The royal status of the House of Bagration was permanently recognized by Russia in the Treaty of Georgievsk of 1783 and was confirmed by the Decree of 5 December 1946 issued by the Head of the Russian Imperial House.
The heads of the other branches of the imperial family, the Princes Vsevolod Ioannovich (Konstantinovichi), Roman Petrovich (Nikolaevichi) and Andrei Alexandrovich (Mihailovichi) writing to Vladimir in 1969 said that he had married unequally and that his wife was of no higher status than the wives of the other Romanov princes.
In 1952 he called on the Western powers to wage war against the Soviet Union. On 23 December 1969 Vladimir issued a controversial decree whereby in the event of him predeceasing the living male Romanovs that he recognised as dynasts then his daughter Maria would become the "Curatrix of the Imperial Throne". This has been viewed as an attempt by Vladimir to ensure the succession remained in his branch of the imperial family, while the heads of the other branches declared that Vladimir's actions were illegal.
Vladimir was able to visit Russia in November 1991 when he was invited to visit St Petersburg by its Mayor Anatoly Sobchak.
Read more about this topic: Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich Of Russia
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