Early Life
Prince Michael Andreevich was born in Versailles, the second child and eldest son of Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia and Donna Elisabetha Ruffo (1886–1940). He was a grandson of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia and a great nephew of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia. From his father's first marriage he had two siblings, an older sister Xenia and a younger brother Andrew. From his father's second marriage he had one half sister, Olga.
Neither Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich nor his son Grand Duke Vladimir Cyrillovich (who were heads of the House of Romanov from 1924 to 1992) recognised Michael as a Prince of Russia. Cyril and Vladimir held that the marriage of Prince Michael Andreevitch's parents was not dynastic and that Michael had no succession rights to the Russian throne. They accorded him the title Prince Romanovsky.
Prince Michael Andreevich was educated at Beaumont College in Old Windsor, and lived with his parents and his grandmother Grand Duchess Xenia in exile at Frogmore Cottage on the grounds of Windsor Castle and later at Wilderness House until he enlisted to serve in the Royal Navy during World War II. During the war Michael served in Australia with the Fleet Air Arm. He moved there permanently following the conclusion of the war and became an aviation engineer.
Read more about this topic: Prince Michael Andreevich Of Russia
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