Monday, December 28, 2009

Kira's engagement to celebrated tomorrow

Marlene A Eilers Koenig collection

December 28, 1937

The engagement of Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia and Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia will be "solemnized at a family reunion at Doorn tomorrow," according to the New York Times.

The Grand Duchess, 28, is the younger daughter and second child of Grand Duke Kirill of Russia, who is the pretender to the Russian throne, and his wife, Victoria Feodorovna, the former Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh. Prince Louis Ferdinand, 30, is the second son of the former Crown Prince Wilhelm and Crown Princess Cecilie of Prussia. He is the future head of the house of Prussia as his older brother, Wilhelm lost his rights in 1933 when he married a commoner, Dorothea von Salviati.

The Prince is "now connected with Lufthansa in the capacity of special representative of its foreign department."

Grand Duchess Kira has been one of Europe's most eligible royal brides for more than a decade and she was mooted as a possible bride for King Boris III of Bulgaria and the Prince of Wales. She is a close friend of Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands and was one of her bridesmaids. Kira also was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her first cousin, Princess Marina of Greece, who married in 1934 to the Duke of Kent. She is also a first cousin to King Carol II of Roumania and Queen Marie of Yugoslavia.

It is understood that the former Kaiser Wilhelm II has "gladly consented" to his grandson's engagement.

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