Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Royal News from Russia

April 17, 1902

The Duke of Mecklenburg's palace in southeast Russia was "recently pillaged and then razed by rioters," according to the Chicago Daily Tribune.  The rioting and destruction has been attributed to the murder of a government official Sipaguine.

Russian Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Grand Duke Michael, the heir presumptive and the Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses were present for the funeral of the slain Minister of the Interior.  His body was interred at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery.

The Tribune also reports that an "unimportant newspaper" in Vienna states that Grand Duchess Helen Vladimirovna "recently eloped with a student," and that they were arrested in Warsaw.  The student was sent to Siberia.

The report is "discredited" in Vienna and in St. Petersburg.  Grand Duchess Helen, 20, is the only daughter of Grand Duke Vladimir and Grand Duchess Marie, a duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin by birth.

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