Oyogist.com has learned that descendant of Russia’s imperial Romanov dynasty married his Italian bride Friday in the country’s first royal wedding in more than a century.
Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov tied the knot with Victoria Romanovna Bettarini in a Russian Orthodox ceremony at St. Isaac’s Cathedral in Russia’s former royal capital St. Petersburg.
Bettarini, 39, wore a diamond tiara and flowing white dress, the long train carried by her bridesmaids.
The wedding was attended by hundreds of guests, including Mikhailovich’s mother, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna — the self-proclaimed heir to Russia’s imperial throne.
Mikhailovich’s great-grandfather, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, fled Russia during the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, escaping first to Finland and later relocating with his family to Western Europe.
Mikhailovich, 40, was born in Madrid and raised in France and Spain. He returned to live in Russia in 2019, and is involved in numerous charities.
Russia’s last tsar, Nicholas II, his wife and five children were murdered by a firing squad in 1918.
Mikhailovich’s ancestors in the Romanov dynasty ruled the country for more than 300 years before Nicholas II abdicated in 1917 on the eve of the Bolshevik Revolution, which brought communism to Russia.
