How is Grand Duchess Maria Related to Other Royal Families?
Grand Duchess Maria's branch of the family, the "Vladimirovichi" with Emperor Nicholas iI and Empress Alexandra in 1913. From left to right: Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna; Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorvna; Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna; Grand Duchess Vladimir; Empress Alexandra; (standing behind, Grand Duke Kirill); Nicholas II; Princess Nicholas of Greece the daughter of Grand Duchess Vladimir; (standing behind, the three little girls are:) Princess Nicholas' daughters, Princesses Elizabeth, Olga, and Marina (the future Duchess of Kent) of Greece; the other two girls are Grand Duchesses Anastasia and Maria Nikolaevna; and in frontal right, are Grand Duke Kirill's brothers, the Grand Dukes Boris and Andrei.
Europe’s royal families, including Russia’s, are related to each other in multiple ways.
England
Grand Duke Vladimir's grandfather Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, with his brothers (the future King Edward VII and the Duke of Connaught) at the Diamond Jubilee of their mother, Queen Victoria
Grand Duchess Maria's grandmother, Princess Victoria Melita of Great Britain (left), as a bridesmaid at wedding of her first cousin, the future King George V.
Grand Duchess Maria’s grandmother was a member of the British Royal Family. She was Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh, Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, who married Grand Duke Kirill. At her birth, Princess Victoria Melita was 10th in line to the British throne. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria; a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh; and a first cousin of King George V.
Grand Duchess Maria’s father, Grand Duke Wladimir, was at his birth 20th in line to the British throne. He was a second cousin of two English monarchs: King George VI (father of Queen Elizabeth II) and King Edward VIII (later the Duke of Windsor).
Grand Duchess Maria’s son and heir, Grand Duke George of Russia, is a descendant of Queen Victoria both through his mother (from Queen Victoria’s second son, Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh) and through his father (from Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, Victoria, the Princess Royal).
Other European royal families
The names of various cousins of Grand Duke Wladimir and Grand Duchess Maria illustrate the extent to which royal families used to intermarry.
Grand Duke Wladimir's sister Kira as a bridesmaid at the wedding of their first cousin Princess Marina of Greece to their second cousin, George, Duke of Kent. Grand Duchess Kira stands behind the future Queen Elizabeth II and between the Duke of Kent and the future King George VI.
Newlyweds Grand Duchess Kira of Russia and her husband Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (future Head of the Prussian Royal House) visit the exiled German Emperor William II at Doorn. Back row: Kira, the Kaiser, Louis Ferdinand, and Kira's brother's Wladimir. From row: Empress Hermine and German Crown Princess Cecilie.
Grand Duke Wladimir’s first cousins included Marina, Duchess of Kent; Queen Marie of Yugoslavia; King Carol II of Romania; Queen Elizabeth of Greece; and Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark (consort of Prince Paul, Regent of Yugoslavia).
Grand Duke Wladimir’s second cousins included (in addition to King George VI and King Edward VIII of Great Britain, mentioned above) the Tsesarevich Alexei of Russia; Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia; King Olav V of Norway; Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona (father of King Juan Carlos); Kings George II, Alexander and Paul of Greece; Earl Mountbatten of Burma (Lord Louis Mountbatten); Queen Ingrid of Denmark; Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Germany; Queen Helen of Romania; Queen Louise of Sweden; Princess Andrew of Greece (mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and grandmother of the Prince of Wales); Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden (father of the present King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf), and HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, who is a second cousin through her grandfather, Heinrich of Mecklenburg, whose sister, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna was Grand Duke Wladimir’s grandmother, but also through her direct Romanov descent from Paul I’s daughter, Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna
Grand Duchess Maria and her second cousin, King Michael of Romania.
Grand Duchess Maria’s second cousins include King Peter II of Yugoslavia; King Michael of Romania; Edward, Duke of Kent; and Prince Michael of Kent.