ENGAGEMENT PHOTO OF GRAND DUKE KYRIL TO PRINCESS VICTORIA MELITA [KYRIL (1876-1938, Grand Duke of Russia, married to Princess Victoria Melita, which caused Tsar Nicholas II to strip him of his medals and uniform, declared himself head of the Romanoff family in 1924 to the Dowager Empress's disapproval) with his wife VICTORIA MELITA (1876-1936, wife of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and secondly Grand Duke Kirill, granddaughter of Queen Victoria) with their children]

Fine unsigned German postcard photo by Uhlenhuth in Coburg showing the couple on their engagement, he is seated in a chair with her perched on the arm, 5½" x 3½", Coburg, no date, circa

The two had scandalised the courts of Europe by falling in love when the Princess was already married to the Empress of Russia's brother. Her marriage to Ernst was not happy and they were not compatible from the start. It suffered a further blow in 1897, when Victoria returned home from a visit to her sister Queen Marie of Romania and caught Ernst in bed with a male servant. She did not make her accusation public, but told a niece that "no boy was safe, from the stable hands to the kitchen help". The divorce of the reigning Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Hesse caused scandal in the royal circles of Europe. Tsar Nicholas wrote to his mother that even death would have been better than "the general disgrace of a divorce."

Item Date:  1905

Stock No:  40490      £250

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