Jorge Brasov

George Mikhailovich, Count Brasov (Russian: Георгий Михайлович, граф Брасов; 1910 - 1931), was a Russian nobleman, son of Grand Duke Michael Romanov and Natalia Sheremetevskaya, Countess Brasova. In his childhood he bore the title of Count Brasov , although later Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich granted him the title of Prince. He had to go into exile in 1918 and spent the rest of his life in France, where he died in a car accident in 1931.

Biography

Early Years

George was born in his mother's apartment in Moscow, the son of Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich and his mistress, Natalia Sheremetievskaya. His father was the son of Alexander III and Maria Fedorovna and brother of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia.

At birth, his mother was married to officer Vladimir Vladimirovich Wulfert, who had been a companion of Grand Duke Michael in Tsarina Maria Fedorovna's Blue Regiment at Gatchina. Faced with the scandal over the affaire, Wulfert was transferred to Moscow and the Grand Duke to the Chernihov Hussars in Oryol. His mother's fear was that Wulfert would claim custody of his son, so she started the divorce process; however, the process ended after Jorge's birth and the date of the divorce was ruled retroactive. It was speculated that Wufert was bribed with 200,000 rubles.

George was baptized on September 22, 1910 in the Church of St. Basil of Caesarea in Moscow and was named after his uncle, Grand Duke George Alexandrovich, who had died in 1899. On November 13 of that year, Tsar Nicholas II decreed that the child would take the surname of one of Grand Duke Michael's estates, Brásovo in Oryol, for which he was named George Mikhailovich Brásov.

Her father was second in line to the Russian throne after Tsarevich Alexei; but Alexei was a hemophiliac and it was feared that he would not reign. The laws of the Russian Imperial House stated that no member of the imperial family could marry without the permission of the tsar. In 1912 Tsarevich Alexei suffered a severe hemorrhage, which brought Grand Duke Michael Romanov closer to the throne. However, in October of that year Jorge's parents secretly married in Vienna. After moving to Cannes, Grand Duke Michael by letter informed the tsar of his marriage, who, together with the imperial family, was surprised by the lack of sense of duty at a time when the tsarevich's situation was serious.

Grand Duke Michael and his family were exiled from Russia and stayed in different hotels in Europe until they settled in Knebworth House, London (1913).

World War I

In 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, his father asked the Tsar to return to Russia to join the Army. Nicholas II granted the request and the family settled in a villa in Gatchina since her mother was not allowed to inhabit one of the imperial palaces. In addition, the grand duke asked his brother to legitimize Jorge, to which the tsar responded six months later by means of a decree in which he also granted him the title of count. However, Jorge was excluded from the line of succession.

By 1916, his father had to leave the front line with stomach ulcers and the family moved to the Crimea and then to Brásovo, where he spent Christmas.

Russian Revolution

In February 1917, the so-called February Revolution broke out and the Tsar abdicated in his name and that of the Tsarevich, leaving the throne to Grand Duke Michael. However, his father decided not to accept the throne until his election was ratified by the Russian Constituent Assembly. The Grand Duke and his family were placed under house arrest in their Gatchina villa until September. The following month Aleksander Kerensky was deposed and the Bolsheviks seized power in the wake of the October Revolution.

Given the situation, the family decided to move to Finland and Jorge along with "Tata" (Natalia, daughter of her mother's first marriage) were sent to the estate of Vladimir Nabókov, father of the writer of the same name. However, the plan was discovered by the Bolsheviks and they were placed under house arrest in Gatchina.

In March 1918, his father was exiled to the remote city of Perm and his mother turned to friends, the Putyatin princes, for help. The Putyatins owned an apartment next to the Danish embassy in St. Petersburg and his mother asked the Danes to smuggle Jorge away. Danish Colonel Cramer sheltered Jorge and his nanny in a house on Sergeyevskaya Street for a month. On a train carrying German prisoners of war, Jorge and his nanny traveled undercover with false passports (that of the wife and son of an Austrian officer) accompanied by Captain Sorensen since both did not speak German and if they were discovered the nanny could be shot as a spy. Arriving at the Danish embassy in Berlin, the ambassador, Count Carl Molltke, placed them under protection. Upon learning of the escape, Kaiser Wilhelm II decided to ignore the fact that the British nanny was a foreign enemy and allowed them to continue to Copenhagen.

Exile

On June 13, 1918, his father was assassinated by the Cheka (Bolshevik secret police). Her mother, who thought the grand duke was still alive, and his half-sister escaped to German-controlled kyiv. Following an armistice in November 1918, the British Royal Navy evacuated her mother and her half-sister, whom she met in a rented house in Sussex, England.

In 1919 Jorge was enrolled at St Leonards-on-Sea College and the following year he was transferred to Harrow School. By 1927, his mother's financial difficulties forced her to move to an apartment in Paris, but he remained in England to finish the school year. Moving to France he was placed in another boarding school, the École des Roches in Verneuil, and later entered the Sorbonne.

In 1928, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich, who had proclaimed himself tsar in exile, granted him the title of prince.

Death

In 1928, his grandmother, Empress Maria, died in exile and he inherited her estate along with his aunts, Grand Duchesses Olga and Xenia. With part of his inheritance he bought a Chrysler sports car and in the summer of 1931, after finishing his exams at the Sorbonne, he planned a vacation in the South of France with his friend, the Dutchman Edgar Moneanaar, promising his mother to return for her 21st birthday. On July 20, on the way from Paris to Cannes, near Sens, the car left the road and hit a tree. Moneanaar, who was driving the car, died, and Jorge, with broken thighs and severe internal injuries, was taken to a hospital. His mother was able to make it to the hospital but at 11:30 a.m. m. the next day Jorge died without having regained consciousness.

Interestingly, two years earlier, his distant cousin, Lord Trematon, had died in a car accident, hitting a tree on the way from Paris to Lyon.

He was buried in the Passy Cemetery in Paris. His mother died poor from cancer in 1952 and was buried next to him. The inscription on the tomb reads Fils et Epouse de SAI Grand Duc Michel de Russie.

Despite not having had the right of succession to the imperial throne, George was the last male descendant of Tsar Alexander III, his grandfather.

Ancestors