Donna Elisabetta Fabrizievna ''dei duchi'' di Sasso-Ruffo ''dei principi'' di Sant' Antimo (26 December 1886 – 29 October 1940), known after her marriage as Princess Andrew of Russia or Princess Andrei Romanovskya, was a

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

aristocrat. She was the daughter of the exiled Italian nobleman Frabrizio Ruffo, Duke of Sasso-Ruffo and the Russian noblewoman Princess Natalia Alexandrovna Mescherskaya. She married, firstly, to Imperial Russian military officer Major General Alexander Alexandrovitch Friederici and, secondly, to Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia. When she married Prince Andrei, it was the last royal wedding to take place in Russia until 2021. During her second marriage, she fled Russia aboard '' HMS Marlborough'' following the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

and lived abroad as a

White émigré White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to the revolutionary Bolshevik com ...

in France and the United Kingdom. Elisabetta was killed in 1940 during a German air raid on

Hampton Court Palace Hampton Court Palace is a Listed building, Grade I listed royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, southwest and upstream of central London on the River Thames. Opened to the public, the palace is managed by Historic Royal ...

Early life and family

Elisabetta was born in 1886 in

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

to Don Fabrizio Ruffo, Duke of Sasso-Ruffo (1846-1911) and his wife, Princess Natalia Alexandrovna Mescherskaya (1849-1910). Her father, member of House of Ruffo, one of the oldest Neopolitan noble families, went into exile following the

Unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century Political movement, political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, annexation of List of historic states of ...

. Her mother, a Russian noblewoman, member of the House of Meshchersky, has descended from the Stroganov family and was very distantly related to the

Russian imperial family The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russia. Ni ...

. Technically a member of the

Italian nobility The Italian nobility ( Italian: ''Nobiltà italiana'') comprised individuals and their families of the Italian Peninsula, and the islands linked with it, recognized by the sovereigns of the Italian city-states since the Middle Ages, and by the k ...

, she was raised in Russia among the

Russian nobility The Russian nobility or ''dvoryanstvo'' () arose in the Middle Ages. In 1914, it consisted of approximately 1,900,000 members, out of a total population of 138,200,000. Up until the February Revolution of 1917, the Russian noble estates staffed ...

Marriages

In 1907, Elisabetta married Major General Alexander Alexandrovitch Friederici at

Tsarskoye Selo Tsarskoye Selo (, , ) was the town containing a former residence of the Russian House of Romanov, imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the Pushkin, Saint Peter ...

. With her first husband, she had a daughter named Elisabeth Alexandrovna Friederici.''Genealogisches Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften, Teil 2,1,: Estland, Bd.:1'', Görlitz, 1930
p.329
/ref> Elisabetta and Friederici divorced in 1916. Later in 1916, Elisabetta met Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia, a member of the

, in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. Prince Andrei was the son of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and a grandson of Emperor Alexander III. Shortly after they met, the Russian monarchy was overthrown in the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

. Prince Andrei moved with his family to Ai-Todor, his father's property in

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. During this time, Elisabetta and Prince Andrei began a relationship. She became pregnant, which led to the couple marrying on 12 June 1918 in the Romanov family chapel at Ai-Todor in the presence of Prince Andrei's family, including Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna.Romanoff, ''My Father and His Family'', p. 15 Their wedding was the last royal wedding to take place in Russia until the wedding of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini in 2021.

Russian revolution and exile

During the time of their wedding, Elisabetta's husband could not contact his uncle, Emperor Nicholas II, who was under house arrest at the Governor's Mansion in

Tobolsk Tobolsk (, ) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1587, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, and was the historic capita ...

.Romanoff, ''My Father and His Family'', p. 16 A month after she and Prince Andrei married, the emperor and empress, and their children, were

murdered Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse committed with the necessary intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisdiction. ("The killing of another person without justification or excu ...

by the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

. For a time, following the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, the family was imprisoned at Dulber, a palace in

that belonged to Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia. They were liberated by

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troops and, in December 1918, Elisabetta and her husband fled Russia aboard the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

ship '' HMS Marlborough''. They headed to France for the Paris Peace Conference, where her husband and father-in-law went to seek support in Western Europe for the

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

. The family spent the first years of their exile in France, living in the

French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

home of Prince Andrei's aunt, Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna. Elisabetta and Prince Andrei had three children, the eldest two were born in France and the youngest was born in London: * Princess Xenia Andreevna (1919–2000) m. 1 1945 to Calhoun Ancrum (1915–1990); they divorced in 1954. m. 2 1958 Geoffrey Tooth (1908–1998). She had no children from either marriage.Willis, ''The Romanovs in the 21st Century,'' p. 175 * Prince Michael Andreevich (1920–2008) m. 1 1953 Jill Murphy (1921–2006); they divorced in 1953. m. 2 1954 Shirley Cramond (1916–1983). m. 3 1993 Giulia Crespi (b. 1930). Michael had no children from any of his marriages. * Prince Andrew Andreevich (1923–2021) m. 1 1951 Elena Durneva (1927—1992). They had one son before divorcing in 1959. m. 2 1961 Kathleen Norris (1935–1967). They had two children. m. 3 1987 Inez Storer (born 1933). From 31 December 2016 to 28 November 2021, some of Emperor Nicholas I's descendants recognized him as head of the Romanov Family. While living outside of Russia, Elisabetta was diagnosed with cancer, which left her very weak. The family lived without much money and, with Prince Andrei not able to find steady occupation, they depended much on the charity of wealthier family members outside of Russia. They eventually settled in England; first at

Frogmore Frogmore is an estate within the Home Park, Windsor, Home Park, adjoining Windsor Castle, in Berkshire, England. It comprises , of primarily private gardens managed by the Crown Estate. It is the location of Frogmore House, a royal retreat, and ...

and later at Wilderness House, a grace and favor residence on the grounds of

that was leased to Prince Andrei's mother by

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952 ...

Death

On 29 October 1940, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Elisabetta was at Wilderness House when a German air raid occurred. During the raid, a bomb was dropped near the house which caused windows to shatter and ceiling beams to fall. Elisabetta died due to injuries from the blast. Following her death, her husband and children went to stay at Craig Gowan House near

Balmoral Castle Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen. The estate and its original castle were bought ...

Works cited

* Princess Olga Romanoff. ''My father and his family''. Royalty Digest Quarterly. 2007 N 1. *Van Der Kiste, John & Hall, Coryne. ''Once a Grand Duchess: Xenia, Sister of Nicholas II''. Sutton Publishing, 2002. . *Willis, Daniel. ''The Romanovs in the 21st Century: a genealogical Biography''. VDM, 2009. . *Willis, Daniel. ''The Romanovs in the 21st Century: a genealogical Biography''. VDM, 2009. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sasso Ruffo, Elisabetta di 1886 births 1940 deaths British civilians killed in World War II Deaths by German airstrikes during The Blitz Duchesses in Italy House of Romanov in exile People from Kharkiv People from the Russian Empire of Italian descent Princesses of royal blood (Russia) Elisabetta Russian princesses by marriage White Russian emigrants to France White Russian emigrants to the United Kingdom