Paul Dmitrievich Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (January 27, 1928 – February 10, 2004) was a three-time

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from West Palm Beach, Florida, West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach, Florida, ...

, and the only child of

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia (; 18 September 1891 – 5 March 1942) was a son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Tsar Alexander II of Russia and a first cousin of Tsar Nicholas II, Marie of Edinburgh (consort o ...

and his

morganatic Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

wife,

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

heiress

Audrey Emery Anna Audrey Emery (January 4, 1904 – November 25, 1971) was an American Beneficiary, heiress and socialite who was the wife of one of the last Russian grand dukes. Early life Audrey was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on 4 January 1904. She was t ...

. He was a great-grandson of Tsar

Alexander II of Russia Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Poland and Grand Du ...

and, following the death of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich in 1992, the heir-male

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

(a position now held by his elder son), a

first cousin once removed A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, c ...

Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

, first cousin of

Lennart Bernadotte Prince Lennart Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (born Prince Lennart of Sweden, Duke of Småland; 8 May 1909 – 21 December 2004) was a Swedish-German landscaper, filmmaker, photographer and was a grandson of King Gustaf V of Sweden. He was also the ...

and the second cousin of

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

Early life

Prince Paul Romanovsky-Ilyinsky was born on 27 January 1928 at his parents' home, 26

Manchester Square Manchester Square is an 18th-century garden square in Marylebone, central London. Centred north of Oxford Street it measures internally north-to-south, and across. It is a small Georgian square, predominantly 1770s-designed. Construction ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. His father, Grand Duke Dmitri, as a direct consequence of his involvement in the murder of

Grigori Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin ( – ) was a Russian Mysticism, mystic and faith healer. He is best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II of Russia, Nicholas II, the last Emperor of all the Russias, Emperor of Russia, th ...

in 1916, had been sent to the

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

n front, which ultimately saved his life, as many of his Imperial relatives were executed by the

Bolshevik 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, ...

s during 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 ...

. Dmitri, who was working as a

champagne Champagne (; ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

salesman, married Cincinnati heiress

in 1926.

Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich of Russia Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia (; ''Kirill Vladimirovich Romanov''; – 12 October 1938) was a son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Emperor Alexander II and a first cousin of Nicholas II, Russia's last ...

, Dmitri's cousin and the self-proclaimed emperor in exile, elevated Grand Duke Dmitri's wife and their descendants to Russian princely () rank (rank of nobility, not royalty). Any children the couple would have would be known as Romanovsky-Ilyinsky, the latter half of the surname derived from Dmitri's former property in Russia, Ilinskoe. Ilynskiy's parents were divorced in 1937, and Ilyinsky was raised by his mother, who mostly lived in France. That same year, she married her second husband, Prince

Dimitri Djordjadze Prince Dimitri Aleksandrovich Jorjadze ( ka, დიმიტრი ჯორჯაძე) (26 October 189826 October 1985) was a Georgian nobleman, Ambassador Hotel executive, and race car driver. Biography Dimitri (Mito) Jorjadze was born in ...

, a member of a Georgian princely house; they also later divorced. Dmitri Pavlovich's health had always been somewhat frail, and in the 1930s, his chronic

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

became acute, leading to his death in 1942.

Education and career

Ilyinsky, who was a

U.S. citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Consti ...

, attended

Woodberry Forest School Woodberry Forest School is a private, all-male boarding school located in Woodberry Forest, Madison County, Virginia, in the United States. Woodberry's current enrollment is 391. Students come from 34 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and 36 coun ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

, England, before joining the

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

. He served with distinction as a

combat photographer War photography involves photographing armed conflict and its effects on people and places. Photographers who participate in this genre may find themselves placed in harm's way, and are sometimes killed trying to get their pictures out of the war ...

in the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

and retired a lieutenant colonel. He graduated from the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

in 1953. Ilyinsky lived in

for about 20 years, serving on the board of the company founded by his mother's family, Emery Industries, and working as an author and photographer. In 1980, he returned to

, where he had lived before moving to Cincinnati. He served on the Palm Beach Council for 10 years and was mayor for three terms as Republican candidate. He resigned for health reasons in 1999. Ilyinsky died at his home in

, on February 10, 2004.Paul Ilyinsky descended from Russia's Romanovs
/ref>

Personal life

Ilyinsky was married twice; he married his first wife, Mary Evelyn Prince in 1948 (annulment in 1951), and married his second wife, Angelica Philippa Kauffmann in 1953. Ilyinsky had four children: * Dimitri Pavlovich Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (May 1, 1954) married Martha McDowell on September 22, 1979, and has issue: **Catherine (Russian Name: Екатерина) Adair Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (August 4, 1981) married Bradley Goodyear in 2013. ** Victoria Bayard Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (November 23, 1984) married Mbeke Yves Binda in 2013. ** Lela McDowell Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (August 26, 1986) * Paula Maria Pavlovna Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (May 18, 1956) married Mark Comisar on May 31, 1980. * Anna Pavlovna Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (September 4, 1958) married Robin de Young on May 9, 1980 and they were divorced in 1990. * Michael Pavlovich Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (November 2, 1959) married Paula Maier in 1989 and they were divorced in 1996, and has issue: ** Alexis Vasilisa Mikhailovna Romanovsky-Ilyinsky (March 1, 1994).

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilyinsky, Paul Mayors of places in Florida House of Romanov in exile American people of Russian descent 1928 births 2004 deaths United States Marine Corps officers Woodberry Forest School alumni Florida Republicans Politicians from Palm Beach, Florida University of Virginia alumni 20th-century Florida politicians