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Crimea and Sevastopol

Prince Dmitry Romanov to visit Crimea first time since reunification with Russia

At present, the prince’s family lives in Denmark

PARIS, August 23 /TASS/. Prince Dmitry Romanov, the oldest relative of the late Russian Tsar Nicholas II (Romanov), will visit Crimea next week.

In an interview with TASS he said that he was happy to have an opportunity to visit the peninsula, he told TASS adding that many episodes in the history of the Russian Imperial House were closely linked to Crimea.

Prince Dmitry Romanov said that he was planning to visit the Livadia Palace where a monument to Nicholas II was unveiled this summer and the Dulber Palace, which was the summer residence of his grandfather - Pyotr Nikolayevich, the inspector general of Russian engineering troops.

"I hope that I will realize my lifelong dream to visit Sevastopol, the city of Russian naval glory," Dmitry Romanov said. His grand uncle, Great Prince Nikolay Nikolayevich (Great Prince Nikolai Romanov Jr.), the commander-in-chief of the Russian army and naval forces, used to be the honorary citizen of Sevastopol.

"A bottle with Crimean soil has been kept in our house as a relic for decades. My father Roman Petrovich, the prince of imperial blood, the second cousin and godson of the last Russian emperor, took it away with him when he was parting with Russia," Dmitry Romanov said adding that his father remembers that parting all his life as a fatal moment.

"In April 1919, he stood on the deck of a cruiser for a long time peering at the Crimean coast. He never had a chance to return to Crimea. So, my trip is going to be a tribute to the older generation of our family, to all my relatives," Dmitry Romanov went on to say.

He knows Crimea very well from his father’s memories and recollections. The family spent the winter months in their palace in St. Petersburg and moved to Dulber in Crimea for the summer months. In 1911, they organized a ball in Dulber at the request of Empress Alexandra where the young Romanovs were the main guests.

"My father and Great Princess Olga, the tsar’s eldest daughter, opened the ball, one of the last before WWI broke out," he said.

At present, the prince’s family lives in Denmark. Initially, the representative of the Romanov House was supposed to pay a visit to Crimea, the first since the peninsula’s reunification with Russia, on August 25-28.

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Crimea and Sevastopol

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