MOSCOW, January 2. /TASS/. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev expressed his condolences over the death of Prince Dimitri Romanov, the oldest relative of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
The 90-year-old prince was taken to a hospital in Denmark last week suffering from serious health problems, his wife Princess Feodora said. He died on the evening of December 31.
"Accept my most sincere condolences over the death of Dimitry Romanovich Romanov. He was one of our most outstanding compatriots and, as the oldest in his family, he was by right the head of the Romanov Family Association," the Russian prime minister said in a telegram to Princess Feodora, published on the government’s website.
"During our meetings in person I realized again and again that he never distanced himself from Russia and always helped his motherland with real deeds," the telegram reads. "The Prince helped Russian hospitals and orphanages, was engaged in searching and returning cultural values to Russia, helped to preserve historical knowledge, first of all the heritage of the Russian Emperor’s family."
Dimitri Romanov was born on May 17, 1926, in Cap d'Antibes, France, where his parents lived in emigration. His father, Roman Petrovich Romanov, was the Emperor’s second cousin and godson.
A historian and a writer, Prince Dimitri lived in Denmark for the recent years where he headed a Romanov family’s charity foundation aimed at helping Russian hospitals and orphan homes. In October 2016, he came to Moscow for the last time to receive the Order of St. Alexander, a Russian state award, for his great contribution to the spread of the knowledge of Russia’s historical and cultural heritage.