RUSSIAN ROYAL HOUSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19857, 30 January 1928, Page 9

RUSSIAN ROYAL HOUSE.

SON TO GRAND DUKE DMITRI. PRINCESS AN AMERICAN. (Received January 29, 5.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. LONDON. Jan. 28. Princess Anna Ilyinsky, the wife of the Grand Duke Dmitri, who is titular Tsar and head of the Russian Imperial Family, has given birth to a son in London. The Princess is a daughter of the late John Emery, an American millionaire leather merchant. As there is no issue of any other Grand Duke in direct succession, the Ilyinsky baby may some day be claimed tc be the legitimate heir to the Russian throne. Grand Duke Dmitri was exiled from Russia after the assassination of the monk Rasputin. He worked as a wine agent in Paris at a salary of £5 a week, and was a clerk in New York prior to his brilliant wedding at Biarritz. According to the Russian Royal code, the marriage is morganatic, and the bride could not become the Grand Duchess, but she was given the courtesy title of Princess. She is popular in London society, and is a first-class horsewoman.

The Grand Duke Dmitri, who played a prominent part in the death of Rasputin, was born near Moscow in September, 1891. His father was the Grand Duke Paul, who was murdered by the Bolsheviks on January 30, 1919, ancl who was an uncle of the Tsar Nicholas 11. and of the Grand Duke Cyril, who is thus a cousin of Dmitri. In 1918 ho was appointed an honorary captain in the British Army. In 1916 the name of the debauched and drunken monk Rasputin had become notorious. It was coupled not only with those of some of the ladies of the Court, but also with that of the Tsaritsa herself. At length it was determined to free Russia and the dytiiisty from his evil influence. A small group of men o: the highest social position—Dmitri, Prince Ynssupoff and Purishkevitch —invited Rasputin to supper at the Yussupoff Palace on December 16, 1916, and he was put to death. The presence of the young Grank Duke shielded those concerned, for the police, by Russian law, could not enter any place occupied by a member of the Imperial Family, and criminal proceedings were out of the question. Dmitri was sent to join the Russian troops fighting in Persia. In November, 1926. the Grand Duko married Miss Audrey Emery, daughter of the Into J. J. Emery, of New York. Her mother's second husband was the Hon. Alfred Anson, uncle of the Earl of Lich field whom she married in 1912.