Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna [daughter of Emperor Alexander II], later Duchess of Edinburgh and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with her daughter Princess Victoria Melita (right) and her son-in-law Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich.
Recall that on 8th October 1905, Kirill entered into an incestuous marriage [forbidden by the Russian Orthodox Church] with the divorced Victoria Melita. The couple wed without the formal approval of Britain’s King Edward VII (as the Royal Marriages Act 1772 would have required), and in defiance of Emperor Nicholas II by not obtaining his consent.
The marriage caused a scandal within the Russian Imperial Family, as well as in the Royal Courts of Europe and Great Britain.
Grand Duchess Maria A;exandrovna wrote to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, that she felt «responsible for having arranged the marriage of Ducky and Kirill,» a decision she later regretted.
