Their behavior has indeed been malicious. It has not been until now that we clearly realize their ulterior motives and reasons to be with the ROCOR until the 80s/90s. They knew that for the émigrés the MP would not have been a good choice, and that the legitimacy of Church in Exile was far greater than the one of the Paris Jurisdiction or the Metropolia (never a choice, I will say).
I have also noticed the lack of piety and reverence of the Kirillovichi (both the father and relatives) in official and non official photographs and videos. How different their behavior from Princess Vera Kontantinovna’s or other Russian royals and nobles!!!
I am sorry for the confusion, but the one that was against the marriage was Princess Helen of Greece, formerly Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, aunt of Kirill Vladimirovich. She was a fierce supporter of the Synod and a great enemy of the Paris Jurisdiction as well as of the MP. I seem to recall that she was friends with many of the ROCOR bishops, especially Metropolitan Antonii, and that she was very upset when the division created by Metropolitan Evlogii took place, threatening her relatives and letting them know that they shouldn’t attend those churches; something similar was done by Grand Duchess Ksenia Aleksandrova, the Tsar’s elder sister. Grand Duchess Elena was very proud and conscious of her state, just like her mother, Maria Pavlovna (who by the way, did become Orthodox towards the end of her life, I believe in 1906 or so; it was Grand Duchess Elizabeta Mavrikievna, the mother of the “Konstantinovichi”, who remained Lutheran through her life) and was not very pleased that her nephew and heir to the pretensions of her brother was marrying someone below his rank and I assume that neither the ROCOR nor the Evlogians wanted to get into her disfavor, knowing the dubious background of the bride to be.
I feel bad about Georgii Mixailovich … always trying to please mom and grandma, and having a thousand headaches thinking of whom to marry (although he is not old, he is not getting any younger, and time does fly), since on him rests the hopes of the Vladimirovichi/Kirillovichi clan.
I believe Victoria Melita (“Ducky”), also known later on as Viktoria Feodorovna, was baptized in the Church of England, since her father was the son of Queen Victoria.
Most of the intelligentsia were part of the “rue Daru” people since it was not only convenient but fashionable. You have to remember that the church building itself is quite grandiose, and Russian nobles and aristocrats of the XIX and XX centuries were not that religious at all and saw the Church as a place where to show off and to belong and attend it a patriotic thing to do. Not all were like that, but it was the common position of the intelligentsia. St. Alexander Nesvkii Church in Paris (12 rue Daru) was the obvious see of the local Russian hierarch, therefore the reason of Metropolitan Evlogii and his successors to take residence there.
