by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Prince Peter Romanoff, a great-great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, is the heir to his half-brother Prince Alexis Romanoff, currently one of the disputed pretenders to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family.

The Headship of the Russian Imperial Family and succession to the former Russian throne has been in dispute, mainly due to disagreements over whether marriages in the Romanov family were equal marriages – a marriage between a Romanov dynast and a member of a royal or sovereign house. Peter’s father Prince Andrew Romanoff inherited the claim after the death of Prince Dimitri Romanov who had no sons. With his death, the male line of Dmitri’s Nikolavevichi Branch of the Russian Imperial Family descended from Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaevich of Russia, a son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, became extinct, transferring the claim to the Mikhailovichi Branch, descended from Grand Duke Michael Nicolaevich of Russia, a son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. Andrew was also the great-grandson of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, through their elder daughter Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia.

Andrew Romanoff, born Prince Andrew Romanov, died on November 28, 2021, two months short of his 99th birthday at an assisted living center in San Anselmo, California after a long illness. His eldest son Prince Alexis Romanoff, known as Alex, then inherited his claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family. All descendants of the Russian Imperial House, except for rival claimant Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and her son Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, recognized Alex’s claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family. Since Alex has no children, the heir to his claim is his half-brother Prince Peter Romanoff.

Prince Peter Romanoff was born in 1961 in San Francisco, California. He is the elder of the two sons of Prince Andrew Romanoff and his second wife Kathleen Norris (1935 – 1967) who died from pneumonia. Peter’s father dropped his royal style and title when he came to the United States in 1949, calling himself Andrew Romanoff. Peter’s paternal grandparents were Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia and his first wife Duchess Elisabetta Sasso-Ruffo Di Sant Antimo. His maternal grandparents were Dr. Frank Norris and Alice McCreery. Peter is the great-grandchild of Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia (the daughter of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Dagmar of Denmark, known as Maria Feodorovna after her marriage) and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia (the grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia).

Peter has one younger brother:

• Prince Andrew Romanoff (born 1963), married Elizabeth Flores, had one daughter

Peter has one elder half-brother from his father’s first marriage to Elena Konstantinovna Durnova:

Since 1980, Peter has worked as an auto technician at several garages in Marin County, California. On May 2, 2009, in Marin County, California, Peter married Barbara Anne Jurgens (born 1968). The couple has no children. Peter’s younger brother Andrew is second in the line of succession to the claim to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family.

Peter has been a member of the Romanov Family Association since 1996. His aunt Princess Olga Romanoff has been president of the Romanov Family Association since 2017. On July 17, 1998, together with other members of the Romanov family, Peter attended the reburial of the remains of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, his wife and three daughters, and their servants at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. In September 2006, Alex attended all the events related to the transfer of the remains of his great-great-grandmother Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark from Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia where she was interred next to her husband.

The headship of the House of Romanov has been contested since the death of the last undisputed male dynast Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia in 1992. Upon his death, competing claims over the headship of the House of Romanov emerged between Prince Nicholas Romanov and Grand Duke Vladimir’s daughter Maria Vladimirovna. Prince Nicholas’ claim was based on a 1911 Ukase issued by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia that the equal marriage rule applied only to Grand Dukes (the sons and grandsons of an emperor) and that princes (the great-grandsons onward of an emperor) could marry women of “good standing” for their marriage to be dynastic and therefore transmit succession and dynastic rights to their children, and that women, namely Maria Vladimirovna, could succeed only on the total extinction of the male line. The Romanov Family Association recognized Prince Nicholas Romanov as the senior male dynastic representative and head of the family on December 31, 1992, in Paris, France and this was symbolically re-confirmed on Russian soil after the state burial of Emperor Nicholas II and his family in 1998. The Romanov Family Association further stated that they consider the marriage of Maria Vladimirovna’s parents to be unequal. (See Maria Vladimirovna’s article for more information.)

Peter’s brother Alex and his predecessors Prince Nicholas Romanov, Prince Dmitri Romanov, and Prince Andrew Romanoff have not acted for the restoration of the monarchy or engaged in dynastic activities such as the distribution of Russian imperial titles and orders. Maria Vladimirovna claims the status of de jure Empress of All Russia, styles herself as Grand Duchess and her son as Grand Duke and Tsarevich, the title of the heir apparent, and actively distributes the Russian imperial orders, all of which have been condemned by the Romanov Family Association.

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• Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Prince Alexis Romanoff, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/prince-alexis-romanoff/ (Accessed: 20 August 2023).
• Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Andrew Romanoff, born Prince Andrew Romanov, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/andrew-romanoff-born-prince-andrew-romanov/ (Accessed: 20 August 2023).
• Massie, Robert K. (1995) The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. New York: Random House
• Peter Romanoff – Auto Technician – Chedas Garage | linkedin. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-romanoff-1b127047 (Accessed: 20 August 2023).
• Романов, Алексей Андреевич (великий князь) (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87_(%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D0%BD%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8C) (Accessed: 20 August 2023).
• The Romanov Family Association. Available at: http://www.romanovfamily.org/index.html (Accessed: 20 August 2023)