Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia
George Mikhailovich of Russia, Georgiy Mikhailovich Romanov (Георгии Михаилович Романов) (born June 22, 1982) is the Heir apparent to the disputed Headship of the Imperial Family of Russia, and claims the titles Tsarevich and Grand Duke of Russia. He has all his life been styled His Imperial Highness Grand Duke George Mikhailovitch of Russia, apparently by grant of his maternal grandfather. George also claims the title Prince of Prussia.
He was born in 1982, the son of HRH prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia (at the time styled HIH Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovitch of Russia) and HIH Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia. He has lived in France and in Spain.
On April 21, 1992, upon the death of his maternal grandfather Grand Duke Vladimir of Russia, his mother succeeded as the Head of the Imperial Family of Russia, making him heir-apparent and Tsarevitch. However, this claim to the throne is not uncontested; "Prince" Nicholas Romanov was elected President of the Romanov Family Association and is considered by the Association as the true Head. Nicholas is a male-line descendant of Nicholas I of Russia and so his adherents claim that he has a better right to the throne as he is of unbroken male line Romanov descent. However, Nicholas is actually the product of a marriage contrary to Dynastic Law of Imperial Russia (morganatic marriage) and therefore ineligible to succeed to the throne under the Russian succession law. Another, even more relevant heir would be Michael Andreyevich Romanov (b 1920) who has not staked a public claim.
George is technically the only person in the line of succession of his mother; in Semi-Salic law, if they are available, only the male-line descendants of the last female ruler are included in the line of succession. However, if George were to die before his mother, then the line of succession would then include all the male line descendants of George's great-aunt, HSH Princess Maria of Leiningen.
At the time of George's birth (as was until Vladimir's death), the official succession consisted of no one (George was only in the "hidden" part of the succession, not in the official line), since only male heirs are included in the line in Semi-Salic Law. However, his mother was the heiress-presumptive and George was technically second-in-line.
In 1996, when he, his mother, and his grandmother Leonida returned to Russia after living in Madrid, one of President of Russia Boris Yeltsin's former bodyguards was assigned as tutor to the 15-year-old prince.
When asked by reporters if he expected the monarchy in Russia to be restored some day, he replied, "I hope so."
George is the 109th heir in the Line of Succession to the British Throne.