A Statement from the Chancellery of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna
TheRussian Imperial House is a non-partisan national historical institution that serves the cause of national unity and for reasons of principle does not participate in political activities of any kind. TheLegitimistmovement, whichunitespeoplewhoarecommittedtothe ideals and spiritual values of the Russian Imperial House, are similarly obliged to adhere to this position.
Individuals, organizations, and media outlets that declare their loyalty to the Russian Imperial House are in no way whatsoever restrained in their constitutional freedoms to express their political sympathies and preferences, may be members of various political parties, can support or not support candidates for elections on all levels, can participate in discussions on any issues of the day, and so on. However, they must do so only as private individuals, exercising their own personal civil rights, and not embroiling the Legitimist movement in inter-party disputes and not permitting their own personal statements to be construed as representing the views of the Russian Imperial House or as being approved by the Russian Imperial House.
Unfortunately, there have been instances when this firm rule has been violated. A particularly critical situation has arisen with the “Legitimist,” the on-line media outlet of the Russian Imperial Union-Order. The publication of wildly irresponsible, inflammatory, provocative, excessively politicized articles—articles that disregard the instructions of the Russian Imperial House and sometimes are simply insulting, and moreover are often in the form of draft declarations—has now become routine. This situation cannot be tolerated, especially from a media outlet that calls itself “Legitimist”, that is, that claims to express the views of the Legitimist movement.
By order of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H., Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna, the Chancellery of Her Imperial Highness publicly declares to all whom this concerns, that the Russian Imperial Union-Order’s website “Legitimist” does not in any way whatsoever express the position of the Russian Imperial House and of the Legitimist movement overall. All relations between the institutions of the Russian Imperial House with this webpage, which were suspended in May 2011, are from now on officially terminated.
This Statement is to be published in full in all Legitimist media outlets, both electronic and print, and distributed by Legitimists to all friendly and neutral social organizations and news resources.
A.N. Zakatov
Director of H.I.H.’s Chancellery
Moscow, January 18, 2012
See also the text of “A Statement from the Chancellery of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna”: in Russian: http://www.imperialhouse.ru/rus/allnews/news/2012/3000.html