On October 5 (October 18 in the 20^th and 21^st centuries, according to the Julian calendar), 1704, Tsar Peter I the Great appointed Aleksei Vasilievich Makarov (1675-1740) the head of the tsar’s field chancellery with the title “Secretary of the Sovereign’s Court.” Later, the title of the position that Makarov had occupied was changed to “Secretary to His Majesty” (beginning in 1710), “Secretary to His Majesty’s Cabinet” (from 1711), and “Secretary to the Privy Cabinet” (between 1722 and 1727). And while some researchers date the creation of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Cabinet to the 1720s (see, in Russian, https://runivers.ru/bookreader/book452046/#page/18/mode/1up), it can nonetheless be concluded with a high degree of certainty that it was as early as 1704 that the foundations were laid for the Sovereign’s personal Chancellery (Cabinet) as an independent institution, regardless of the size of its staff initially.

• Emperor Peter I the Great Emperor Peter I the Great
• Cabinet Secretary A. V. Makarov Cabinet Secretary A. V. Makarov
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The History of H.I.H.’s Chancellery

 

The Chancellery of His Imperial Majesty (now the Chancellery of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, or H.I.H.’s Chancellery) is an institution that provides administrative and organisational support for the activities of the Imperial House of Russia.

 

H.I.H.’s Chancellery is historically the successor of analogous institutions that produced official documentation and fulfilled a range of other functions for the Romanoff dynasty.

 

In the 17th century, the tsar’s personal chancellery was the Chamber (Prikaz) of Secret Affairs, which was formed out of the staff of clerks in the Chamber of the Grand Palace, who were in charge of the Sovereign’s correspondence. Over time, the Chamber’s portfolio expanded. In addition to maintaining correspondence, its staff ensured the safety of the tsar’s family, carried out charitable activities on behalf of the tsar, and dealt with economic and financial issues. The Chamber was located inside the tsar’s palace, and in it the tsar’s personal staff worked on a range of vital documents for the Sovereign himself. The Chamber of Secret Affairs operated until 1676.

 

Beginning in 1704, the Sovereign’s personal staff was reorganised into His Tsarist (after 1721: Imperial) Majesty’s Own Cabinet. The Cabinet was primarily responsible for governmental, military, and fiscal documents directly related to the activities of the tsar. The Cabinet maintained a “Journal”—a chronicle of court life and military events during the reign of Peter I the Great—it drafted Imperial manifestos and decrees, and it served as an archival repository of official correspondence on state, military and diplomatic issues, as well as state fiscal records. The Cabinet was abolished in 1727 and remained defunct until the reign of Empress Elizabeth. Reviving the traditions of her father, Empress Elizabeth reestablished the Cabinet as a functioning institution. It again became the office where documents on matters of state and the Imperial dynasty were composed and stored. During the reign of Empress Catherine II the Great, the significance of the Cabinet decreased, its functions being limited to the management of Imperial property. Gradually, however, it resumed its role as the personal office of the monarch. Thus, while the Cabinet lost some of its significance as a state institution, the Cabinet acquired enormous importance in the life of the dynasty itself, as evidenced by the personal participation of the Empress in its work.

 

The final status of this institution was fixed during the reign of Emperor Paul I, when His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery was founded, which then became the highest state institution under Emperor Alexander I during the French invasion of Russia in 1812.

 

The Chancellery was responsible for correspondence with the commander-in-chief of the Russian armies, recruiting and quartering Russian forces, handling issues related to prisoners of war, the managing the nation’s recovery from the devastation to Russia’s national economy caused by Bonapartist troops, and so on.

 

Up until the end of the reign of Emperor Alexander I (1825), His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery was administered by Count A. A. Arakcheev. The Emperor himself was the formal head of the Chancellery.

 

On January 31, 1826, the Chancellery was divided into two sections by Emperor Nicholas I. On July 3 of the same year, a Third Section was created; on October 26, 1828, a Fourth Section was added; on April 20, 1836, a Fifth; and on August 30, 1842, a Sixth.

 

The First Section of H.I.H. Own Chancellery handled reports from ministers, prepared draft Imperial manifestos and decrees, and personnel policy. After the closure of the Second and Third Sections by Emperor Alexander III by a decree dated February 22, 1882, the name of His Imperial Majesty’s Own Chancellery pertained only to the First Section. The First Section continued to exist and function until the revolution of 1917.

 

The activities of the Second Section centered around codification and other issues related to laws. Beginning in 1862, the Second Section reviewed all proposed legislation that had been prepared by the ministers in the State Council, and itself prepared important draft legislation. It was closed in 1882.

 

The Third Section handled issues of state security. On July 1, 1836, Emperor Nicholas I approved the Establishment of the Gendarme Corps, the executive body of the Third Section. The head of the Third Section was also the head of the Gendarme Corps. In 1880, following a report by Adjutant-General Count M. T. Loris-Melikov, the Third Section was abolished. Its portfolio was transferred to the Department of the Interior Police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

 

The Fourth Section emerged out of the personal Chancellery of Empress Maria Feodorovna in 1828, and in 1880 it was organised into an independent institution—Her Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery. In that form, the Fourth Section existed until 1917. It was active in leading and coordinating the charitable activities of the Russian Imperial House.

 

The Fifth Section (which operated from 1836 to 1866) and the Sixth Section (which operated from 1842 to 1845) were created to address specific issues: state peasants living in the St. Petersburg gubernia, and government policy in the Caucasus, respectively. Both were disbanded after having completed the tasks for which they were created.

 

In 1882, H.I.M.’s Own Chancellery abolished its separate sections and returned to it original structural form of a single bureau, though it nonetheless continued to occupy an important place in the governmental operations of the Russian Empire.

 

After the February Revolution of 1917 and the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II, the Chancellery continued to exist formally for only a little more than a month—until April 7, 1917. The Emperor and his Heir, Tsesarevich Aleksei Nikolaevich, were arrested on March 8, 1917, and then deprived of all administrative support for conducting even their own personal affairs. Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, who was next in line for the throne and who was recognised by other members of the Imperial House as the new Head of the dynasty, also had no personal chancellery staff.

 

At first, there was no chancellery to support the work of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, the next in line for the throne after Grand Duke Michael. Grand Duke Kirill had moved with his family from Petrograd to Finland in June 1917, and until 1922, there was no administrative support staff for the Russian Imperial House.

 

When in 1922, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich took on the title of Curator of the Imperial Throne, the need grew for a formal chancellery to coordinate and organise the dynasty’s official social and political activities. Grand Duke Kirill created the Chancellery of the Curator of the Imperial Throne, and its first head was General E. P. Dolivo-Dolinsky, who was replaced in May 1924 by Captain-Second-Rank G. K. Graf.

 

When on September 13, 1924, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich assumed the title of Emperor-in-Exile, the Chancellery’s name was correspondingly changed to His Imperial Majesty’s Chancellery. G. K. Graff remained in his position as its head through this change in name.

 

His Imperial Majesty’s Chancellery received the bulk of the correspondence from institutions and individuals who had the right to communicate directly with the Head of the dynasty (for example, members of the Russian Imperial House).

 

In addition to handling and preserving documents, the Chancellery also functioned as the press center of the Russian Imperial House. The head of the printing department at the Chancellery between 1926 and 1929 was Collegiate Counsellor G. Nemirovich-Danchenko. Beginning in 1929, the Chancellery published the periodical Communiqué (Opoveshchenie), edited by G. K. Graf, which printed edicts, decrees, and other official materials, as well as theoretical and historical articles. It also published collections of press materials drawn from other publications, which were sometimes accompanied by official responses from His Imperial Majesty’s Chancellery.

 

On July 1, 1930, by general order No. 242, Emperor Kirill Vladimirovich created the “Department for Policy Development Concerning Issues of State Building in His Imperial Majesty’s Chancellery,” which operated in line with by-laws that were approved at the same time. Emperor Kirill Vladimirovich appointed L. V. Bilinsky, a member of the then defunct Sovereign’s Conference (Gosudarevo soveshchanie), to head the new department.

 

The Chancellery also included an “Agricultural-Informational Department,” which was led until July 28, 1938, by V. N. Khrustalev, and subsequently by Prince A. N. Volkonsky.

 

The scope of work the Chancellery performed continued to increase steadily. It was impossible to manage all its tasks without a permanent staff. In addition to the head, the Chancellery employed a records manager, and the practice of “seconding” staff to the Chancellery on a temporary basis was also common.

 

Younger Russians who were members of the émigré Mladorossy Party played a large role in the work of the Chancellery, particularly from the late 1920s. For example, from February 4 to March 28, 1931, during the absence of G. K. Graf, his duties were performed by the General Secretary of the Union of Mladorossy, K. S. Elita-Vilchkovsky. The peak in the popularity and expansion of the Mladorossy Party came in 1935, when, with the permission of Kirill Vladimirovich, two members of the Imperial House became members: Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich (who became the Chairman of its General Council) and Prince of the Imperial Blood Dmitry Alexandrovich. After some time, Mladorossy party organizations and the institutions linked to and supported by the Russian Imperial House began to merge; and by Decree No. 149 of October 25, 1936, the Emperor permitted the head of the Chancellery, G. K. Graf, to “take upon himself the responsibilities for the administrative affairs of the said Party.” But less than a year later, the close connection between the Party and the Chancellery was deemed inappropriate, and G. K. Graf was recalled from his post as head of administrative affairs of the Mladorossy by Decree No. 157 of July 21, 1937.

 

After Emperor Kirill Vladimirovich’s death on October 12, 1938, his heir, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, decided not to use the Imperial title, to which he was entitled by law. In connection with this decision, His Imperial Majesty’s Chancellery was renamed by Decree No. 1 of October 30, 1938, to the Office for the Affairs of the Head of the Russian Imperial House. The renaming in no way affected either the personnel or the range of responsibilities with regard to document production and preservation that were by now traditional for the Chancellery. Captain 1st rank (from 1939, Rear Admiral) G. K. Graf continued as the head of the Office.

 

On the night of June 22-23, 1941, G. K. Graf was arrested by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich was forced to disband the Office and appoint G. K. Graf's assistant, Colonel D. L. Senyavin, as his personal secretary.

 

In 1944, the Nazi occupying authorities forced the Grand Duke to leave St.-Briac, and as a result the activities of his personal secretariat ceased.

 

The Chancellery of the Russian Imperial House was reestablished only in December 1948 with the active support of the Grand Duke’s wife, Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna. The first documents produced by the Chancellery after its reestablishment were all signed by Staff Captain M. K. Borel, who stepped in to assist with the Grand Duke’s administrative needs at the time.

 

An official appointment as head of the Chancellery came on July 24, 1949, when Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich addressed a letter to Major-General D. I. Oznobishin of the General Staff, who lived in Geneva, requesting him to “take on the interim position of head of Our Field Chancellery.”

 

G. K. Dvorzhitsky passed away in 1962. He was replaced by Captain N. E. Vuich (1962-1976), after whose death the Chancellery was headed by I. I. Bilibin (1976-1993). After his death, the post of the head of the Chancellery remained vacant until 2002. The Chancellery’s work with documents and correspondence was managed by the personal secretaries of the Imperial family: A. P. Radashkevich (1991-1996) and A. N. Zakatov (from 1997 to the present).

 

In 1997, the Chancellery was renamed the Chancellery of the Head of the Imperial House of Russia.

 

On January 17, 2003, the Chancellery was registered in the Russian Federation as a “Non-profit organization” under the legal name Chancellery of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, Her Imperial Highness The Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna (H.I.H.’s Chancellery). The title of the Chancellery’s head was changed in its legal charter from “head” to “Director.”

 

The formal founder and actual head of H.I.H.’s Chancellery is the Head of the Imperial House of Russia, and the duties of executive director are handled by the Director himself.

 

The range of activities of H.I.H.’s Chancellery includes facilitating the Russian Imperial House’s engagement in the public life of Russia. According to its charter, H.I.H.’s Chancellery handles all administrative matters related to the social, charitable and other activities of the Russian Imperial House; establishes and maintains contacts with government agencies, religious, socio-political, charitable and other organisations, and the media and individuals on behalf of the Head of the Russian Imperial House; conducts historical and legal research in support of the Russian Imperial House and its role in Russian history; gathers information on the attitude of Russian society towards the Russian Imperial House and its activities in Russia and abroad; conducts opinion surveys; offers comments and responses on issues of the day; disseminates information about the life and activities of the Russian Imperial House; publishes appeals, statements, and other public documents from the Head and members of the Russian Imperial House; reviews and, when appropriate, approves requests for confirmation of noble status, titles and coats of arms; prepares the documentation for awarding Russian Imperial and Royal Orders of Chivalry; hosts a range of social, cultural, and educational events; and publishes works related to the history and current status of the Imperial House (such as books, news pieces, and academic journal articles).

 

* * *

 

The Heads of H.I.H.’s Chancellery

 

Evgenii Petrovich Dolivo-Dolinsky (1874-1951). Major-General of the General Staff. He graduated from the Moscow Military Academy (1897). He first served in the 5th Kiev Grenadier Regiment, then in the Life Guards Petrograd Regiment. He was a graduate of the Imperial General Staff Academy. He served as the Senior Adjutant on the staff of the 29th Infantry Division (1911), and Assistant to the Senior Adjutant on the staff of the Kyiv Military District (1911). He received the Imperial and Royal Order of St. Stanislav III class (1912). During World War I, he served as the acting head of the Directorate of the Quartermaster General Staff of the Southwestern Front. He was promoted quickly up the ranks: to Lieutenant Colonel (1914), then Colonel (1915), and then Major General (January 1917). While living in exile in France, he served as the head of the Chancellery of the Curator of the Imperial Throne, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, from 1922 to 1924. He was the Chairman of the Grenadier Association, and a member of the Paris Branch of the Association of the Life Guards Petrograd Regiment. He died in Paris and was buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève des Bois.

 

Harald (George, in Orthodox baptism) Karlovich (1885-1966)—known best as G. K. Graf. Rear Admiral, head of the Chancellery of the Curator of the Imperial Throne in 1924, of the Chancellery of His Imperial Majesty from 1924 to 1938, and of the Office for the Affairs of the Head of the Russian Imperial House from 1938 to 1941. He was a career naval officer and Finnish by origin. He was a classmate of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich: they attended lectures together in the winter of 1911-1912 at the Imperial Naval Academy. G. K. Graf moved from Finland to Munich in early 1922. He met General V. V. Biskupsky and the former army commander under Admiral A. V. Kolchak, General K. V. Sakharov, who were close to Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich. General Sakharov introduced Graf to the legitimist monarchist movement in November 1922. In June 1924, he was the effective head of the Chancellery of the Custodian of the Imperial Throne. He assisted in the writing of Kirill Vladimirovich’s Manifesto announcing his assumption of the title Emperor (1924). He remained at the Chancellery until the death of the Emperor-in-Exile and during the first years of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich as Head of the Imperial House. In 1932, he was awarded the Imperial Monogram, I Class. In 1935-1937, he served as the head of administrative affairs of the Mladorossy Party. On June 22, 1941, he was arrested by the German occupation authorities and imprisoned in a concentration camp. Under pressure from the Germans, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich was forced to relieve him of his post in the Office for the Affairs of the Head of the Russian Imperial House. After World War II, he retired from active work. He was the author of the books Onboard the Novik; Sailors; his memoirs, entitled In the Service of the Russian Imperial House, 1917-1941; and several separate brochures and historical articles. He died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA).

 

Dmitrii Lvovich Senyavin (1886-1952). Colonel, personal secretary of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich (from 1941). He was born on September 1, 1886, and graduated from the Don Cadet Corps (in 1906) and the Elisabethgrad Cavalry Academy (in 1908). He served as an officer in the 10^th Uhlan Regiment and as captain of His Imperial Majesty’s Crimean Cavalry Regiment. He served during the Russian Civil War (in the Army of the Don); and in 1918 in the headquarters of the Great Don Host. He was His Imperial Majesty’s representative in Abyssinia (decree no. 86, dated September 8, 1930). He was promoted to colonel on November 12, 1930, and was awarded the Imperial Monogram, II Class in 1932. He was received in audience in Saint-Briac in 1937 and made a good impression on Emperor-in-Exile Kirill Vladimirovich. In April 1938, he was invited to return to Saint-Briac to serve as the assistant to G. K. Graf and to attend to the secretarial needs of the by-then seriously ill Emperor Kirill Vladimirovich. He remained G. K. Graf’s deputy after the Emperor’s death. He was appointed to the post of personal secretary to Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich in 1941 after the arrest of Rear Admiral G. K. Graf and the closing of the Office for the Affairs of the Head of the Russian Imperial House by the Germans. He took a pro-German stance generally, but was unable to convince Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich to issue public statements in support of the Nazis. On specific instructions from Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, he helped Soviet prisoners of war in the POW camps in Saint-Malo and on Jersey Island. He served as the Grand Duke’s personal secretary until 1944, when Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, under pressure from the German authorities, moved to Paris and then to Germany. After 1945, Senyavin emigrated to Argentina. He died in Buenos Aires.

 

Mikhail Konstantinovich Borel (1895-1979). Staff officer in Her Imperial Majesty’s Life Guards Uhlan Regiment. He graduated from the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute and the Nikolaev Cavalry School. He fought in the Russian Civil War, then emigrated to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Beginning in 1943, he was living in Germany. He served as the interim head of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich’s Field Chancellery from 1948 to 1949. In 1949, he emigrated to Argentina. He died in Buenos Aires

 

Dmitry Ivanovich Oznobishin (1869-1956). Major-General on the General Staff. He graduated from the Alexander Lyceum, then joined the Grodno Regiment as a volunteer. He was made an officer and was transferred to the Kuban Cossack Host. He graduated from the Imperial Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. He participated in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in China (1900); and before First World War, he was the assistant to the Russian military attaché in Paris. After emigrating abroad, he served as the chairman of the Union of Officers in Paris, and from 1949 to 1952, he headed His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich's Field Chancellery. He was a collector of historical artifacts and the founder of the Museum of the Life Guards Ataman Regiment in Paris. He died in Geneva (Switzerland).

 

Georgii Konstantinovich Dvorzhitsky (1887-1962). Colonel, head of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich’s Field Chancellery from 1952 to 1962. He graduated from the Corps of Pages (1906) and the General Staff Academy (1912). He served as colonel and company commander of Her Imperial Majesty’s Life Guards Uhlan Regiment. He fought in the Russian Civil War (in the Combined Guards Cavalry Regiment of the Army of the South). He emigrated to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. He was a musician and composer, the author of march music for the Corps of the Imperial Army and Navy (the KIAiF). In 1936 he was awarded Emperor-in-Exile Kirill’s Imperial Monogram, II Class. He served in the Russian Expeditionary Corps. After the war he moved to Spain, and then to France. He served as the head of the regional branch of the KIAiF. Beginning 1952, he served as acting head, then head, of the His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich’s Field Chancellery. In 1953, he was awarded the Imperial Monogram, II Class, of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, and in 1960, the I Class. He was married to Ekaterina Sergeevna (née Countess Lamsdorf-Galagan). He died and was buried in Saint-Briac (France).

 

Nikolai Emmanuilovich Vuich (1897-1976). Count, cavalry captain, and head of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich’s Field Chancellery from 1962 to 1976. He was a descendant of an ancient Serbian family that had entered state service in Russia in the eighteenth century. He fought in the First World War and in the Russian Civil War. He was a leading figure in the émigré legitimist movement. In 1951, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich awarded him the Imperil Monogram, II Class, and in 1968 he received it in the I Class. In 1976, in recognition of his 50 years of faithful service to Emperor-in-Exile Kirill Vladimirovich and to his son, the Head of the Russian Imperial House Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, he was given the title of Count of the Russian Empire and awarded the Imperial Order of St. Andrew the First Called. He was tragically killed in Brussels in an automobile accident.

 

Ivan Ivanovich Bilibin (1908-1993). Head of His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich’s Field Chancellery from 1976 to 1992. He was the son of the famed Russian artist Ivan Bilibin. In 1914 he and his mother and brother Alexander (1903-1935) emigrated from Russia. He lived in Great Britain, and in the 1920s and 1930s he studied at Oxford University and was an active member of the Russian monarchist movement and member of the Mladorossy Party. In 1936, Emperor Kirill Vladimirovich awarded him the Imperial Monogram, II Class. In 1951, he received from Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich the Imperial Monogram, II Class, and in 1976, he received it in the I Class. He served as the head of the Chancellery of the Head of the Imperial House Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna from 1992 to 1993. He accompanied the Imperial family on its trip to Russia in 1992 for the burial of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirilloivch. He was awarded the Imperial Order of St. Andrew the First Called (1993) and died in Reading (Great Britain).

 

Alexander Pavlovich Radashkevich (b. 1950). Personal secretary of the Imperial family from 1991 to 1996. A poet, translator, and essayist, he emigrated from the USSR to the USA in 1978, and in 1983 he moved to Paris. He worked at the newspaper Russian Thought (Russkaia mysl’). He was introduced to the Head of the House of Romanoff, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, in 1991 and was soon appointed his personal secretary. In 1992, Grand Duke Vladimir awarded him the Imperial Monogram, II Class, and in 1996, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna awarded him the Imperial Monogram, I Class.

 

Alexander Nikolaevich Zakatov (b. 1972). PhD and Associate Professor. He graduated from the Institute of Historical and Archival Studies of the Russian State Humanities University and from the Graduate School of the Russian State Humanities University. Since 2001, he has taught at the Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography (the former Imperial Constantine Institute for Surveyors). He has served as the personal secretary of the Imperial family since 1997 (to the present time), and as the Director of the Chancellery of the Head of the Russian Imperial House since 2002 (to the present time). He has been an active figure in the legitimist monarchist movement in Russia since 1987. In 1996, he was awarded the Imperial Monogram, II Class by Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna. In 2001, he was awarded the Imperial Monogram I Class.