I announce with deep regret the death on 24 July of this year of My Beloved second Cousin, His Highness Prince Vasilii Alexandrovich.
The late Prince was, beside Me, the last male Member of the Russian Imperial House who had the right to succeed to the Throne. With His death, in accordance with the State Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, the succession to the Throne passes after Me to the female line of Our Family, and according to these same Laws, the Senior person in order of succession to the Throne in the female line is My Daughter, Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Wladimirovna.
When, on 23 December 1969, My Daughter reached Her dynastic majority, I considered it necessary to take steps to guard Her rights to the succession to the Throne from any infringements, wherever they might come from, and to establish that, in the event that My death should follow the death of another male Representative of the Dynasty, that My Daughter should become the Curatrix of the Russian Imperial Throne in accordance with, in the example of, and with the prerogatives accruing to the institution of a Regency, provided for by the Fundamental Laws.
Now, with the demise of all male Members of the Imperial House besides Me, and in view of the absence of any descendants from them who would have the right to the succession to the Throne, the necessity of establishing a Curatorship of the Throne after My death has fallen upon My Daughter, who will be My Heiress as Head of the Imperial House.
We pray to the Almighty that, when the hour arrives for My Daughter to take from Me all the rights and duties of the Head of the Imperial House, He will grant to Her the strength and the ability to fulfill the important responsibility that has been set before Her and that She will successfully carry the high responsibilities of the Heiress of Our Crown-Bearing Ancestors; and that the Most High will after Her similarly bless Her Most Beloved Son and Our Grandson, His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Georgii Mikhailovich.
(The original is signed in His Imperial Highness’s own hand:)
Wladimir
25 July 1989