Dear Countrymen!

With enormous heartfelt joy, I want to share with You news of an important event in the life of Our Dynasty. On 9 April, My Son and Heir, the Pious GRAND DUKE GEORGII MIKHAILOVICH, who last year reached His Dynastic Majority, took the oath of loyalty established by Our family Laws to the Fatherland and to Me as Head of the Russian IMPERIAL House. The Ceremony took place in Jerusalem, in the Patriarchal residence, where the GRAND DUKE stood before His Beatitude Patriarch DIODOR.

Recently, we have endured many bitter pains, which have been brought to Us from Russia on account of reports from certain quarters of society containing inaccurate interpretations of Our intentions. These reports have even gone so far as to suggest that the oath of the GRAND DUKE to serve the Fatherland was actually an attempt to organize something resembling a coronation, or, in any case, a kind of political act that would precede the establishment of the Monarchy against the will of the people. We are deeply grieved by such deceptive claims. Being called by God to embrace the laws and duties of Our Imperial Ancestors, We always remain prepared to answer the call of the people, but will never force ourselves on our countrymen. Whatever shall be the future of the monarchical governmental tradition in Russia, We shall unwaveringly fulfill our duty to the Motherland, using all Our capacities and offering all Our strength for its welfare. I know that the majority of Russians correctly understand Our mission, and the best evidence of this were the numerous congratulations and good wishes, so dear to Our hearts, that were extended to Us from all corners of Russia on the day My Son was born.

I have never doubted the sincerity of the relationship of the people toward Our House, but not wishing in the slightest degree to cause scandal, I made the decision to postpone the oath for the most opportune time, when passions will have subsided. I believed that the Lord will help Us and will show Us the true course to take. Now, by the ineffable grace of God, Our faith has been rewarded.

For the first time in the history of Russia, the Heir Tsesarevich has taken His oath in the Holy Land, where the Savior preached, accepted the cross, and was resurrected. It is also enormously significant to Us that the Witness to GRAND DUKE GEORGII MIKHAILOVICH’s oath was His Beatitude Patriarch Priest DIODOR, a leading hierarch of the Holy Church and a strict Guardian of the purity of Orthodoxy. His blessings and prayers will strengthen the GRAND DUKE for the fulfillment of the sacred duty to maintain the Orthodox Faith, to serve the Russian People, and to preserve the inviolable legal foundations of the Romanoff Dynasty.

In these days, I ask all My countrymen to intensify their prayers for My Son and never to forget that the Russian IMPERIAL House lives on and acts only for the sake of the rebirth of the grandeur and glory of Russia and the blessing of her peoples.

(The original is signed in Her Imperial Highness’s own hand:)

Maria

Issued in Jerusalem

9 April 1998

(Identical to the original:)

Zakatov

Private Secretary of the Imperial family