House of Romanov

The House of Romanov was the ruling family of Russia from 1613 to 1917. The first Romanov tsar was Michael I. His line ended with Empress Elizabeth, who died 1762. The succeeding Holstein-Gottrop family was renamed as "Romanov" and is generally treated as a continuation of the dynasty. The last tsar was Nicholas II, who abdicated in 1917 at the start of the Russian Revolution.

Tsars of Russia (1613-1917)

• Michael (r. 1613 - 1645), son of the patriarch of Moscow. He was chosen tsar by a Zemsky Sobor (assembly of the land).
• Alexis (r. 1645 - 1676)
• Feodor III (r. 1676 - 1682)
• Ivan V (r. 1682 - 1696)
• Peter I (r. 1682 - 1725), byname "Peter the Great." First tsar to be proclaimed emperor (1721). The succession law of 1722 provides that a tsar name his successor.
• Catherine I (r. 1725 - 1727, co reigned from 1724 - 1725)
• Anna of Russia (r. 1730 - 1740)
• Ivan VI (r. 1740 - 1741)
• Elizabeth (r. 1741 - 1762)

House of Holstein-Gottorp

Peter III was a son of Anna, daughter of Peter I, and Charles Frederick, duke of Holstein-Gottorp.

• Peter III (r. 1762 - 1762)
• Catherine II (r. 1762 - 1796), wife of Peter III.
• Paul (r. 1796 - 1801). Issued the Pauline Law in 1797. This law provides for succession by primogeniture among "dynasts" recognized by the imperial court.
• Alexander I (r. 1801 - 1825)
• Nicholas I (r. 1825 - 1855)
• Alexander II (r. 1855 - 1881)
• Alexander III (r. 1881 - 1894)
• Nicholas II (r. 1894 - 1917)

Heads of the House of Romanov (1917-1992)

• Tsar Nicholas II (1917-1918) (after abdication)
• Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich (1918-1938). Proclaimed "curator of the throne" in 1922 and "emperor" in 1924.
• Vladimir Kirillovich (1938-1992), son of Kirill.

Vladimir lived in Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, Brittany until 1942, when the Nazis arrested him and put him in a concentration camp. When he died in Florida in 1992, his daughter Maria Vladimirovna claimed the right to succeed.

"Both sexes have the right of succession to the Throne; but this right belongs by preference to the male sex according to the principle of primogeiture; with the extinction of the last male issue, succession to the Throne passes to the female issue by right of substitution," according to the succession law.

Almanach de Gotha, a reference work on noble genealogy and succession, rejects Maria's claim on the grounds that the succession law does not provide for female succession. It describes Vladimir as, "the last Head of the Imperial House of Russia."