© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 18 May, 2013

A poll conducted by the Levada Center shows that the majority of Russians are confident that Russia does not need a monarchy and Russia's last emperor Nicholas II was not the best leader. The 145th anniversary of the birth of Russia's last Emperor Nicholas II will be marked on May 18th.

28 percent of Russians say they would not mind a revival of the monarchy in the country, a poll has revealed, noting however that people don’t know anyone who could fill such a position.

Meanwhile, four percent of the population both want the Tsar back and do know who could come to the throne, a survey by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) discovered. 

Almost a century after the February 1917 revolution put an end to the rule of Romanov dynasty and the Russian Empire, one in ten Russians still believes that being a monarchy would be better for Russia. Notably, in Moscow and St Petersburg such a view is shared by 19 percent of residents.

However, the vast majority of respondents (82 percent) are happy with the current – republican - form of the government, where the head of the country is chosen through elections. Only 7 percent of people could not decide which of the two they would actually prefer.

Two thirds of Russians are confident that autocracy is a closed chapter for Russia. This opinion is particularly common for supporters of the Communist party and the elderly, pollsters found.

When asked who could hypothetically become a new Russian tsar, 70 percent of people stated that the revival of monarchic rule would simply be “impossible and wrong.”

At the same, time 13 percent of those questioned suggested that a possible ruler could be a politician or a public activist elected either directly by people through a referendum or – alternatively – by parliament.

Only six percent of respondents would want to see the descendants of the Romanov Family on the Russian throne.

2013 marks 400 years after the Romanov dynasty ascended to the Russian throne in 1613, reigning for over three centuries, until the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917. In July 1918, Nicholas and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks.

Editor's Note: This is just one of many polls conducted in Russia over the past decade asking the same question: "Should the monarchy be restored?" The results have been varied, one poll stating 35% support of a restoration. Even this statistic is remarkable given Russia's turbulent history over the last century. Who would have predicted the fall of the Soviet Union and Communism in 1991, or finding the remains of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, followed by their burial at St. Petersburg in 1998 and their canonisation by the Moscow Patriarchate in 2000. The poll fails to acknowledge the fact that many Orthodox Christians support the monarchy, and that the Russian Orthodox Church recognizes HIH Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna as Head of the Russian Imperial House. So, will the monarchy return? Let's wait and see. Winston Churchill once said: "Russia is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma." -- Paul Gilbert

© Russia Today. 20 March, 2013

HIH Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, Head of the Russian Imperial House 

While the House of Romanov is celebrating its 400th anniversary in 2013 HIH Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, its head, spoke with Russia Beyond the Headlines about her position and what role her family could play in modern Russia.

||| Click Here to Read the Interview with Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna |||

© Rossiyskaya Gazeta. 21 February, 2013

Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All the Rus 

Monarchists in the Volgograd region have proposed launching special regiments to guard the patriarch and Orthodox sanctuaries.

Activists from the Russian Monarchal Center borrowed the name “Vladychny Polk” (Lord’s Regiment) from the pre-tsar times in Russian medieval history.

If the idea is endorsed by the Patriarch’s blessing, Orthodox squads are to operate nationwide, according the center’s head Mikhail Shorin.

“The events of 2012 demonstrate that the time has come for organized defense of Orthodoxy,” he told Nezavisimaya Gazeta in an interview published on Thursday.

Cyber attacks on the patriarch staged by “Satanists and their supporters,” Pussy Riot’s punk-prayer in the Christ the Savior Cathedral, were among those developments that pushed him to fight for the faith, according to the interview.

Earlier, Orthodox activists united to patrol areas near churches to prevent blasphemous actions of defilers when the controversial Pussy Riot case was being heard in a Moscow court. Cossacks, tsarist-era warriors from southern Russia, started patroling central Moscow last week.

Anti-clerical campaigns swept through the Russian internet and some anti-Kremlin groups after Patriarch Kirill voiced his support for Vladimir Putin during his election campaign.

© The Moscow News. 07 December, 2012

Russian pro-Orthodox Church activists have set up a party called Samoderzavnaya Rossiya (Autocratic Russia) with the stated objective of restoring the monarchy via parliamentary procedures and, according to one of its leaders, brings together several thousand people.

Without monarchy, Russia would be unable to carry out tasks put before it in the 15th century, "when God put Russia in the place of Byzantium," Valentin Lebedev, head of the Union of Orthodox Citizens and one of Autocratic Russia's leaders, told the Interfax-Religion portal.

"Building the Third Rome is the task of the Russian people. By their work to carry out this task, our ancestors built the greatest state in the world, the Russian Empire," he said.

"We set ourselves the task of bringing the lofty spiritual ideals that the Orthodox Church enshrines into all spheres of society, primarily into government, in other words into political life," Lebedev said.

The leader of Autocratic Russia is Dmitry Merkulov, a journalist and public figure.

Lebedev said the creation of the party started last year, before Russia simplified its legislation on setting up parties.

"At the moment, the registration process is underway," he said. "After its registration the party will launch a practical struggle for power, first locally and then in the State Duma."

Lebedev said Autocratic Russia has several thousand members living in various parts of the country.

© Interfax-Religion. 23 August, 2012

Alexander Zakatov, Head of the Russian Imperial Chancellery 

London exile Boris Berezovsky announced on Sunday that under his new Resurrection Movement political party, he would instate a constitutional monarchy in Russia and named Britain's Prince Harry as a candidate for the Russian throne.

Prince Henry of Wales, known commonly as Prince Harry, is an officer in the British army and a controversial figure in Britain. Over the years, he has been the frequent subject of British tabloid reports. Further, not only does Prince Harry not speak a word of Russian, he is probably laughing at the mere suggestion of becoming tsar.

It is a farce – House of Romanov

The Romanovs consider his suggestion outrageous. “It is difficult to imagine that Berezovsky has sympathies with the monarchy and the British Royal Family,” Alexander Zakatov, Head of the Russian Imperial Chancellery told Interfax. “It is clear that all these ideas are doomed to failure. If someone decides to hold this experiment, it will not lead to anything good. In Russia there is either no monarchy, or it is legitimate. To just take some prince, even the best one, and to ascend him to the throne created by the oligarchs, is to basically start a new civil war in our country.” 

“If monarchy in Russia is ever restored, it must be by the will of the people, and only a legitimate head of the Russian imperial house can ascend to the throne,” he said. Interfax reported that at present the Great Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, living in Spain, is the head of Romanovs.

© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 17 April, 2012