Russia has held its first royal wedding since the 1917 Bolshevik revolution toppled the Romanov monarchy.
Grand Duke George Mikhailovich Romanov and his fiancée Rebecca Virginia Bettarini tied the knot at Saint Isaac’s cathedral in St Petersburg.
Foreign guests included Prince Rudolph and Princess Tilsim of Liechtenstein, and former Bulgarian royalty.
Mr Mikhailovich’s great-grandfather, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, fled Russia during the Bolshevik revolution.
Vladimirovich was a cousin of Russia’s last tsar, Nicholas II, who was killed by a revolutionary firing squad with his wife and five children in 1918.
The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia for more than three centuries before Nicholas II abdicated in early 1917. This paved the way for the Bolshevik revolution and 70 years of Communist rule.
Russian Orthodox clergy conducted the elaborate ceremony.
The guest list of around 1,500 people included other prominent names like Konstantin Malofeyev, a monarchist and billionaire with close ties to the Kremlin, and Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
Mr Romanov, 40, studied in Oxford but has spent the majority of his life in France. He has worked at the European Parliament and Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel.
Credit: MSN.COM
