The ban on marriages with cousins: who and how bypassed it in Russia

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

We all know from literature that in the old days marriages between cousins and cousins were quite common - it is worth remembering at least the Wilkes family from "Gone with the Wind" or the Habsburg dynasty, the reason for the degeneration of which is today believed to be multiple closely related ties. However, it turns out that such a practice has always been viewed negatively in Russia - the Orthodox Church forbade such marriages, although there were exceptions to the strict rule.

Tatiana Ribopier and Nikolay Yusupov

The youngest daughter of Count Alexander Ivanovich Ribopier, a famous Russian diplomat, was born abroad in 1829. The family returned to Russia when Tatochka was ten years old. In the palace of her grandmother, the girl met her cousin Nikolai Yusupov. They were almost the same age and spent a lot of time together. Relatives did not even think about anything bad until Nikolai announced that he would marry only Tata. His mother was resolutely against, the young prince was sent to the Caucasus, and they began to follow Tatyana, but such difficulties, as you know, are not able to cool the real feeling.

This novel became notorious. In the light, they discussed that Nikolai Yusupov wants to kidnap his cousin, and that these plans were violated only because of the intervention of Nicholas I. Meanwhile, Tatyana was already 25 years old and she ceased to be a young charm. How long this story would last is unknown, but the new sovereign helped the lovers. Alexander II ascended the throne and, at the request of Count Ribopier, Tata's father, allowed the young people to get married. However, the misadventures of the lovers did not end there. After the wedding, they were awaited by the proceedings of the Holy Synod and long legal proceedings. For many years they lived on the brink of their marriage being illegal. The long-awaited first child, daughter Zinaida, Tatyana Yusupova was able to give birth only at 32 years old.

Grigory Orlov and Ekaterina Zinovieva

Almost a hundred years earlier, in 1777, the former favorite of Catherine II, Grigory Orlov, married his 18-year-old cousin, Catherine Zinovieva. An experienced womanizer at that time was already 43 years old, and behind him he had a turbulent palace career, a long romance with the empress and an illegitimate son. Orlov laid eyes on his young cousin in his uncle's estate when she was only 13 years old. The rumor that the count had seduced his own sister drove the empress to white heat, but despite this, the former favorite continued this relationship. When Ekaterina Zinovieva turned 18, the couple left for France to secretly get married - they looked at such marriages more calmly there. Probably, they had to hurry up, since the result of the illegal connection was already noticeable even to the uninitiated.

In Russia, a hasty marriage was dissolved by the decision of the Senate, and the young were awaiting conclusion. To their misfortune was added the fact that the child was born dead. However, at this moment, the empress decided to change her anger to mercy - perhaps in memory of the past merits of Grigory Orlov. Catherine II not only recognized the marriage as legal, but also brought the young wife closer to her, thus showing her her favor. However, the hard-won family happiness of the Orlovs was short-lived. At 22, Catherine died of tuberculosis, and Gregory went mad from grief and loneliness.

English Princess Victoria-Melita and Grand Duke Cyril

For this marriage, historians counted not one, but several obstacles at once: first, the lovers were cousins; secondly, the English princess was divorced. Victoria's first husband was also her cousin, but since both spouses were Protestants, there were no difficulties in this case, but in the second marriage, another's religion became another obstacle. Grand Duke Nikolai Vladimirovich, cousin of Nicholas II, received a sharp reprimand from the autocrat about a possible marriage with their common cousin:

Historians see such a sharp refusal as the influence of the wife of Nicholas II, because the first husband of Princess Victoria was her brother, and the reason for the divorce was the strange "dissimilarity of characters", by which everyone unambiguously understood the unconventional hobbies of the Duke of Hesse. However, the royal couple themselves could not be a standard in this matter: Alexandra Feodorovna was both a fourth cousin and a second cousin of Nicholas. Perhaps this is why a little later the emperor changed his mind and legalized the marriage of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich and Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna (later, after the wedding, she nevertheless converted to Orthodoxy).

After the murder of the royal family, in exile, the Grand Duke Cyril, being the head of the imperial house by seniority of succession, proclaimed himself the Emperor of All Russia in exile, Cyril I, although in 1907 Nicholas II seriously considered the question of depriving him of the right to inherit the throne due to a scandalous marriage …

A forbidden relationship always arouses increased interest and seems more romantic. The Medieval story of the forbidden love of an artist and a model is well known: Raphael and his Fornarin