London Times, 17 October 1905, p. 5: THE GRAND DUKE CYRIL. (FROM A CORRESPONDENT.) ST. PETERSBURG, OCT. 16.
The dismissal from the navy of the Grand Duke Cyril is gazetted to-day as a result of his clandestine marriage with his cousin, the divorced wife of the Grand Duke of Hesse. The dismissal had been deferred until the end of the war.
ST. PETERSBURG, OCT. 16.*
The Official Messenger publishes an order of the Tsar, dated yesterday, depriving the Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovitch of his military rank. He is also to be deprived of his Orders and other honours and to be excluded from Russia. The reason for his dismissal is understood to be his marriage with Princess Victoria Melita of Coburg, former Grand Duchess of Hesse, and consequently sister-in-law to the Empress. [The above appeared in our Second Edition of yesterday.]
Among the honours bestowed on the Grand Duke Cyril was a gold sword with the inscription “For valour,” presented to him by the Tsar in recognition of his gallant behaviour when the battleship Petropavlovsk was blown up by a Japanese mine as she was re-entering the harbour of Port Arthur on April 13, 1904. The Grand Duke, who was the first officer and was on the bridge at the time of the explosion, received considerable injuries, but fortunately he retained consciousness, and, plunging into the sea, succeeded in reaching a piece of wreckage, to which he clung for 20 minutes, when he was picked up by a torpedo-boat.
Provided by Stephen McLaughlin