Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna Russia Prince Louis Ferdinand Prussia Signed Royal

  

For your consideration is an exceedingly rare and historically important original c. 1938 royal presentation photograph of Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia and Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, hand-signed by the Grand Duchess and Prince.

Royal presentation photograph is original. Royal autographs are manuscript hand-signed in fountain pen ink. Royal document measures approximately 3.0" x 5.0". Kira Kirillovna of Russia (9 May 1909 8 September 1967) was the second daughter of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

She married Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, grandson of the last German Emperor Wilhelm II. Grand Duchess Kira Kirilovna of Russia was born on 9 May 1909, at her parents' house on Avenue d' Henri Martin in Paris.

Named after her father, she was the second child of Kirill Vladimirovich, Grand Duke of Russia, and his wife, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her parents were then living in exile because their marriage had not been approved by Tsar Nicholas II due to the fact that they were first cousins. The Russian Orthodox religion forbids the marriage of two first cousins, so they had been forced to live abroad. In addition, her mother had divorced her former husband, Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse, the brother of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

They settled at the Cavalier's house in Tsarskoye Selo as her father, a Captain in the Russian Navy, was attached to a nearby naval academy. Kira and her elder sister, Maria, had a privileged childhood.

They had an English nanny and learned the languages spoken by the Romanovs: Russian, English, French, and German. Kira's early years were spent in luxury at her father's palace at 13 Glinka Street in Saint Petersburg, where her parents entertained their guests lavishly.

There were family outings with her grandmother at the opulent Vladimir Palace and in the summer at the Vladimir villa in Tsarskoye Selo. Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (German: Louis Ferdinand Victor Eduard Adalbert Michael Hubertus Prinz von Preuen; 9 November 1907 26 September 1994) was a member of the princely House of Hohenzollern, which occupied the Prussian and German thrones, until the abolition of those monarchies in 1918. He was also noteworthy as a businessman and patron of the arts.