The Grand Duke George Mikhailovich wanted to go to England but the British government had forbidden the entrance of any Russian Grand Duke. Prince Lvov, the first post-imperial prime minister of Russia, refused Georges request to let him leave the country. Three months after the fall of the Romanovs, George was allowed by the provincial government to leave for Finland, whence he hoped to escape to Sweden and find his way to his family in England.His wife and two daughters had been living there since the beginning of the war. In June 1917, he managed to get permission to go to Finland and rented a villa at Retierve, a small village. In the winter of 1917, he left Retierve because the house was too cold and went to live in Helsingfors. In January 1918, he was informed that Nicholas II and his family were sent as prisoners to Tobolsk. Eventually the situation took a turn for the worse in Finland. Desperate to escape and be reunited with his family after four years of separation, he made the mistake to ask for a new passport and permission to leave the country to the new Soviet government. This eventually sealed his fate. On 3 April 1918, he was arrested and brought back to Petrograd under the escort of Red Guards.
Posted on: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 09:18:04 +0000
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