The wedding of Georgy Mikhailovich Romanov has caused a great commotion, and waves of displeasure and outrage are still spreading across the windless surface of our infosphere

The wedding of Georgy Mikhailovich Romanov has caused a great commotion, and waves of displeasure and outrage are still spreading across the windless surface of our infosphere. Characteristically, I have had messages from people among my acquaintances, even ones permitted to follow me on Insta, saying that all of us ought to be locked up in Saint Isaac's Cathedral and burned. We shall not speak of these unworthy gentlemen; let us rather reflect on the Romanovs themselves and on the purely speculative construct of the heirs to the Russian crown.

For Esquire I produced an overview of the dynastic ties and standing of the present-day Romanovs: how many of them remain in the world, who they are, how they are related to one another, how they present themselves, what they lay claim to and what they might legitimately claim.

In short, not one of the present-day Romanovs, were the pre-revolutionary laws observed to the letter, can lay claim to any position whatever in a hypothetical monarchical structure of Russia.

Moreover, if Russia were suddenly to become an empire, proclaiming continuity with the All-Russian Empire that existed from 1721 to 1917, the Yugoslav and English dynasts would have far more right to the throne than any of the descendants of the Russian emperors who bear the surname Romanov today. It is rather comical, in fact, that the notorious Meghan Markle stands a better chance of becoming Empress of All the Russias than Rebecca Bettarini, who has embraced Orthodoxy