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Happy Birthday to Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia, who turns 66 today! The only child of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia, head of the Imperial Family of Russia and titular Emperor of Russia, and Princess Leonida Bagration-Mukhrani, she grew up in Spain and was educated in Runnymede College in Madrid and Paris before studying Russian history and literature at Oxford University, and was declared her father’s Heiress in 1969. In 1976, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna married Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia, and the couple had one son, Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, before divorcing in 1985. One of many pretenders to the defunct Russian Throne, her claim to the headship of the Imperial Family of Russia has been officially supported by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Grand Duchess lives in France and Spain and is fluent in Russian, English, French, and Spanish, and also speaks some German, Italian, and Arabic. We wish HIH a very Happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns!