30th September 2023

Our pilgrimage and educational trip to St Albans Cathedral and Knebworth House on 30th September was a great success. About 35 people took part in it, among them about half were members of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Romanov Society. The event was a combined effort of the parish of the All-Merciful Saviour in St Leonards-on-Sea (Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia), and the Society. We are grateful to our Trustee Father Aleksandr Groves, the Rector of the parish, who managed to organise all the logistics and the service at the Cathedral, where we venerated the true and unique relics of the first Martyr of the British Isles. Most of the people were Orthodox Christians but we were open to everybody and we were joined by the hosts, the Anglican Christians, and visitors of different backgrounds. We had a short service and sung hymns to the Holy Protomartyr Alban.

After the service we had the privilege of a guided tour especially designed for us by Anthony Lizotte, an official guide at the Cathedral and a parishioner of the London cathedral (ROCOR). 

He outlined for us the history of the Cathedral (more than 900 years) and concentrated on the wall paintings and on the composition of the statues: the Martyrs of the 20th century on the Nave Altar screen with its sculpture of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth on the right side.… KEEP READING

GDERS UK and Parish of All-Merciful Saviour, ROCOR

Contact Maria Harwood 07503213750, nd2315@gmail.com

MEMBERS of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Romanov Society are invited to join a cultural, educational and religious trip to the places connected with the Grand Duchess Elizabeth and Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, the younger brother of Tsar Martyr Nicholas II. 

St Albans Cathedral is a unique Anglican Church where Saint Elizabeth’s sculptural image was placed in the nave altar screen. You will see this image and hear the story of its creation. The Romanov Cross on the Isle of Wight has the third image of St Elizabeth known in this country, after Westminster Abbey and St Albans Cathedral. 

Knebworth House is where Grand Duke Michael lived with his family before the First World War. He was the nephew of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra and a good friend of his  English cousins. Michael was the Tsar of Russia just for one day after the abdication of Nicholas. He was murdered by the Bolsheviks and has been glorified by the Russian Church Outside Russia in 1981 in New York. 

The Programme

THE GRAND DUCHESS ELIZABETH ROMANOV SOCIETY’S PILGRIMAGE TO THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 26th and 27th June, 2023

On 26th and 27th June the patrons of the GDERS, Father Alexander Groves, Maria Harwood (Chairman) and John Harwood (Hon Secretary) and members of the Society Paul Oxborrow, Marina Scirska and Matthew Cradduck travelled to the Isle of Wight to mark the 5th Anniversary of the erecting of the Monument to the Romanov Martyrs in July
2018 (you can read about this event here https://gdelizabeth-society.co.uk/marking-thecentenary-of-romanovs martyrdom-in-uk/). This was a major project of the Society dedicated to the 100th Anniversary of their martyrdom when Grand Duchess Elizabeth, Emperor Nicholas II and his whole family and other Romanovs and their servants were
savagely killed in Alapaevsk and Ekaterinburg. Other killings happened in Perm (Grand Duke Michael, Nicholas’s brother) and in St Petersburg. The creation and opening of the monument was enthusiastically supported by the local authorities and the public. The monument was blessed by Bishop Irenei of London and Western Europe (ROCOR) in presence of the Lord Lieutenant of the County, Major General Sir Martin White, and Prince Rostislav Romanov, who unveiled the monument.

The honorary member of the society from the Isle of Wight Lady Sally Grylls, and two prospective members attended the service of prayers to the Royal Martyrs and Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth.… KEEP READING