H.S.H. Princess Victoria Romanovna Romanoff
Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria Romanovna (née Rebecca Virginia Bettarini) was born into the family of an Italian diplomat. Her Father, His Excellency Ambassador Roberto Bettarini, provided significant support for the construction of the Orthodox Church of St. Catherine in Rome. For his assistance to the Russian Orthodox Church and his efforts to develop and strengthen relations between Russia and Italy, the Head of the Imperial House of Russia, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, made him a Knight of the Imperial Order of St. Anna First Class, an award which carries with it membership of the historical hereditary nobility of the Russian Empire.
Princess Victoria’s mother, Carla Virginia Bettarini (née Cacciatore), has modeled active engagement in a range of charitable activities since her childhood.
She spent her first five years with her parents in Paris and then lived a year in Venice, before the family moved to Baghdad, where she began elementary school in 1988.
She returned to Rome with her mother in August 1991 when the Iraqi army invaded Kuwait. Her father at the time was the chargé d’affaires at the Italian Embassy and remained in Baghdad until January 1992 to help evacuate Italian nationals and to close the Italian embassy.
From 1991 to 1993 she attended schools in Rome. In June 1993, following the appointment of her father as the Italian Consul General in Venezuela with jurisdiction over the Caribbean, the family moved to Caracas for four years. There she attended the Agustin Codazzi Bilingual Institute.
Inspired by the example of her mother, who started a non-profit foundation “Un pesebre para Canaima” (A Nativity Scene for Canaima), she developed a deep and lasting interest in charitable activities. This foundation provided educational materials and facilities for indigenous Yanomami people, who are native to the Amazon Region in southern Venezuela.
Funds were raised from charity events and from entrance fees to view the beautiful and life-size Christmas nativity scene measuring some 70 square meters that the Bettarini family has traditionally constructed and displayed both in Italy and abroad.
In 1996 the family moved to Brussels, Belgium, where Rebecca Virginia Bettarini attended the European School, with instruction in French, English, Spanish and Italian.
During her years in Brussels, she played a number of roles in various productions of the theatrical company “Il Cerchio Magico”. The proceeds from these productions supported the charitable activities of the VAI Foundation (Italian Volunteers Assistance), of which her mother, Carla Virginia Bettarini, was an active and leading member. The VAI Foundation supports Italian patients undergoing liver transplant surgery in Belgium, and their families.
After obtaining her European diploma in 2000, Miss Bettarini returned to Rome to study political science, with an emphasis on international and European studies, at Luiss Guido Carli University. She graduated with honours in November 2004, having written a thesis entitled “Trade of Agricultural Products and the Rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO)”.
After graduation, she obtained a master’s degree, with an emphasis on European law, international law with a specialization in the law of armed conflict, and the laws governing the World Trade Organization and international trade disputes in the World Trade Organization’s DBS (Dispute Settlement Body).
During these years in Rome, Rebecca Virginia served as a volunteer of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, distributing food and basic necessities every Saturday morning to those in need. She also became an active member of the Association of Italian Historic Houses (Associazione Dimore Storiche Italiane, orADSI), which organizes international events to promote and preserve Italy’s historical heritage by working collaboratively with other European historical and preservation associations dedicated to the same purpose.
She also obtained a master’s degree in ceremonial and international protocol.
In March 2005, Rebecca Virginia Bettarini was hired by Finmeccanica, an Italian defense contractor, where she initially dealt with event management for the Farnborough international airshow in England, organizing and receiving official government delegations to the air show.
In December 2005 she transferred to the company’s institutional relations department where she was in charge of analyzing disputes in the aviation sector presented to the World Trade Organization, in particular cases under DS316 (Measures Affecting Trade in Large Civil Aircraft) and DS353 (the formal complaint lodged in 2006 by the European Union over alleged U.S. government subsidies to Boeing) .
She also researched and drafted a detailed analysis of the effects of changes in European policies on the company’s defense research and development division.
In 2010, she transferred to the Finmeccanica office in Brussels, where she was accredited as a lobbyist in the institutions of the European Union.
She contributed to an analysis of the evolution of the European Galileo, Copernicus, Earth Observation and Navigation System programs, and she participated in several working groups, including the ASD (Aerospace and Defense Industry Association), the Kangaroo Group, the Steering Group, and other lobbying groups charged with negotiating the priority of companies in the aerospace sector of European institutions.
She also dealt with the Public Regulated Services of the Galileo Program, as well of the Space Situational Awareness project, and took part in meetings for the drafting of the International Code of Conduct on the Use of Outer Space, and participated in negotiations on the issue of space pollution (space debris).
Miss Bettarini worked as an impact analyst on the negotiations for the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership) and TAFT (Transatlantic Free Trade) agreements.
She traveled to Russia for the first time in 2009, visiting St. Petersburg with her father.
In 2017 she left Finmeccanica to become the Director of the Russian Imperial Foundation, which was founded by H.I.H. The Grand Duke George of Russia and which enjoys the patronage of the Head of the Imperial House of Russia, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia.
Also in 2017, Rebecca Virginia Bettarini founded Carré, a consulting and management company that works mainly with European clients.
In 2020, for her charity work in Russia and her assistance to humanitarian efforts between Russia and Europe, the Head of the Imperial House of Russia, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, made Miss Bettarini a dame of the Imperial Order of the Holy Great Martyr Anastasia the Alleviatrix of Captives.
In addition, in recognition of her charitable activity, H.R.H. Prince Charles of Bourbon-Two Sicilies awarded her the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George.
In 2019 Miss Bettarini moved to Moscow, where she directed the activities of the Imperial Foundation and the Carré company, studying the Russian language and culture.
In 2019, Rebecca Virginia Bettarini began studying the teachings of the Orthodox faith under the direction of His Eminence Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America, Second Deputy to the President of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (Moscow Patriarchate).
On July 12, 2020, on the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul according to the Julian Calendar used by the Orthodox Church, in the Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, and in the presence of His Eminence Metropolitan Barsanuphius of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, and H.I.H. The Grand Duke George of Russia, Rebecca Virginia Bettarini was received into the Orthodox Church.
Rebecca Virginia Bettarini took the name Victoria in honour of the Holy Martyr Victoria of Rome and in memory of her future husband’s great-grandmother, Grand Duchess (and then Empress-in-Exile) Victoria Feodorovna (1876-1936), herself a convert, and who, according to Metropolitan Antonii (Khrapovitsky), of blessed memory, “with amazing speed and yet great sincerity, was imbued with the spirit of Orthodoxy.”
Her patronymic, Romanovna, recalls the memory of the ancestor of the Imperial House of Romanoff, the governor (voyevoda) Roman Iurievich Zakharin, the father of the first Tsaritsa of the House of Romanov, Anastasia Romanovna, and the great-grandfather of the first Tsar of the Romanov Dynasty, Mikhail I Feodorovich.
On September 14, 2020, in accordance with Article 183 of the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, Grand Duke George of Russia presented in writing a request to his mother for permission to marry Victoria Romanovna.
On September 27, 2020, on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy and Life-Giving Cross of the Lord, Grand Duchess Maria gave her permission to her son to marry, issuing a Family Act, drawn up in full accordance with the current Russian historical dynastic laws and signed by her, by Grand Duke George, and by Victoria Romanovna.
On January 24, 2021, at noon, the Heir of the Head of the Imperial House of Russia, His Imperial Highness The Grand Duke George of Russia, and his fiancée, Miss Victoria Romanovna Bettarini, were betrothed in the Holy Trinity Cathedral in the Ipatiev Monastery in the city of Kostroma.
The betrothal service was officiated by His Eminence Metropolitan Ferapont of Kostroma and Nerkhta along with other clergy. Among those attending the service were government officials of the Kostroma Region.
On September 12, 2021, during their visit to St. Petersburg to participate in the Church celebrations commemorating the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Alexander Nevsky and the translation of his holy relics from the city of Vladimir to St. Petersburg in 1724, the Grand Duke and Miss Victoria Romanovna Bettarini attended the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Trinity Cathedral of the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra, officiated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. The Tsesarevich and his fiancée received Holy Communion, and after the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, took part in the Patriarchal procession, during which the chest with the holy relics of the St. Alexander Nevsky was brought into the square in front of the Lavra. An intercessory prayer service, or moleben, followed.
In the afternoon, the Tsesarevich George of Russia and Miss Victoria Romanovna Bettarini attended a reception at the residence of the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, where the Grand Duke and his fiancée had the opportunity to speak with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. His Imperial Highness congratulated the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church on this important anniversary and feast day, and took the opportunity formally to introduce his fiancée to His Holiness. The Patriarch congratulated the Grand Duke and Victoria Romanovna on their upcoming marriage ceremony, and offered them his blessing and best wishes.
His Holiness then gave his blessing that His Eminence, Metropolitan Barsanophius of St. Petersburg and Ladoga should officiate at the wedding in St. Isaac’s Cathedral on October 1.
On September 24, 2021, in the Khamovniki District Marriage Registry Office in Moscow, there took place the ceremony of the civil registration of the marriage of H.I.H. The Grand Duke George of Russia (a citizen of the Russian Federation: George Mikhailovich Romanov) and Victoria Romanovna Bettarini (a citizen of the Republic of Italy: Rebecca Virginia Bettarini).
On October 1, 2021, at St. Isaac’s Cathedral, His Eminence Metropolitan Barsanophius of St. Petersburg and Ladoga performed the sacrament of marriage over Grand Duke George of Russia and Miss Victoria Romanovna Bettarini.
On October 21, 2022, the couple welcomed the birth of their son, H.S.H. Prince Alexander Georgievich Romanoff in Moscow, and celebrated his Baptism at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in the presence of the infant’s grandmother H.I.H. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, and his grandfather, H.R.H. Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia.
Currently, H.S.H. Princess Victoria Romanovna, her husband, Grand Duke George, and their son divide their time between Russia and Europe.
Her Serene Highness is fluent in French, English, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese and has become increasingly proficient in Russian.
She enjoys riding horses and writing fiction set in countries where she has lived. Her debut novel, Beauty Queen. An International Thriller is set in Venezuela.
H.S.H. Princess Victoria’s main fields of activity today are in charity and various social and cultural projects directed at protecting and maintaining national historical heritage and traditions.
PRINCESS VICTORIA ROMANOVNA OFFICIAL SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
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