Elisabetta di Sasso Ruffo

Donna Elisabetta Fabrizievna dei duchi di Sasso-Ruffo dei principi di Sant' Antimo (26 December 1886 – 29 October 1940), known after her marriage as Princess Andrew of Russia or Princess Andrei Romanovskya, was a Russian aristocrat. She was the daughter of the exiled Italian nobleman Frabrizio Ruffo, Duke of Sasso-Ruffo and the Russian noblewoman Princess Natalia Alexandrovna Mescherskaya. She married, firstly, to Imperial Russian military officer Major General Alexander Alexandrovitch Friederici and, secondly, to Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia. When she married Prince Andrei, it was the last royal wedding to take place in Russia until 2021. During her second marriage, she fled Russia aboard HMS Marlborough following the Russian Revolution and lived abroad as a White émigré in France and the United Kingdom. Elisabetta was killed in 1940 during a German air raid on Hampton Court Palace.

Early life and family Elisabetta was born in 1886 in Kharkov to Don Fabrizio Ruffo, Duke of Sasso-Ruffo (1846–1911) and his wife, Princess Natalia Alexandrovna Mescherskaya (1849–1910). Her father, member of House of Ruffo, one of the oldest Neopolitan noble families, went into exile following the Unification of Italy. Her mother, a Russian noblewoman, member of the House of Meshchersky, has descended from the Stroganov family and was very distantly related to the Russian imperial family. Technically a member of the Italian nobility, she was raised in Russia among the Russian nobility.

Marriages In 1907, Elisabetta married Major General Alexander Alexandrovitch Friederici at Tsarskoye Selo. Elisabetta and Friederici divorced in 1916.

Later in 1916, Elisabetta met Prince Andrei Alexandrovich of Russia, a member of the Russian imperial family, in Saint Petersburg. Prince Andrei was the son of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and a grandson of Emperor Alexander III. Shortly after they met, the Russian monarchy was overthrown in the February Revolution. Prince Andrei moved with his family to Ai-Todor, his father's property in Crimea. During this time, Elisabetta and Prince Andrei began a relationship. She became pregnant, which led to the couple marrying on 12 June 1918 in the Romanov family chapel at Ai-Todor in the presence of Prince Andrei's family, including Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. Their wedding was the last royal wedding to take place in Russia until the wedding of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini in 2021.

Russian revolution and exile During the time of their wedding, Elisabetta's husband could not contact his uncle, Emperor Nicholas II, who was under house arrest at the Governor's Mansion in Tobolsk. A month after she and Prince Andrei married, the emperor and empress, and their children, were murdered by the Bolsheviks. They were liberated by German troops and, in December 1918, Elisabetta and her husband fled Russia aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Marlborough. Prince Michael Andreevich (1920–2008) m. 1 1953 Jill Murphy (1921–2006); they divorced in 1953. m. 2 1954 Shirley Cramond (1916–1983). m. 3 1993 Giulia Crespi (b. 1930). Michael had no children from any of his marriages. During the raid, a bomb was dropped near the house which caused windows to shatter and ceiling beams to fall. Elisabetta died due to injuries from the blast. Following her death, her husband and children went to stay at Craig Gowan House near Balmoral Castle.