Biography

Kirill was succeeded by his son Vladimir Kirillovich who styled himself 'Grand Duke and head of the Russian Imperial House.

Grand Duke Kirill married his first cousin, Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on 8 October 1905 without any consent from Tsar Nicholas II. Victoria's father was Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria. Victoria's mother was Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia, a daughter of Tsar Alexander II and Kirill's paternal aunt.

Kirill was buried at the ducal mausoleum at Friedhof am Glockenberg (de), Coburg. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the remains of Kirill and his spouse were transferred from Coburg to the Grand Ducal Mausoleum of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1995 after negotiations conducted by his granddaughter Maria Vladimirovna.

Grand Duke Kirill and Princess Victoria Melita had three children: Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia (2 February 1907 - 27 October 1951), Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (9 May 1909 - 8 September 1967) and Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia (30 August 1917 - 21 April 1992).

During the February Revolution of 1917, Kirill marched to the Tauride Palace at the head of the Garde Equipage (Marine Guard) to swear allegiance to the Russian Provisional Government, wearing a red band on his uniform.[10][16] Kirill had authorised the flying of a red flag over his palace on Glinka Street in Petrograd and in correspondence with a Romanov relative claimed credit for "saving the situation by my recognition of the Provisional Government". It is probable that he had hoped that by ingratiating himself with the Provisional Government he would be declared regent after Nicholas II was made to abdicate.