Post by Said VassalloPost by Satyapriya WhiteI think you may find that Prince V.A. Dadianov of Australia, subject
of some earlier postings, is one and the same as Mr. Victor Greenwich.
I have asked Victor Greenwich many times for a copy of his lineage but
NOTHING.
That is very strange as he most certainly has the extensive genealogy
of the family that appeared in the book The Noble Families of the
Russian Empire by S.V. Dumin (1998) since he prominently displays on
the top of his site a scan of the coat-of-arms that appears in that
very same book.
Another puzzling thing: He uses the surname of Dadianov yet displays
at the top of his site the personal coat-of-arms of Prince Andrew
Dadian-Mingrelsky. The Dadianov and the Dadian(i)/Dadian-Mingrelsky
were two different families.
Later on in his site he lifts the following notices from another web
site and has re-written them, adding "Dadianov" even though this
surname does not appear in the original source (The List of Title
Families of the Russian Empire published by the Russian Senate in 1892
has only "Dadian").
Two Notices from the Original Web Site:
MINGREL'SKII - Georgia
Author: Noble Katsia Chikovani (see that name), Prince of Lechkumi,
Sainasaridzo, and Salipartiano (title of the hereditary princes of
Mingrelia), who married Mzekhatun, daughter of Levan III Prince of
Mingrelia. His grandson Katsia I became Prince of Mingrelia in 1704
thus founding the second House of Mingrelia with the name Dadiani.
Annexation of the Principality of Mingrelia by the Russian Empire,
1866. Russia*: (IU) 4 Jan. 1867 with the qualification of Serene
Highness (mpr.) for the last reigning Prince Nikoloz, with the
stipulation that his other descendants should simply bear the title of
prince or princess Dadian with the qualification of Illustrious
Highness.
DADIAN-MINGREL'SKII & DADIAN - Georgia
Russia*: (IU) 4 Jan. 1867 - title of Prince Dadian-Mingrel'skii with
the qualification of Serene Highness for Andrei, brother of the last
reigning Prince of Mingrelia (see Princes Mingrel'skii), with the
stipulation that all other descendants should simply bear the name and
title of Prince Dadian and the qualification of Illustrious Highness.
Mr. Greenwich's Version:
Noble Katsia Chikovani (see that name), who became Sovereign Prince of
Mingrelia on the abdication of Prince Levan III (see above), thus
founding the 2nd House of Mingrelia under the title Dadian of
Mingrelia. He was married to Levan III's daughter Mzekhatun.
Annexation of the Principality of Mingrelia by the Russian Empire,
1866. Russia: (IU) 4 Jan. 1867 - title of Prince
Dadianov/Dadian-Mingrel'skii with the qualification of Serene Highness
for Andrei, brother of the last reigning prince, with the stipulation
that all other descendants should simply bear the name and title of
Prince Dadianov/Dadian and the qualification of His Illustrious
Highness.
One will also notice that on Mr. Greenwich's web page he has a picture
that he has captioned:"Members of Prince Dadianov's family at the
Saint Petersburg Ball held at the Winter Palace 1868"
A look in the royal box in the background and one will see Nicholas II
(who was born in 1868!), the Empress Alexandra, and the Dowager
Empress Maria Feodorovna. But what is even more obvious: the dresses
and hair-styles of the ladies clearly do not date from 1868.
You will find this picture in the book "Nicholas & Alexandra, The Last
Imperial Family of Tsarist Russia" (1998), p. 71, from which it was
most likely scanned. It was in fact painted by Dmitri Nikolaevich
Kardovsky and is signed and dated 1915. It represents a ball at the
Assembly Hall of the Nobility (not the Winter Palace) that was held on
23 Feb. 1913 (not in 1868). The caption is written in English and it
is the only picture on the page, so there should have been no
possibility of confusion.
You are free to draw your own conclusions based on the above
information.
Note - The HTML encoding of Mr. Greenwich's page* has been archived as
of this date (7 Oct. 2003) should any corrections be made to it as a
result of this posting.
* http://www.users.bigpond.com/greenwich/princedadianov.htm