I care because he is heir to the headship of the Imperial House of Russia. I admire Grand Duchess Maria for her dedication to the traditions of the Imperial House. I love her larger than life eccentricities and colourful character. She engages my imagination and I think she would be great fun to meet. I still smile when I think of her arriving at he wedding of Prince Albert and Princess Charlene (where she was listed in the official list of high dignitaries by her imperial style and title). Maria Vladimirovna made her stately way up the aisle, like a galleon in full sail. Behind her, obviously impatient to get to her seat and looking for an opportunity to overtake the Grand Duchess, was Miss Naomi Campbell. But Her Imperial Highness, serenely oblivious to the Super Model hot on her heals, maintained her dignified pace and Miss Campbell had to slow down.
As to Georgii Mikhailovich, there is not much evidence to illuminate what he thinks of his imperial heritage and future role. I guess we will have to wait and see. If, when the time comes, Georgii Mikhailovich assumes his heritage in the traditional manner of his mother, and his late grandfather, all I can say is good luck to him. I know a lot of people here like to make fun of Grand Duchess Maria, and cast Georgii Mikhailovich as the oppressed son of domineering mother (without any evidence one way or the other). Some, it would seem, even take a perverse delight in the idea of a son disappointing his mother. But maybe Georgii Mikhailovich fully supports his mother and shares her vision for the future of the Imperial House as a non-reigning institution involved with charitable, cultural, historical and religious activities. That is a much more realistic proposition than restoration of the monarchy, as the Grand Duchess has affirmed time and again. I hope Georgii Mikhailovich does see himself as the future Head of the Imperial House of Russia. I would like the Imperial House of Russia's future secured for another generation. That is why I care about who he marries. An equal match would obviously be ideal, and I would love to see it happen. But I am also interested in how things might unfold if the marriage is unequal (which is obviously more of a possibility than an equal match). Perhaps the Grand Duchess will have an attack of the vapours if her son brings home someone "unsuitable". But, somehow, Maria Vladimirovna does not strike me as the fainting type. I image she will get out the Fundamental Laws of the Imperial House, contact the Patriarch, and look for a way of according the marriage dynastic status. All with the same determination and certainty she has displayed since succeeding her father two decades ago. But until the Grand Duke requests permission to marry, the whole issue is entirely hypothetical.
That is the point of many of the threads in the non-reigning section of The Royal Forums: to give those of us who are interested a place to enjoy musing on topics, many of them hypothetical, that effect former reigning families, with their various degrees of legal, constitutional, national and international recognition, or lack thereof. But it seems almost impossible to do so when it comes to Maria Vladimirovna and Georgii Mikhailovich. But I have learnt time and again that there is no point trying to engage in a rational discussion when it comes to the Grand Duchess and her son on The Royal Forums. The evidence that supports the premis that Maria Vladimirovna is the recognised head of a non-reigning imperial family has been posted time and again by many people. Just as often it is totally ignored, or "refuted" with nothing more than further generalisations lacking any evidence whatsoever. It is this conflict that generally derails any chance of an interesting and meaningful discussion.
But I am intrigued why people who think Maria Vladimirovna and Georgii Mikhailovich are nothing, of no interest to anybody, or totally ridiculous, bother to post messages on threads about them, and in such large numbers. This thread has over 400 posts, a huge number of them by the same people repeatedly making the same claim that nobody cares and nobody is interested. The same people repeatedly presenting personal opinion as fact and never backing up generalisations with a shred of evidence, even when asked to do so by other posters. The same people regularly making rude, crass and unnecessary personal comments about the appearance of the Grand Duchess and her son. I don't understand why. Is it some sort of desire to cause trouble, to stir things up, to express irrational anger, or just to show how wonderfully witty they are? Who knows? I still sometimes get annoyed when a particularly nasty personal comment is made about a Grand Duchess I admire, but my general reaction now is bemusement.
There are many threads on The Royal Forums on subjects that do not interest me, and people I do not particularly like. So I do not read them. I have absolutely no interest at all in the children of the late Mr Pierre Casiraghi. But as the numerous threads on the Casiraghi trio show, many people are fascinated by their lives and loves. It would never occur to me to pop over to one of the Casiraghi threads and start leaving, for no particular reason, pointless messages, or provocative comments, that add nothing to the conversation. If I did I would at least preface my comments with something like "..in my opinion..." rather than presenting my subjective opinion as a pronouncement of objective truth.
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- it needs a bit more than 'some people regarding s.o. as boss' 
