in Kensington. The Gielguds divorced in 1923, and Natalia Mamontova married composer and music critic Cecil Gray. By 1924, there was still no sign of Michael, and Natalia had him declared legally dead on 5 July 1924. She inherited his estate in Britain, which was valued at a mere £95. The following month, Michael's cousin, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich, declared himself Emperor on the basis that he had inherited the throne at the moment of the previous Emperor's death, despite the abolition of the Russian monarchy by the communists. In 1928, he gave Natalia the title of Princess, followed in 1935 by the style "Her Serene Highness Princess Romanovskaya-Brasova". He made George a Prince. Cyril's claim to the throne was met with opposition from within the Romanov family because at his birth his mother was a Lutheran and not a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. Furthermore, Cyril had married Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who was a divorcée and his first cousin, without the Emperor's consent. The House law that determined the Russian line of succession excluded princes born to non-Orthodox mothers, and princes who married without the Tsar's consent. The Russian Orthodox Church did not recognise Victoria's divorce from her first husband as valid, and did not permit marriage between first cousins. Cyril's title, and by extension Natalia's and George's, were only recognised by Cyril's supporters. Decline To save money, in 1927 Natalia moved to Paris where living costs were less than in London. George joined her in France, but he was killed after a car accident in 1931. She was at his bedside when he died, though he had not regained consciousness after the crash. She was emotionally devastated. Natalia's granddaughter, Pauline Gray, was born in 1929, but the Grays' marriage also ended in divorce. Natalia Mamontova's third and last marriage was to naval officer Michael Majolier, with whom she had a second daughter, Alexandra, born in 1934. Natalia continued attempts to recover Michael's assets. The Polish government had seized Michael's Polish estate, and Natalia sued them for its return or compensation. By the Peace of Riga, the Poles were entitled to any imperial property in the former Russian Poland, but Natalia pointed out that Michael was already dead before the Peace, and so any of Michael's property in Poland was legally hers, as a commoner. In 1937, the court ruled against her. In 1938,