 Initially, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mavrikievna was reluctant to leave Russia remembering her late husband's words, that if Russia was in need, it was a Romanov's duty to help.However, with their situation becoming increasingly dangerous, she accepted an offer made by her friend, Queen Victoria of Sweden, through the Swedish Ambassador Edvard Brändström, to travel to Sweden.From Kronstadt twelve-year-old Princess Vera escaped to Sweden aboard the Swedish vessel "Ångermanland" in October 1918 with her mother, her brother George, and her young nephews (Prince Teymuraz Constantinovich and Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich of Russia) and nieces (Princess Natalia Konstantinovna Bagration-Mukhransky and Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia) when they were permitted by the Bolsheviks to be taken by ship to Sweden, via Tallinn to Helsinki and via Mariehamn to Stockholm, at the invitation of Queen Victoria of Sweden.