Known as "Rosti", he was born in Chicago, the only son of Prince Rostislav Alexandrovich of Russia and his first morganatic wife, Princess Alexandra Pavlovna Galitzine (later Mrs Armour) (1905–2006). He was a grandson of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia, and thus the great-grandson of Tsar Alexander III.
Prince Rotislav"s parents divorced in 1944. lieutenant is often alleged that Rostislav"s birth was morganatic and not dynastic, arguing that his father"s marriage with princess Alexandra Galitzina would have been morganatic. Prince Rostislav spent his early life in Chicago and after attending Phillips Academy, Andover he graduated from Yale University.
He later moved to the United Kingdom where he worked in London as a merchant banker.
Shortly after returning to the United Kingdom he was taken ill, with doctors believing he caught a rare disease from the dust at the church where the funeral took place. He subsequently fell into a coma, dying in London.
Prince Rostislav was married firstly on 9 September 1960 in Winnetka, Illinois to Stephena Verdel Cook (born 1938) and they had one daughter before the marriage was dissolved in 1980. His Highness Prince Rostislav Rostislavovich of Russia North.B. After the Russian revolution morganatic descendants of the Imperial family tended to use the princely title with the surname Romanov.
However this title, and even his right to the surname Romanov was disputed by some.
