Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca.

Saint Ġorġ Preca is her husband’s great-great-uncle but President-elect Marie- Louise Coleiro Preca has some fine lineage of her own in her family tree.

According to a genealogist, she is related to a Russian Romanov princess.

Charles Said-Vassallo, who has been studying Maltese genealogy, particularly that of nobility, for more than 15 years, said that Ms Coleiro Preca was the first cousin, twice removed of Edgar Tabone who was married to Princess Nathalie Poutiatine, a member of the Russian royal family.

“I don’t know if the President-elect is aware of this herself,” Mr Said Vassallo told Times of Malta from his base in Sydney.

Ms Coleiro Preca’s great-grandfather, Salvatore Coleiro, married Teresa Tabone, Edgar’s aunt.

“Princess Nathalie and Edgar never had children themselves but Ms Coleiro Preca is connected through lineage,” he explained.

The Poutiatine family can trace its origins to ninth century Russia. Their familiarity with the imperial family was to play an important role during the Russian revolution in 1917.

Her family came to Malta as refugees after the Bolshevik revolution

“Her family came to Malta as refugees after the Bolshevik revolution and it was here that the princess met her future husband,” he said.

In her book, My mother Princess Olga, Nathalie Poutiatine recounts how the Grand Duke Michael, successor to Czar Nicholas II, had taken refuge in their home when she was only a teenager.

It was in the Poutiatine residence that the leaders of the Provisional Government made it clear to the duke that the crowds wanted to overthrow him. The historical abdication document, which brought an end to the 300 years of Romanov rule, was signed on the school desk of the 13-year-old Nathalie Poutiatine on March 17, 1917.

As a result of the subsequent upheaval, the Poutiatine family, together with another 600 refugees, escaped on a small merchant ship to Romania, then to Constantinople and, finally, to Malta.

Princess Nathalie and her mother remained in Malta for two years before travelling to France to meet Prince Paul and finally settle in Paris. During her short stay in Malta, the princess fell in love with Edgar Tabone who, coincidentally, shares the same first name as Ms Coleiro Preca’s husband, Edgar Preca.

In Paris, the 17-year-old princess resumed her ballet studies but Edgar “remained devoted” and visited the family regularly until they got married in 1929 and the two settled in Malta where she lived until her death in 1984.

In 1934, the princess gave one of the most outstanding performances at the Royal Opera House, where she performed the Dying Swan. She then went on to found the very first ballet academy on the island, which is today known as the Tanya Bayona Princess Poutiatine Academy of Ballet.

Perhaps with the knowledge of a trace of blue blood in her lineage, Ms Coleiro Preca, who has publicly stated she was “not fond of ceremonies”, will be more open to them.