- Nov 28, 2003
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http://www.news.com.au/national/sur...n/news-story/cf9ee7bb04f1f595a697bfb39d71ba37
NO ONE would have guessed that Old Nick, the elderly man who lived a quiet life in a caravan park in the Northern Territory, hailed from one of Europe’s most powerful and tragic royal families.
The cheerful old man who was often seen with his beloved dog around his home in Katherine was, in fact, Leonid Gurevich Kulikovsky, the great-grandson of Russian Tsar Alexander III.
But Mr Kulikovsky didn’t talk about his royal lineage, or his life before he moved to Australia in the 1960s — and those were stories he took to the grave.
The 72-year-old royal died a recluse on September 27 while taking his dog for a walk. It is believed a heart attack killed him, and he was found sitting under a tree with his faithful pet by his side.
His body was kept in a hospital morgue for the next two months as Australian authorities searched for a next of kin.
Darwin’s honorary Russian consul Simon Andropov said they found a sister in Denmark, where Mr Kulikovsky was born, and she informed the Russian Orthodox Church in Australia that a member of the exiled royal Romanov family was dead.
A statement from Mr Kulikovsky’s family was read out to the 50 mourners who attended his funeral that was finally held at Darwin’s Serbian Orthodox Church on Monday.
NO ONE would have guessed that Old Nick, the elderly man who lived a quiet life in a caravan park in the Northern Territory, hailed from one of Europe’s most powerful and tragic royal families.
The cheerful old man who was often seen with his beloved dog around his home in Katherine was, in fact, Leonid Gurevich Kulikovsky, the great-grandson of Russian Tsar Alexander III.
But Mr Kulikovsky didn’t talk about his royal lineage, or his life before he moved to Australia in the 1960s — and those were stories he took to the grave.
The 72-year-old royal died a recluse on September 27 while taking his dog for a walk. It is believed a heart attack killed him, and he was found sitting under a tree with his faithful pet by his side.
His body was kept in a hospital morgue for the next two months as Australian authorities searched for a next of kin.
Darwin’s honorary Russian consul Simon Andropov said they found a sister in Denmark, where Mr Kulikovsky was born, and she informed the Russian Orthodox Church in Australia that a member of the exiled royal Romanov family was dead.
A statement from Mr Kulikovsky’s family was read out to the 50 mourners who attended his funeral that was finally held at Darwin’s Serbian Orthodox Church on Monday.
