Grand Duke Andrei's last years were marked by increasingly frail health and straitened financial circumstances. He was forced to sell his house, renting instead. To balance his finances, he relied partially on economic aid from his nephew, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich. Some of Mathilde's friends and former pupils, such as Margot Fonteyn and Diana Gould Menuhin, also provided financial help. In 1954, Grand Duke Andrei became a godfather of Grand Duke Vladimir's only child, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia, the current claimant to the headship of the Romanov family.