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| Aleksei Petrovich of Russia |
(1690-1718)
a.k.a. Alexei Petrovich Romanov.
His lover was:
Yefrosinya Fedorova (1700-1748)
Lover in 1714.
Russian serf & royal mistress.". . . At some point, he became infatuated with a Finnish serf girl, Afrosina, captured during the war against Sweden. The young woman was rather less smitten than the tsarevich, but soon became his mistress and moved into the imperial residence. Thereafter Alexis mostly ignored his wife, except to make love to her once a week, hoping to produce a male heir. Charlotte endured this humiliation long enough to give birth to a future tsar in October of 1715, Peter Alexeevich. It was a joyful occasion for everyone except the mother, who fell ill and died one week alter." (Renegades, Rebels and Rogues Under the Tsars: 124)
"Shut in behind the walls of this fortress, Alexis for the first time felt at ease. He had with him his mistress Afrosinia, disguised as a page, whose sex was never discovered during his stay in the castle, and four servants, and was well supplied with books. His only regret was that he could not have a priest, and he begged at all events that one should be sent to him in case he were ill or at the point of death. . . ." (Peter the Great: Emperor of Russia: a Study of Historical Biography, Vol 2: 328)
"Threats and promises notwithstanding, Alexis, though almost insane with terror, still held out. Tolstoi grew impatient. He reported that only the most extreme compulsion could, as he phrased it, " melt the hard frozen obstinacy of this beast of ours"; and we can well imagine what such words meant in the mouth of a man who had not hesitated, when acting as ambassador at Constantinople, to remove an inconvenient secretary by poison. The unfortunate Tsarevich, who felt, instinctively, that he was fighting for his life against merciless enemies, at first stood firm and refused to depart ; but, when Tolstoi threatened to take away his mistress, the Finnish peasant girl, Afrosina, the companion of his flight, whom he loved passionately and whose pregnancy was now imminent, he instantly surrendered. He promised to return with Tolstoi to Russia on condition that he should be allowed to live quietly on his estates and marry Afrosina. To these terms, Tolstoi agreed; and Peter himself solemnly confirmed them in a letter to his son, dated Nov. 18, 1717." (oldandsold.com)
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Nikolai Nikolaievich of Russia |
Son of: Nikolai I of Russia & Alexandra Feodorovna (Charlotte von Preussen) (1838-1900)
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| Alexandra von Oldenburg |
Husband of: Alexandra Petrovna (Alexandra von Oldenburg) mar 1856
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Yekaterina Tchislova |
His lover was:
Yekaterina Tchislova (1846-1889).
Yekaterina Tchislova (1846-1889).
Lover in 1865.
Russian ballerina.
Also known as:
Russian ballerina.
Also known as:
Jekaterina Gawrilovna Tschislowa
Yekaterina Chislova.
Daughter of: Gavriil Chislov.
"In the mid-1860s, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, the third son of Emperor Nicholas I, fell in love with her and they became lovers. Although the Grand Duke was married, they have an open affair that caused a great scandal. He installed her in a fashionable house situated directly across from his own palace in the capital. When Chislova wanted her paramour to visit, she would light two candles and set them on her windowsill, where the Grand Duke could see them from the windows of his study. In 1868, Catherine gave birth to the first of their five children. Tsar Alexander II advised his brother to be more discreet and the couple traveled to San Remo and the Crimea. In 1881, the Grand Duke’s wife, Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna, retired to a convent in Kiev. Having given up her career as a dancer for him, and fearing for their children's well-being if something happened to him, Catherine Chislova begged Nicholas Nikolaievich to provide for her and their family. He arranged a change of class into the gentry for Catherine, and the couple’s illegitimate children were granted the surname Nikolaiev on 8 December 1882 by Tsar Alexander III of Russia." (Wikipedia)
Daughter of: Gavriil Chislov.
"In the mid-1860s, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, the third son of Emperor Nicholas I, fell in love with her and they became lovers. Although the Grand Duke was married, they have an open affair that caused a great scandal. He installed her in a fashionable house situated directly across from his own palace in the capital. When Chislova wanted her paramour to visit, she would light two candles and set them on her windowsill, where the Grand Duke could see them from the windows of his study. In 1868, Catherine gave birth to the first of their five children. Tsar Alexander II advised his brother to be more discreet and the couple traveled to San Remo and the Crimea. In 1881, the Grand Duke’s wife, Grand Duchess Alexandra Petrovna, retired to a convent in Kiev. Having given up her career as a dancer for him, and fearing for their children's well-being if something happened to him, Catherine Chislova begged Nicholas Nikolaievich to provide for her and their family. He arranged a change of class into the gentry for Catherine, and the couple’s illegitimate children were granted the surname Nikolaiev on 8 December 1882 by Tsar Alexander III of Russia." (Wikipedia)
"By the time the second son (of Nikolai and Alexandra's) was born, the marriage was already beginning to fall apart because the couple had little in common. . . The couple began living separate lives and Nicholas began a relationship with Catherine Chislova, a dancer from the Krasnoye Selo Theatre who bore him five children. Nicholas made no attempt to hide his relationship with Catherine and the bitterness between him and Alexandra grew. . . . " (Painted Veil)
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Nikolai Nikolaevich Grand Duke of Russia |
"Tall and strong, neither handsome nor very intelligent, he had an unsavory reputation on account of his gross 'financial irregularities' -- debt, bribery, embezzling, etc. - and his rampant womanizing. He married Alexandra of Oldenburg in 1856 and they had two sons. But soon enough he began a relationship with a ballet dancer, Catherine Chislova, with whom he would have five children and set up a very public second family. His wife finally left him in 1881, though she refused him a divorce." (Gods and Foolish Grandeur)
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Nikolai Konstantinovich Grand Duke of Russia |
(1850-1918).
Husband of: Nadejda Alexandrovna von Dreyer (1861-1929), mar 1882, daughter of Alexander Gustavovich von Dreyer, Orenburg police chief & Sophie Ivanovna Opanovskaya.
Morganatic offspring:
a. Artemi Nikolaevich Prince Iskander, Prince Romanovsky-Iskander (1883–1919)
b. Alexander Nikolaevich, Prince Iskander (1887-1957), mar Olga Iosifovna Rogovskaya (Rogowska) (1893–1962), mar 1912, div ?, mar 1930 Natalya Khanykova (1893-1982).
Nikolai the incorrigible womanizer.
"Nicholas at the age of 21 was living a very dissipated life, being an incorrigible womanizer and a heavy drinker. . .
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
". . . Countess Kleinmichael who shared his classroom says in her memoirs 'Memories of a shipwrecked world' that Nicholas was a 'very handsome youth with a fine physique, a good musician and a brilliant scholar'. Other observers commented on his rebellious nature." (Fanny Lear: 221)
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| Nikolai Konstantinovich Grand Duke of Russia |
Nikolai's lovers were:
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| Alexandra Abaza |
Also known as:
Alexandra Alexandrovna Abaza
Aleksandra Aleksandrovna Abaza
Alexandra Abasa.
Natural offspring:
a. Olga Nikolaevna Wolinskaya (1877-1910) mar Ludwig Adolf von Burgund, Graf von Burgund (1865-1908)
b. Nicholas Nikolaevich Wolinsky (1878-1913)
"She was a young woman, divorced, who was staying in Crimea at the same time as Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich. According to his guardian, Alexandra practically attacked the Grand Duke and moved into his house without being noticed. After having two children with the Grand Duke, she begged the Tsar to allow her to take care of him. She was refused and eventually the Tsar arranged her marriage with Count Paul Felixovich Shermetiev-Elston (a relative of Prince Felix Yousupov, who participated in the murder of Rasputin). The Count adopted the Grand Duke's children and they were allowed to use his patronym. However, the children were not entitled to any inheritance from the Count. Alexandra died young of tuberculosis and Count Shermetiev-Elston continued to look after her children." (Fanny Lear: 236)
"Despite the restrictions on his movement and access to him, Nicholas found himself the object of passionate attention by a woman named Alexandra Alexandrovna Abaza. The intensity of her pursuit and the resulting success caused Nicholas to be moved more urgently than his guards had planned. She also had two children by him, over the next two years. His transfer to Orenburg was partly motivated (given the distance involved) to discourage her continued involvement with him." (Fanny Lear: 224)
a. Olga Nikolaevna Wolinskaya (1877-1910) mar Ludwig Adolf von Burgund, Graf von Burgund (1865-1908)
b. Nicholas Nikolaevich Wolinsky (1878-1913)
"She was a young woman, divorced, who was staying in Crimea at the same time as Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovich. According to his guardian, Alexandra practically attacked the Grand Duke and moved into his house without being noticed. After having two children with the Grand Duke, she begged the Tsar to allow her to take care of him. She was refused and eventually the Tsar arranged her marriage with Count Paul Felixovich Shermetiev-Elston (a relative of Prince Felix Yousupov, who participated in the murder of Rasputin). The Count adopted the Grand Duke's children and they were allowed to use his patronym. However, the children were not entitled to any inheritance from the Count. Alexandra died young of tuberculosis and Count Shermetiev-Elston continued to look after her children." (Fanny Lear: 236)
"Despite the restrictions on his movement and access to him, Nicholas found himself the object of passionate attention by a woman named Alexandra Alexandrovna Abaza. The intensity of her pursuit and the resulting success caused Nicholas to be moved more urgently than his guards had planned. She also had two children by him, over the next two years. His transfer to Orenburg was partly motivated (given the distance involved) to discourage her continued involvement with him." (Fanny Lear: 224)
2) Daria Elisseievna Tchassovitine.
a.k.a. Daria Chasovitina.
Natural Offspring:
a. Daria Tchassovitine
b. Sviatoslav Tchassovitine.
Henrietta's first encounter with Grand Duke Nikolai, 1872.
"'Anything that glitters captivates me,' wrote Harriet Blackford, a saucy and bold-eyed blonde girl from Philadelphia who, after adventures under her new name 'Fanny Lear' with French millionaires and British royalty, arrived in pursuit of more glitter in Petersburg. 'I soon found myself introduced to counts, barons, and princes.' Fanny expanded her clientele from elderly princes ('the silver old age') to 'the golden youth.' At a masquerade at the Mariinsky Theatre, she noticed a young man of 22, 6 feet tall, magnificently built, tall and slender' with a dimpled chin, 'lips, red, full, sensual and passionate' and an expression of 'mockery and scepticism...I was certain I had a Grand Duke in front of me.' 'Do you know how I am, little one?' he asked her. She took him home to her room at the Hotel de France. . . ." (The Romanovs, 1613-1918)
"In 1872, at a masked ball in St. Petersburg, he met the American courtesan Fanny Lear, whose real name was Harriet C. Blackford. They embarked on a romance without the slightest attempt at secrecy. Nicholas set up (sic) Fanny in an apartment in Michael Square, St. Petersburg. His parents and Emperor Alexander II viewed this relationship with displeasure, although both father and the Emperor had been guilty of similar indiscretions. The relationship between Fanny and Nicholas blossomed and showed no signs of abating. Consideration was therefore given by the Emperor and his father to separate the couple by appointing Nicholas to one of the military expeditions. . . Nicholas was informed of the decision to appoint him to this expedition. He participated whole heartedly (sic) in the training, preparation and the military campaign which followed. However, the months of separation from Fanny Lear did not diminish his passion for her. Correspondence between the two revealed an intensity of affection which defeated the expectations of his family" (Fanny Lear: 222)
"The scandals reached their height when in the early 1870s the son of Alexander's brother Constantine, Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich, was apprehended with jewels he had stolen from his mother's icon frame to pay gambling debts. exiled by the emperor in Khiva, the grand duke continued to embarrass the family with his bizarre behavior, including the theft and sale of a set of ancient coin belonging to the imperial family. The grand duke's mistress was an American adventuress by the name of Henrietta Blackford who, after she was banished from Russia, published, in 1875, a revealing and highly sought after memoir under the name of Fanny Lear. . . In a telling scene, she described the grand duke exposing the hypocrisy of his father, Constantine Nikolaevich, who reprimanded him for his behavior. "I am not to blame, it is in my blood,' and he then went on to mention Peter the Great, Anne, Elizabeth, Catherine, Paul, Nicholas, and then Constantine Nikolaevich himself, all of whom kept lovers. . . ." (Scenarios of Power: From Alexander II to the Abdication of NIcholas II: 118)
"The scandals reached their height when in the early 1870s the son of Alexander's brother Constantine, Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich, was apprehended with jewels he had stolen from his mother's icon frame to pay gambling debts. exiled by the emperor in Khiva, the grand duke continued to embarrass the family with his bizarre behavior, including the theft and sale of a set of ancient coin belonging to the imperial family. The grand duke's mistress was an American adventuress by the name of Henrietta Blackford who, after she was banished from Russia, published, in 1875, a revealing and highly sought after memoir under the name of Fanny Lear. . . In a telling scene, she described the grand duke exposing the hypocrisy of his father, Constantine Nikolaevich, who reprimanded him for his behavior. "I am not to blame, it is in my blood,' and he then went on to mention Peter the Great, Anne, Elizabeth, Catherine, Paul, Nicholas, and then Constantine Nikolaevich himself, all of whom kept lovers. . . ." (Scenarios of Power: From Alexander II to the Abdication of NIcholas II: 118)
4) Nadezda Alexandrovna von Dryer.
"While in Orenburg, he met Nadezda Alexandrovna von Dryer, the daughter of the local police superintendent. His lover for her led him to indulge once again in headstrong impetuosity by marrying her clandestinely, using an assumed name. The discovery that they had married caused outrage in St. Petersburg and Orenburg. The marriage was duly annulled. A further outcome of this situation was to arrange his transfer to Samara, which took place in the summer of 1878. . . On the death of Alexander II, in March 1881, his successor Alexander III ascended the Imperial throne. The new Tsar transferred Nicholas to Tashkent, in June 1881. He also allowed the reinstatement of his marriage to Nadezda, in a civil ceremony and she joined him with their son Artemi." (Fanny Lear: 226)
5) Valeria Khmelnitskaya
Loved in 1900.
"Despite the prohibition by the local religious authorities, Nicholas obtained the services of a prince from the Hungary Steppe and he married Valeria in the small chapel at his palace. The scandal resulted in outrage and condemnation. The marriage was annulled, Nicholas was taken in handcuffs from his palace and sent to the Crimea, alone. He remained there for 5 years under house arrest. The Khmelnitskaya family was exiled to Tiflis and Nicholas was able to support them financially. After a while, the family was moved to Odessa." (Fanny Lear: 230)
5) Valeria Khmelnitskaya
Loved in 1900.
"Despite the prohibition by the local religious authorities, Nicholas obtained the services of a prince from the Hungary Steppe and he married Valeria in the small chapel at his palace. The scandal resulted in outrage and condemnation. The marriage was annulled, Nicholas was taken in handcuffs from his palace and sent to the Crimea, alone. He remained there for 5 years under house arrest. The Khmelnitskaya family was exiled to Tiflis and Nicholas was able to support them financially. After a while, the family was moved to Odessa." (Fanny Lear: 230)
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| Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia |
(1779-1831)
Viceroy of Poland
Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Poland.
His lovers were:
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| Joanna Grudzinska |
1) Joanna Grudzinska (1791-1831)
Princess of Lowicz 1820
Polish aristocrat
Lover in 1815.
Polish aristocrat
Also known as:
Joanna Grudno-Grudzinska
Jeannette.
2nd wife of Konstantin Pavlovich mar 1820
Daughter of: Antoni Grudzinski.
"On the very night of his father's assassination, the official heir, Constantine, had said that he did not want the throne---and he had not changed his mind since. He was still a sadistic martinet and volatile hellion, unsuited to be tsar. While showing off his troops to foreigners, he pierced the foot of a general standing at attention with his sword to prove his discipline. True, he seemed to have improved. He quoted Moliere in his letters to his sisters, laughed at his own pug-nosed ugliness and enjoyed his life as commander-in-chief of the army of Poland. It was in Poland that in 1815 he fell in love with a sweet-natured Polish countess, Joanna Grudzinska. She seems to have made him gentler. If he divorced his estranged wife and married his Catholic mistress, it would further encourage Alexander to alter the succession." (The Romanovs, 1613-1918: 327)
2nd wife of Konstantin Pavlovich mar 1820
Daughter of: Antoni Grudzinski.
"On the very night of his father's assassination, the official heir, Constantine, had said that he did not want the throne---and he had not changed his mind since. He was still a sadistic martinet and volatile hellion, unsuited to be tsar. While showing off his troops to foreigners, he pierced the foot of a general standing at attention with his sword to prove his discipline. True, he seemed to have improved. He quoted Moliere in his letters to his sisters, laughed at his own pug-nosed ugliness and enjoyed his life as commander-in-chief of the army of Poland. It was in Poland that in 1815 he fell in love with a sweet-natured Polish countess, Joanna Grudzinska. She seems to have made him gentler. If he divorced his estranged wife and married his Catholic mistress, it would further encourage Alexander to alter the succession." (The Romanovs, 1613-1918: 327)
"Pretty, fragile and moody Joanna Grudzinska became Constantine's morganatic wife under the title of Princess Lovicz in May 1820. The Romanov affectionately called her 'Jeannette.' The couple settled permanently in Warsaw's Belvedere Palace and from there Constantine governed Poland in the Emperor's name. In his early forties Constantine wanted a quiet life and as long as he felt loved and taken care of, he let her wife have her way in everything. When in the autumn and in winter the roads to Warsaw became difficult to travel and no courtiers arrived from Petersburg, Constantine happily spent most of the day with a cigar in front of a fireplace with his wife and his grown-up illegitimate son, whom the Romanovs liked and accepted." (Becoming a Romanov: Grand Duchess Elena of Russia and Her World (1807-1873): 43)
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| Josephine Friedrichs |
2) Josephine Friedrichs.
French dancer.
Also known as:
Josephina Fridrix.
Natural offspring:
Natural offspring:
a. Pavel Konstantinovich (1808-?). [Pix]
"The large formal portrait of Josephine Friedrichs and son (1815. Oil on canvas) Rizener made on the order of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. According to experts, Lady and her son were standing on the terrace of the Belvedere Palace in Warsaw. Josephine Friedrichs, since 1816 (after the award of the Russian nobility) Juliana M. Alexandrova - was mistress of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. They were in civil marriage from 1806 to 1820 and had a son - Paul Konstantinovich Alexandrov, who received name after his grandfather Paul I, nd patronymic - of the godfather - Alexander I. The painting was exhibited in 1902 at the exhibition "150 years of Russian portraiture". In 1905, for its unique artistic and historical point of view Sergei Diaghilev selected it for the exhibition of famous portrait painting in the Tauride Palace. After 1917, the canvas likely, along with its owner, went abroad. For a while it was in Italy in a private collection, but now - back in Russia completed Karisalov collection." (Romanov News)
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| Yekaterina Pavlovna Skavronskaya Princess Bagration |
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| Mikhail Alexandrovich of Russia |
(1861-1929)
Governor of the Caucasus.
Also known as:
Miche-Moche
Mikhail Senior.
Son of: Mikhail Nikolaevich of Russia & Olga Feodorovna (Caecilie von Baden).
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| Mikhail Mikhailovich of Russia |
Mikhail's family life & upbringing.
"The father, Grand Duke Michael senior, was able and intelligent, a keen soldier and a great disciplinarian. For nineteen years he had been Governor of the Caucasus, where his children where brought up in an extremely Spartan manner, sleeping on iron bedsteads, bathing in cold water, prayers and gymnastics daily, and only allowed to see their sister on Sundays. In spite of the boys understandably feeling lonely, they all loved it there, and Michael the younger's Villa Kazbeck in Cannes was named after the highest mountain in Georgia. The family had a huge estate at Borjom near Tiflis, larger than the whole of Holland, as well as palaces on the Black Sea and near St. Petersburg, the last being so enormous that the boys when summoned urgently by Papa would have to bicycle along the corridors." (Grand Dukes and Diamonds)
Grand duke's frantic search for a wife: In the spring of 1886 the grand duke was in London in search of a wife. He made unsuccessful overtures for the hand of Princess Mary of Teck. While Mary's grandmother, the Duchess of Cambridge, was in favor of the marriage, both the Duke of Cambridge and Mary's father, the Duke of Teck were against it, considering the Romanovs to be "notoriously bad husbands". The same year Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich proposed marriage to Princess Irene of Hesse Darmstadt. In love with her first cousin, Prince Henry of Prussia, she rejected him. In 1887 he proposed to Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of the Prince of Wales. He admitted to Louise that he could never love her and he was turned down for a third time. After that, he attempted to marry within the Russian nobility, which caused confrontations with his parents. In 1888, he had an affair with Princess Walewski. Later, he fell in love with Countess Catherine Nikolaevna Ignatieva (1869-1914), the daughter of the former Minister of Interior, Nicholas Pavlovich Ignatiev. He tried to get permission to marry her and he went with his father to talk to Tsar Alexander III. However, his mother and the Empress Maria Feodorovna made it impossible for him to marry Catherine. Olga Feodorovna opposed the misalliance vehemently. "He has so openly provoked me" she wrote of her son, mentioning his "lack of respect, affection and attention". To break off the relationship, the parents decided to send him abroad." (Wikipedia)
Grand duke's frantic search for a wife: In the spring of 1886 the grand duke was in London in search of a wife. He made unsuccessful overtures for the hand of Princess Mary of Teck. While Mary's grandmother, the Duchess of Cambridge, was in favor of the marriage, both the Duke of Cambridge and Mary's father, the Duke of Teck were against it, considering the Romanovs to be "notoriously bad husbands". The same year Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich proposed marriage to Princess Irene of Hesse Darmstadt. In love with her first cousin, Prince Henry of Prussia, she rejected him. In 1887 he proposed to Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of the Prince of Wales. He admitted to Louise that he could never love her and he was turned down for a third time. After that, he attempted to marry within the Russian nobility, which caused confrontations with his parents. In 1888, he had an affair with Princess Walewski. Later, he fell in love with Countess Catherine Nikolaevna Ignatieva (1869-1914), the daughter of the former Minister of Interior, Nicholas Pavlovich Ignatiev. He tried to get permission to marry her and he went with his father to talk to Tsar Alexander III. However, his mother and the Empress Maria Feodorovna made it impossible for him to marry Catherine. Olga Feodorovna opposed the misalliance vehemently. "He has so openly provoked me" she wrote of her son, mentioning his "lack of respect, affection and attention". To break off the relationship, the parents decided to send him abroad." (Wikipedia)
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| Sophie de Torby |
Husband of: Sophie von Marenberg Countess of Torby (1868-1927) mar 1891.
Also known as:
Sophie Nicholaievna von Marenberg
Sophie of Marenberg
Sophie von Merenberg.
Daughter of: Nikolaus Wilhelm von Nassau & Natalya Alexandrovna Pushkina.
Love at first sight.
"In 1891 Michael met Sophie von Merenberg, probably at Biarritz, through there are more romantic stories about his snatching the bridle of her horse as it bolted through the flower market at Nice, or sending his ADC to find out the name of this beautiful girl. They fell instantly in love, and were married secretly at San Remo. When his mother, the Grand Duchess Olga, heard this appalling news at St. Petersburg, she collapsed and had to be sent at once by train to the Crimea to recover. On the way she had a heart attack and died in the station waiting-room at Kharkov, before her husband could arrive. The blame was at once laid on Michael, and the whole scandalous story was relayed to Windsor Castle: not that it dismayed the Prince of Wales --- quite the contrary. Tsar Alexander III thereupon stripped Michael of his military ranks. Sophie's mother, the Countess von Merenberg, retaliated. by refusing to let her son-in-law go to the funeral. Perhaps she was afraid that the marriage would be annulled. Michael was now forbidden by the Tsar to return to Russia at all. As has earlier been mentioned, Sophie was given the title of Countess de Torby by her father's half-brother, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg." (Grand Dukes and Diamonds)
Sophie's personal & family background.
"While in Nice, in 1891, Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich fell in love with Countess Sophie von Merenberg, daughter of Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau and his morganatic wife, née Natalie Alexandrovna Pushkin, a member of the minor Russian nobility. Sophie’s maternal grandfather was the renowned poet-author Alexander Pushkin; through him, she had black African ancestry (one part in 32) as a direct descendant of Peter the Great's protégé, Abram Petrovich Gannibal. The grand duke met Sophie when he saved her from a horse that had run away with her. He did not bother to ask for the necessary permission for the marriage from the Tsar or his parents because he knew it would not be granted. They were married in San Remo on 26 February 1891." (Wikipedia)
"Sophie might not have been purely royal, but her credentials were not too bad, though not good enough for the Russians. Indeed, to most of us today, being the granddaughter of Pushkin would seem a trump card. Her aunt was Queen Sophie of Sweden (wife of Oscar II). Her first cousin Emma married King William III of the Netherlands, and they were the parents of Queen Wilhelmina. Another cousin, Helene, married Duke Leopold of Albany, fourth son of Queen Victoria, and they were the parents of the future Countess of Athlone. Her brother, Count Georg von Merenberg, married Princess Olga Yurievsky, daughter of the second, admittedly morganatic, wife of Tsar Alexander II, and failed in the courts to clain the throne of Luxembourg. Through her Wurttemberg grandmother (and the Athlones) she was related to Princess May of Teck. She was also descended from George II of Great Britain." (Grand Dukes and Diamonds)
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| Mikhail Mikhailovich of Russia & Sophie von Marenberg |
The marriage was not only morganatic but also illegal under the Imperial house laws and caused a scandal at the Russian court, despite the bride's dynastic paternal ancestry. Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich was deprived of his military rank and of his position as adjutant at the Imperial Court. He was also forbidden to return to Russia for life. When his mother heard of his morganatic marriage, she collapsed with shock and went by train to the Crimea to recover, but then had a heart attack and died, for which Michael was blamed. He was not allowed to attend his mother's funeral." (Wikipedia)
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Konstantin Nikolaievich Grand Duke of Russia |
(1827-1892)
Viceroy of Poland
Admiral-General of Russian Fleet
Son of: Nikolai I of Russia & Charlotte von Preussen.
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| Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg Grand Duchess of Russia |
Husband of: Alexandra von Sachsen-Altenburg (1830-1911) mar 1848
Also known as:
born Alexandra Friederike Henriette of Saxe-Altenburg
Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Russia.
Daughter of: Joseph von Sachsen-Altenburg & Amelie von Wurttemberg.
Konstantin's physical appearance & personal qualities.
Daughter of: Joseph von Sachsen-Altenburg & Amelie von Wurttemberg.
Konstantin's physical appearance & personal qualities.
" . . . Constantine quite lacked the imperial style. Coarse, off-hand, inflexibly self-centred, pug-nosed like his murdered father, he had blotted his copybook by insisting on marrying a plebeian mistress and found full satisfaction for his limited ambitions in the Governorship of Poland. . . ." (Crankshaw: 35)
Lover in 1868.
Russian ballerina.Illegitimate daughter of: Vasily Karatgina, Russian actor & Tatiana Martemyanova Kuznetsova. She had a twin brother Alexander. (Citywalls)
Natural offspring:
a. Sergey Konstantinovich Knyazev
b. Marina Konstantinova Knyazev (1875-1941) mar Alexander Pavlovich Yershov
c. Anna Konstantinova Knyaze (1878-1920) mar Nikolay Nikolaevich Lyali
d. Izmail Konstantinovich Knyazev (1879-1886)
e. Leon Konstantinovich Knyazev (18783-1886)
" . . . Grand Duke Constantine had an illegitimate daughter, later sent to Greece to become lady-in-waiting to her half-sister, Queen Olga. Constantine embroiled himself more when he embarked on an affair with a young ballerina, Anna Kuznetsova, who bore him five children. With very little in common other than their children and an appreciation for the arts, Constantine and Alexandra Iosofivona (sic) grew apart. . . ." (From Splendor to Revolution)
"After twenty years of marriage, perhaps as a result of the couple's basic incompatibility and/or a 'midlife crisis', Grand Duke Konstantin embarked on a relationship with Anna Vasilyevna Kuznetsova, a young dancer from the St. Petersburg Conservatoire.She eventually bore him five children, and he set her up in a large, well-appointed dacha on the Pavlovsk estate, thereby placing his second family in close proximity to his first. Society and the court was (sic) scandalized, and they sided with the wronged wife. . . . " (GFG)
"Konstantin had a long-running affair with a ballet dancer from the Mariinsky Theatre called Anna Kuznetsova, who bore him five children. Twenty years younger than the grand duke, she was the illegitimate daughter of ballerina Tatyna Kuznetsova and actor Vasily Karatygin." (rusartnet)
" . . . English Prospekt 18, a house owned by the composer Rimsky-Korsakov . . . was built by the Tsarevich's great-uncle Grand Duke Constantine Nicolaievich for his mistress, the ballerina Anna Kuznetsova, by whom he had five children between 1873 and 1883. Constantine even applied to the Tsar for permission to divorce his wife and marry her but this was refused. Even so, Kuznetsova and her children were eventually ennobled. . . ." (Imperial Dancer)
Konstantin's 2nd family
Konstantin & Anna's children
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| Alexei Alexandrovich Grand Duke of Russia @Wikipedia |
(1850-1908)
Son of: Alexander II of Russia & Maria Alexandrovna.
The best looking Romanov at the time.
"The Grand Duke was one of the three sons of Alexander II. He was born in 1850 and was considered the best looking man in the Romanov clan at the time. In 1871 he toured the USA, where he met Buffalo Bill Cody and President Grant on an itinerary that took him all over the country. A return trip to Americas took place in 1877, when the Grand Duke accompanied a squadron of four Russian naval vessels that made port at Norfolk, Virginia. Alexei became Admiral of the Russian Navy in 1888. He was quite the ladies man and spent much time abroad where he could live the free and easy life he loved. This wasn't possible within Russia where his many affairs and wild life would not have been tolerated. He especially loved France and the Riviera. Alexei died in Paris in 1908." (Alexander Palace)
Alexei's American assignations while buffalo hunting.
"Ten years earlier, Bertie, the prince of Wales, had been feted by the Americans who liked royalty providing they were breezy, mischievous and ebullient---and Alexis was all of these. He met President Ulysses S. Grant at the White House, enjoyed assignations with a burlesque dancer in St. Louis and an actress in New Orleans and then embarked on what the newspapers called 'The Great Royal Buffalo Hunt' in Nebraska. The grand duke's companions were the finest of the Old West: General George Custer, Buffalo Bill Cody and Native American chief Spotted Tail. 'Regarding my success with American ladies about which so much is written in the newspapers,'Alexis claimed to his prudish mother, 'I can honestly say it's complete nonsense.; Like many naughty princes since, he blamed media harassment for his own escapes. . . ." (The Romanovs: 1613-1918: 419)
"The Grand Duke was one of the three sons of Alexander II. He was born in 1850 and was considered the best looking man in the Romanov clan at the time. In 1871 he toured the USA, where he met Buffalo Bill Cody and President Grant on an itinerary that took him all over the country. A return trip to Americas took place in 1877, when the Grand Duke accompanied a squadron of four Russian naval vessels that made port at Norfolk, Virginia. Alexei became Admiral of the Russian Navy in 1888. He was quite the ladies man and spent much time abroad where he could live the free and easy life he loved. This wasn't possible within Russia where his many affairs and wild life would not have been tolerated. He especially loved France and the Riviera. Alexei died in Paris in 1908." (Alexander Palace)
Alexei's American assignations while buffalo hunting.
"Ten years earlier, Bertie, the prince of Wales, had been feted by the Americans who liked royalty providing they were breezy, mischievous and ebullient---and Alexis was all of these. He met President Ulysses S. Grant at the White House, enjoyed assignations with a burlesque dancer in St. Louis and an actress in New Orleans and then embarked on what the newspapers called 'The Great Royal Buffalo Hunt' in Nebraska. The grand duke's companions were the finest of the Old West: General George Custer, Buffalo Bill Cody and Native American chief Spotted Tail. 'Regarding my success with American ladies about which so much is written in the newspapers,'Alexis claimed to his prudish mother, 'I can honestly say it's complete nonsense.; Like many naughty princes since, he blamed media harassment for his own escapes. . . ." (The Romanovs: 1613-1918: 419)
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| Aleksandra Zhukovskaya @Wikipedia |
His lovers were:
1) Aleksandra Zhukovskaya (1842-1899)
Baroness Seggiano created 1875
Lover in 1869-1870.
German royal mistress
Lady-in-waiting to Empress Maria Alexandrovna 1858
a.k.a. Aleksandra Vasilievna Zhukovskaya.
Daughter of: Vasili Andreyevich Zhukovsky, Russian poet & tutor to Emperor Alexander II, & Elisabeth von Reutern
Wife of: Baron Christian-Heinrich von Wohrmann, mar 1875.
Natural offspring:
a. Alexis Alexeivitch, Count Belevsky-Zhukovsky (1871-1932), a.k.a. Alexei Alexandrovich Belevsky-Zhukovsky.
Alexandra's personal & family background.
"Alexandra Zukovskaia was born (Nov 11, 1842) in Dusseldorf, Germany, the daughter of the famous poet, Vasili Andreyevitch Zhukovsky (1783–1852), and his German wife, Elisabeth von Reutern. Her father was the tutor to Tsar Alexander II, and Alexandra became the mistress of the Romanov grand duke, Alexis Alexandrovitch (1850–1908), the son of Alexander II and Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was almost a decade her junior. They were married secretly in Italy (1870) but the union, which was not recognized by the Imperial family, was regarded as morganatic, and Alexandra was not received at the Imperial court. Alexis later had the union annulled. Her son Alexis Alexeivitch (1871-1932) was granted the title of Count Belevsky-Zhukovsky, and left descendants." (Women of History - Z)
Alexandra's personal & family background.
"Alexandra Zukovskaia was born (Nov 11, 1842) in Dusseldorf, Germany, the daughter of the famous poet, Vasili Andreyevitch Zhukovsky (1783–1852), and his German wife, Elisabeth von Reutern. Her father was the tutor to Tsar Alexander II, and Alexandra became the mistress of the Romanov grand duke, Alexis Alexandrovitch (1850–1908), the son of Alexander II and Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was almost a decade her junior. They were married secretly in Italy (1870) but the union, which was not recognized by the Imperial family, was regarded as morganatic, and Alexandra was not received at the Imperial court. Alexis later had the union annulled. Her son Alexis Alexeivitch (1871-1932) was granted the title of Count Belevsky-Zhukovsky, and left descendants." (Women of History - Z)
"When he was a young man, Alexei fell in love with Alexandra Zhukovskaya, the daughter of the poet Vasily Zhukovsky. Her father had spent twenty-four years at the imperial court, teaching Russian to the German wife of Nicholas I and then tutoring their son, the future Alexander II. After resigning in 1841, Zhukovsky went to Germany for medical treatment, where he married Elisabeth von Reutern, the daughter of Gerhardt Wilhelm von Reutern. In November 1842, his wife gave birth to a daughter called Alexandra. Alexandra Zhukovskaya was raised by her father and became known for her intellect and great beauty. After Vasily Zhukovsky died in Baden-Baden in 1852, Alexandra and her brother Pavel were looked after by the imperial family. Pavel, who went on to become a chamberlain and a successful artist, was adopted by Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna. Alexandra often visited the court, where she played with the emperor’s children. In 1858, at the age of sixteen, she became a lady-in-waiting to Empress Maria Alexandrovna." (rusartnet)
Her intrigues were beyond belief.
Her intrigues were beyond belief.
"Alexis, a lovable but shameless rogue, twenty-one years old, had joined the navy (he became a midshipman at the age of seven) and had already served long stints at sea. His girlfriend was a maid-of-honour, Alexandra Zhukovskaya, daughter of the poet, with whom Alexis had a son. 'The intrigues of this demoiselle Zhukovskaya are beyond belief!' grumbled Alexander, who despatched the prodigal sailor on a world tour that included an American visit to consolidate their alliance." (The Romanovs: 1613-1918: 418)
Love affair in 1869-1870.
"One frequently cited reason the Grand Duke Alexis was sent on the world cruise in 1871 and 1872 was to forget a love affair with a commoner, to which the Czar was strongly opposed. In 1869 and 1870, Alexis had an affair with an Alexandra Zhukovskaya, the daughter of the poet Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky. Alexandra was eight years older than him. They were parents to a son, Alexis, born on November 26, 1871, during the grand duke's stay in the United States." (Custer, Cody and Grand Duke Alexis: Historical Archaeology of the Royal Buffalo Hunt: 23)
Affair's benefits.
" . . . However, in 1875 Alexandra was made Baroness Seggiano by the Republic of San Marino, and she received the right to transmit the title Baron Seggiano to her son, Alexis, and his firstborn male descendants. In 1873, Czar Alexander III, the grand duke's elder brother, granted his nephew the title of Count Belevsky, and in 1893 he approved the count's coat of arms." (Custer, Cody and Grand Duke Alexis: 23)
Aleksandra-Andrei affair's timeline.
1869: Alexei Alexandrovich fell in love with Aleksandra
1870: The couple fled Russia & got married in Italy.
1871: Their son Aleksei was born
1873: Aleksei granted title of Count Belevsky
2) Eliza Baletta (d.1959)
Russian actress @ Mikhailovsky Theater
Also known as:
Elise Baletta Elsabetih Baletta
"La Baletta---a pretty actress and a Jewess---was then in great favour and had attracted the attention of the Grand Duke Alexis. Tongues were soon busy with this affair, and the Grand Duke was accused of having spent on her the funds intended for the fleet to buy her splendid jewels. To contradict this report she appeared the the state without a single jewel." (One Year at the Russian Court, 1904-1905: 136)
"The Grand Duke Alexis Alexandrovitch, brother of the late Emperor Alexander III and son of Alexander II, the Tzar Liberator, had never ceased to mourn the death of his morganatic wife to whom he had been deeply attached. So greatly did he feel his loss that he was gradually pining away, and this sad state perturbed the whole of the Imperial family, who were in despair concerning the fate of poor Alexis, until one of thei members, seeing La Baletta acting at the theatre, and being struck by the resemblance to the late 'Grand Duchess,' had the brilliant inspiration of bringing about a meeting between the disconsolate Grand Duke and the actress, with the result that 'Xesis' fell head over ears in love with the lady, and immediately forgot all about his late wife. They lived together for many years in Paris, after the disgrace into which the Grand Duke had fallen following on his scandalous sequestration of funds intended for naval purposes during his tenure of the post of Grand Admiral of the Fleet when the war with Japan was on, spending their winters in Pau and Biarritz, where they were always to be seen at the gambling tables of the Casino. The Grand Duke died in exile in Paris about nine years ago, remaining faithful to La Baletta to the end' but rumour has it that she was left no money and, consequently, she was obliged to sell one by one her many beautiful jewels, until she was reduced to penury, dying a few years ago neglected and forgotten." (One Year at the Russian Court, 1904-1905: 136)
"At the conclusion of her short Warsaw engagement, Cavalieri returned to Paris, which had now become established as her permanent home. She had formed a friendship with the actress Elise Baletta, a member of the French theater company in St. Petersburg and mistress of the Grand Duke Alexis. Baletta had encouraged Cavalieri to enroll her son in a French school, as she had done with her own son, and the two women had become firm friends, often visiting each other's Paris homes" (Lina Cavalieri: The Life of Opera's Greatest Beauty, 1874-1944: 93)
"In 1905 . . . Alexis had resigned as the royal patron of the Navy in order to assume responsibility for the Tsushima debacle. His mistress, Eliza Baletta, an actress at the Mikailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, was reported to have cost Russia more than the whole Tsushima catastrophe, and a contemporary wrote that the pockets of Grand Duke Alexis contained the equivalent of a couple of battleships and two million rubles of embezzled Red Cross money. Indeed Alexis allegedly gave Baletta a wonderful ruby cross, which she proudly showed off when the rumor about embezzlement spread. In 1908, the grand duke died in France of pneumonia." (Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Saga: 102)
@"She also loved the feminine subtlety of a silk fan painted by Jules Donzel fils, who belonged to a famous family of French painters, partly for his pastel-hued renderings of the Fountain of Youth and Venus Triumphant. But her eyes also fixed on the fan's guards with guilloche and intricately set diamonds. “Look at the beautiful tracery of the diamonds,” she said. The fan was a gift from Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, Czar Nicholas II's uncle, to his girlfriend, Mme. Elisabeth Balletta, an actress in the Imperial Theater. “It's a nice present to get from your sugar daddy,” Proler quipped." (Houston Museum of Natural Science extends Fabergé exhibit run)
"The second fan in the collection is painted on parchment, signed J. Donzel fils, and depicts the Fountain of Youth and Venus Triumphant surrounded by amorini while the reverse is decorated with gilt scrolls and painted flowers. The French Donzel family specialized in fan-painting and worked for all the leading Paris fan makers. Sold at the Sotheby London auctions (November 22, 1956, Lot 98, and July 9, 1959, Lot 81). Fabergé dealer A. Kenneth Snowman in 1962 confirmed the mark as AH (August Holmström, 1829-1903, his shop was continued by his son), described the Fabergé guard of translucent coral color with dark sepia plant designs, and included the fan as part of a collection formed by Madame Elisabeth Balletta (? – 1959). She was under contract from 1891-1905 as an actress with the St. Petersburg Mikhailovksy Theatre, a venue for French and Russian drama and comedy. Later provenance details in the literature of Fabergé suggest it was a gift from Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich (1850-1908), Admiral of the Russian Navy until 1905, and an admirer of Madame Balletta." (Faberge Research Site)
He died in her arms.
"The Grand Duke died in Paris after a life of “slow ships and fast women” in the arms of his mistress the French dancer La Balletta in 1908 a fact recorded in the Australian and not the European Press." (Just a Car Guy)
"The second fan in the collection is painted on parchment, signed J. Donzel fils, and depicts the Fountain of Youth and Venus Triumphant surrounded by amorini while the reverse is decorated with gilt scrolls and painted flowers. The French Donzel family specialized in fan-painting and worked for all the leading Paris fan makers. Sold at the Sotheby London auctions (November 22, 1956, Lot 98, and July 9, 1959, Lot 81). Fabergé dealer A. Kenneth Snowman in 1962 confirmed the mark as AH (August Holmström, 1829-1903, his shop was continued by his son), described the Fabergé guard of translucent coral color with dark sepia plant designs, and included the fan as part of a collection formed by Madame Elisabeth Balletta (? – 1959). She was under contract from 1891-1905 as an actress with the St. Petersburg Mikhailovksy Theatre, a venue for French and Russian drama and comedy. Later provenance details in the literature of Fabergé suggest it was a gift from Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich (1850-1908), Admiral of the Russian Navy until 1905, and an admirer of Madame Balletta." (Faberge Research Site)
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The sculpture of Cody was a gift to actress Elizabeth Balleta from Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, son of Alexander II. |
"The Grand Duke died in Paris after a life of “slow ships and fast women” in the arms of his mistress the French dancer La Balletta in 1908 a fact recorded in the Australian and not the European Press." (Just a Car Guy)
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Zenaide, Duchess of Leuchtenberg |
3) Zenaide Dmitrievna Skobeleva (1856-1899)
Lover in 1880-1899.
Duchess of Leuchtenberg, Comtesse de Beauharnais
Duchess of Leuchtenberg, Comtesse de Beauharnais
Maid of honour in the imperial court
a.k.a. Zenaide Skobeloff, Zinaida Beauharnais; Zina Bogarne
Daughter of General Dmitry Ivanovich Skobelev & Olga Nikolayevna Poltavtseva
Wife of Eugen von Leuchtenberg, mar 1877
First encounter.
"On the return of the Grand Duke Alexis, in 1880, from his visit to the United States, and from his subsequent cruise, he became acquainted with his new cousin, and from that time forth scarcely left her side. Whenever the lovely Zenaide was to be seen, whether on the 'Neffsky Prospect' of St. Petersburg, in the 'Bois" at Paris, on the 'Pincio' at Rome, or in the 'Prater' at Vienna, it could always safely be taken for granted that Alexis was somewhere in the immediate neighbourhood. This infatuation on the part of the Grand Duke was of the most fervent and constant nature, for it lasted without interruption for several years." (Within Royal Palaces: 294)
"On the return of the Grand Duke Alexis, in 1880, from his visit to the United States, and from his subsequent cruise, he became acquainted with his new cousin, and from that time forth scarcely left her side. Whenever the lovely Zenaide was to be seen, whether on the 'Neffsky Prospect' of St. Petersburg, in the 'Bois" at Paris, on the 'Pincio' at Rome, or in the 'Prater' at Vienna, it could always safely be taken for granted that Alexis was somewhere in the immediate neighbourhood. This infatuation on the part of the Grand Duke was of the most fervent and constant nature, for it lasted without interruption for several years." (Within Royal Palaces: 294)
Scandal in the family.
"Alexis, moreover, incurred the displeasure of his eldest brother subsequently in consequence of a scandal in which the name of the Duchesse Zenaide de Beauharnais, wife of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, a cousin of the Czar's, was involved. Thanks to her the Grand Duke was sent for a time in exile to the Siberian port of Vladivostok." (Within Royal Palaces: 393)
"Alexis, moreover, incurred the displeasure of his eldest brother subsequently in consequence of a scandal in which the name of the Duchesse Zenaide de Beauharnais, wife of the Duke of Leuchtenberg, a cousin of the Czar's, was involved. Thanks to her the Grand Duke was sent for a time in exile to the Siberian port of Vladivostok." (Within Royal Palaces: 393)
An ambitious woman and the stupid prince?.
"The Duchesse de Beauharnais is without exception one of the most ambitious women in the Czar's dominions. Endowed with extremely fascinating beauty, supremely elegant, and extremely clever, she experienced no difficulty in captivating, at one of the first Court balls at which she was present, the Duke of Leuchtenberg, a member of the Imperial family and known as one of the handsomest fools in Europe. Indeed, his stupidity has furnished the basis of innumerable anecdotes, both at St. Petersburg and Moscow. The marriage took place in October, 1878. . . ." (Within Royal Palaces:393)
"The Duchesse de Beauharnais is without exception one of the most ambitious women in the Czar's dominions. Endowed with extremely fascinating beauty, supremely elegant, and extremely clever, she experienced no difficulty in captivating, at one of the first Court balls at which she was present, the Duke of Leuchtenberg, a member of the Imperial family and known as one of the handsomest fools in Europe. Indeed, his stupidity has furnished the basis of innumerable anecdotes, both at St. Petersburg and Moscow. The marriage took place in October, 1878. . . ." (Within Royal Palaces:393)
Aleksei Aleksandrovich Gallery.
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| @St.Persburg.com |
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| Aleksei Aleksandrovich of Russia |
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| Aleksei Aleksandrovich |
"Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich (1850-1908) Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, fourth son of Alexander II. He is noted for his tour of the United States in 1871 where he made a great impression as an ambassador for Russia. He is also noted for his modernization of the Russian Navy and his womanizing ways, including a morganatic marriage ;) ALSO CALLED A" LEFT-HANDED MARRIAGE" (ANY GOODIES CAN NOT BE PASSED ON TO HIS WIFE OR CHILDREN………ccp" (Pinterest)
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| Alexei Alexandrovich, c1894 @Royal Collection Trust |
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Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia, 1875 |
(1858-1915)
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Paul Aleksandrovich of Russia |
(1860-1919)
Son of: Alexander II of Russia & Maria Alexandrovna.
Husband of: Alexandra of Greece & Denmark
"Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich was the eighth child and sixth son of Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna. He was born in Tsarskoe Selo (1860). He was the honorary chairman of the National Health Society. He married his third cousin, Princess Alexandra of Greece (1870–91), who died giving birth to their second child, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich. After marrying a divorced commoner, Olga Karnovich, he was dismissed from his posts and forced to live abroad (1902). Returning to Russia before the start of the First World War, he was shot by the Bolsheviks at the Peter and Paul Fortress in Petrograd (January 1919)." (rusartnet)
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| Alexandra of Greece |
Husband of: Alexandra Georgievna (Alexandra of Greece) (1870-1891) mar 1888
Daughter of: Giorgios I of Greece & Olga Konstantinovna of Russia.
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| Paul & Alexandra |
----ooOoo---
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| Princess Olga Paley. |
His lover was:
Princess Paley
Grafin von Hohenfelsen.
Also known as:
Grafin von Hohenfelsen.
Also known as:
born Olga Karnovich
Olga Pistolkors
Olga von Pistolkors
Princess Olga Valerianovna Paley.
Daughter of: Valerian Karnovich & Olga Vasilyevna Meszaros.
Wife of: 1. Erich Gerhard von Pistohlkors (1853-1935) mar 1884. Aide-de-Camp to Grand Duke Vladimir; Adjutant to Grand Duke Sergei.
"For a while, it appeared as if Grand Duke Paul, who had been so crushed when his wife, Alexandra of Greece, had died tragically, might not find love again. But such was not the case. The Duchess of Coburg's youngest brother became romantically involved with a commoner, the elegant Olga von Pistolkors, wife of an aide-de-camp to his brother, Grand Duke Vladimir. In 1897, Olga, the mother of four children from her husband, bore a son, Vladimir, whose father was Grand Duke Paul. After Olga and her husband were divorced, Grand Duke Paul married Olga morganatically in Italy in 1902, without obtaining Nicholas's permission. This infuriated the tsar, who told his mother: 'The nearer the relative who refuses to submit to our family statutes the grave must be the punishment. Don't you agree with me, dear Mama? . . . .'" (From Splendor to Revolution)
"The emperor had pardoned Dmitri's father, Paul, his last surviving uncle, and permitted him to return to Russia when the war had broken out. Paul's second wife, Olga, had shrewdly asked Rasputin to intercede on her husband's behalf. She had been eager to drop her German title for a Russian one, and Paul secured permission from the emperor for his wife to be promoted from Countess Hohefelsen to Princess Paley, taking the name of a Cossack chief to whom she was related. There was no love lost between Dmitri and his stepfather. Olga, Princess Paley, had her own son by Paul, Vladimir, upon whom she doted. The fact that her own morganatic marriage meant that Vladimir could never be a grand duke like Dmitri irritated her tremendously. Dmitri, on his part, wrote to the emperor saying that he saw the 'honorable family of Countess Hohenfelsen' as little as possible, thus making life in St. Petersburg, he said, much more peaceful. Dmitri could only pity his father, so dominated by his aggressive second wife. In October 1916, Princess Paley was outraged to find that Grand Duke Paul had been choosing wines from their cellar and taking them to army headquarters, where he was then stationed. 'I would somehow understand if you treated the Sovereign to it,' the princess complained, 'but to waste in on Dmitri or Grand Duke George Mikhailovich was totally unnecessary." (The Flight of the Romanovs: 128)
"Dmitri and Marie hardly knew their father. Duke Pavel spent most of his time traveling and in 1902, scandalized the Russian court by entering into a morganatic marriage, to Olga Valerianovna Karnovich Paley, a divorced woman. Knowing that such an irregular union would bring swift reprisals, Pavel married in secret, informing his children only after the fact, by letter. The duke's illegitimate marriage led to his banishment from Russia and permanent exile in France, whereupon his brother, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and his wife, Elizabeth (sister of Tsarina Alexandra), who had no children of their own, acquired official guardianship of Dmitri and Marie. Although privately devoted to his family, as the tsar's appointed governor-general of Moscow. Grand Duke Sergei was a severe, even sadistic, despot. In 1891, for example, under his reign, twenty thousand of Moscow's Jews were forcibly expelled from their homes during the brutal winter months." (Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History: 114)
"Watching helplessly the frivolities of the grand dukes during the rist years of his reign, Nicholas, seemingly incapable of stopping debauchery and fornication, did choose to exercise his power on the matter of morganatic marriages. In the fall of 1902, the tsar's youngest uncle, Grand Duke Paul, had actually ran away to Paris, taking with him suitcases holding three million rubles. Paul suffered from periodic nervous breakdowns and never seemed able to put his life together in a constructive fashion. Now he had decided to marry a new love, his mistress, a divorcee, Olga Pistolkors, whom the family considered not only an outrageously inappropriate choice for Paul, but also an unattractively ambitious, even brazen woman. A commoner and, in the judgment of many, a 'fornicator,' she had appeared at a Winter Palace ball wearing diamonds bequeath to Paul by his mother, the late Empress Maria Alexandrovna. Every Romanov recognized imperial jewels. Minnie demanded that Madame Pistolkors be expelled from the party and the chamberlain thereupon asked the woman to leave, causing an immense scandal. She was said to have Paul completely under her thumb." (The Flight of The Romanovs: A Family Saga: 71)
" . . . Meanwhile Xenia's widowed uncle Grand Duke Paul had married his mistress Mme Olga Pistolkors, a divorcee, by whom he already had a son. Husband and wife, created Countess Hohenfelsen by the King of Bavaria, were promptly banished to Paris, leaving his two young children from his first marriage, Marie and Dmitri, in the guardianship of Sergei and Ella in Moscow." (Once a Grand Duchess: Xenia, Sister of Nicolas II)
Affair's effect on the family & society.
"When Nicholas heard the news that Paul had eloped, he exploded with rage. Paul had given his word he would not do so. Paul's brothers were also fiercely indignant. Vladimir wrote to Sergei: 'He [Paul] has behaved shamelessly as a member of our family and as a military man. His behavior cannot be called anything but criminal. And to her I said plainly that if she will become the wife of my brother, I will turn my back on her and she will never in life see my face again. What will become of him? How will he be able to live the life of an outcast? What will become of the children? My heart is heavy, my head is empty. . . I repeat to you that I am crying for help. . . I repeat to you that I am crying for help and embrace you with my heart filled with sadness." (The Flight of The Romanovs: A Family Saga: 71)
References.
Memories of Russia, 1916-1919 by Princess Paley.
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Sergei Mikhailovich Grand Duke of Russia |
(1869-1918)
Son of: Mikhail Nikolaievich of Russia & Olga Feodorovna of Russia (Caecilia von Baden)
Husband of: Elizaveta Feodorovna of Russia (Elisabeth von Hessen & bein Rhein)
"The few days we spent in Moscow were busy with sightseeing. We dined with the Grand Duke Sergei and his beautiful wife, the Grand Duchess Elizabeth, sister of the Czarina. As Governor of Moscow, the Grand Duke lived in the Kremlin. One of the handsomest men I have seen, he was well over six feet tall, and in his uniform a most imposing person. He had, however, a cruel and arrogant air, and in spite of his undoubted charm he suggested something evil. As he was doing the honours I thought what a magnificent Mephistopheles he would make, and the self-satisfied gleam I caught in his eye made me realise that he sensed my thought. He was bitterly hated in Russia; assassins dogged his steps and had it not been for the constant attendance of the Grand Duchess, who was greatly loved for her charity and goodness, the fatal bomb would have found him years before if finally did." (The Glitter and the Gold)
His lovers were:
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Mathilde Kschessinska |
Mathilde Kschessinska (1872-1971)
Princess Romanovsky-Krassinsky.
Lover 1894-1918.
Russian ballerina
a.k.a. Malechka (by Sergei Mikhailovich)
[Her Memoir]
"When Nicholas II, then the Tsarevich, broke off with his mistress, the famous ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska, he asked Sergei to take care of her. From 1894, Grand Duke Sergei, who was then 25 years old, became Kschessinska’s protector. He provided generously for his mistress. In 1895, the grand duke bought a dacha for her in Strelna. Kschessinska, who was ambitious, used her connections to the Romanovs to promote her career. Sergei, as president of the Imperial Theatres Society, took an active role in the ballet world to secure a prominent place for Kschessinska in the Imperial Ballet. Although Sergei was devoted to Mathilde, she was not in love with him and used him as a tool to fulfill her ambitions. He remained her devoted friend through to the end of his life. He never married and found in Mathilde’s company the substitute of a family life." (Wikipedia)
In a menage a trois with brother Andrei?.
"Sergei's love life was rather sterile like that of his eldest brother. His true love having gone unrequited, he became a lifelong bachelor, but he, like so many of his family, formed some sort of intimate friendship with the by now rather shopworn Kschessinska. The exact nature of the relationship is unclear. In the war years he wrote Niki, 'You know that I have lived with Malechka . . . for twenty-two years (not in a physical sense but I . . . live in one house and by one means),' implying that the relationship was platonic (or had simply cooled off?). He continued his association with her after she married his cousin Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, and when the married couple had a child, Vova, everyone wondered which of the two Romanovs in this imperial menage a trois was the real father." (White Crow: 37)
"With Nicholas's permission, Grand Duke Serge Mikhailovich took Mathilde as his mistress. For the next six years Serge inundated her with gifts, including expensive jewelry and a waterfront dacha. Nevertheless, in 1901 she exchanged Serge for better-looking, but less intelligent Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, who was seven years younger and over a foot taller than her. . . Mathilde continued having sex with both Serge and Andrei for awhile. Her son Vladimir asserted that he never learned which grand duke sired him. His mother didn't know for sure, though the boy's physical appearance and name strongly suggested Andrei Vladimirovich as biological father." (Fifty-Seven Years of Russian Madness)
2) Varvara Davydova Orlova (1870-1950)
Countess Vorontsova Dashkova
"In 1908 Countess Barbara Vorontsov-Dashkov gave birth to a son, Alexander, in Switzerland. However, the baby's father was not her husband Count Ivan Vorontsov-Dashkov (son of the former Minister of the Court), by whom she had three children. He had died in 1898. The father of Alexander seems to have been Grand Duke Sergei Michaelovich. Little Alexander was adopted by Sophia von Dehn, whose grandmother was a daughter of Tsar Nicholas I. Sophia brought up Alexander in Italy,where her husband Dimitri was naval attache from 1906-1911. Alexander married twice and died in America in 1979." (Imperial Dancer)
References:
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| Boris Vladimirovich of Russia |
(1877-1943)
Son of: Vladimir Aleksandrovich of Russia & Maria Pavlovna of Russia (Maria von Mecklenburg-Schwerin).
The greatest playboy of the last generation of grand dukes.
"Andrew's elder brother would carry their father Vladimir's fondness for playing the Parisian boulevardier to new heights. Boris was the greatest playboy of the last generation of grand dukes. His trips abroad became legendary; his escapades in doubtful taste. He drank in the company of spongers and whores. He ran up large debts. But Miechen, his mother, protected him from the wrath of his family. Boris was her darling. Of all the Romanovs, Boris, puffy-faced, cigar in the corner of his mouth, was the least conscientious and the least regal, his behaviour more resembling that of a newly rich merchant than a grand duke, determined only to have a good time." (The Flight of the Romanovs: 70)
A world class womanizer, the terror of jealous husbands.
A world class womanizer, the terror of jealous husbands.
"Of all Miechen's sons, her favorite was Grand Duke Boris, despite his being 'the least conscientious and the least regal, his behavior more resembling that of a newly rich merchant than a grand duke, determined only to have a good time.' Boris was an unapologetic 'world class womanizer, absolutely unscrupulous . . . the terror of jealous husbands as well as of watchful mothers.' In fact, 'of all the Romanovs, Boris was the one more likely to be shot by a husband than by an assassin.' Broad-shouldered, and sporting a 'close-cut black moustache, turned up at the ends in the style affected by Emperor Wilhelm of Germany, 'Boris cut a dashing figure, which he used to his advantage with women. After his romantic escapade with the Duchess of Coburg's daughter, Crown Princess Marie of Romania, Boris also fell for Missy's cousin, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg---the same princess who married King Alfonso XIII of Spain. Boris's notoriety with women crossed the Atlantic during a visit to the United States where he left a 'tril of chorus-girl slippers out of which he had quaffed his champagne.' Boris perpetuated his reputation as a carouser in New York City, where the grand duke said he liked the smell of the city air, saying that, 'it's like champagne.' True to form, it was the women of America Boris extolled. 'What strikes me of greatest interest, 'chimed the grand duke, 'is the beauty of the American women. They are a distinct type, and whenever I see a lovely woman anywhere in my tour around the globe, I will be sure that she was born in America.'" (From Splendor to Revolution: the Romanov Women, 1847-1928)
Russia's favorite spender.
"Boris had once been described as 'Russia's favorite spender.' His exuberant public manners had attracted the occasional attention of the newspapers well before the revolution. His career had been long in the making. Once in St. Petersburg Boris had been forced to apologize to an old lady of high rank from whose house, as he departed after a visit, he had insisted upon taking along a bowl of goldfish to which he had taken a sudden strong fancy. His hostess complained to th empress." (The Flight Of The Romanovs: 265)
Russia's favorite spender.
"Boris had once been described as 'Russia's favorite spender.' His exuberant public manners had attracted the occasional attention of the newspapers well before the revolution. His career had been long in the making. Once in St. Petersburg Boris had been forced to apologize to an old lady of high rank from whose house, as he departed after a visit, he had insisted upon taking along a bowl of goldfish to which he had taken a sudden strong fancy. His hostess complained to th empress." (The Flight Of The Romanovs: 265)
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| Zinaida Rashevskaya |
Husband of: Zinaida Sergeievna Rashevskaya (1896-1963), mar 1919
"Boris was as happy as Andrew to find himself in the familiar atmosphere of Paris; although by now he was a person tied by marital bonds. In 1919, he had married Zinaida Rashevskaya, with whom he had fled Russia. Unlike Mathilde, whom the family tolerated, Zinaida they regarded as disreputable, vulgar and low born, although she was the widow of an army officer. She was never accepted by the family. This was not just a Romanov prejudice; few emigres seem to have had a good word for Zinaida. Nonetheless Boris seemed both happy and financially at ease. Although generous Queen Marie of Romania was constantly helping her Vladimirovichi relatives, people generally believed that Boris's money came from his wife." (The Flight Of The Romanovs: 265)
His lovers were:
Russian ballerina & royal mistress.
2) Jeanne Aumont Lacroix.
Lover in 1901.
Natural offspring:
a. Boris Lacroix (1902-1984)
"In 1901, Grand Duke Boris, age twenty five, had a liaison with a Frenchwoman, Jeanne Aumont-Lacroix, and had a son by her, born in Paris. The child, Jean Boris Lacroix (1902–1984), was not recognized. To break the relationship and strengthen his character Boris's parents sent him, with the Tsar's approval, on a world tour. Grand Duke Boris tour around the world lasted from 6 January 1902 until 20 October 1902." (Spokeo)
Affair's consequence on Boris.
"It could be from his stop (which included Japan) on his world tour in 1902. In 1901 he had a liaison with Jeanne Aumont-Lacroix (rumor, seemingly unsubstantiated, having it that he sired a son with her). Vladimir & Marie then sent him, with the Czar’s approval, on a world tour. He left Russian in late 1901 for France and from there embarked on a tour which include stops in Egypt, India, Ceylon, Siam, French Indochina, Japan, Hawaii, California, Chicago and New York. Part of his stay in Japan was around mid-July 1902 where it was covered in the New York Times." (Alexander Palace)
3) Mademoiselle Demidov.
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| Marie of Romania |
4) Marie of Romania (1875-1938)
Boris was first of Missy's first of numerous lovers.
Alfred's cousin, Grand Duke Boris, accompanied him to Romania. Miechen's son was hardly a model companion, being a Lothario of the greatest magnitude. Few womanizers could outcompete the debonair Boris Vladimirovich. Even Crown Princess Marie of Romania was not immune to the grand duke's charm. He made no secret of his admiration for the beautiful Missy, which soon sent tongues wagging. The Duchess of Coburg warned her daughter of the flirtation, but Missy succumbed to Boris's amusing company. It would appear that Boris was 'the first of [Missy's] numerous lovers.' When Marie Alexandrovna learned of her daughter's transgression, she warned her about her 'disorderly life' as well as her 'vulgar ideas.' Missy did not heed her mother's admonishment and became pregnant, in 1897, not by Crown Prince Ferdinand or Boris but the princesses's aide-de-camp, a Lieutenant Zizi Cantacuzene. The scandal compelled Missy to flee to her mother in Coburg. Nothing is known about the child who may have been 'stillborn or put in an orphanage.' The fate of the illegitimate child was 'one secret' Missy apparently took with her to her grave.' . . . ." (From Splendor to Revolution: The Romanov Women, 1847--1928)
"Missy became pregnant again during this scandal. This time, the father was Grand Duke Boris. During a fiery audience with King Carol I, Missy claimed outright that 'she loved her cousin Boris, that she wanted a divorce, and that the child she was carrying was Boris's. The Duchess of Coburg again took matters into her own hands. She acted quickly and pressed Missy to come to her. . . She gave birth in January 1900 to a daughter, named Marie after herself, her mother, and her Russian grandmother, though this grandchild of Marie Alexandrovna's would always be known in the family as 'Mignon.' In order to avoid a scandal, Ferdinand 'reluctantly agreed to accept the child as his own.'" (From Splendor to Revolution)
"From his early youth Boris was notorious for his restless life style. He was an extrovert, very social, he liked to drink, gamble and womanizing. He became a famous playboy. In 1896 during the coronation ceremonies of Tsar Nicholas II, he flirted with Crown Princess Marie of Romania, who was his first cousin and was already married. The next year, he visited her in Bucharest, fueling more rumors. She said that " he had an attractive, rather husky voice, kind eyes, and humorous smile, which crinkled his forehead into unexpected lines. Not exactly handsome, he had nevertheless great charm." The grand duke also got entangled with a Mademoiselle Demidov. He was the cause of her engagement breaking off on the eve of her wedding. The famous ballerina Anna Pavlova was one of Boris’ lovers. Princess Catherine Radziwill called him “the terror of jealous husbands as well as of watchful mothers”. His trips abroad became legendary, his escapades in doubtful taste. He drank in the company of spongers and prostitutes. Although loaded with wealth and privilege, Grand Duke Boris found his income insufficient and ran up a huge debt of nearly half a million rubles with his mother. In one year he spent more than 25,000 rubles for meals, 16,000 for servants and 8,000 for automobiles, giving 46 rubles to the church. His mother protected him from the wrath of the family." (Spokeo)
"Missy became pregnant again during this scandal. This time, the father was Grand Duke Boris. During a fiery audience with King Carol I, Missy claimed outright that 'she loved her cousin Boris, that she wanted a divorce, and that the child she was carrying was Boris's. The Duchess of Coburg again took matters into her own hands. She acted quickly and pressed Missy to come to her. . . She gave birth in January 1900 to a daughter, named Marie after herself, her mother, and her Russian grandmother, though this grandchild of Marie Alexandrovna's would always be known in the family as 'Mignon.' In order to avoid a scandal, Ferdinand 'reluctantly agreed to accept the child as his own.'" (From Splendor to Revolution)
"From his early youth Boris was notorious for his restless life style. He was an extrovert, very social, he liked to drink, gamble and womanizing. He became a famous playboy. In 1896 during the coronation ceremonies of Tsar Nicholas II, he flirted with Crown Princess Marie of Romania, who was his first cousin and was already married. The next year, he visited her in Bucharest, fueling more rumors. She said that " he had an attractive, rather husky voice, kind eyes, and humorous smile, which crinkled his forehead into unexpected lines. Not exactly handsome, he had nevertheless great charm." The grand duke also got entangled with a Mademoiselle Demidov. He was the cause of her engagement breaking off on the eve of her wedding. The famous ballerina Anna Pavlova was one of Boris’ lovers. Princess Catherine Radziwill called him “the terror of jealous husbands as well as of watchful mothers”. His trips abroad became legendary, his escapades in doubtful taste. He drank in the company of spongers and prostitutes. Although loaded with wealth and privilege, Grand Duke Boris found his income insufficient and ran up a huge debt of nearly half a million rubles with his mother. In one year he spent more than 25,000 rubles for meals, 16,000 for servants and 8,000 for automobiles, giving 46 rubles to the church. His mother protected him from the wrath of the family." (Spokeo)
5) Zinaida Rachevskaya. (1896-1963)
Also known as:
Zina Sergeivna Raschevskia
Daughter of Sergey Alexandrovich Rashevsky and Unnamed Schulz.
Wife of 1) Peter Eliseev (1894-1935)
Boris was happy and financially at ease with Zinaida.
"Boris was as happy as Andrew to find himself in the familiar atmosphere of Paris. although by now he was a person tied by marital bonds. In 1919, he had married Zinaida Rashevskaya, with whom he had fled Russia. Unlike Mathilde, whom the family tolerated, Zinaida they regarded as disreputable, vulgar and low born, although she was the widow of an army officer. She was never accepted by the family. This was not just a Romanov prejudice; few emigres seem to have had a good word for Zinaida. Nonetheless Boris seemed both happy and financially at ease. Although the generous Queen Marie of Romania was constantly helping her Vladimirovichi relatives, people generally believed that Boris's money came from his wife." (The Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Saga: 265)
Escape from Russia.
". . . Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich, the Emperor's cousin, and his mistress and future wife (Zina Sergeivna Raschevskia) left Russia by boat from Anapa in the Caucasus in March 1919. The Grand Duke along with his brother, Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, had been arrested and briefly imprisoned at Kislovodsk in the summer of 1918." (Sole & Gilbert, 2011 February 4)
Timeline of Grand Duke Boris's romantic affairs.
1896: Flirted with Queen Marie of Romania
1919: Boris and his mistress, Zinaida Rachevskaya, left Russia by boat; Boris later married Zinaida
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(1878-1918)
Son of: Alexander III of Russia & Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark).
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| Natalia Brasova & Mikhail Alexandrovich of Russia |
Husband of: Natalia Brasova (1880-1952), Russian aristocrat mar 1912
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| Mikhail Alexandrovich of Russia |
His lovers were:
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| Beatrice von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha |
"In 1902, Michael met Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They fell in love and began to correspond in her native English. Michael spoke both French and English fluently. At first it seemed they would marry; however, the Orthodox Church prohibited the marriage of first cousins, and Michael's father and Beatrice's mother were siblings. Nicholas refused to permit the marriage and, to Michael's and Beatrice's mutual dismay, their romance ended." (Wikipedia)
" . . . In the early 1900s, her son Grand Duke Michael came close to precipitating a scandal when he became romantically involved with his cousin Baby Bee, the Duchess of Coburg's daughter. Bee was a pretty, young woman, who was physically a cross between her blond, vivacious sister Missy, and the dark, mercurial Ducky. Michael, meanwhile, had grown into the handsomest of Marie Feodorovna's sons. Unlike Nicholas II who was slight in stature like his mother, Michael stood at over six feet tall like his father. With his dark hair and blue eyes, as well as the famed charm of his mother, Michael presented a fine catch for any young woman. When he and Bee attended Elena and Nicholas's wedding in 1902, their feelings for each other transformed into romance. Michael then was twenty-three years old and Bee, eighteen. Soon separated by distance, their romance blossomed through letters. The romance was doomed from the start. Michael and Bee could not marry because the Russian Orthodox Church frowned upon marriages between first cousins. Michael's brother, Tsar Nicholas II, was in complete agreement with the Church's view. Pressured to end the romance, Michael eventually did so by letter. Bee hesitated to accept the inevitable and became ill and thin, prompting her mother to send her to Egypt where it was hoped Bee could recover from her broken heart. Bee continued to pine for her lost love, but in 1905 Grand Duke Michael wrote his last letter to her: 'You don;t know how it worries me that on account of me you should be worried or unhappy. Please darling girl don't be said . . . I will remain your friend forever." (From Splendor to Revolution)
" . . . In the early 1900s, her son Grand Duke Michael came close to precipitating a scandal when he became romantically involved with his cousin Baby Bee, the Duchess of Coburg's daughter. Bee was a pretty, young woman, who was physically a cross between her blond, vivacious sister Missy, and the dark, mercurial Ducky. Michael, meanwhile, had grown into the handsomest of Marie Feodorovna's sons. Unlike Nicholas II who was slight in stature like his mother, Michael stood at over six feet tall like his father. With his dark hair and blue eyes, as well as the famed charm of his mother, Michael presented a fine catch for any young woman. When he and Bee attended Elena and Nicholas's wedding in 1902, their feelings for each other transformed into romance. Michael then was twenty-three years old and Bee, eighteen. Soon separated by distance, their romance blossomed through letters. The romance was doomed from the start. Michael and Bee could not marry because the Russian Orthodox Church frowned upon marriages between first cousins. Michael's brother, Tsar Nicholas II, was in complete agreement with the Church's view. Pressured to end the romance, Michael eventually did so by letter. Bee hesitated to accept the inevitable and became ill and thin, prompting her mother to send her to Egypt where it was hoped Bee could recover from her broken heart. Bee continued to pine for her lost love, but in 1905 Grand Duke Michael wrote his last letter to her: 'You don;t know how it worries me that on account of me you should be worried or unhappy. Please darling girl don't be said . . . I will remain your friend forever." (From Splendor to Revolution)
Affair's end & aftermath.
"In the meantime, Grand Duke Michael's former love, Bee, tried to put her romance with Michael behind her. The Duchess of Coburg took Bee with her to Madrid in 1906 to attend the wedding of the duchess's niece Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg to Spain's King Alfonso XIII. At a celebratory ball, Bee's uncle, Grand Duke Vladimir, introduced her to the Infante Alfonso ('Ali') of Orleans, the king of Spain's cousin. Part Spanish and part French, Ali was the son of the Infanta Eulalia who so enjoyed visiting Marie Feodorovna in Hvidovre. Known as the black sheep of the Spanish royal family, progressive-thinking Eulalia was something of a radical. In her 1911 book, The Thread of Life, Eulalia railed against 'very nearly every convention that royalty is brought up to respect,' including the right for women to divorce. 'Could a Spanish Princess,' asked the New York Times, in its review of the book, 'wave the red flag of revolution more vigorously"' Such was the colourful character of Ali's mother. At the wedding ball, the tall, blond Ali, who was two hears Bee's junior, was smitten with the attractive dark-haired princess. He asked Bee to dance and while they were on the dance floor Ali stunned her when he proposed: 'Princess, will you marry me?' A romance did not immediately blossom, but the couple met again. Marie Alexandrovna liked Bee's new suitor, who besides his illustrious pedigree, was also well educated and cultured. Writing to Missy, the Duchess of Coburg told her that 'Ali is very cosmopolitan and really I cannot determine which nationality he really belongs [to] . . . The father [Ali's] spent his money in a scandalous manner and Eulalia . . . well, everyone knows how she is. I believe that she will not oppose [a match] and will be very content to see her son established.' Marie Alexandrovna added that Ali implied a money problem with his father, making her fear that Ali was not rich. . . . The couple became engaged in 1907, to Marie Alexandrovna's satisfaction, for here was a young man able to counter her daughter's volatile character. Of her future son-in-law, the Duchess of Coburg wrote: 'He is the type of man who will know how to tame and dominate her . . . she has accepted him freely, of her own free will.'" (From Splendor to Revolution)
Alexandra Kossikovskaya (1875-1923)
Alexandra Kossikovskaya (1875-1923)
Lover in 1904-1907.
Lady-in-waiting to his sister, Grand Duchess Olga.
a.k.a. Dina; Alexandra ('Dina') Kossikovskaya
"Michael's attention turned to Alexandra Kossikovskaya (September 1875, Orel region – 1923, Berlin), known affectionately as "Dina", who was his sister Olga's lady-in-waiting. Dina's father, Vladimir Kossikovsky, was a lawyer and Dina was a commoner. Michael rejected the notion, proposed by his friends, that he keep her as a mistress, and in July 1906, he wrote to Nicholas asking permission to marry her. Nicholas and Dowager Empress Marie were appalled. Both felt that royalty should marry royalty and, according to Russian house law, any children of a marriage between a royal and a commoner would be ineligible for the succession. Nicholas threatened to revoke Michael's army commission and exile him from Russia if he married without his permission.Marie had Dina dismissed as Olga's lady-in-waiting and took Michael to Denmark until mid-September.." (Wikipedia)
In love with a wonderfully bright conversationalist.
Lady-in-waiting to his sister, Grand Duchess Olga.
a.k.a. Dina; Alexandra ('Dina') Kossikovskaya
"Michael's attention turned to Alexandra Kossikovskaya (September 1875, Orel region – 1923, Berlin), known affectionately as "Dina", who was his sister Olga's lady-in-waiting. Dina's father, Vladimir Kossikovsky, was a lawyer and Dina was a commoner. Michael rejected the notion, proposed by his friends, that he keep her as a mistress, and in July 1906, he wrote to Nicholas asking permission to marry her. Nicholas and Dowager Empress Marie were appalled. Both felt that royalty should marry royalty and, according to Russian house law, any children of a marriage between a royal and a commoner would be ineligible for the succession. Nicholas threatened to revoke Michael's army commission and exile him from Russia if he married without his permission.Marie had Dina dismissed as Olga's lady-in-waiting and took Michael to Denmark until mid-September.." (Wikipedia)
In love with a wonderfully bright conversationalist.
" . . . The first romance involved the dowager empress's son, Grand Duke Michael, with a lady-in-waiting, Alexandra ('Dina') Kossikovskaya. Unlike Michael's earlier liaison with Baby Bee (Marie Alexandrovna's youngest daughter), Dina was older than Michael by three years and was no beauty. But what Dina lacked in looks, she made up for in charm and intelligence. Michael enjoyed having long talks with this woman who was 'a wonderfully bright conversationalist' and was 'exceedingly popular among the younger generation of St. Petersburg society.'." (From Splendor to Revolution)
"Among his relatives, Michael was closest to Olga, the other baby of the family. Consequently, he was often around Olga's attractive young female friends and maids-of-honor. In 1901, at the age of twenty-three, Michael decided that he was in love with the prettiest of these girls, Alexandra Kossikovsky, whom Olga called 'Dina.' Romantically, he followed his sister and her suite to Italy, and in Sorrento he and Dina began planning an elopement. Before the scheme had advanced beyond the planning stage, Empress Marie heard about it. Summoning Michael, she overwhelmed him with anger and scorn. Dina was summarily dismissed." (Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty: 246)
Personal & family background.
" . . . The consensus seems to be that Alexis did not marry Alexandra because, as the daughter of an illegitimate son of a Russian landowner, she was an unsuitable match for royalty. . . . "
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| Natalia & Mikhail |
Natalia Sheremetyevskaya (1880-1952)
Lover in 1909.
Princess Romanovskaya-Brassova 1938
Also known as:
Natalia Sergeyevna Sheremetyevskaya
Natalia Cheremetievsaia
Natalia Brasova
Natalia Sheremetyevskaya-Romanovskaya
Natalia Sergeyevna Wulfert
Natalia, Countess Brasova
Countess Brasova
Natalie Wulfert
Nathalie Brassow
Natasha
Madame Mamontov.
Daughter of: Sergei Alexandrovich Sheremetyevsky, Russian aristocrat & advocate & Yulia Viatcheslavovna Sventitskaya.
Wife of:
1. Sergei Ivanovich Mamontov, mar 1902, div 1905.
2. Vladimir Erikovitch von Wulfert, Officer of Imperial Blue Guards, mar 1905, div 1910.
"In early December 1907, Michael was introduced to Natalia Sergeyevna Wulfert, the wife of a fellow officer, and from 1908 they began a deep friendship. Natalia was a commoner who had a daughter from her first marriage. By August 1909, they were lovers, and, by November 1909, Natalia was living apart from her second husband in an apartment in Moscow paid for by Michael. In an attempt to prevent scandal, Nicholas transferred Michael to the Chernigov Hussars at Orel, 250 miles from Moscow, but Michael travelled from there several times a month to see Natalia. Their only child, George (named after Michael's dead brother) was born in July 1910, before her divorce from her second husband was finalised. To ensure that the child could be recognised as his, rather than Wulfert's, Michael had the date of the divorce back-dated. Nicholas issued a decree giving the boy the surname "Brasov", taken from Michael's estate at Brasovo, which was a tacit acknowledgement that Michael was the father. In May 1911, Nicholas permitted Natalia to move from Moscow to Brasovo and granted her the surname "Brasova". In May 1912, Michael went to Copenhagen for the funeral of his uncle King Frederick VIII of Denmark, where he fell ill with a stomach ulcer that was to trouble him for years afterwards. After a holiday in France, where he and Natalia were trailed by the Okhrana, Michael was transferred back to Saint Petersburg to command the Chevalier Gardes. He took Natalia to the capital with him and set her up in an apartment, but she was shunned by society and, within a few months, he had moved her to a villa in Gatchina." (Wikipedia)
Mikhail's first encounter with Natalia in 1907.
"In early December 1907, Michael was introduced to Natalia Sergeyevna Wulfert, the wife of a fellow officer, and from 1908 they began a deep friendship. Natalia was a commoner who had a daughter from her first marriage. By August 1909, they were lovers, and, by November 1909, Natalia was living apart from her second husband in an apartment in Moscow paid for by Michael. In an attempt to prevent scandal, Nicholas transferred Michael to the Chernigov Hussars at Orel, 250 miles from Moscow, but Michael travelled from there several times a month to see Natalia. Their only child, George (named after Michael's dead brother) was born in July 1910, before her divorce from her second husband was finalised. To ensure that the child could be recognised as his, rather than Wulfert's, Michael had the date of the divorce back-dated. Nicholas issued a decree giving the boy the surname "Brasov", taken from Michael's estate at Brasovo, which was a tacit acknowledgement that Michael was the father. In May 1911, Nicholas permitted Natalia to move from Moscow to Brasovo and granted her the surname "Brasova". In May 1912, Michael went to Copenhagen for the funeral of his uncle King Frederick VIII of Denmark, where he fell ill with a stomach ulcer that was to trouble him for years afterwards. After a holiday in France, where he and Natalia were trailed by the Okhrana, Michael was transferred back to Saint Petersburg to command the Chevalier Gardes. He took Natalia to the capital with him and set her up in an apartment, but she was shunned by society and, within a few months, he had moved her to a villa in Gatchina." (Wikipedia)
Mikhail's first encounter with Natalia in 1907.
"Grand Duke Michael first met Natalia Wulfert at the end of 1907, around the time that Dina Kossikovskaya left Russia for good. Natalia, or Natasha, as she was more commonly known, was the daughter of a Moscow lawyer. With her first husband, Sergei Mamontov, who worked for the Bolshoi Theatre, she had a daughter, Natalia ('Tata'), but even having Tata was not enough to keep the restless Madame Mamontov from staying married. After Natasha and Mamontov divorced, she married Captain Vladimir Wulfert, an officer with the elite Blue Cuirrasiers. The Wulferts settled in the city of Gatchina, where Natashas's husband was stationed. Though Gatchina's hostesses were reluctant to invite a divorcee to their homes, plenty of eager young officers flocked to the Wulfert home---the main attraction being the willowy Natasha. Though 'Wulfert might be said to have stolen her from her first husband,' these young officers who 'sipped their wine in the candlelight' of the Wulfert home, 'looked across the polished table, [and] the thought occurred that many men would have done exactly that, had they had the same opportunity.' At the time Grand Duke Michael met Natasha, she was twenty-seven years old, a year and a half younger than he. She stood five feet six inches tall, 'slender, fair-haired and possessed of deep-set velvety blue eyes which once seen would be rarely forgotten.' Dmitri Abrikossov, an early suitor, had been so captivated by her most distinguished feature that he admitted: 'I must confess I have never forgotten Nathalie with her sad eyes.' Grand Duke Michael was too struck by Natasha Wulfert's 'sad eyes.' For him, it had been love at first sight. Michael would later tell Natasha 'I tenderly remember . . . that afternoon in the riding school when for the first time I saw and asked 'who's that lady?' and then finally had the courage to come up and be introduced to that unknown lady.' Tata soon became accustomed to seeing Grand Duke Michael, who became part of her mother's life. Years later, Tata recalled that as a very young child, she found that Michael assumed 'the proportions of a legendary figure, rather like St. George with his dragon.' She also met Marie Feodorovna's daughter Olga, whom Tata found to be 'a very charming, simple woman.' Always accompanying Olga was Captain Nikolai Kulikovsly, whom Tata grew fond of because 'he used to be a marvel at mending toys.'" (From Splendor to Revolution)
Mutually love at first sight.
Mutually love at first sight.
"The story of Countess Brasova was the following. For several years the former heir to the Russian throne and younger brother of the tsar, Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich, served in our regiment and commanded our Life Squadron. For the regiment this was of course very flattering, because thanks to this circumstance the regiment acquired a prominent position in the Guards. Grand Duke Mikhail riveted to the regiment the attention of his mother, the old Empress Mariia Fiodorovna, who from the moment of her son's joining the cuirassiers began to show particular goodwill to our regiment. The Blue Cuirassiers came into favor, acquired the reputation of a fashionable Guards regiment, and at the court the cuirassiers began to be jokingly called 'Les petits bleus de Sa Majeste' ('the little blue boys of Her Majesty'). Everything went well, until one fine day the grand duke conceived a strong love for the wife of one of our officers, namely the wife of a certain Lieutenant V. It so happened that Madame V. in her turn also fell deeply in love with the grand duke. They began an affair. Despite the fact that the grand duke was a very shy and behaved very modestly, the rumor of his affair spread and was talked about in court circles and in high society in general. . . ." (A Russian Prince in the Soviet State: Hunting Stories, Letters from Exile: 287)
Marrying against the Emperor's wish.
"Five years later, in 1906, Michael, now twenty-eight, again fell in love. This time, he wrote to his brother asking permission to marry a woman who was not only a commoner but who had twice been divorced. Nicholas wrote to Marie: 'Three days ago, Misha wrote asking my permission to marry. . . I will never give my consent. . . It is infinitely easier to give one's consent than to refuse it. God forbid that this sad affair should cause misunderstanding in our family.' This time, Michael did not give up. The lady involved was born Nathalie Cheremerevskaya, the daughter of a Moscow lawyer. At sixteen, she had married a merchant named Mamontov, then divorced him three years later to marry a Captain Wulfert of the Blue Cuirassier Guards. The colonel of her new husband's regiment was none other than His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Michael. Within a few months Nathalie managed to become Michael's mistress. From that moment on, she dominated his life. Nathalie Cheremerevskaya was a beautiful woman of great allure. Paleologue encountered her once in a St. Petersburg shop during the war and hurried home to describe her to his diary with Gallic exuberance: 'I saw a slender young woman of about 30. She was a delight to watch. Her whole style revealed great personal charm and refined taste. Her chinchilla coat, opened at the neck, gave a glimpse of a dress of silver grey t with trimmings of lace. A light fur cap blended with her glistening fair hair. Her pure and aristocratic face is charmingly modeled and she has light velvety eyes. Around her neck a string of superb pearls sparkled in the light. There was a dignified, sinuous soft gracefulness about her every movement. At first. Michael respected the Tsar's denial of permission to marry. Nevertheless, he and Nathalie left Russia to live together abroad. In 1910, Nathalie bore the Grand Duke a son whose name became George. In July 1912, the lovers took up residence in the Bavarian resort village of Berchtesgaden. One morning in October of that year, they secretly crossed the border into Austria and in a small Orthodox church in Vienna they were married. Only after their return to Berchtesgaden as man and wife did they notify the Tsar." (Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty: 245)
Consequences of marrying without imperial permission.
" . . . Nicholas deprived his brother of the right of regency on Alexis's behalf, and put Michael in a state of tutelage as if he were a minor or a mental incompetent. Grand Duke Michael, second in line for the Russian throne, was then forbidden to return to Russia." (Nicholas and Alexandra: 247)
Why the rush to marry a commoner?.
"Later, the reason for Michael's seemingly impetuous decision to marry became clearer. From the medical bulletins and news reports that were filtering across Europe, Michael suddenly became aware of the fact that his nephew might die at any moment. If Alexis died, Michael knew that he could be compelled to return to Russia under circumstances which would make it impossible for him to marry a woman of Nathalie's standing. Before this could happen, he---or she--- decided to act. 'What revolts me more than anything else,' said Nicholas, 'is his [Michael's] reference to poor Alexis's illness which, he says made him speed things up.'" (Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty: 247 )
Marrying against the Emperor's wish.
"Five years later, in 1906, Michael, now twenty-eight, again fell in love. This time, he wrote to his brother asking permission to marry a woman who was not only a commoner but who had twice been divorced. Nicholas wrote to Marie: 'Three days ago, Misha wrote asking my permission to marry. . . I will never give my consent. . . It is infinitely easier to give one's consent than to refuse it. God forbid that this sad affair should cause misunderstanding in our family.' This time, Michael did not give up. The lady involved was born Nathalie Cheremerevskaya, the daughter of a Moscow lawyer. At sixteen, she had married a merchant named Mamontov, then divorced him three years later to marry a Captain Wulfert of the Blue Cuirassier Guards. The colonel of her new husband's regiment was none other than His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Michael. Within a few months Nathalie managed to become Michael's mistress. From that moment on, she dominated his life. Nathalie Cheremerevskaya was a beautiful woman of great allure. Paleologue encountered her once in a St. Petersburg shop during the war and hurried home to describe her to his diary with Gallic exuberance: 'I saw a slender young woman of about 30. She was a delight to watch. Her whole style revealed great personal charm and refined taste. Her chinchilla coat, opened at the neck, gave a glimpse of a dress of silver grey t with trimmings of lace. A light fur cap blended with her glistening fair hair. Her pure and aristocratic face is charmingly modeled and she has light velvety eyes. Around her neck a string of superb pearls sparkled in the light. There was a dignified, sinuous soft gracefulness about her every movement. At first. Michael respected the Tsar's denial of permission to marry. Nevertheless, he and Nathalie left Russia to live together abroad. In 1910, Nathalie bore the Grand Duke a son whose name became George. In July 1912, the lovers took up residence in the Bavarian resort village of Berchtesgaden. One morning in October of that year, they secretly crossed the border into Austria and in a small Orthodox church in Vienna they were married. Only after their return to Berchtesgaden as man and wife did they notify the Tsar." (Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty: 245)
Consequences of marrying without imperial permission.
" . . . Nicholas deprived his brother of the right of regency on Alexis's behalf, and put Michael in a state of tutelage as if he were a minor or a mental incompetent. Grand Duke Michael, second in line for the Russian throne, was then forbidden to return to Russia." (Nicholas and Alexandra: 247)
Why the rush to marry a commoner?.
"Later, the reason for Michael's seemingly impetuous decision to marry became clearer. From the medical bulletins and news reports that were filtering across Europe, Michael suddenly became aware of the fact that his nephew might die at any moment. If Alexis died, Michael knew that he could be compelled to return to Russia under circumstances which would make it impossible for him to marry a woman of Nathalie's standing. Before this could happen, he---or she--- decided to act. 'What revolts me more than anything else,' said Nicholas, 'is his [Michael's] reference to poor Alexis's illness which, he says made him speed things up.'" (Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty: 247 )
Natural offspring:
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| George Mikhailovich Brasov |
1. George Mikhailovich Brassov, Count Brasov (1910-1931)
[Bio]
"Despite his anger, Nicholas could not ignore his brother's fait accompli. Nathalie was now his brother's wife. Reluctantly, he granted her the title of Countess Brassova and consented that her infant son, his nephew, should be styled Count Brassov. When the war began, Nicholas permitted the couple to return to Russia and Michael went to the front in command of a Caucasian division. But neither Nicholas nor Alexandra ever received or uttered a work to the bold and beautiful Nathalie Cheremerevskaya." (Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty: 247)
"Despite his anger, Nicholas could not ignore his brother's fait accompli. Nathalie was now his brother's wife. Reluctantly, he granted her the title of Countess Brassova and consented that her infant son, his nephew, should be styled Count Brassov. When the war began, Nicholas permitted the couple to return to Russia and Michael went to the front in command of a Caucasian division. But neither Nicholas nor Alexandra ever received or uttered a work to the bold and beautiful Nathalie Cheremerevskaya." (Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty: 247)
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Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia |
(1879-1956)
Russian Empire Senator 1911
Major-General of Russian Army 1915
Son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich & Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Husband of Mathilde Kschessinska
| Mathilde Kschessinska |
Mathilde Kschessinska (1872-1971)
Princess Romanovsky-Krassinsky
Russian ballerina & royal mistress
Also known as:
Daughter of Feliks Krzesinski, ballet dancer, & Julia Dominskaya.
Wife of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia, mar 1921.
"On 26 February 1917, Mathilde Kschessinskaya received an urgent call from General Halle, the chief of police of the fashionable Petrograd district where she lived. Kschessinskaya was not only prima ballerina assoluta of the Mariinsky Ballet but was also the former mistress of Nicholas II and the current mistress of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, and Halle was anxious about her security. He warned Kschessinskaya that the situation in town was very serious and advised her to save whatever she could from her house before it was too late. The revolution had begun. The ballerina looked at the possessions decorating her elegant style moderne house and felt that her situation was desperate: her most important diamond pieces were kept at Faberge; but what was she to do with the incredible quantity of smaller items scattered around her house? . . . ." (Swans of the Kremlin: Ballet and Power in Soviet Russia)
Lover in 1900.
Princess Romanovsky-Krassinsky
Russian ballerina & royal mistress
Also known as:
Little K.
Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya
Mathilde Kschessinska
Matilda Kshesinskaya
Matylda Krzesińska.
Daughter of Feliks Krzesinski, ballet dancer, & Julia Dominskaya.
Wife of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia, mar 1921.
[Pix: Mathilde & her son Vladimir]
"On 26 February 1917, Mathilde Kschessinskaya received an urgent call from General Halle, the chief of police of the fashionable Petrograd district where she lived. Kschessinskaya was not only prima ballerina assoluta of the Mariinsky Ballet but was also the former mistress of Nicholas II and the current mistress of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, and Halle was anxious about her security. He warned Kschessinskaya that the situation in town was very serious and advised her to save whatever she could from her house before it was too late. The revolution had begun. The ballerina looked at the possessions decorating her elegant style moderne house and felt that her situation was desperate: her most important diamond pieces were kept at Faberge; but what was she to do with the incredible quantity of smaller items scattered around her house? . . . ." (Swans of the Kremlin: Ballet and Power in Soviet Russia)
Affair's timeline.
1913: Andrei bought Villa Marizzina in the French Riviera
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| Mathilde's parents |
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| Mathilde & her son Vova |
"Mathilde having forced the issue, Andrei wanted to marry with the permission of Cyril, who he considered 'head of the Imperial Family'. This would make the marriage legal and give Mathilde and Vova a proper surname and title. Andrei therefore went to see Cyril, who gave his consent and said he would grant Mathilde the name of Krasinsky with the title of Princess. Vova would henceforth be a prince. Cyril asked Andrei to return with Mathilde immediately after the wedding so that she could be formally presented to the Grand Duchess Victoria." (Imperial Dancer)
"For many years Sergei Mikhailovich remained by Little K.'s side. But when the frivolous grand duke became involved in a serious romance, Little K., immediately took interest in a new Romanov: Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich came into her life. They went to Venice and the Provence, where he bought her a house by the sea. When they returned to Petersburg, Sergei Mikhailovich was by her side once more. Then she bore a son, Vladimir. Did she know whose son it was? Yes, indeed: the Romanovs'!" (The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II: 35)
"Miechen's Greek granddaughters were untainted by scandal, but her grandson Vladimir's paternity was in question. Miechen's son Andrei had been carrying on a liaison with none other than the ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska, who had been Nicholas II's paramour when he was tsarevich. Mathilde had gone from Nicholas to Grand Duke Serge Mikhailovich (George and Sandro's brother). Mathilde, though, was never fully enamored of Serge Mikhailovich but lost her heart to Andrei instead. When Mathilde gave birth to a son, Vladimir, in 1902, there were questions as to whether Serge Mikhailovich or Andrei Vladimirovich was the father. Andrei later recognized Vladimir as his son." (From Splendor to Revolution)
"Miechen's Greek granddaughters were untainted by scandal, but her grandson Vladimir's paternity was in question. Miechen's son Andrei had been carrying on a liaison with none other than the ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska, who had been Nicholas II's paramour when he was tsarevich. Mathilde had gone from Nicholas to Grand Duke Serge Mikhailovich (George and Sandro's brother). Mathilde, though, was never fully enamored of Serge Mikhailovich but lost her heart to Andrei instead. When Mathilde gave birth to a son, Vladimir, in 1902, there were questions as to whether Serge Mikhailovich or Andrei Vladimirovich was the father. Andrei later recognized Vladimir as his son." (From Splendor to Revolution)
"The next woman to call the villa home will be familiar to students of Russian history. Mathilde Kschessinska was a gifted young dancer who caught the eye of the future czar Nicholas II during her graduation performance with Russia’s Imperial Ballet in 1890. The teenager—she was just 17—and the czar-in-waiting had a three-year relationship, parting only when he married. With her career as a prima ballerina blossoming, she moved on to overlapping relationships with two grand dukes: Sergei Mikhailovich and Andrei Vladimirovich, cousins and members of the Romanov dynasty. The story is documented in Kschessinska’s memoirs, published in the 1960s and in Coryne Hall’s biography, “Imperial Dancer,” published in 2005. The Russian Revolution put a stop to this scandalous arrangement, and Kschessinska and Vladimirovich fled to France. Fortuitously, he had bought the villa, in the village of Cap d’Ail, as a summer house some years earlier. Life on the Riviera should have been idyllic for the couple, who were accompanied by Kschessinska’s teenage son. (He enjoyed the title Prince Romanovsky-Krasinski, but his actual parentage is unclear.)" (Mansion Global)
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Gavril Konstantinovich of Russia |
(1887-1955).
Russian ballerina
Princess Romanovskaya-Strelninskaya 1926
2. Princess Irina Ivanovna Kurakina Princess Romanovskaya (1903-1993)
His lovers were:
2. Princess Irina Ivanovna Kurakina Princess Romanovskaya (1903-1993)
His lovers were:
Antonina Rafailovna Nesterorskaya.
"Unlike his serious and reserved brothers, Gabriel was much more social, and began to associate with an aristocratic crowd considered fast by the standards of the day. In August 1911, during a small ball at the mansion of the famous ballerina Mathilde Kschessinskaya, Gabriel met Antonina Rafailovna Nesterovskaya (14 March 1890 – 7 March 1950), a 21-year-old dancer and member of an impoverished family from the lesser nobility. Gabriel was 24 years old, very tall and thin. Nesterovskaya was nearly a foot shorter than he was, plain and plump, but she was witty and lively. Gabriel fell in love with the ballerina. He managed to speak to her during the intervals while she was dancing at the Mariinsky Theatre every Sunday. By January 1912, he was visiting Nesterovskaya in the little apartment where she lived with her mother. They became lovers and before Easter 1912, they joined Kschessinskaya and her lover Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich on a trip to the Riviera, staying in Cannes and Monte Carlo. The Riviera idyll did not last long, because they soon had to return to Saint Petersburg, where the prince was studying. From then on, he considered her as his fiancée. In 1913, he asked her to quit the Ballet Corps and she agreed. Gabriel was devoted to his mistress and installed her in an extravagant house he purchased for her on Kamennoostrovsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg. Meanwhile, Gabriel, who had been living in the Pavlovsk Palace, received a large three-room apartment at the Marble Palace on the second floor looking on the Palace Banks. After the death of his father in 1915, Gabriel was increasingly involved with his mistress. They were a hospitable couple and kept an open house entertaining lavishly for their friends. Gabriel was devotedly in love, but he could not marry his mistress because the Romanov's family status forbade any morganatic union. He appealed to his aunt, Olga, Queen of the Hellenes, to intercede on his behalf, and she went to see Nicholas II requesting permission for his nephew to marry, but the emperor flatly refused. Through the twists and turns of the years that followed, Prince Gabriel remained passionate in his devotion to the dancer, determined that one day he would overcome the obstacles and marry her. At the outbreak of World War I, Gabriel had to be separated from his mistress. He and four of his brothers joined the active Russian army in the military effort, fighting in advance operations. His brother Prince Oleg was killed in action at the beginning of the war. The following year, Gabriel's father died of a heart attack. Evacuated to Petrograd in the fall of 1914, he joined the military academy, graduating at the age of 29 with the rank of colonel. His affair with Nesterovskaya continued openly and was discussed publicly. The two lived together for a long time, and in 1916 Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, seeing the sincerity of their feelings, decided to help them get married even though it was considered a misalliance." (Wikipedia)
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| Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia Grand Duke |
"From his earliest youth, a nostalgic melancholia hung over Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov. Born in 1891 to Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich and Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Greece, Dmitri seemed destined for a life of triumph and pleasure. He was strikingly good-looking, tall and athletic, with deep green eyes and the kind of chiseled profile associated with aristocracy. 'Dmitri was extremely attractive, wrote his cousin and boyhood companion (and possible lover), Prince Felix Youssoupoff. 'Tall, elegant, very 'race,' his look recalled the ancient portraits of his ancestors,' Prince Felix grasped something essential here. Dmitri's role within the Russian nobility was always more abstract and historical---more about fitting into a portrait gallery---than it was human or personal. From the day of his birth, he confronted loss and abandonment, which left him with a permanent, nostalgic, longing for family and---later---a fervent, somewhat grandiose nationalism." (Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History: 112)
Always an outsider.
"Dmitri had grown up to be a handsome, indeed dashing, young man but a Romanov Hamlet, tormented by many things simultaneously: his childhood as a virtual orphan, with his mother dead and his father banned from Russia; the terrible death of his guardian Grand Duke Sergei; his sister, closer to him than any other person, taken to Sweden in the duty of a royal marriage; and his ironic intimacy with the emperor and empress who had made him almost a member of their family but actually had deprived him in childhood of a father and in adolescence a sister. Dmitri remained always an outsider." (The Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Saga: 127)
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
Physical appearance & personal qualities.
"Dmitry grew to be tall and handsome. Before the outbreak of World War I, he served in the Imperial Horse Guards and lived with the royal family in the Alexander Palace. Maria described her brother in these years as 'a dashing young officer,' full of confidence, brio, and charm. He was treated like a son by Nicholas and Alexandra, both of whom were captivated by his playful personality. Dmitry's letters to his 'dear Uncle,' sprinkled with sexual innuendo and scatological humor, reveal the great warmth and ease the young man felt toward the tsar. It was rumored in 1912 that Dmitry was betrothed to their eldest daughter, Gran Duchess Olga. Alexandra, however, was apparently against the match, for there were elements of his life she did not approve of. It has been suggested that Dmitry was bisexual and was then in love with Felix, which was the main reason for the empress's disapproval. This may be, but it cannot be said for certain. What is beyond doubt is that Alexandra never stopped worrying about what she called Dmitry's 'evening escapades.' She was convinced Dmitry was far too impressionable and too easily susceptible to the whims of whomever he was most drawn to at the moment. As late as February 1916 she was writing Nicholas to send Dmitry back to his regiment as she was hearing 'shocking' stories about him in town. 'Town & women are poison for him.'" (Rasputin: Faith, Power and the Twilight of the Romanovs: 189)
By Consuelo Vanderbilt, Duchess of Marlborough.
" . . . An exceptionally handsome man, fair and sleek with long blue eyes in a narrow face, he had fine features, and the stealthy walk of a wild animal, moving with the same balanced grace. . . ." (The Glitter and the Gold)
Dmitri's personal & family background.
"Dmitri and Maria were the children of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, who was in turn the youngest of the six sons of Tsar Alexander II. Their mother had died as the result of a boating accident that had triggered Dmitri's premature birth, and when in 1902 the widowed Pavel provoked scandal by marrying again, to a commoner, Nicholas, who was anxious to stem the incidence of morganatic marriages in the Romanov family, sent him into exile. with Pavel living in the south of France, his brother Grand Duke Sergey and his wife Ella, who had no children of their own, became Dmitri and Maria's guardians. After Sergey was assassinated in 1905 (his large estate eventually passed on to Dmitri by Ella), Nicholas and Alexandra effectively took over responsibility for his and Maria's upbringing. In May 1908 the widowed Ella had encouraged eighteen-year-old Maria into a dynastic marriage with Prince Wilhelm of Sweden. With the loss of his only and adored sibling Dmitri gravitated ever more towards the imperial family as surrogates and was now on much intimate terms with Nicholas and Alexandra that he often addressed them as Papa and Mama (even though Nicholas had allowed Dmitri's own father to return to Russia). In 1909 Dmitri had entered the Officers' Cavalry School in St. Petersburg, the traditional finishing establishment for young men of the Romanov aristocracy, at the end of which he was commissioned as a cornet in the Horse Guards. During those three years he often spent his free time out at Tsarskoe Selo and regularly joined the tsar in military manoeuvres at nearby Krasnoe Selo, often acting as Nicholas's aide-de-camp; in the spring of 1912 he had joined the family in Lavidia for three weeks." (The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of Nicholas and Alexandra: 170)
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| Audrey Emery |
Husband of: Audrey Emery (1904-1971) mar 1926, div 1937.
Princess Romanovskaya-Ilyinskaya"Dmitri married an American heiress, Audrey Emery, in 1927 morganatically, procuring for her the insubstantial title of Princess Romanovskaya-Ilyinskaya and the style of Serene Highness from his cousin Cyril for her as the marriage officially was regarded as unequal. The two had a son, Prince Paul Romanovsky-Ilyinsky, who was elected Mayor of Palm Beach, Florida in 1989, and thus the only Romanov descendant known to have held elected public office. Following the fall of communist Russia in 1991, a delegation of Russian royalists approached Paul Ilyinsky and asked him to assume the title of Tsar, a position he declined. (Xavier Waterkeyn Assassination: Political murder through the ages New Holland Publishers p.111 ISBN 978-1-74110-566-7) Dmitri and Audrey were divorced in 1938." (FamPeople)
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Wedding in Biarritz just two weeks after their first encounter.
"Soon Dmitri was installed [by Coco Chanel] in Garches, replacing Stravinsky, and for two months in the summer of 1922, the couple rented a villa overlooking the Atlantic coast. They were a beautiful pair, photographed looking romantically looking into each other's eyes. But Dmitri's eyes often strayed, and in 1926 -- at a tea in Versailles -- he met a 22-year-old American heiress, Audrey Emery, daughter of the late Cincinnati multimillionaire John Josiah Emery. Attractive and very rich, Audrey became the focus of Dmitri's amorous intentions and after a two-week engagement they married in the Russian church in Biarritz. Taking the Russian name of Anna, she was thereafter known as Princess Romanovsky-Ilyinsky. Attended by many members of the exiled Russian nobility, the wedding was suitably splendid; the bride's lace had been worn by Dmitri's mother and sister at their weddings; she carried a bouquet of white orchids; her wedding dress was by Molyneux." (Coco Chanel)
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| Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich |
Dmitri was always known as a great womanizer.
"Throughout his life, Dmitri Pavlovich was known as a great womanizer. Among his lovers were popular Russian ballerina and early film actress Vera Karalli (Radzinsky, Edvard, The Rasputin File, Doubleday, 2000, pp. 476-477) and Pauline Fairfax Potter, an American fashion designer and writer. He also temporarily pursued the Duchess of Marlborough (the American-born Consuelo Vanderbilt), who was separated, and later divorced, from the Duke of Marlborough. The fact that Dmitri Pavlovich was both 16 years the Duchess' junior, and economically challenged, did not assist his case. His most notable affairs were with Natasha Sheremetyev, morganatic wife of his cousin, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, and in the early 1920s with Coco Chanel; however, the one (reputed) affair that had the most influence on the course of his life and that effectively gave him his place in history was with another man: cross-dressing and presumably bisexual Prince Felix Yusupov, with whom he had a relationship in the winter of 1912/1913 that caused quite a scandal. It was this relationship that caused the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna to decide against Dmitri marrying her eldest daughter, the Grand Duchess Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna. Later, in 1916, Felix was the one who involved him in the murder of Grigori Rasputin." (FamPeople)
Dmitri's lovers.
Dmitri's lovers.
"Among Dmitry's mistresses were ballerina Anna Pavlovna, American clothing designer Pauline Fairfax Potter, socialite Consuelo Vanderbilt, and Jewish fashion maven Coco Chanel (eleven years his senior). All of these women were older than him, suggesting that orphaned Dmitry sought mother figures in relationships. Shrewd Coco Chanel, who had been head-over-heels for him, circa 1921, wrote in her memoirs that: 'These grand dukes, they are all the same, ad admirable face behind which there is nothing, green eyes, broad shoulders, fine hands . . . the most peaceful people, shyness itself. . . They drink just not to be afraid. Tall, handsome, superb these Russians are. And behind that is nothing but hollowness and vodka.'" (Fifty-Seven Years of Russian Madness)
Dmitri's lovers were:
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| Prince Felix Yusupov 1903 @Wikipedia |
Lover in 1912-1913.
Russian aristocrat
a.k.a. born Prince Feliks Feliksovich Yusupov, Count Sumarokov-Elston.
Son of Count Felix Felixovich Sumarokov-Elston & Princess Zinaida Nikolayevna Yusupova.
Husband of Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia (1895-1970), daughter of Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia & Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, mar 1914.
Felix's family background.
"The Yusupovs were the richest family in Russia, deriving their wealth from mines in Siberia and fur trading. Of Tartar origin, Princess Zenaide Yusupova (1861-1939) was the last of the line but her husband, Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston (1856-1928), was permitted by the Tsar to assume the Yusupov name and title. Zenaide's younger son was Prince Felix Yusupov, one of the murderers of Rasputin."
Count Felix Sumarakov-Elston (1820-1877) was of uncertain parentage, possibly a bastard son of Prince Augustus of Prussia. He combined his mother's surname with Elston, the surname of his English nanny. Whatever his ancestry, he had a distinguished career in the Russian army and, in 1865, he was appointed Governor of Kuban province and Ataman of the Kuban Cossack Host." (The Speedicut Papers: Book 7 (1884-1895): Royal Scandals)
Russian aristocrat
a.k.a. born Prince Feliks Feliksovich Yusupov, Count Sumarokov-Elston.
Son of Count Felix Felixovich Sumarokov-Elston & Princess Zinaida Nikolayevna Yusupova.
Husband of Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia (1895-1970), daughter of Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia & Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, mar 1914.
Felix's family background.
"The Yusupovs were the richest family in Russia, deriving their wealth from mines in Siberia and fur trading. Of Tartar origin, Princess Zenaide Yusupova (1861-1939) was the last of the line but her husband, Count Felix Sumarokov-Elston (1856-1928), was permitted by the Tsar to assume the Yusupov name and title. Zenaide's younger son was Prince Felix Yusupov, one of the murderers of Rasputin."
Count Felix Sumarakov-Elston (1820-1877) was of uncertain parentage, possibly a bastard son of Prince Augustus of Prussia. He combined his mother's surname with Elston, the surname of his English nanny. Whatever his ancestry, he had a distinguished career in the Russian army and, in 1865, he was appointed Governor of Kuban province and Ataman of the Kuban Cossack Host." (The Speedicut Papers: Book 7 (1884-1895): Royal Scandals)
"Through boyhood years of shared adventures, Dmitri and his cousin, Prince Felix Youssoupoff, had cemented an abiding and loving friendship. When they were both young men, Felix---four years older and the more daring of the two---inducted Dmitri into his life of hedonistic exploits. Together, they explored the Gypsy camps outside of St. Petersburg, where prostitutes and drugs were readily available, and the opium dens of Paris's Montmartre district. Their exploits grew even more extravagant once the prince discovered his penchant for cross-dressing, and began a drag career as a nightclub 'chanteuse.'" (Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History)
"When Reverdy was not available the handsome Russian Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich was... Nicholas was not amused when the twenty-one-year-old guardsman had a drawn out homosexual love affair with his handsome, cross-dressing, and bisexual cousin, Prince Felix Yusupov)...." (Vaughan: 25). [Bio2:Felix Autobio] [Bio3:Alexander Palace] [Bio4:Geni] [Ref1:Esoteric Curiosa]
"Felix's memoirs capture something of his early infatuation with Nicholas II's much younger cousin, the Grand Duke Dmitri. Felix though he was 'extremely attractive: tall, elegant, well-bred, with deep thoughtful eyes, he recalled the portraits of his ancestors. He was all impulses and contradictions; he was both romantic and mystical, and his mind was far from shallow. At the same time, he was very gay and always ready for the wildest escapades. His charm won the hearts of all . . .' Later in life, Dmitri's sexual partners included Coco Chanel whose early business ventures he helped to finance, but conversations from Russian emigres who knew the pair well and comments made in Felix's own letters and memoirs confirm that members of the imperial family and Felix's circle in Saint Petersburg knew that at some point in 1912 and possibly in 1913, Felix and the Grand Duke were romantically involved with one another. In letters to her husband, Alexandra, who was fond of Dmitri and felt protective over him after his mother's death in childbed in 1891, noted archly that when he was in Saint Petersburg with his regiment he 'did not go out in the ladies' companies -- but out of sight, [he] gets into other hands.' Rumours increasingly seemed to link Dmitri to Felix, whom Alexandra already distrusted because of his reputation for extravagance in all areas of his life. 'The Tsar and Tsarina, who were aware of the scandalous rumours concerning my mode of living, disapproved of our friendship,' Felix wrote later. 'They ended up forbidding the Grand Duke to seem me, and I myself became the object of the most unpleasant supervision.' Felix's modern biographer Greg King has suggested that the affair actually continued for quite some time after that and it may indeed only have ended at Felix's instigation, rather than Dmitri's." (The Emperors: How Europe's Rulers were Destroyed by the First World War)
"As Felix later recalled, he and Dmitry saw a lot of each other in the course of 1912-13. 'He was then living with the royal family at the Alexander Palace, but we spent . . . all our free time together.' Felix, who was several years older than the handsome Dmitry, completely captivated the grand duke. In place of the reclusive, monotonous life of the Alexander Palace with its grand duchesses and the empress eternally fussing over the unfortunate boy, Felix revealed another world to him. He did what his own older brother had done for him: he introduced Dmitry to the feverish life of nocturnal Petersburg. Now at night a car waited for the two playboys. 'Almost every night we drove to Petersburg and carried on a merry life in restaurants, night cafes, and among Gypsies. We invited performers to dine with us in private rooms. And often Pavlova would join us.' But it was not only the famous ballet star Anna Pavlova who joined them. Felix's unconventional tastes, which he writes about himself in his memoirs, also attracted to the private rooms male ballet dancers who shared those tastes. The royal family was horrified. 'Their Majesties, knowing of my scandalous adventures, looked askance at out friendship,' Felix recalled. Or, to put it more accurately, knowing of Felix's homosexual propensities, which at the time were punishable by imperial law, the tsars regarded Dmitry's passioned attachment to Felix with fear. Olga's future husband was forbidden to see Felix. The secret police were keeping an eye on that now,' Felix recalled. . . But Felix proved to be stronger. Stronger than both the royal prohibitions and the happiness of becoming the husband of the tsar's daughter. The encounters with Felix continued. Rumour had a simple explanation: Dmitry was bisexual. And Dmitry, the future lover of the celebrated Coco Chanel, was then madly infatuated with Felix. In the idiom of the salons of the day, it was called 'making mistakes in grammar.' Dmitry preferred to move out of the Alexander Palace. Now he was lodged in his own house in Petersburg, and Felix helped him to furnish it in the luxury for which his own home, the Yusupov palace on the Moika canal, was celebrated. With precious furniture and paintings. And so, Dmitry had made his choice. Now with a clear conscience Alix could, or, more accurately, was compelled to break off Olga's engagement. Dmitry had compromised himself by his scandalous friendship. But this time, too, Nicholas remained loyal to his affections. He continued to have a soft spot for Dmitry. He chose to regard the rumours with caution. And the peasant understood what was required of him. And he did not let his benefactress down. Rasputin predicted that Dmitry would from his debauched life soon contract a skin disease. So at his request Alix ordered the girls 'to wash tier hands with a special solution after any meetings and handshaking with the grand duke.'" (The Rasputin File: 181)
"When Reverdy was not available the handsome Russian Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich was... Nicholas was not amused when the twenty-one-year-old guardsman had a drawn out homosexual love affair with his handsome, cross-dressing, and bisexual cousin, Prince Felix Yusupov)...." (Vaughan: 25). [Bio2:Felix Autobio] [Bio3:Alexander Palace] [Bio4:Geni] [Ref1:Esoteric Curiosa]
"Felix's memoirs capture something of his early infatuation with Nicholas II's much younger cousin, the Grand Duke Dmitri. Felix though he was 'extremely attractive: tall, elegant, well-bred, with deep thoughtful eyes, he recalled the portraits of his ancestors. He was all impulses and contradictions; he was both romantic and mystical, and his mind was far from shallow. At the same time, he was very gay and always ready for the wildest escapades. His charm won the hearts of all . . .' Later in life, Dmitri's sexual partners included Coco Chanel whose early business ventures he helped to finance, but conversations from Russian emigres who knew the pair well and comments made in Felix's own letters and memoirs confirm that members of the imperial family and Felix's circle in Saint Petersburg knew that at some point in 1912 and possibly in 1913, Felix and the Grand Duke were romantically involved with one another. In letters to her husband, Alexandra, who was fond of Dmitri and felt protective over him after his mother's death in childbed in 1891, noted archly that when he was in Saint Petersburg with his regiment he 'did not go out in the ladies' companies -- but out of sight, [he] gets into other hands.' Rumours increasingly seemed to link Dmitri to Felix, whom Alexandra already distrusted because of his reputation for extravagance in all areas of his life. 'The Tsar and Tsarina, who were aware of the scandalous rumours concerning my mode of living, disapproved of our friendship,' Felix wrote later. 'They ended up forbidding the Grand Duke to seem me, and I myself became the object of the most unpleasant supervision.' Felix's modern biographer Greg King has suggested that the affair actually continued for quite some time after that and it may indeed only have ended at Felix's instigation, rather than Dmitri's." (The Emperors: How Europe's Rulers were Destroyed by the First World War)
"As Felix later recalled, he and Dmitry saw a lot of each other in the course of 1912-13. 'He was then living with the royal family at the Alexander Palace, but we spent . . . all our free time together.' Felix, who was several years older than the handsome Dmitry, completely captivated the grand duke. In place of the reclusive, monotonous life of the Alexander Palace with its grand duchesses and the empress eternally fussing over the unfortunate boy, Felix revealed another world to him. He did what his own older brother had done for him: he introduced Dmitry to the feverish life of nocturnal Petersburg. Now at night a car waited for the two playboys. 'Almost every night we drove to Petersburg and carried on a merry life in restaurants, night cafes, and among Gypsies. We invited performers to dine with us in private rooms. And often Pavlova would join us.' But it was not only the famous ballet star Anna Pavlova who joined them. Felix's unconventional tastes, which he writes about himself in his memoirs, also attracted to the private rooms male ballet dancers who shared those tastes. The royal family was horrified. 'Their Majesties, knowing of my scandalous adventures, looked askance at out friendship,' Felix recalled. Or, to put it more accurately, knowing of Felix's homosexual propensities, which at the time were punishable by imperial law, the tsars regarded Dmitry's passioned attachment to Felix with fear. Olga's future husband was forbidden to see Felix. The secret police were keeping an eye on that now,' Felix recalled. . . But Felix proved to be stronger. Stronger than both the royal prohibitions and the happiness of becoming the husband of the tsar's daughter. The encounters with Felix continued. Rumour had a simple explanation: Dmitry was bisexual. And Dmitry, the future lover of the celebrated Coco Chanel, was then madly infatuated with Felix. In the idiom of the salons of the day, it was called 'making mistakes in grammar.' Dmitry preferred to move out of the Alexander Palace. Now he was lodged in his own house in Petersburg, and Felix helped him to furnish it in the luxury for which his own home, the Yusupov palace on the Moika canal, was celebrated. With precious furniture and paintings. And so, Dmitry had made his choice. Now with a clear conscience Alix could, or, more accurately, was compelled to break off Olga's engagement. Dmitry had compromised himself by his scandalous friendship. But this time, too, Nicholas remained loyal to his affections. He continued to have a soft spot for Dmitry. He chose to regard the rumours with caution. And the peasant understood what was required of him. And he did not let his benefactress down. Rasputin predicted that Dmitry would from his debauched life soon contract a skin disease. So at his request Alix ordered the girls 'to wash tier hands with a special solution after any meetings and handshaking with the grand duke.'" (The Rasputin File: 181)
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| Consuelo Vanderbilt |
Liaison in 1919.
Consuelo & Dmitri's first encounter.
"Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan met Grand Duke Serge when she was Duchess of Marlborough and he was Governor of Moscow. Here is what she says about him in her book The Glitter and the Gold: 'One of the handsomest men I have seen, he was well over six feet tall, and in his uniform, a most imposing person. He had, however, a cruel and arrogant air, and in spite of his undoubted charm he suggested something evil.'" (Alexander Palace)Consuelo & Dmitri's first encounter.
"Meanwhile, in 1919, he had arrived in Paris from England, where he had pursued the beautiful 42-year-old American heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt, ex-wife to the Duke of Marlborough. Consuelo Vanderbilt described Dmitri as 'an exceptionally handsome man, fair and sleek with long blue eyes in a narrow face, he had fine feathers, and the stealthy walk of a wild animal, moving with the same balanced grace'. But Consuelo thought better of this briefest of liaisons and made a happy marriage to Jacques Balsan. Balsan was the famed aviator elder brother of Etienne, Gabrielle's lover from Royallieu days." (Chanel: An Intimate Life)
Coco Chanel.
Coco & Dmitri's first encounter.
"Legend has it that Grand Duke Dmitri and Chanel met on a beach, although they may have been introduced to each other by Dmitri's sister, Marie Pavlovna. . . " (Royal Forums)
"Dmitri Pavlovich's sister Marie had, like many aristocratic Russians in exile, found a niche for herself in the rising Paris fashion industry by founding a business called Kitmir that specialised in bead and sequin embroidery and did much work for Chanel. (Dmitri himself found work as a Champagne salesman.) This way, Dmitri met Coco Chanel, eleven years his elder just like Natasha had been, with whom he conducted a brief affair in 1921. Through Dmitri and Marie's contacts in the industry, Chanel met perfumers in Grasse, and master perfumer Ernest Beaux, which led to the creation of the famed Chanel No. 5 perfume — involvement in the creation of which is Dmitri's second claim to historic importance." (FamPeople)
What Coco liked in Dmitri.
"At a party given by the opera singer Marthe Davelli, one of Chanel's earliest customers, Chanel met Grand-Duke Dmitri Pavlovich. Dmitri was the exiled Russian cousin of Tsar Nicholas, rumoured to have murdered the insidious royal advisor Rasputin. Although Dmitri admitted that he had witnessed Rasputin's murder, he claimed that he did not actually participate in the deed. Nevertheless, he believed that eliminating Rasputin's influence in the Russian court was in the country's best interest. Nicholas, however, thought otherwise and exiled Dmitri. The story only added to his appeal: Dmitri was welcomed with enthusiasm into French high society. Davelli told Chanel that Dmitri was her lover but -- a remark repeated by Chanel's biographers -- that he was becoming too expensive, she could have him if she was interested. Eleven years younger that Chanel, Dmitri at 25 was, as Consuelo Vanderbilt remembered him, undeniably attractive: 'An exceptionally handsome man, fair and sleek with long blue eyes in a narrow face, he had fine features, and the stealthy walk of a wild animal, moving with the same balanced grace.' He was handsome, titled and available, and Chanel was indeed interested." (Coco Chanel)
"Legend has it that Grand Duke Dmitri and Chanel met on a beach, although they may have been introduced to each other by Dmitri's sister, Marie Pavlovna. . . " (Royal Forums)
"Dmitri Pavlovich's sister Marie had, like many aristocratic Russians in exile, found a niche for herself in the rising Paris fashion industry by founding a business called Kitmir that specialised in bead and sequin embroidery and did much work for Chanel. (Dmitri himself found work as a Champagne salesman.) This way, Dmitri met Coco Chanel, eleven years his elder just like Natasha had been, with whom he conducted a brief affair in 1921. Through Dmitri and Marie's contacts in the industry, Chanel met perfumers in Grasse, and master perfumer Ernest Beaux, which led to the creation of the famed Chanel No. 5 perfume — involvement in the creation of which is Dmitri's second claim to historic importance." (FamPeople)
What Coco liked in Dmitri.
"The czar's nephew---cousin to England's Prince Edward---was a tall and very handsome man. Coco fell for his green eyes, his long, elegant hands, and, in their intimacy, his shyness. For the summer of 1922, Coco rented a villa in Moulleau on the Bay of Arcachon, west of Bordeaux. The Atlantic thundered against the green wall, and for two months she and Dmitri enjoyed the sun and the sea. A fishing boat took them out for a swim every morning. Afternoons were spent walking on the beach, evenings gambling at the Arcachon casino or having Monsieur Joseph and Piotr prepare oysters right out of the bay. Coco listened to the rest of Dmitri's, how the czar had put an end to the brother and sister devotion to each other by marrying Maria to Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, the shy, younger son of King Gustav V, how Dmitri's banishment to Persia following Rasputin's murder saved his life in 1917, while the ruthless logic of the Soviet revolution resulted in his father being executed in a last roundup of Romanovs in 1919." (Chanel: A Woman of Her Own)
"Once in France, and a pretender to the Russian throne, the tall, elegant, and alcoholic Dmitri Pavlovich grieved with the other Russian exiles over the annihilation of the Romanov family. But Dmitri could be lively and fun loving. His good looks, green eyes, long Romanov legs, and charm seduced Chanel. . . ." (Sleeping With the Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War: 25)
Coco's 'Slavic period' in her love life.
"Once in France, and a pretender to the Russian throne, the tall, elegant, and alcoholic Dmitri Pavlovich grieved with the other Russian exiles over the annihilation of the Romanov family. But Dmitri could be lively and fun loving. His good looks, green eyes, long Romanov legs, and charm seduced Chanel. . . ." (Sleeping With the Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War: 25)
Coco's 'Slavic period' in her love life.
"Her relationship with Stravinsky did not last, but in what she called her 'Slavic period,' she moved on to her next relationship, with Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, the grandson of Czar Alexander II, nephew of Czar Alexander III, and cousin of the last czar, Nicholas II. It is an unlikely relationship for the abandoned daughter of an itinerant peddler who was at that time, more than likely, as described by Edmonde Charles-Roux, still selling suspenders and handkerchiefs from his pushcart at '2 francs a dozen.' And while this relationship did not last either, this 'Slavic period' did have an effect on her clothes." (Coco Chanel)
Coco & Dmitri living the charmed, idyllic life.
"In an attempt perhaps to live life more on Dmitri's terms, Chanel conducted the affair with uncharacteristic leisure, absenting herself from her studio longer than ever before. They traveled frequently and may even have lived together for a time, in Zurich, and later in adjoining suites (paid for by Coco) at the splendid Hotel Le Meurice on the rue de Rivoli. After two months of dating in Paris, Coco urged Dmitri to accompany her to the Riviera, and the next day they drove in her new midnight blue Rolls Royce (which she appears to have bought to tempt him) to the Cote d'Azur. (Dark-colored Rolls Royces had been associated only with funerals, but once Coco put her stamp of approval on them, they became the fashionable car to drive---as she herself had predicted.) On the Riviera, they spent three weeks in luxury hotels in Menton and Monte Carlo, golfing, shopping, dining, and visiting the casinos, with Chanel footing all bills. Chanel's chambermaid and Dmitri's valet, Piotr, came along to seem to their personal needs. Coco said almost nothing about the tenor of their time together, but Dmitri's diaries describe the relationship as relaxed and companionable. He makes very clear, though, who was pursuing whom: 'I . . . gave in to Coco's passionate pleas to travel with her . . . to bathe in the sun . . . . She is extremely kind and a surprisingly dear and joyful companion. . . Time passes very quickly and pleasantly with her.'" (Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History: 119)
A happy summer in the Bay of Biscay.
"Early in 1921, Dmitri fell in love with Coco Chanel, with whom Marie was still working. Coco had met Dmitri at the Ritz. The grand duke seemed to bring Coco good luck. It was then that she brought onto the market her famous Chanel No. 5, her most famous and enduring product, a perfume labeled revolutionary because it departed from traditional formulas based on natural odors. Pleased with her new triumph, Coco spent a happy summer with Dmitri at a villa near Arcachon on the sores of the Bay of Biscay. The couple fished, walked, played Coco's numerous dogs, and saw as little of their friends as possible. Once back in Paris, Dmitri introduced several high-born Russian ladies to Coco to work as sales assistants at the salon. Of humble background herself, she had always harbored a desire to patronized, and thereby humiliate, aristocrats." (The Flight of the Romanovs: 262)
References for Coco Chanel.
Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life @libros.com
Coco & Dmitri living the charmed, idyllic life.
"In an attempt perhaps to live life more on Dmitri's terms, Chanel conducted the affair with uncharacteristic leisure, absenting herself from her studio longer than ever before. They traveled frequently and may even have lived together for a time, in Zurich, and later in adjoining suites (paid for by Coco) at the splendid Hotel Le Meurice on the rue de Rivoli. After two months of dating in Paris, Coco urged Dmitri to accompany her to the Riviera, and the next day they drove in her new midnight blue Rolls Royce (which she appears to have bought to tempt him) to the Cote d'Azur. (Dark-colored Rolls Royces had been associated only with funerals, but once Coco put her stamp of approval on them, they became the fashionable car to drive---as she herself had predicted.) On the Riviera, they spent three weeks in luxury hotels in Menton and Monte Carlo, golfing, shopping, dining, and visiting the casinos, with Chanel footing all bills. Chanel's chambermaid and Dmitri's valet, Piotr, came along to seem to their personal needs. Coco said almost nothing about the tenor of their time together, but Dmitri's diaries describe the relationship as relaxed and companionable. He makes very clear, though, who was pursuing whom: 'I . . . gave in to Coco's passionate pleas to travel with her . . . to bathe in the sun . . . . She is extremely kind and a surprisingly dear and joyful companion. . . Time passes very quickly and pleasantly with her.'" (Mademoiselle: Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History: 119)
A happy summer in the Bay of Biscay.
"Early in 1921, Dmitri fell in love with Coco Chanel, with whom Marie was still working. Coco had met Dmitri at the Ritz. The grand duke seemed to bring Coco good luck. It was then that she brought onto the market her famous Chanel No. 5, her most famous and enduring product, a perfume labeled revolutionary because it departed from traditional formulas based on natural odors. Pleased with her new triumph, Coco spent a happy summer with Dmitri at a villa near Arcachon on the sores of the Bay of Biscay. The couple fished, walked, played Coco's numerous dogs, and saw as little of their friends as possible. Once back in Paris, Dmitri introduced several high-born Russian ladies to Coco to work as sales assistants at the salon. Of humble background herself, she had always harbored a desire to patronized, and thereby humiliate, aristocrats." (The Flight of the Romanovs: 262)
References for Coco Chanel.
Coco Chanel: An Intimate Life @libros.com
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| Natalia, Countess Brasova |
Natalia Sheremetyevskaya (1880-1952)
Countess Brasova
Lover in 1915.
Countess Brasova
Lover in 1915.
a.k.a. Natalia Sergeyevna Sheremetyevskaya, Natalia Brasova.
Nataliya Sergievna Cheremetevskaia, Natalia Wulfert, Natalia, Princess Romanovskaya-Brasova.
Daughter of: Sergei Alexandrovich Sheremetevsky.
Wife of:
1. Sergei Mamontov, mar/ 1902, div/1905
2. Vladimir Vladimirovich Wulfert(lover, then 2/mar 1905)
3. Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia
4. Mikhail Aleksandrovich of Russia (lover/1907; then 3rd/mar 1912)
Nataliya Sergievna Cheremetevskaia, Natalia Wulfert, Natalia, Princess Romanovskaya-Brasova.
Daughter of: Sergei Alexandrovich Sheremetevsky.
Wife of:
1. Sergei Mamontov, mar/ 1902, div/1905
2. Vladimir Vladimirovich Wulfert(lover, then 2/mar 1905)
3. Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia
4. Mikhail Aleksandrovich of Russia (lover/1907; then 3rd/mar 1912)
"The January, 1915, Dmitry, after a few drinks, confessed to Grand Duke Michael's thrice-married wife Natalia Brasova that he was in love with her. She rebuffed his advances. That incident provided an example of Dmitry's thing for older women. Natalia was eleven years his senior." (Fifty-Seven Years of Russian Madness)
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| Pauline Potter Baroness de Rothschild |
Pauline Potter (1908-)
Baroness de Rothschild
a.k.a. Pauline Fairfax Potter, Pauline Rothschild.
"During his marriage to Evelyn, Huston continued to see his old and new lovers. Pauline Potter, like Marietta Tree. had an illustrious background and married a very rich husband. Born in Paris in 1908, she was descended from Pocahontas, Thomas Jefferson and Francis Scott Key. She was the top designer for the fashion entrepreneur Hattie Carnegie and one of the leading hostesses in New York. After a youthful four-year marriage to an alcoholic homosexual, she had affairs with a lesbian as well as with the stage director Jed Harris, the Belgian prime minister Paul-Henri Spaak and the Russian Grand Duke Dmitri, who'd murdered Rasputin. As the second wife of Baron Philippe de Rothschild, the immensely wealthy owner of the famous Chateau Mouton vineyards, she acquired a title and entertained on a grand scale. . . Pauline, an accomplished woman, designed the costumes for the Broadway production of Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit (directed by Huston in 1946), wrote articles on fashion and travel for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and translated Elizabethan poetry and the plays of Christopher Fry into French." (John Huston: Courage and Art: 114)
a.k.a. Pauline Fairfax Potter, Pauline Rothschild.
"During his marriage to Evelyn, Huston continued to see his old and new lovers. Pauline Potter, like Marietta Tree. had an illustrious background and married a very rich husband. Born in Paris in 1908, she was descended from Pocahontas, Thomas Jefferson and Francis Scott Key. She was the top designer for the fashion entrepreneur Hattie Carnegie and one of the leading hostesses in New York. After a youthful four-year marriage to an alcoholic homosexual, she had affairs with a lesbian as well as with the stage director Jed Harris, the Belgian prime minister Paul-Henri Spaak and the Russian Grand Duke Dmitri, who'd murdered Rasputin. As the second wife of Baron Philippe de Rothschild, the immensely wealthy owner of the famous Chateau Mouton vineyards, she acquired a title and entertained on a grand scale. . . Pauline, an accomplished woman, designed the costumes for the Broadway production of Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit (directed by Huston in 1946), wrote articles on fashion and travel for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, and translated Elizabethan poetry and the plays of Christopher Fry into French." (John Huston: Courage and Art: 114)
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| Vera Karalli |
Vera Karalli (1889-1072)
Russian ballerina.
a.k.a. born Vera Alexeyevna Karalli.
"The murderers could not, of course, have failed to arrange for the participation of women. It was not for nothing that when the preparations for the murder were being made, Felix had written to Irina, 'Malanya's also taking part.' It was not fo r nothing, either, that the police had information about the presence of women that night. And that Tsarskoe Selo had the information, too. And that in society they were talking about the same thing. The actress Vera Leonidovna Yurevena spoke of a certain ballerina, who was Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich's lover. As we've already noted, Coco Chanel's future boyfriend was liberal in love. I easily found the ballerina's name in the Department of Police case file. There are several whole reports about Vera Karalli, whom the police suspected of taking part in the murder night. 'Vera Karalli, a performer with the ballet company of the Imperial Theatres, twenty-seven years old. During her stays in the capital, she was visited by Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich,' an agent reported. Vera Karalli's presence at the Yusupov palace on the night of the murder was also claimed by Simanovich, who went to the police station on the Moika canal on 17 December with Bishop Isidor. After looking into it, however, the security branch agents reported that 'there was no note of her being absent [from her hotel].' 'There was not note of her being absent.' But that was the very reason for the cunning 'rehearsals': the sly substitution of another woman at the hotel for Vera Karalli on the night of the murder in order to give the latter an 'alibi' -- not a complicated thing." (The Rasputin File: 476)
Vera Karalli's other lovers were:
1. Aleksander Gorsky (1871-1924), Russian instructor
2. Leonid Sabinov, Russian operatic singer:
References: [Bio1: Ballerina Gallery] [Ref1: Famous Russian Women] [Video:YouTube]
a.k.a. born Vera Alexeyevna Karalli.
"The murderers could not, of course, have failed to arrange for the participation of women. It was not for nothing that when the preparations for the murder were being made, Felix had written to Irina, 'Malanya's also taking part.' It was not fo r nothing, either, that the police had information about the presence of women that night. And that Tsarskoe Selo had the information, too. And that in society they were talking about the same thing. The actress Vera Leonidovna Yurevena spoke of a certain ballerina, who was Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich's lover. As we've already noted, Coco Chanel's future boyfriend was liberal in love. I easily found the ballerina's name in the Department of Police case file. There are several whole reports about Vera Karalli, whom the police suspected of taking part in the murder night. 'Vera Karalli, a performer with the ballet company of the Imperial Theatres, twenty-seven years old. During her stays in the capital, she was visited by Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich,' an agent reported. Vera Karalli's presence at the Yusupov palace on the night of the murder was also claimed by Simanovich, who went to the police station on the Moika canal on 17 December with Bishop Isidor. After looking into it, however, the security branch agents reported that 'there was no note of her being absent [from her hotel].' 'There was not note of her being absent.' But that was the very reason for the cunning 'rehearsals': the sly substitution of another woman at the hotel for Vera Karalli on the night of the murder in order to give the latter an 'alibi' -- not a complicated thing." (The Rasputin File: 476)
Vera Karalli's other lovers were:
1. Aleksander Gorsky (1871-1924), Russian instructor
2. Leonid Sabinov, Russian operatic singer:
References: [Bio1: Ballerina Gallery] [Ref1: Famous Russian Women] [Video:YouTube]
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| Elisabeth of Romania |
Elisabeth of Romania (1894-1956)
Lover in 1937.
"After his divorce, Dmitri and Elisabetha of Romania began a romantic relationship in 1937. Elisabetha and Dmitri spent considerable time together during her mother's illness and care at a sanatorium near Dresden. According to the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmarigen (Prince Karl Friedrich Hohenzollern-Sigmarigen), the office of Peter Broadmann- CEO and Finance Director at Sigmarigen, historians identify the marriage, however, documents were not saved. The couple resided at Elisabetha's private residence at Banloc, Timis, on the Hungarian border. Much of this story and the people surrounding it disappeared during World War II. Then history became more secretive for the Romanians as they became dominated by a Soviet state. The child, known as Grand Duchess Ana Romanova, has sought the assistance of historians and investigators to assist her in piecing her life together. Historian and investigator, Harry Binkow, has worked with the Princess for three years gathering authenticated documents, artifacts, and interviews with those parties who hold archives in the family. According to The House of Hohenzollern-Sigmarigen, on the 17 July 2013 at Sigmarigen, the following statement has been released. ' . . . as far as we know there was a marriage between Elisabeth of Romania and Dmitri of Russia, but there is not save information, if they had children together. It also can be that children came into the marriage from the side of Dmitri of Russia which are not direct descendants of the marriage between Elisabeth and Dmitri". - Peter Brodmann, Group Prince of Hohenzollern - Investments. Through the books authored by Dmitri Pavlovich's sister, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, much is learned about her brother. After his divorce decree, Dmitri spent a considerable amount of his time with the Romanian royal family. In particularly, Elisabetha. Photographs of the two together at a reunion at Ahlbeck, Germany in 1937 confirm their association and close proximity to Queen Marie while receiving treatment. A daughter was born by cesarean section, 27 October 1937, performed by an American physician who was a recent graduate of Stanford University (OB/GYN)who was in Europe as a consultant to Queen Marie of Romania's physicians at the sanatorium near Dresden, Emil von Dessonneck. Hidden from her uncle Carol II, this baby became the ward of Princess Ileana. She was placed in a foster home at the time of the Anschluss with Austria in 1938, and was often shuttled between Germany and Austria. American author of plays, screenplays, and memoirs, Lillian Florence "Lilly" Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) wrote several plays on her experiences and relationships with the Romanian Princesses that worked with the underground in Europe to defeat Fascism. Her story "Julia", in the book "Pentimento: A Book of Portraits" (1973), identifies the disappearance of the baby. This story later became a film, "Julia" (1977) which starred Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, and Meryl Streep. Vanessa Redgrave won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role as the title-named character, Julia, and Jason Robards won his second consecutive Best Actor in a Supporting Role award. The film was Meryl Streep's first cinema debut. Another play, "Watch on the Rhine" (1941), identifies political and sinister corruption of the Nazi regime in Europe. Hellman's depositions reveal only loyalty to families and individuals during the Cold War who still lived within the iron curtain of soviet states. Hellman refused to give their names. Eventually, Princess Ileana immigrated to The United States. The baby, Ana Dmitriievna, arrived in Massachusetts from Germany in 1968. The two were reunited in 1988 by telephone as Ileana, now Mother Alexandra was then Abbess at her Monastery of the Transfiguration, Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. They met privately there in June 6, 1990, in the presence of an Orthodox priest and Ana Dmitriievna Romanova's thirteen year old son. Mother Alexandra shared with her this most difficult story, her apologies and grief for what had been a most unwarranted childhood, as well as the fear of her elimination due to greedy relatives. Ana Romanova is the only full biological first cousin of King Michael I of Romania. Like King Michael I, Ana Romanova is a third cousin of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II." (Dmitri Pavlovitch Romanov)
"After his divorce, Dmitri and Elisabetha of Romania began a romantic relationship in 1937. Elisabetha and Dmitri spent considerable time together during her mother's illness and care at a sanatorium near Dresden. According to the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmarigen (Prince Karl Friedrich Hohenzollern-Sigmarigen), the office of Peter Broadmann- CEO and Finance Director at Sigmarigen, historians identify the marriage, however, documents were not saved. The couple resided at Elisabetha's private residence at Banloc, Timis, on the Hungarian border. Much of this story and the people surrounding it disappeared during World War II. Then history became more secretive for the Romanians as they became dominated by a Soviet state. The child, known as Grand Duchess Ana Romanova, has sought the assistance of historians and investigators to assist her in piecing her life together. Historian and investigator, Harry Binkow, has worked with the Princess for three years gathering authenticated documents, artifacts, and interviews with those parties who hold archives in the family. According to The House of Hohenzollern-Sigmarigen, on the 17 July 2013 at Sigmarigen, the following statement has been released. ' . . . as far as we know there was a marriage between Elisabeth of Romania and Dmitri of Russia, but there is not save information, if they had children together. It also can be that children came into the marriage from the side of Dmitri of Russia which are not direct descendants of the marriage between Elisabeth and Dmitri". - Peter Brodmann, Group Prince of Hohenzollern - Investments. Through the books authored by Dmitri Pavlovich's sister, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna, much is learned about her brother. After his divorce decree, Dmitri spent a considerable amount of his time with the Romanian royal family. In particularly, Elisabetha. Photographs of the two together at a reunion at Ahlbeck, Germany in 1937 confirm their association and close proximity to Queen Marie while receiving treatment. A daughter was born by cesarean section, 27 October 1937, performed by an American physician who was a recent graduate of Stanford University (OB/GYN)who was in Europe as a consultant to Queen Marie of Romania's physicians at the sanatorium near Dresden, Emil von Dessonneck. Hidden from her uncle Carol II, this baby became the ward of Princess Ileana. She was placed in a foster home at the time of the Anschluss with Austria in 1938, and was often shuttled between Germany and Austria. American author of plays, screenplays, and memoirs, Lillian Florence "Lilly" Hellman (June 20, 1905 – June 30, 1984) wrote several plays on her experiences and relationships with the Romanian Princesses that worked with the underground in Europe to defeat Fascism. Her story "Julia", in the book "Pentimento: A Book of Portraits" (1973), identifies the disappearance of the baby. This story later became a film, "Julia" (1977) which starred Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards, and Meryl Streep. Vanessa Redgrave won the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role as the title-named character, Julia, and Jason Robards won his second consecutive Best Actor in a Supporting Role award. The film was Meryl Streep's first cinema debut. Another play, "Watch on the Rhine" (1941), identifies political and sinister corruption of the Nazi regime in Europe. Hellman's depositions reveal only loyalty to families and individuals during the Cold War who still lived within the iron curtain of soviet states. Hellman refused to give their names. Eventually, Princess Ileana immigrated to The United States. The baby, Ana Dmitriievna, arrived in Massachusetts from Germany in 1968. The two were reunited in 1988 by telephone as Ileana, now Mother Alexandra was then Abbess at her Monastery of the Transfiguration, Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. They met privately there in June 6, 1990, in the presence of an Orthodox priest and Ana Dmitriievna Romanova's thirteen year old son. Mother Alexandra shared with her this most difficult story, her apologies and grief for what had been a most unwarranted childhood, as well as the fear of her elimination due to greedy relatives. Ana Romanova is the only full biological first cousin of King Michael I of Romania. Like King Michael I, Ana Romanova is a third cousin of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II." (Dmitri Pavlovitch Romanov)
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