#princess irina paley

[nadziejacher]

❤ Paley Palace, July 2023, Tsarskoe Selo

[loiladadiani]

Photographs: 1. Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich; 2. Pavel's first wife: Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna (Nee Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark); 3. Pavel's morganatic wife: Olga Valerianovna, Princess Paley (nee Olga Valerianovna Karnovich).

Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich (1860 - 1919) and his children

Grand Duke Pavel was the youngest son of Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna. As a child and even as an adult, he had very frail health (but that did not prevent him from being very successful with the ladies and a great dancer.) Politically, Pavel would play his most important role toward the end of the Romanov dynasty, when he largely acted as a liaison between Empress Alexandra and Emperor Nicholas II and the rest of the Romanov family. It was Grand Duke Paul who informed the Empress of the abdication.

Pavel was married twice and had five children. His first wife was Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna (nee Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark.) He had two children with her, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the younger) and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich (Alexandra died giving birth to him.) Several years later, Pavel married Olga Valerianovna Karnovich morganatically and was exiled from Russia by the Emperor; the couple had a comfortable exile since Paul had money out of Russia. Olga would be made Princess Paley when the couple was allowed to return to Russia. By the time they returned to Russia, they had three children: Vladimir, Irina, and Natalia.

Grand Duke Pavel's five children were remarkably good-looking. One of his daughters, Natalia, became a model and actress in the United States. It is a shame that they had to live through such horrible times; none of them seem to find lasting stability in the area of relationships throughout their lives. But this post is just about what a good example of the general good looks of the Romanov family Pavel's children were.

Following are some photographs of Pavel's beautiful offspring:

Photographs: Pavel and Olga's children: 1. Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley; 2. Princesses Natalia and Irina Pavlovna Paley; 3. Prince Vladimir with his two little sisters; 4. Prince Vladimir; 5. Princess Irina Pavlovna; 6. Princess Natalia Pavlovna

Photographs: Pavel and Alexandra's children: 1. Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Younger; 2. Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna; 3. Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich

[thepaleys]

In 1905 Pavel's new happiness was shaken by the news that Sergei had been assassinated in Moscow. The Tsar gave him permission to attend the funeral, alone, restoring to him the rank of lieutenant general, and he travelled to Russia with a package Sergei had given him thirteen years earlier, to be opened in the event of his death. It was found to contain the uniform of the Preobrajensky Guard in which Sergei wanted to be buried, but the terrorist's bomb had done so much damage to the body that it was impossible to do as he asked. Pavel's return to Russia could not help but be uncomfortable and distressing for all concerned. Dmitri was afraid that his father would take him away, and clung to Elisabeth. She could not forgive Pavel for all that had happened, and for him, the death of a favourite brother at a time when they were estranged was a thought too painful to recall. There could be no reconciliation and no hope of renewed friendship. The past was gone, and for the rest of his life Pavel would never speak willingly of his childhood.

Romanov Autumn - Charlotte Zeepvat

"Our family life was extremely happy, but he missed his country. He rarely talked about Russia, and even less about his family memories, in front of us children. But one evening at dinner, my sister (Natalie) and I got a bit carried away and asked him about it. He happily told us about his games with his brother Serge [...]. A miniature harbour had been built for them on the little canal in the Imperial Park. Then he became sad, no doubt thinking of the tragic death of his father and brother. Having seen the result of our curiosity, we never asked him again about his childhood."

Irina Paley quoted in the book "Natalie Paley - Princess en Exil" by Jean-Noel Liaut

[otmaaromanovas]

i know this is a bit outside your purview but i was hoping you could help me - would you be able to recommend some memoirs of russian aristocrats from the imperial family's immediate circle who survived the revolution and settled in the west? something in the vein of felix yusupov or alexander mikhailovitch's memoirs, maybe? i'm interested in how they adjusted to the change in political and cultural circumstances. thanks in advance :)

Hello there!

Yes, I know of a few! I will also link you to Felix Yusupov and Alexander Mikhailovich’s memoirs, just in case you didn’t know they could be read online for free :) Where possible, I will include links to access them online for free.

Lost Splendour by Felix Yusupov

Once a Grand Duke by Alexander Mikhailovich

25 Chapters of my Life by Olga Alexandrovna - the later chapters detail how she, her husband, and two young children fled Russia

The Last Grand Duchess by Ian Vorres - a memoir written and based off interviews with Olga Alexandrovna, with quotes from her.

Vera by Paul Gilbert includes some memoirs by Vera Konstantinovna. The memoirs focus mostly on her childhood, but touch a little on the Revolution and her life in America after.

Memories of Russia, 1916-1919 by Princess Paley and John van der Kiste - more focus on the Revolution rather than settling elsewhere, but I hope it will be helpful!

Dancing in St. Petersburg by Mathilde Kschessinska - details her life as the first love of Nicholas II, her work as a Prima ballerina, her relationship with Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich. She and Andrei eventually fled Russia to France.

Not sure if this counts as he wasn’t Russian, but Tutor to the Tsarevich by Sydney Gibbes and J. C. Trewin details Gibbes’ life, including his fleeing to Asia and then to Oxford.

If you can speak French, this interview with Felix and Irina might be of interest to you. They talk mostly about Rasputin, but it does show their situation living outside of Russia.

Education of a Princess by Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna details her marriage to Duke of Södermanland, which saw her relocate to Sweden

These aren’t memoirs but instead secondary sources, but I thought I would include them in case they were valuable to you. Once a Grand Duchess: Xenia by John van der Kiste and Coryne Hall details Xenia’s escape from Russia and her adjustment to life in England living in Frogmore Cottage, using sources in the form of letters written by Xenia herself.

I hope that this was somehow helpful! Enjoy your reading :)

[romanovsonelastdance]

who do you think olga and anastasia would've married if they had the chance to? tatiana would've married alexander of yugoslavia, since they were madly in love and maria would've married louis.

Olga wanted to 'remain Russian' so she didn't have a ton of options, but one of the Konstantinovichi boys would work. Prince Konstantin apparently asked to marry her at one point, so he might be the option with the most basis in history. Otherwise Prince Roman Petrovich or maaaaaybe Vladimir Paley if his parents' morganatic marriage wasn't held against him. I suppose if he was 'Romanov enough' to be killed in the revolution he might be 'Romanov enough' to marry a Grand Duchess.

I could see Anastasia never marrying, honestly. She might like being the quirky, independent aunt and not tied down to any husband or throne. But there was a rumor that Queen Alexandrine of Denmark (daughter of Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna), hoped that her son Frederick would marry one of the younger grand duchesses. She might be thrilled to have a daughter-in-law who had the same name as her mother, and Maria Feodorovna would love to see a granddaughter on the throne of Denmark. Frederick was very tall though so Anastasia might hate that, haha. And the rumor could be totally made up, it's from a very gossipy source.

There's some evidence that Alexander wanted to marry Tatiana, but is there anything to suggest she wanted to marry him? I've never seen anything from her end that the feelings were mutual. Rather she had her 'crushes' like Dmitri Malama and Vladimir Kiknadze. That doesn't mean she wouldn't have married Alexander--she was the most duty-conscious of the sisters and would make an excellent queen. I just don't think we can say she was in love with him.

Unpopular opinion but I don't think Maria actually would have married Louis Mountbatten. Sure, HE said he was 'determined to marry her,' but they were first cousins and first cousin marriages are not allowed in the Russian Orthodox Church, and Nicholas II didn't approve them. Nicholas' brother Misha wanted to marry their cousin Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh/Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Nicholas refused to allow it. He was furious when Kirill married Ducky, a first cousin and divorcee. I just don't see Nicholas allowing them to marry; it was a religious thing, not just his personal opinion, and that's harder to overcome. I honestly think he'd be more likely to allow her to marry a noble or officer than a first cousin, as he DID allow that for Tatiana Konstantinovna, Irina Alexandrovna, and Olga Alexandrovna. And like with Tatiana and Alexander, I've never seen anything about Maria's feelings for Dickie. I have a hard time seeing her wanting to leave Russia--like Olga, she made it clear her dream was to marry a Russian.

[adini-nikolaevna]

Princess Irina Paley, daughter of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich of Russia.

[aeonpath-blog]

[otmaplusalexei]

With no image in existence of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich with all five of his children, I attempted to make one. This is my result, I hope you like it.

[graceofromanovs]

The Great-Grandchildren of Emperor Nicholas I

Emperor Nicholas I had 79 legitimate (incl. morganatic) great-grandchildren — 72 of whom survived to childhood. Two of whom became reigning monarchs [Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and King Constantine I of Greece]. Two became Queen consorts of Romania [Princess Marie of Edinburgh] and of Denmark [Duchess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin], while another became Crown Princess of Prussia [Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin]. One became the last Chancellor of the German Empire [Prince Maximilian of Baden, also known as Margrave of Baden], and another became a ruling Grand Duke of a German princely state [Mecklenburg-Schwerin].

Among the 72 great-grandchildren that survived to adulthood, 54 of them have living descendants today. Including King Felipe VI of Spain, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and King Charles III of the United Kingdom.

Notes:

- Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark is the mother of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Grand Duke Pavlovich.

- Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia is the mother of Princess Irina Alexandrovna, Prince Andrei, Feodor, Nikita, Dmitri, Rostislav, and Vasili Alexandrovich.

- Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark is the mother of Princess Nina Georgievna and Princess Xenia Georgievna.

- Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark is the father-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II, thus the grandfather of the Prince of Wales.

- Eight of Emperor Nicholas I’s great-grandchildren married each other: Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg & Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia; Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark & Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia; Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia & Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia & Princess Irina Paley.

- Six of Emperor Nicholas I’s great-grandchildren [Emperor Nicholas II, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, Prince Ioann Konstantinovich, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, Prince Igor Konstantinovich and Prince Vladimir Paley] were executed by the Bolsheviks in the summer of 1918.

[annalaurendet70]

Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich Romanov of Russia's three children from his second marriage to Olga Valerianovna Karnovich : Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley,Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley and Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley.Their half siblings were Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich Romanov of Russia and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna Romanova of Russia (the Younger

[a-romanov-tribute]

Prince Feodor of Russia and his bride and cousins Princess Irina Paley in 1923. From the left: Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Grand Duchess Xenia (Feodor's mother), Feodor, Irina, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (Feodor's father), Princess Olga Paley and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna.

Via:royalbooks.se

Irina was half sister of Dmitri Pavlovich and Maria Pavlova.

[nadziejacher]

Prince Vladimir Paley was baptized in Saint Petersburg in the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 28th January 1897. His godfather was Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, godmother was his maternal grandmother Olga Vasilyevna Karnovich.

Church book from 1897, page from Saint Petersburg archive.

[loiladadiani]

Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (1897 - 1918)

Prince Vladimir Paley, son of Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich and Olga Valerianovna Karnovich, the daughter of a chamberlain in the Imperial Court, was born of what was considered a morganatic or unequal union. Because of this, Vladimir could not use his father’s surname of Romanov, but was later granted the title of Prince Paley by a special decree of Tsar Nicholas II.

The rules of the Imperial family prevented him from being considered a member of the dynasty; this circumstance could have saved his life. However, when he was requested by the Bolshevik regimen to deny his father, Grand Duke Pavel of Russia, he remained loyal to his honor and his affection for his father and chose captivity and death with other members of the Romanov family at Alapayevsk. On November 1, 1981, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia canonized Tsar Nicholas II and Vladimir became a martyr along the other victims of the Alapayevsk massacre. 

He lived only twenty-one years, however during that brief time, he impressed those around him with his extraordinary talents. When he died, he already seemed destined to become a writer of consequence. After his premature death and because of political reasons, his poetry, passionate, fresh and sometimes tinged with mysticism, was forgotten. His only «crime» was to be related to a dynasty of which he had not even been an official member.

“Volodya was an extraordinary being, a living instrument of rare sensitiveness, which could of itself produce sounds of startling melody and purity and create a world of bright images and harmonies. In years and experience he was still a child, but his spirit had penetrated into regions reached only by a few. He had genius...”

This was the way Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, daughter of Grand Duke Paul of Russia and his first wife, Alexandra of Greece, spoke of her younger brother in her autobiography "Education of a Princess," and she was quite right: Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley was indeed an extraordinarily gifted young man and a remarkable poet.

Volodya, as he was called by his siblings, had two half siblings through his father: Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Younger. He had three other half siblings though his mother's previous marriage. Princesses Irina Pavlovna Paley and Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley were his full sisters.

[thepaleys]

Uncle Paul, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, was the nicest of the four uncles of the Tsar, although he too possessed an inclination for “mounting the high horse,” which trait he owed to his close friendship with his brother Sergei. He danced well, he was greatly admired by women, and he looked quite attractive in his dark-green-and-silver dolman, raspberry tight breeches and low boots of a Grodno Hussar.

Satisfied with the care-free life of a brilliant officer, he never occupied a position of responsibility. His first wife, a Princess of Greece, died when he was still very young, and he married for the second time the divorced wife of a colonel, thus committing a double breach of the regulations prevailing in the imperial family, no grand duke being permitted to marry a commoner and no divorced woman being received at court.

He had to leave Russia for an indefinite stay in Paris. I believe he benefited considerably by his forced exile through meeting people of intelligence and importance. It changed his character, bringing out human traits formerly hidden under a mask of nonsensical haughtiness. During the World War he commanded for a short time the Guard Corps on the German front but exercised no influence on the affairs of state.

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, "We, The Romanovs"

In 1923, Alexander's second son, Prince Feodor Alexandrovich would marry Grand Duke Paul's daughter, Princess Irina Paley. They shared one grandson, Prince Michael Feodorovich, born in 1924.

[imperial-russia]

Irina and Natalia, daughters of Grad Duke Pavel and Princess Olga Paley. Two more images from the same sitting can be seen here.

[romanovsonelastdance]

Iterations of Irene - Some Romanov and Romanov-related Irenes.  Irene of Hesse and by Rhine - Sister of Alexandra Feodorovna Irina Alexandrovna, daughter of Xenia Alexandrovna & Alexander Mikhailovich Irina Pavlovna Paley, daughter of Pavel Alexandrovich Irene of Greece (1904), granddaughter of Olga Konstantinovna Irina Felixovna Yusupova, daughter of Irina Alexandrovna Irene of Greece (1942), great-granddaughter of Olga Konstantinovna.  Two other royal Irenes with Romanov connections are Princess Irene of the Netherlands, a descendant of Anna Pavlovna, and the former Princess Irina of Romania, who is a descendant of Romanov grand duchesses Olga Konstantinovna and Maria Alexandrovna.