Olga Valerianovna Paley

Princess Olga Paley

Olga Valerianowna Princess Paley, Countess of High Rock (born December 2 ^{. Jul} / 14. December  1865 ^greg. In Saint Petersburg , †  2. November 1929 in Paris ) was the mistress and later wife of the Russian Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich Romanov .

Life

Olga was the daughter of Valerian Gawrilowitsch Karnowitsch (1833-1891) and his wife Olga Wassiljewna Meszaros (1830-1919). On May 30, 1884, she married the German-Baltic landowner Erich Gerhard von Pistohlkors (1853-1935). The marriage, which was divorced in 1901, had three children, Alexander (1885–1944), Olga (1888–1963) and Marianna (1890–1976).

In 1890 she met and fell in love with Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich Romanov, who was also still married, at a court ball in Saint Petersburg. She left her family to lead a ménage à trois with Pawel and his wife, Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgeevna (1870-1891) . After the death of his wife, Pavel asked his nephew Tsar Nicholas II for permission to marry Olga, but the latter refused at the instigation of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna .

Olga Valerianowna Paley with her family, around 1910

The marriage on October 10, 1902 in Livorno ( marriage to the left hand ) caused a scandal at the Russian court and Pavel was stripped of all his military duties and ranks. The couple then lived in Paris. Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria granted Olga and her descendants the title of Count von Hohenfelsen on October 29, 1904 , which was recognized by a Russian imperial decree on June 23, 1905. In 1914 she was allowed to return to Russia with her family and lived on in Tsarskoye Selo . Tsar Nicholas II also granted Countess Olga and her children the title of Princess and Prince Paley by an imperial decree of July 23, 1915.

The association with Grand Duke Pavel resulted in three children:

• Vladimir (1897–1918, murdered), Russian poet
• Irina (1903–1990), painter
• Natalia (1905–1981), fashion icon and actress

After the October Revolution , the Romanovs' assets were confiscated and many family members were placed under house arrest in the Alexander Palace, including Princess Olga and her family. Her son Vladimir was taken to Alapayevsk , where he was later murdered by the Cheka along with other members of the Romanov family . Her husband, Grand Duke Pavel, was shot by the Bolsheviks in 1919 in the Peter and Paul Fortress . In 1920 Olga fled with her daughters via Finland to France , where she lived and was buried until her death.

Princess Paley Olga v Weisz

In 1929 she led a lawsuit in London for the restitution of furniture and art objects that the Soviet government had expropriated and sold to the British art dealer Henry Weisz. The Princess Paley Olga v Weisz case went to the High Court of Justice (England and Wales) , was decided in its disadvantage on the basis of the Act of state doctrine and is cited as a precedent to this day .

Name in different phases of life

• 1865-1884 Olga Valerianovna Karnovich
• 1884–1901 Olga Valerianowna von Pistohlkors
• 1902–1919 Olga Valerianovna Romanovna
• 1904–1929 Olga Valerianowna, Countess von Hohenfelsen
• 1915–1929 Olga Valerianovna, Princess Paley

literature

• Jacques Ferrand: Il est toujours des Romanov (Les Romanovs en 1995). Paris 1995.
• Gothaischer Genealogischer Hofkalender 1918 and 1920, Perthes, Gotha.
• Olga Princess Paley: The Tragedy of a Russian Princess. Memories from the years 1916–1919 , Falken, Hamburg 1925, previously published by Ava, Hamburg 1925 and Koehler, Leipzig in 1925 under the title Memories from Russia - an autobiography - authorized translation by Curt Wagenseil from the French original: Souvenirs de Russie , Plon , 1923, new edition 1989, ISBN 290648329X (French).
• Jean-Noël Liaut: Natalie Paley: La princesse dechirée. Filipacchi, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85018-295-8 .
• Andrei Baranovsky: biography of Prince Vladimir Paley. 1997.

Web links

• Full texts at lib.rub

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Princess Paley Olga v Weisz [1929] 1 KB 718