Prince Nikita Alexandrovich of Russia

Prince Nikita Alexandrovich
Born (1900-01-13)13 January 1900
106 Moika Street, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died 12 September 1974(1974-09-12) (aged 74)
Cannes, France
Spouse Countess Maria Vorontsova-Dashkova
Issue Prince Nikita Nikitich
Prince Alexander Nikitich
House Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Father Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia
Mother Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia

Prince Nikita Alexandrovich of Russia (13 January 1900 – 12 September 1974) was the third son and fourth child of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia. He was a nephew of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

Born in Imperial Russia during the reign of his uncle, Prince Nikita escaped the fate of many of his relatives who were killed by the Bolsheviks. He left Russia in April 1919, at age nineteen. In 1922 he married Countess Maria Vorontsova-Dashkova. The couple had two children.

Russian prince

Prince Nikita Alexandrovich was born in Saint Petersburg at his parents' palace at 106, Moika street.[1] He was the son of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia. He was a grandson of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and his consort, the Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (born Princess Dagmar of Denmark).

Prince Nikita spent his childhood and adolescence in fabulous splendor under the reign of his uncle, Tsar Nicholas II. He also traveled with his parents through Europe. A favorite destination was Ai-Todor, his father's estate, located in Crimea on the shores of the Black Sea. It was there where Prince Nikita and his immediate family found refuge from the disturbances in the former Imperial capital after the fall of the monarchy in Russia in February 1917. For a time, they lived there undisturbed. Their situation deteriorated after the Bolsheviks rose to power.

Prince Nikita was placed under house arrest with his parents and other members of the Romanov family in Crimea for sometime. He left Russia on 11 April 1919 with the help of his great aunt Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (formerly Princess Alexandra of Denmark), a sister of the Dowager Empress Maria. King George V sent the British warship HMS Marlborough, which brought Prince Nikita's family and other members of the Romanov dynasty, headed by the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, from the Crimea over the Black Sea to Malta and then to England.

Exile

During his first years in exile Prince Nikita lived in Paris in the house of his sister Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia. He moved later to England where he graduated from Oxford University.

Prince Nikita Alexandrovich married a childhood friend: Countess Maria Vorontsova-Dashkova (13 February 1903 in Tsarskoye Selo, Russia – 15 June 1997 in Cannes, France) in Paris, France. Well known by White Russians in exile for her elegance and grace, the Princess was a daughter of Count Hilarion Vorontsov Illarionovich - Dashkov and his first wife, Irina, born Naryshkina. Maria was a direct descendant of several Russian noble families, including Dolgorukov, Naryshkin, and Shuvalov. The wedding took place on 19 February 1922 in Paris. The couple had two sons:

In the early 1920s in Paris, the Princess, with her husband's helped to create a collection for the company IRFE owned by Prince Felix Yusupov and his wife Princess Irina Alexandrovna, Nikita's sister. After the birth of his youngest son, Prince Nikita moved his family from Paris to England where his mother, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna lived.

In exile, Nikita Alexandrovich was an active in the monarchist movement. He was a member of the oldest monarchist organization, the Supreme Monarchist Council. He was particularly involved during the 1920s and 1930s.

At the outbreak World War II, Prince Nikita was living in Paris with his family. Unable to return to London, they moved to Rome and later to Czechoslovakia. As the Red Army advanced on the Eastern Front, fearing to end up in Soviet-occupied territory, the family moved back to Paris. When the war ended, they emigrated to the United States in 1946 settling in Monterey, California where Prince Nikita Alexandrovich taught Russian in army units. He later moved to New York city, working in banks and offices. Prince Nikita Alexandrovich never recognized the rights to the throne of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia and in 1959 he publicly dismissed Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich's claims to the vacant Russian throne.

Throughout his life, Prince Nikita Aleksandrovich did not adopt any nationality, he decided to remain only Russian. In the early 1970s, Prince Nikita Alexandrovich and his wife returned to France. He died in 1974 in Cannes. He had wished to be buried in Ai-Todor in Crimea, but was buried in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, next to his parents.

Title and style

N.B. After the Russian revolution members of the Imperial family tended to drop the territorial designation “of Russia” and use the princely title with the surname Romanov.[2]

Ancestry

Notes

  1. ↑ Kiste & Hall, Once a Grand Duchess, p. 51
  2. ↑ Almanach de Gotha (186th ed.). 2003. p. 314. ISBN 0-9532142-4-9.

References

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