Matchabelli

[Rupert_B]

Hi

Just wondered if there are still members of this fmaily today and do we know if the family is Italian or Georgian in origin. I know there was the prince who started the perfume which is still around today, or at least the name is.

Thank you

Paul

[Tony de Gandarillas]

Prince Matchabelli is a perfume line and fashion line. It was first designed by Prince Georges V. Matchabelli who was an amateur chemist. Georges Matchabelli was a Georgian prince and Georgian ambassador to Italy, but fled the Soviet Union and immigrated to the United States after the Russian Revolution. In New York City he and his wife, Princess Norina Matchabelli (an actress whose stage name was Maria Carmi), opened a small antiques shop Le Rouge et le Noir at 545 Madison Avenue. They later established the Prince Matchabelli Perfume Company in 1926. Perfumes were personally blended for clients by Prince Matchabelli. The first three perfumes were Princess Norina, Queen of Georgia and Ave Maria. The company became known for the many color-coded, crown-shaped bottles designed by Norina after the Matchabelli crown and introduced in 1928 with labels on the underside.
 
taken from Wikipedia

Hope this helps as preliminary information.

[Tony de Gandarillas]

Machabeli (sing. Georgian: მაჩაბელი; pl. მაჩაბლები, Machablebi) was a Georgian princely house (tavadi) which held a large fiefdom (satavado) in the province of Inner Kartli (central Georgia) called Samachablo after their family name.
The origin of the family is not clear. According to a traditional account, they descended from one of the princes of the Abkhaz-Georgian feudal clan of Anchabadze who had fled the disorders in Abkhazia. Another version holds it that the Machabeli were an offshoot of the Tavkhelidze family who adopted their dynastic name after the village of Achabeti on the Great Liakhvi River where their initial domain was located. Beginning with the 15th century, the Machabeli grew in prominence and held various important posts at the court of the Georgian kings of Kartli. Their fiefdom, Samachablo, covered a significant portion of what is now South Ossetia, and enjoyed a degree of autonomy within the Kingdom of Kartli from c. 1470 to 1800 when Georgia was annexed to Imperial Russia. The Machabeli house was confirmed in princely dignity by the Russian Tsar in 1850.  From 1932 until his death, Matchabelli also served as President of the Georgian Association in the United States. Georges died in 1935. His grave can be seen at:
 
taken from http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8553178

[Rupert_B]

Thanks for this - I should have said that I had already looked on Wikipedia. Just wondered if there were still any members around today.

Thank you

Paul

[Tony de Gandarillas]

Then, you may want to get in contact with:

http://www.georgianassociation.org/

to learn more of Prince George's family members.