An interesting family, to be sure.
They were a group of siblings who fled to Paris after the Russian Revolution and reinvented themselves as Russian nobility. The patriarch, Zakharias, first emerged in Paris in 1923. His children became known as the "Marrying Mdivanis", due to the prominence & wealth they achieved through their various marriages. Zakharias, once quipped that he was the only man to inherit a princely title from his children, and not the other way around. One site said that Zakharias was a former aide-de-camp of Emperor Nicholas of Russia. At the time of the Mdivani/Hutton marriage, in the face of sniping about the family's lineage, Barbara Hutton remarked that "Alexis has a right to be proud of the title which has been in his family for generations." A Hutton aunt tried to raise the issue of the Mdivanis possibly being Muslim but friends of the family said variously that the sibilngs had either been baptized Christian, renounced Islam or never seriously practiced any religion. Zakharias would die in spring 1933 of uremia and heart disease in Paris.
In 1933, at the time of the divorces of Serge & Mary and David & Mae, Time magazine wrote that "While Mae Murray was pondering whether to divorce her David, he and Brother Serge struck oil back of her bath house at Venice, Calif. They organized the Pacific Shore Oil Co. with Actress Murray putting up most of the cash. Stock was sold to every available member of the cinema colony...Wives Mae Murray and Mary McCormic, convinced that their absent husbands are highly solvent, were in court suing them respectively for divorce and separate maintenance. Brother David, according to Princess Mae...has been drawing $500 monthly from the oil company for which she "put up the money." Naming $1,000 as Brother Serge's oil income. Princess Mary charged "cruelty" in her suit for separate maintenance, got an order attaching Serge's Los Angeles bank account last week, found it empty. Joining forces, the two Hollywood Princesses inspired a stockholders meeting which ousted the Princes from their oil company directorships, elected Princess Mary's lawyer president of Pacific Shore Oil and Princess Mae's lawyer vice president. "I have the most terrible dreams, do you too, Mae?" cried Princess Mary. "No," snapped Princess Mae shortly, "I haven't had enough sleep to dream."
In 1934, Time reported that "His [Alexis] less reputable brothers, Serge and David, were held in Los Angeles on charges of grand theft from their bankrupt Pacific Shore Oil Co. In Manhattan Alexis had de posited to their account $20,000 that Los Angeles police wanted explained. Ingloriously he was obliged to abandon his bride in her $120,000 private railroad car at Reno, fly around California and its subpoenas to Seattle. Princess Barbara chose to see all she could of her San Francisco friends instead of following her husband. Said Alexis, 15 days from rejoining his wife, "I'll be glad when this voyage is over." Said Princess Barbara, "It is silly to say that money is a bore....Bright & early one morning Alexis Mdivani, best married of the three marrying Georgian princelings, left his rooms in London's swank Hotel Claridge and drove out to Ranelagh for some polo. No sooner had he left than his young wife, Barbara Hutton Mdivani, flounced out of Claridge's too, and retreated to a private sanatorium. Her doctor announced that she could see no one, not even the Prince. Thus began the twelfth month of the Hutton-Mdivani round-the-world honeymoon. For the next two days Alexis allowed nothing to interrupt his polo (on a magnificent string of ponies given him by his wife as a wedding present). Said he: "I am not worried about Barbara's condition. I hope to see her as soon as possible." Meanwhile Franklyn L. Hutton, Barbara's father, was speeding for England aboard the S. S. Bremen. Prince Alexis: "It will be impossible for me to return with them. ... I shall be playing polo." On the fourth day of his wife's retreat Prince Alexis drove to Southampton, met Mr. and Mrs. Hutton. "Prince Mdivani is a square shooter and a great fellow," announced Mr. Hutton. They all drove up to London together. Late that afternoon Mr. Hutton was closeted with his daughter in her sanatorium. That evening Princess Barbara left the sanatorium, rushed to the side of her Prince. Said Mr. Hutton: "I only came here to see a dentist about my teeth." Said Prince Alexis: "I wonder how all these rumors started. They cannot say I chase other women. ... I do not drink or take drugs. What is left? Polo." Bright & early next morning he left his rooms and drove out to Hurlingham for some polo. "
