The Paleys

[Maria_Pavlovna]

Natalia was raped?!?! oh my goddness she would had be 16! poor N.

My friends and i were think of that too
-Prince Paley with one of the tsar's daughters.[A story line]

but it wouldn't happened because Princess Paley was unliked in the family,for being a wife of a grand duke. Also the Paley children was illegamate [Vladimir exp].

-M

P.S I think Vladimir is a cutie too, [the handsome  Romanov look he has] he was much cutier the his half-brother Dmitri.

[Gerjo]

Illegamated or not illegamated they saw some of the Romanovs in private life. In some letters of Alexandra to Nicky she writhes that she saw princess Paley (and maybe her daughters) in church. And she was invited on a birthday party of the Dowager Empress. She haves also visits the family in captivity and writes letters to the family.

Are there also photographs of the Paleys with the IF?

[Lisa]

Natalia was raped?!?! oh my goddness she would had be 16! poor N.

.

We don't know exactly what happened... But later, Natalia was famous for her "love-affairs "with gay men! (Jean Cocteau, even her husband Lucien Lelong...). She was a very mysterious woman..

[Elija]

Vladimir Paley A POET AMONG THE ROMANOVS
where can I find his poetry, is it possible??
information about him http://www.holy-transfiguration.org/library_en/royal_paley.html

[Martyn]

I am pretty sure that I have read that Princess Paley went to considerable lengths to win the Alix's favour and friendship and that that was one of the reasons why GD Paul built a house at Tsarkoye Tselo.
Does anyone know what Alix's feelings about Pcss Paley were after they wrere allowed to return to Russia?

[Gerjo]

I think Alix and Princess Paley did get along with eachother. Alix describes many times the princess in her letters to Nicky.

The women had also a little correspondce with eachother. Even in captivity.

I noticed in many letters that there were also meetings between the 2 women. And also the Imperial children seems to get allong with the princess and her children.

But I think Alix have accepted the wife of GD Paul. But if they were true friends I don't know 4 sure. Maybe when the monarchy had survived they would be.

[grandduchessella]

[Namarolf]

According to princess Paley memoirs, she sent Irina and Natalia abroad in 1918 and they reached Finland safely. Of course, it was very unlikely for a mother to tell about one of her daughters being raped, but she doesn't seem to be under the impression that the girls had been harassed sexually. Anyway she and the girls met again in Finland in 1919, not in Paris. I know there is a biography of Natalia, "Une princesse dechirée", but I haven't got it - does the information about her being raped in 1918-1919 comes from that book?

[Teddy]

Princess Paley corresponded to the Tsar en Tsarina. But were are her letters of her to N.A. and A.F. and vice versa?

[Labuanbajo]

From a collection of photographs by Jerome Zerbe:

    "The opening of a fashionable shop on Madison Avenue.
      It was called Karinska's, and in the window on opening
      day stand two friends of the proprietress-Niki de Gunzburg
      and Natasha Paley Wilson. Zerbe can be seen smiling up
      at them as he takes the picture from the curb".

There's no date given but it was probably shot in the late 30's.

Natasha was evidently married to a man named Wilson. Any relation, Penny?

[Martyn]

What a great picture, is it from 'Beauty in Exile'?

[LisaDavidson]

I don't know Penny's family tree, but Natasha's Wilson relatives remember her fondly and arranged her burial. They were thrilled to have a Russian princess in their family.

[Martyn]

This is the picture that got me interested in the Romanovs, and in particular the Paleys.  In 1985, I bought a book about Cartier that featured this picture.  I thought that this was possibly the most glamorous photo that I had ever seen from that era and longed to know more of the stunning woman featured in the photo.
I was intrigued by the term 'morganatic', not knowing its significance and that the wife of Grand Duke Paul was known as Countess Hohenfelsen, Princees Paley - none of which made any sense.
She is dressed for a ball given by the Comtesse d'Yturbe; does anyone understand the signifiacnce of her costume, the fur hat and the velvet cloak....?

[grandduchessella]

That is a great photo, isn't it Martyn? Her necklace looks like one of those fringe tiaras that can be worn as a necklace as well. Do you know if it is?

sorry this isn't bigger

[Martyn]

I'm not sure whether her necklace can be worn as a tiara but she is wearing her other jewels in a different way to the manner in which they were customarily worn.
You may notice that she is wearing her wonderful diamond tiara strung across the bosom of her dress as a stomacher and her pearl and diamond crescent shaped stomacher as a hat ornament.  Both jewels were made by Cartier.
I wondered whether her costume is an allusion to Austrian dress, as there is an image of Archduchess Isabella wearing a similar court toilette from around the same period........