Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna-younger, her life and relations

[Svetabel]

Has anyone seen any pictures of her with her second husband or her son Roman?

Thanks!

There is only one photo of Maria and her 2nd husband I've seen. It's their photo at some reception/dinner in exiled years. Maria looks sad and tired in that pic.

[Romanov_fan]

Well, what she went through would make anybody sad and tired no doubt, so that is understandable. Marie has to be respected for living a life in exile, and trying to do something with her life, far away from the world and traditions she had known. I don't think there are any photos of Roman, given that it was a chaotic time, and he didn't live very long. And if there were, they didn't survived most likely. I am not saying it's impossible as sometimes photos pop up from no were, it just isn't very likely, nor have I seen any.I used to wonder if there were any photos of Roman myself, but then concluded for the above reasons, that there probably weren't any.

[frimousse]

Gdss Marie Pavlovna ran a fashion workshop in Paris, KITMIR, avenue Montaigne. This photography was taken in 1927. She won an award at this time for her work.
She sold Russian embroideries to her friend Coco Chanel. Through her, Chanel made the acquaintance of GD Dimitri and was madly in love, but as Frédéric Miterrand in his documentary-video underlines, "Chanel loved the beauty of men but not their embraces", she was fascinated by Dimitri's stories about Imperial Russia, uniforms and dresses ...

Marie was the one who spotted an American beauty, immensely rich, clever, well-bred in the French riviera: Audrey Emery. And introduced her to her brother so he could settle down and marry.
It is told that Chanel was very upset and so decided to forget all this matter of Russian fashion afterwards and prefered English tweeds during her affair with the Duke of Westminster !!!

After that Marie sold her workshop and went to America where she wrote her memoirs, and again took flight in Buenos Aires. She was a reputed photographer for American "Vogue" ( She made a photo-report of her cousin Queen Marie in Romania).
Lennart has always forgiven his "strange" mother. She never wanted to be called by him Mother, Mama or Mummy, but just instead Marie...

I think she had a sort of sister-brother complex, and considered her son as a brother substitute after Dimitri's death in 1942.

She visited him frequently with huge amount of luggage and cameras. To fetch her at the railway station, Lennart had to rent a lorry...
When he visited her in Argentina he noticed -though she had a maid who made curtsy and called her Her Imperial Highness- that she was in a desperate situation, physically, morally...She was ill, very lonely, short of money.
Mainau was for her a place where she could rest when she was in Europe between photo-reports ( Lennart had installed a photo-laboratory just for her in the Schloss). And she was always glad to show him her works as an elder sister does it with her brother...
He understood her lonelyness and asked her to settle in Mainau. Which she did. She was exhausted by life, just exhausted...She remained her last three or four years with her son, whose wife looked gently after her...
At the end she has found someone who looked after her...

I think she was traumatized by life. She had always to take flight, to run away , to escape love and little children...
Very moving destiny indeed...  

[Romanov_fan]

Yes, Marie could indeed have been traumatized by life, as many members of the Imperial Family were after the the Revolution. I see her as a woman of conflicts, but as a survivor, in the end. Not perfect, but someone who did her best to cope with ife, even if she did not always keep a good attitude, nor succeed.

[joye]

Re Marie Pavlovna's marriage to Willem of Sweden, I seem to remember reading, but cannot recall where, that Ella's sister, Irene of Prussia, was the instigator of the marriage. When Ella became aware of how unhappy MP was, she tried to stop the marriage, but was unsuccessful.


Signed HRH

[Svetabel]

When Ella became aware of how unhappy MP was, she tried to stop the marriage, but was unsuccessful.


Signed HRH

Ella became aware only after MP's marriage and was very surprised and upset.

[Romanov_fan]

Re Marie Pavlovna's marriage to Willem of Sweden, I seem to remember reading, but cannot recall where, that Ella's sister, Irene of Prussia, was the instigator of the marriage. When Ella became aware of how unhappy MP was, she tried to stop the marriage, but was unsuccessful.


Signed HRH

I am pretty sure that Ella arranged it, and that she wasn't really aware of how unhappy Marie was. Or was Marie that unhappy? It seems that she might have exaggerated how unhappy she really was in her memoirs.

[hikaru]

By the way , who knows the exact date of her engagement with Sweden Prince?
I have read 20th June/3 th May (or 5th May).
But at her memoirs she wrote it as the beginning of the June.

I also have read in one russian article, that her nickname at the emigree circles was "Zolushka Romanova", which means "Cinderella Romanov".

[grandduchessella]

The marriage took place on May 3--that's the date in The Times of London which covered the wedding.

I don't know about the engagement.

[Svetabel]

By the way , who knows the exact date of her engagement with Sweden Prince?
I have read 20th June/3 th May (or 5th May).
But at her memoirs she wrote it as the beginning of the June.

I also have read in one russian article, that her nickname at the emigree circles was "Zolushka Romanova", which means "Cinderella Romanov".

The wedding took place in 20 April/3 May 1908. The engagement was near a year ago...so it could be May-June 1907.

[lori_c]

Re Marie Pavlovna's marriage to Willem of Sweden, I seem to remember reading, but cannot recall where, that Ella's sister, Irene of Prussia, was the instigator of the marriage. When Ella became aware of how unhappy MP was, she tried to stop the marriage, but was unsuccessful.


Signed HRH

I am pretty sure that Ella arranged it, and that she wasn't really aware of how unhappy Marie was. Or was Marie that unhappy? It seems that she might have exaggerated how unhappy she really was in her memoirs.

Ella didn't understand how unhappy MP really was until the events w/the "Doctor" who recommended that MP be entrusted to his care and taken away from Sweden for "rest".  Ella, who was very suspicious of this, disagreed and realized what MP was up against.  When MP finally left Sweden to run to her father in Paris, Ella was extremely sympathetic and accepted MP w/open arms.  There was no rebuke only guilt on Ella's part for not realizing sooner the situation.  Also, the Swedish Court was different from the Russian one and MP never exactly felt that she fit in.  She was very young and very homesick.  Even though she continued to have (luckily) the support of her Swedish in-laws while in Sweden and for the rest of her life.

[Svetabel]

Maria with her brother and father



A hockey team (in Sweden) - Maria is at the very left, front row

[Teddy]

What a wonderful photo's. Were did you got the last picture?

[scarlett_riviera]

wow a hockey team! she looks adorable on the second photo. When were these photos taken? Thanks for posting them.

[Svetabel]

I don't know the exact dates of the photos, the 2nd one is probably of 1910-1912 years. And the 1st could be taken just before/after Maria's "escape" from Sweden.