History Lovers
historylovers Aimoo Forum List | Ticket | Today | Member | Search | Who's On | Help | Sign In | |
historylovers > General > General Discussion Go to subcategory:
Author Content
MarkUK
  • Rank:Diamond Member
  • Score:4367
  • Posts:4367
  • From:United Kingdom
  • Register:12/11/2009 09:24:59

Date Posted:22/07/2018 12:52:49Copy HTML

Over the centuries many European Royals have sought exile, either by choice or by compulsion, outside their homeland; but not many find it in unfashionable north Staffordshire.
One who did was Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich, grandson of Tsar Nicholas I. He was born in 1861 and after a career in the Russian Army it was time for him to find a wife. Several matches were proposed, but none proved acceptable, until he met Countess Sophie von Merenberg. She was the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Nassau by his morganatic wife Natalya who, due to her lack of status, was unable to adopt her husband's rank and titles, but was created in compensation Natalya, Countess von Merenberg in her own right.
Sophie's unsuitable background made a marriage with a Russian Grand Duke problematic, so without bothering to consult his cousin Tsar Alexander III Mikhail married Sophie at San Remo in Italy in 1891. As expected the Tsar banished him from Russia for life. Shortly after their marriage Sophie was created Countess of Torby by her uncle the Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
After nine years of wandering around Europe Mikhail and Sophie found a permanent home in England; they rented Keele Hall in north Staffordshire from the Sneyd family in 1900. He quickly settled in to the life of an English gentleman becoming a familiar face in the social life of the nearby town of Newcastle-under-Lyme. In 1902 he was created Lord High Steward of the Borough, a purely ceremonial office for the local commemoration for the coronation of King Edward VII and in 1903 he unveiled a statue of Queen Victoria in the town. In 1908 he published a novel, Never Say Die about a morganatic marriage.
The couple move from the area in 1909 to be nearer London where they remained for the rest of their lives.
Ironically his exile probably saved his life; three of his brothers were murdered by the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. His wife died in 1927 and he in 1929, they are buried together in Hampstead Cemetery. 
They had three children who bore the name de Torby; their younger daughter Nadejda married Prince George of Battenberg in 1916 who's eldest sister Alice, wife of Prince Andrew of Greece, bore a son, the current Duke of Edinburgh in 1921. So the exiled Grand Duke not only lived in England but features in the British Royal family tree.
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
Copyright © 2000- Aimoo Free Forum All rights reserved.