Prince Gabriel Constantinovich of Russia - Exile

Exile

In 1920, Prince Gabriel and his wife took residence in Paris. The couple did not lose interest in society once they were in exile. They were constant attendees at many Russian balls, frequently enjoyed evenings out in Russian nightclubs, and continued their friendship with other Romanovs in exile. Their circle included Tamara de Lempicka who painted a famous portrait of Gabriel Constantinovich in 1927.

By 1924, Prince Gabriel's economical situation was very difficult. Antonina, having considered then rejected the idea of opening a ballet school, instead turned to the world of couture, and established her own fashion house. Christened the House of Berry, the shop opened in a small building. Five years later after achieving some measure of success, Antonina was able to move the shop to a more fashionable location. When Antonina received important or wealthy clients, especially American millionaires, they were quickly whisked to a salon where, surrounded by the trappings of imperial Russia, they were entertained by Gabriel Constantinovich himself, who seemed to relish the experience. Visitors later recalled that the Prince frequently spent hours with them, often lecturing them on members of the extended family and using his photographs and paintings as visual aids to a vanished era. Gabriel and his wife, with the proceeds from their successful couture business, lived a comfortable, if not splendid life. Their entire hallways in their apartment were filled with family photographs. They lived happily and often had tea parties. In Paris, they often mingled with other Russian émigrés, including Prince Felix Yussupov, and his wife Princess Irina Alexandrovna, and Grand Duke Andrew Vladimirovich by then married to Mathilde Kschessinskaya.

The Great Depression eventually marked a sharp turn in the fortune of their fashion business, and they had to close the shop in 1936. The couple lived very modestly in a Paris suburb, where Prince Gabriel wrote his memoirs. To earn money he organized bridge parties and his wife occasionally gave ballet lessons. A portion of Prince Gabriel's memoirs was later published as In the Marble Palace; the book appeared first in both Russian and French. A number of Russian editions have appeared over the years, the most recent in 2001. However, it took time for the memoirs to be published in English, because a first English translation was allegedly lost in the bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in 1984. Gabriel's memoirs provide a detailed account of the private day to day lives of members of the Romanov family and have been sourced for many contemporary biographies on the Russian Imperial family.