Early Life
Princess Nina was born in Mikhailovskoe, the Palace of her paternal grand father Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia. Through her father, she was a member of the Romanov family, and princess of the Imperial blood as a great grand daughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. Nina's mother was a princess of Greece and Denmark. On her maternal side, Nina was a great grand daughter of king Christian IX of Denmark and related to members of many European royal families.
Princess Nina spent the first years of her life in apartments at the Mikhailovsky palace outside St Petersburg, the residence of her paternal grandfather Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia. In 1905, the family moved to a newly built small palace in the Crimea. Constructed in English style, they gave the property a Greek name, Harax. For nine years the family led a quiet life. A contemporary of Tsar Nicholas II two youngest daughters, Princess Nina and her only sibling Princess Xenia, played sometimes with them, while they were in the Imperial capital.
The marriage of Nina's parents was unhappy. Grand Duke George was a devoted father, and the two sisters were close to him, but Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna never liked Russia and eventually became estranged from her husband. In June 1914, Maria took her two daughters to England on the pretext of improving their health; in reality, she wanted to be separated from her husband. When the war broke out a month after her arrival, the Grand Duchess did not rush back to Russia and later it was too dangerous to attempt a return. Princess Nina and her sister never saw their father again. He was killed during the Russian Revolution. Imprisoned by the Bolsheviks, he was shot by a firing squad, along with other Romanov relatives in January 1919. During the turbulent years of World War I and the Russian Revolution, Princess Nina remained living safely in London with her mother and her sister. Both sisters treasured their father's memory and resented their mother. In part to escape her control they both married very young.
Read more about this topic: Princess Nina Georgievna Of Russia
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