Princess Nina Georgievna of Russia - Marriage

Marriage

Princess Nina married Prince Paul Alexandrovich Chavchavadze (1899–1971) on 3 September 1922 in London. Paul Chavchavadze, was descended from the Chavchavadze family of the Kakheti province in Georgia, and also, in a direct line, from the last King of Georgia, George XII. They had first met as children when he was nine and she was seven, at a party at the British embassy in Rome in 1908. When they next met, it was in London many years later. By the time they were married, the world they knew had changed radically, with the collapse of the feudal system in Russia, the rise of the Bolsheviks, and annexation of Georgia by the Soviet Union. Most of their aristocratic riches were lost in the revolution, but they never complained about their material losses. Prince Paul, who also lost his father at the hands of the Bolsheviks, served in the military service on two continents. The couple had an only child, Prince David Chavchavadze, born in 1924 in London.

In 1927, Princess Nina moved with her family to the United States, where they settled in New York. In 1939 they moved to Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Princess Nina was an artist, her husband worked as an author; he wrote five books and translated several others. Their son, Prince David Chavchavadze, thanks in part to his knowledge of Russian, eventually became a CIA officer. After his retirement, he wrote a book about the Grand Dukes of Russia. Princess Nina's husband died in 1971, she outlived him for only a couple of years. She died near Hyannis, Massachusetts in 1974, aged 72. Her son left descendants.