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| Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia | |
|---|---|
| Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark | |
 | |
| Born | (1882-01-29)29 January 1882 Saint Petersburg,Russian Empire |
| Died | 13 March 1957(1957-03-13) (aged 75) Athens,Kingdom of Greece |
| Burial | Royal Cemetery,Tatoi Palace,Greece |
| Spouse | |
| Issue | |
| House | Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov |
| Father | Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia |
| Mother | Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia (29 January 1882 – 13 March 1957) was the only daughter and youngest child ofGrand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia andDuchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Her husband wasPrince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and they were both first cousins ofEmperor Nicholas II of Russia. She was also the first cousin ofAlexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin,Queen of Denmark, and the maternal grandmother ofPrince Edward, Duke of Kent,Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, andPrince Michael of Kent. QueenJuliana of the Netherlands was also her half-first cousin.
Elena and her three surviving older brothers,Kirill,Boris, andAndrei, had an English nanny and spoke English as their first language.[1] The young Elena had a temper and was sometimes out of control. At four years old, she posed for the artistHenry Jones Thaddeus.[2] She grabbed a paper knife and threatened her nurse, who hid behind Thaddeus. "The little lady then transferred her attentions to me, her black eyes ablaze with fury," recalled Thaddeus.[3] Elena, raised by a mother who was highly conscious of her social status, was also considered snobbish by some. "Poor little thing, I feel sorry for her," wrote her mother's social rival,Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, "for she is really quite sweet, but vain and pretty grandiose."[3]
She was engaged toPrince Max of Baden, but Max backed out of the engagement. Elena's mother was furious and society gossiped about Elena's difficulty in finding a husband. At one point in 1899, the 17-year-old Elena was reputedly engaged toArchduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria; however, this came to nothing as he fell in love withCountess Sophie Chotek.[4]
Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, the third son ofGeorge I of Greece, first proposed in 1900, but Elena's mother was reluctant to allow her daughter to marry a younger son with no real fortune or prospects of inheriting a throne. She finally agreed to let Elena marry Nicholas, who was Elena's second cousin through his motherOlga Constantinovna of Russia and her fatherVladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, in 1902 after it became clear that no other offers were on the horizon.[5]
The couple married on 29 August 1902 inTsarskoye Selo, Russia. Like many imperial weddings, it was a grand affair, and was attended by theEmperor andEmpress of Russia, theKing andQueen of the Hellenes, among other royals and nobility of Russia.[6]
Elena's "grand manner" irritated some people at court.[5] According to the British diplomatFrancis Elliot, there was an incident between Elena and her sister-in-lawPrincess Marie Bonaparte: Allegedly, Elena refused to greet Marie and "drew back her skirts as if not to be touched by her."[7] Elena thought that Marie was beneath her, because her grandfather operated the Monte Carlo Casino.[8] Elena looked down on another sister-in-lawPrincess Alice of Battenberg because of the latter's morganatic blood.[9] The Dowager Empress wrote that Elena "has a very brusque and arrogant tone that can shock people."[5]
As a Russian grand duchess, Elena had been received an annuity of 15,000 roubles each year from birth, allowing her to accumulate a private fortune of approximately 300,000 roubles.[10] Upon her marriage her annuity ceased, and instead she received the customary imperial dowry of a Russian Grand Duchess, amounting to 1,000,000 roubles.[10] This amount was then equivalent to approximately US $500,000 (equivalent to $18,171,154 in 2024).[11][10][12] The dowry capital was held in Russia, from which Elena was paid an annual income of 50,000 roubles.[13][14]
After ahoneymoon atRopsha,[15] Elena andNicholas travelled to theKingdom of Greece aboard theAmphitrite and settled in a wing of theRoyal Palace in Athens whilst their own residence was prepared.[16][17]
In late 1902 they purchased a large house near the city centre, which was thereafter known as theNicholas Palace. The building is a neoclassical residence on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, which was designed byErnst Ziller for banker Stefanos Psycha during the 1880s.[18] Elena commissioned the royal architect Anastasios Metaxas to enlarge it with a Ziller-inspired second block, linked by a glazed atrium that illuminated the mansion’s core works. Contemporaries described the Nicholas Palace as very modern for its time, with hot and cold running water.[19][20]
Elena and Nicholas reportedly led a relatively simple but comfortable life in Athens.[21] During the early years of their marriage, Elen's dowry and private fortune formed the bulk of the couple’s income.[22][23] Prince and Princess Nicholas took up residence at the newly-renovated Nicholas Palace in 1904.[24]
The advent of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the exile of the Greek Royal Family in 1923 had a significant impact on the couple's income, and as a result the Nicholas Palace was leased to the Hotel Grande Bretagne during the 1920s, who used the building as a 60-bed luxury annex known as the“Petit Palais”. The House was later rented by the Norwegian Embassy in 1930 and, by 1933, the Italian Embassy. The Italian Government later purchased the Nicholas Palace from Elena in 1955; the site has subsequently remained the home of the Italian Embassy in Athens ever since.[25][26]
Prince and Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark had three daughters:
Grand Duchess Elena suffered from ill health after the birth of Princess Marina, which caused her husband anguish.
According to her niece,Princess Sophie of Greece, Grand Duchess Elena's priorities, throughout her life, remained as follows: “God first, the Grand Dukes of Russia then and finally everything else.”[27] Thus, the Grand Duchess and her husband, Prince Nicholas, visited Russia annually to visit their relatives.[28]
The family was later affected by the turmoil of theRussian Revolution of 1917 and the subsequent turmoil in Greece, which became a republic and resulted in the family living in France for a time.
While living in France Grand Duchess Elena became deeply involved in charity work for Russian exiles, particularly children. Short of money due to their exile from Greece and the loss of their Russian income, Prince Nicholas and his family lived in reduced, but elegant, circumstances. Grand Duchess Elena's fabulous jewel collection, as well as Prince Nicholas' own artwork, were their sources of income.
Princess Olga of Greece marriedPrince Paul of Yugoslavia;Princess Elizabeth of Greece married Count Karl Theodor zuToerring-Jettenbach, son ofDuchess Sophie Adelheid in Bavaria and scion of an old and rich Bavarianmediatized family; andPrincess Marina of Greece married thePrince George, Duke of Kent in November 1934.
Grand Duchess Elena became a widow early in 1938, as Prince Nicholas suffered a heart attack and died suddenly. She remained inGreece throughout theSecond World War, dying there in 1957. She bequeathed her personal library to theAnavryta School.
Her diaries during the period of the Second World War (1941–1946), written in English, were translated into Greek and published by Ioanna Varvalouka in 2024.[29]
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Generations are numbered by descent fromGeorge I. | ||
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*did not have a royal or noble title by birth §title lost due to divorce and subsequent remarriage ^title disputed | ||
The generations are numbered from the implementation of hereditary monarchy byFrederick III in 1660. | ||
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*also a princess of Greece by marriage ^also a Danish princess by birth §title lost due to divorce and subsequent remarriage | ||