Nadejda Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven

Nadejda Mikhailovna Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven (née Countess Nadejda de Torby; 28 March 1896 – 22 January 1963), formerly Princess George of Battenberg, was a member of the Russian Imperial Family who married a German prince but became a British subject and aristocrat. She was a close relation of the British Royal Family.

Nadejda Mountbatten
Princess George of Battenberg
Marchioness of Milford Haven
Nadejda de Torby, c. 1914
Born(1896-03-28)28 March 1896
Cannes, France
Died22 January 1963(1963-01-22) (aged 66)
Cannes, France
Burial26 January 1963
Bray, Berkshire, England
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1916; died 1938)​
IssueLady Tatiana Mountbatten
The 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven
HouseHolstein-Gottorp-Romanov
FatherGrand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia
MotherCountess Sophie von Merenberg

Life

Countess Nadejda de Torby was the second daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia and his morganatic wife Countess Sophie von Merenberg. She was a younger sister of Countess Anastasia de Torby.

From left to right: Nadja Michailovna, Michael Mikhailovich, Anastasia Michailovna and their father Michael Mikhailovich of Russia

Her paternal grandparents were Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia and Princess Cecily of Baden. Michael was the seventh and last child of Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia. Her mother was daughter of Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau and his morganatic wife Natalia Pushkina, Countess of Merenberg, daughter of Aleksandr Pushkin, who in turn was a great-grandson of Peter the Great's African protégé, Abram Petrovich Gannibal.

Nicknamed "Nada", she married Prince George of Battenberg, later the 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, in London, England, on 15 November 1916. They had two children: Lady Tatiana Elizabeth Mountbatten (16 December 1917 – 15 May 1988), who died unmarried, and David Michael Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven (12 May 1919 – 14 April 1970), father of the present Marquess.

During the 1934 Gloria Vanderbilt custody trial, a former maid of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt's offered testimony regarding a possible lesbian relationship between Lady Milford Haven and her former employer. Lady Milford Haven also appeared as a witness at the trial.[1][2][3] Before leaving for the United States to testify, Lady Milford Haven publicly denounced the maid's testimony as "a set of malicious, terrible lies".[4]

Nada and her sister-in-law, Edwina Mountbatten (wife of Lord Mountbatten), were extremely close friends and the two frequently went together on rather daring adventures, travelling rough in difficult and often dangerous parts of the world.[5]

Lady Milford Haven died in Cannes, France, in 1963.

Ancestry

See also

References
  1. Goldsmith, Barbara, ed. (1982). Little Gloria...Happy at Last. Dell. ISBN 0-440-15120-1.
  2. "Vanderbilt Case Delayed; 3 Crossing Ocean to Help". Gettysburg Times. 6 October 1934. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  3. "Judge May Close Court's Doors On Vanderbilt Fuss Over Custody Of Heiress". The Evening Independent. 4 October 1934. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  4. "Nobility Hastens To Defense Of Gloria". San Jose Times. 4 October 1934. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  5. Hough, Richard (1984). Edwina Countess Mountbatten of Burma. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. ISBN 0-688-03766-6.
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