Olga Yurievskaya

Princess Olga Alexandrovna Yurievskaya (Russian: О́льга Александровна Юрьевская; 7 November 1874 – 10 August 1925) was the natural daughter of Alexander II of Russia by his mistress (later his wife), Princess Catherine Dolgorukova. In 1880, she was legitimated by her parents' morganatic marriage.

Princess Olga Yurievskaya
Full name
Russian: О́льга Александровна Юрьевская
Born(1874-11-07)7 November 1874
St. Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died10 August 1925(1925-08-10) (aged 50)
Wiesbaden
BuriedSt Elizabeth's Orthodox Church, Wiesbaden
Noble familyYuryevsky (by birth)
Merenberg (by marriage)
Spouse(s)
Count George-Nicholas von Merenberg
​
​
(m. 1895)​
FatherAlexander II of Russia
MotherCatherine Dolgorukov

After her father's assassination in 1881, her mother brought her up in France. In 1895, she married a German nobleman, becoming Countess Merenberg, and spent most of the rest of her life in Germany.

Early life
Alexander II and Princess
Catherine Dolgorukova with
their children George and Olga

Olga was born at Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 7 November 1874, while her mother was still the mistress of Tsar Alexander II.[1] Her parents' morganatic marriage on 6 July 1880 legitimated her, and she acquired the surname of Yurievsky, the title of Princess (knyagina) and the style of Serene Highness (Svetlost).[2]

Her father was assassinated in March 1881, when she was seven, and after that her mother took her three surviving children, Olga, George, and Catherine, to live in France. A second brother, Boris, had died in infancy.[3]

France and Germany
Olga with her brother George
and sister Catherine

Olga's mother took a house in Paris and later others on the French Riviera. In 1891, she bought a house in Nice which she called the Villa Georges, in the boulevard Dubouchage. In France, the family was able to afford some twenty servants and a private railway carriage.[3][4] However, the immediate family of the new Tsar, Nicholas II, looked on Catherine and her children with some disdain.[5]

On 12 May 1895, in Nice, Olga married Count George-Nicholas von Merenberg (1871–1948), a grandson of Alexander Pushkin, becoming Countess Merenberg and the sister-in-law of Sophie of Merenberg, the morganatic wife of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia.[3] Catherine asked the Tsar to be the sponsor of the wedding, but his mother, Maria Feodorovna, was appalled by the idea, so Nicholas declined. He later recalled that Catherine had been offended.[5]

Most of the rest of Olga’s life was spent in Germany, including the war years of 1914 to 1918. She had three children, one of whom died in infancy, and herself died in 1925 at Wiesbaden, aged 51.[3]

Descendants
A family tree
  • Count Alexander Adolf (1896–1897)
  • Count George Michael (1897–1965), who married firstly in 1926 (divorced 1928) Polett von Köver de Györgyös-Szent-Miklos, and secondly in 1940 Elizabeth Müller-Uri (1903–1963)
    • Countess Clotilde von Merenberg (born 1941), married 1965 Enno von Rintelen
      • Alexander Enno von Rintelen (born 1966)
      • Georg Nicholas von Rintelen (born 1970)
      • Gregor von Rintelen (born 1972)
  • Countess Olga Ekaterina Adda (1898–1983), who married in 1923 Count Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov (1900–1980)
    • Alexander Mikhailovich Loris-Melikov (born 1926), married in 1958 Micheline Selina Pryunier
      • Anna Alexandrovna Loris-Melikova (born 1959)
      • Dominika Alexandrovna Loris-Melikova (born 1961)
      • Natalya Alexandrovna Loris-Melikova (born 1962)
      • Mikhail Alexandrovich Loris-Melikov (born 1964)

Ancestors

Notes
  1. Catherine Radziwill (as Paul Vasili), Behind the veil at the Russian court (London and New York: Cassell & Co., 1913), p. 106
  2. Lindsey Hughes, The Romanovs: Ruling Russia 1613–1917 (New York: 2008), p. 185
  3. John Bergamini, The Tragic Dynasty: A History of the Romanovs (1969), pp. 370 & 464
  4. Raymond de Ponfilly, Guide des Russes en France (Horay, 1990), p. 407: "Villa Georges : boulevard Dubouchage, n° 10 Villa achetée en janvier 1891 par la princesse..."
  5. Sergei Mironenko, Andrei Maylunas, tr. Darya Galy, A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas and Alexandra: Their Own Story (Doubleday, 1997, ISBN 0-385-48673-1), p. 133
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