Sophie of Merenberg
Countess Sophie Nicholaiewna Merenberg ( born June 1, 1868 in Genoa, † September 14, 1927 in London) was a high-society lady.
Life
Sophie was the eldest daughter of three children of Major General Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau- Weilburg (1832-1905) and his wife Countess Natalia Alexandrovna to the left of Merenberg (1836-1913), daughter of the Russian national poet Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. Your paternal grandparents were the Duke William I of Nassau and his second wife Princess Pauline of Württemberg.
In Nice, Countess Sophie met the Russian Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich Romanov know and love, calling them previously rescued from a runaway horse. After being rejected by three European princesses and a Russian countess for class distinction was not allowed to marry, he did not mind, the Czar Alexander III. or his parents to ask for the necessary permission to marry, because he believed that they would not grant him this again. On February 26, 1891 married Countess Sophie of Merenberg in San Remo Grand Duke Mikhail ( 1861-1929 ), the second son of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich Romanov and his wife Princess Cecilia of Baden, named after their marriage Olga Fedorovna. The marriage was not only considered morganatic, but because of the lack of approval by the rules of the imperial family as illegal and caused despite the sometimes noble origin a big scandal at the court.
Mikhail lost all his military honors and was also removed from his position at the court. It was also prohibited him for life to return to Russia. The Tsar gave the bride nevertheless the hereditary title of Countess de Torby. When her mother found out about the marriage, she broke down and went to rest in the Crimea. On the way there, she suffered a heart attack and died. Since Grand Duke Mikhail was expelled from the country, he was not allowed to attend his mother's funeral.
The couple lived alternately in London, Paris and Nice. During the First World War, her husband stayed with the family in England, so he survived in 1917 as the only male member of his family, the October Revolution. Countess Sophie de Torby died on September 14, 1927 in London at the consequences of cancer.
Progeny
- July Anastasia Mikhailovna (1892-1977) ∞ 17, 1917 in London, Sir Harold Wernher August, 3rd Baronet Wernher ( 1893-1973 ), son of Sir Julius Wernher diamond dealer
- Nadja Mikhailovna (1896-1963) ∞ November 15, 1916 in London, Prince George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven ( 1892-1938 )
- Mikhail Mikhailovich (1898-1959), Count de Torby