Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia

Infobox Russian Royalty|grand duchess
name = Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna
title = Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark
styles = "HIH" Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark
"HIH" Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia


caption =
date of birth = birth date|1882|1|17|mf=y
place of birth = Tsarskoye Selo
date of death = death date and age|1957|3|13|1882|1|17|mf=y
place of death = Athens
spouse = Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark
issue = Princess Olga
Princess Elizabeth, Countess of Toerring-Jettenbach
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
father = Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia
mother = Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia January 17, 1882 - March 13, 1957, sometimes known as Helen, Helena, Helene, Ellen, Yelena, Hélène, or Eleni, was a Russian grand duchess as the daughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She was the wife of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark.

Elena and her three brothers, Kirill, Boris, and Andrei, had an English nanny and spoke English as their first language. [Zeepvat, Charlotte, "The Camera and the Tsars: A Romanov Family Album," Sutton Publishing, 2004, p. 65] The young Elena had a temper and was sometimes out of control. When she posed for an artist at age four, she grabbed a paper knife and threatened her nurse, who hid behind the artist. "The little lady then transferred her attentions to me, her black eyes ablaze with fury," recalled the artist. [Zeepvat, p. 90] 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." [Zeepvat, p. 90]

She was initially engaged to Prince 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. Prince Nicholas 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 in 1902 after it became clear that no other offers were on the horizon. [Zeepvat, p. 99] The Dowager Empress wrote that Elena "has a very brusque and arrogant tone that can shock people" and expected trouble in the marriage. [Zeepvat, p. 99] Elena's "grand manner" did irritate some people at the court, but her marriage was a happy one. [Zeepvat, p. 99]

Prince and Princess Nicholas had three daughters:
* Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark (1903 - 1997), later Princess Olga of Yugoslavia
* Princess Elizabeth of Greece and Denmark (1904-1955), later Countess of Toerring-Jettenbach
* Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (1906 - 1968), later Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent. [cite web | author= Paul Theroff| year=2007 | title= "Russia" | work=An Online Gotha| url=http://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/greece.html
accessdate= January 5| accessyear=2007]

The family was later affected by the turmoil of the Russian 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.

Due to their reduced financial circumstances, it was a great feat for the family to marry their three daughters so well. Princess Olga of Greece married Prince Paul of Yugoslavia; Princess Elizabeth of Greece married Count Karl Theodor zu Toerring-Jettenbach, a Bavarian landed aristocrat; and Princess Marina of Greece married the Prince George, Duke of Kent in 1935.

Grand Duchess Elena became a widow early in 1938, as Prince Nicholas suffered a heart attack and died suddenly. She remained in Greece throughout Second World War, dying there in 1957.

Titles from Birth

* "Her Imperial Highness" Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia
* "Her Imperial Highness" Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark

Ancestry

ahnentafel-compact4
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1= Elena Vladimirovna of Russia
2= Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia
3= Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
4= Alexander II of Russia
5= Marie of Hesse and by Rhine
6= Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
7= Augusta of Reuss-Köstritz
8= Nicholas I of Russia
9= Charlotte of Prussia
10=Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse
11=Wilhelmine of Baden
12=Paul Friedrich, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
13=Alexandrine of Prussia
14=Heinrich LXIII of Reuss-Köstritz
15=Eleonore of Stolberg-Wernigerode

Notes

References

* [http://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/greece.html Paul Theroff, An Online Gotha]
*Charlotte Zeepvat, "The Camera and the Tsars: A Romanov Family Album," Sutton Publishing, 2004, ISBN 0-7509-3049-7