Olga Valerianovna Paley

Infobox Russian Royalty|princess
name = Olga Valerianovna
title =Princess Paley
Countess of Hohenfelsen


imgw = 200px
caption =
spouse = Erich von Pistohlkors
Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia
issue = Alexander Erikovich Pistohlkors
Olga Erikovna von Pistohlkors
Olga Erikovna von Pistohlkors
Marianna Erikovna von Pistohlkors
Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley
Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley
Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley
imperial house =House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
father =Valerian Karnovich
mother =Olga Vasilyevna Meszaros
date of birth = birth date|1865|12|2|mf=y
place of birth = Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
date of death =death date and age|1929|12|2|1865|12|2|mf=y
place of death =Paris, France
place of burial=|

Princess Olga Valerianovna Paley ("Ольга Валериановна Палей") (December 2, 1865–November 2, 1929), was the second wife of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia.

Early life and first marriage

She was born Olga Karnovitsch at St. Petersburg, the daughter of Valerian Karnovich and his wife Olga Vasilyevna Meszaros. She married in 1884 Erich Gerhard von Pistohlkors (1853–1935 Riga), by whom she had four children:

* Alexander Erikovich von Pistohlkors (1885–1944), who married Alexandra Taneyeva.
* Olga Erikovna von Pistohlkors (1886–1887),
* Olga Erikovna von Pistohlkors (1888–1963), married in 1906 with Alexander, Count Belzig von Kreutz and 1922 with Sergius Fürst Kudaschew
* Marianna, or Marianne, von Pistohlkors (1890–1976), who married 1908 Peter Durnowo, 1912 Christoph von Derfelden and 1917 Count Nicolaus von Zarnekau.

candal of second marriage

She later began an affair with Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, causing a great society scandal, and bore him a child, Vladimir. Her marriage to Pistohlkors was terminated by divorce, and Paul asked permission of Tsar Nicholas II to marry Olga, but he refused.

In 1902, Paul married her morganatically, but the marriage was not approved, and she was given no titles. In 1904, Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria granted Olga the title of Countess von Hohenfelsen. Nicholas II later acquiesced to the marriage and made her Princess Paley.

Olga and Paul had three children:

* Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (1897–1918), a poet.
* Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley (1903–1990), married her cousin Prince Feodor Alexandrovich and later Count Hubert Conquere de Monbrison.
* Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley (1905–1981), a fashion model and film actress, married firstly Lucien Lelong and secondly John Chapman Wilson.

Exile

Olga left Russia in 1920 with her two daughters to Finland, after her son and her husband were murdered by the Bolsheviks. She died in exile in Paris.

External links

* [http://www.alexanderpalace.org/memoriesrussia/ Memories of Russia] - by Princess Paley

* [http://mdz10.bib-bvb.de/~db/bsb00000559/images/index.html?seite=389 Genealogisches Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften Teil 1,2: Livland, Lfg. 9-15, Görlitz 1929]