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| The Most Honourable The Marchioness of Milford Haven | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Nadejda de Torby, c. 1914 | |
| Born | (1896-03-28)28 March 1896 Cannes, France |
| Died | 22 January 1963(1963-01-22) (aged 66) Cannes, France |
| Buried | 26 January 1963 Bray, Berkshire, England |
| Noble family | Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov-Torby |
| Spouse(s) |
George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven
(m. 1916; died 1938) |
| Issue |
|
| Father | Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia |
| Mother | Countess Sophie of Merenberg |
Nadejda Mikhailovna Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven (née Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby, until 1917 Princess George of Battenberg; 28 March 1896 – 22 January 1963), was a member of the Russian imperial family who married a German prince but became a British subject and aristocrat. She was a close relative of the British royal family.
Life
Countess Nadejda de Torby was the second daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia and his morganatic wife Countess Sophie of Merenberg. She was a younger sister of Countess Anastasia de Torby.
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 the daughter of Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau and his morganatic wife Natalia Pushkina, Countess of Merenberg, daughter of Aleksander Pushkin, who in turn was a great-grandson of Peter the Great's African protégé, Abram Petrovich Gannibal.
Nicknamed "Nada", she attended the 1914 Kenwood House ball given in her and her sister's name, arranged to mark her coming-out at 18 years of age.
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. Before leaving for the United States to testify, Lady Milford Haven publicly denounced the maid's testimony as "a set of malicious, terrible lies". However, in June 2022 her grandson Lord Ivar Mountbatten stated in an interview with the Tatler "my aunt Nada was a lesbian." So far there is no personal account of Nadejda, that is publicly published, that indicates that she was a lesbian.
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.
Lady Milford Haven died in Cannes, France, in 1963.
Ancestry
| Ancestors of Nadejda Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven |
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See also
References
- Goldsmith, Barbara, ed. (1982). Little Gloria...Happy at Last. Dell. ISBN 0-440-15120-1.
- "Vanderbilt Case Delayed; 3 Crossing Ocean to Help". Gettysburg Times. 6 October 1934. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
- "Judge May Close Court's Doors On Vanderbilt Fuss Over Custody Of Heiress". The Evening Independent. 4 October 1934. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
- "Nobility Hastens To Defense Of Gloria". San Jose Times. 4 October 1934. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
- "Meet the trailblazing Royal power couple Lord Ivar Mountbatten and James Coyle at home". Tatler. 22 June 2022. Archived from the original on 1 September 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2022. Nada was in fact his grandmother. She died a few months before Ivar's birth.
- Hough, Richard (1984). Edwina Countess Mountbatten of Burma. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. ISBN 0-688-03766-6.
External links
- Portraits of Nadejda Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven at the National Portrait Gallery, London
