Princess Nika Yourievitch
Quick Facts
Biography
Princess Nika Yourievitch (August 2, 1916 - September 17, 1995) was a French-born socialite and author, descended from Russian and Montenegrin nobility. She married Sir Edward George Warris Hulton, son of Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet.
Yourievitch was described as "very good-looking, wild and extravagant" by Woodrow Wyatt, regularly hosted grand parties in London, and was very involved in the high society social scene of the time. She was also known for her large art collection.
Family
Princess Nika Yourievitch was born on 2 August 1916, the second daughter of Prince Serge Youriévitch, a sculptor and diplomat of Russian nobility, and Montenegrin Princess Helene de Lipovatz. Princess Lipovatz was the daughter of Jovan Popović-Lipovac (Serbian: Јован Поповић-Липовац), a Montenegrin prince and Russian Imperial Army general. General Popović-Lipovac led the 48th Division in the Russian Civil War, where he was wounded. Princess Lipovatz was also cousin of Princess Elena Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro, making Yourievitch first cousin once removed to the Queen of Italy.
Princess Nika's father Serge had served as chamberlain to the last Emperor, Nicholas II of Russia. He was also a friend and pupil of the sculptor Auguste Rodin before becoming an accomplished sculptor himself, connecting his family to French art society.
Princess Nika was brought up in Paris, where many Russian nobility fled after the Russian Revolution. Her parents lived between Paris and Russia, and after the fall of the Imperial reign lost their Russian property in Saratov.
Marriage
In 1941, Yourievitch married media magnate Sir Edward George Warris Hulton as his second wife. Hulton had formerly been married to another Russian aristocrat who had fled Russia after Nicholas II's fall, Kira Goudime-Levkovitsch. Goudime-Levkovitsch was the daughter of the Russian Imperial Army General Pavel Konstantinovich Gudim-Levkovich, anglicized as Paul Goudime-Levkovitsch or Goudime-Levkovich.
Together Yourievitch and Hulton had two sons and one daughter, named Edward Alexander Sergius Hulton, Cosmo Philip Paul Hulton and Elizabeth Frances Helen Hulton.
Later life
The marriage between Yourievitch and Hulton was dissolved in 1966, though the two lived together again for the last nine years of Hulton's life before he died on 8 October 1988.
Yourievitch died 17 September 1995. She was buried in the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery in France, alongside her parents and Hulton.
Yourievitch was also noted for her renowned collection of Paul Klee artwork.
Works
- Lady Nika Hulton (1977). The General. London: Springwood Books Ltd. ISBN 9780905947105.