Quick Facts
Biography
Nadejda Mikhailovna Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven, née de Torby, (28 March 1896 – 22 January 1963), was a member of the Russian Imperial family who married a German prince but became an English subject and aristocrat. She was a close relation 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 von 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 a granddaughter of Aleksandr Pushkin, who in turn was a great-grandson of Peter the Great's African protégé, Abram Petrovich Gannibal.
Nicknamed "Nada", 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.
- 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".
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, traveling rough in difficult and often dangerous parts of the world.
Lady Milford Haven died in Cannes, France, in 1963.
Styles from birth to death
- 28 March 1896 – 15 November 1916: Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby
- 15 November 1916 – 14 July 1917: Her Serene Highness Princess George of Battenberg
- 14 July – 7 November 1917: Mrs George Mountbatten
- 7 November 1917 – 11 September 1921: Countess of Medina
- 11 September 1921 – 4 February 1950: The Most Honourable The Marchioness of Milford Haven
- 4 February – 24 September 1950: The Most Honourable Nadejda Mikhailovna Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven
- 24 September 1950 – 22 January 1963: The Most Honourable The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven
Ancestry
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