Encyclopedia Titanica

MISS ASTOR TO WED RUSSIAN NOBLEMAN

New York Times

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He Was Recently Divorced From One of the Daughters of Czar Alexander II
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ONE OF ANCIENT LINE
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Bride-to-Be Is Daughter of the Late John Jacob Astor of New York
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Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES
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LONDON, July 3---The engagement of Prince Obolensky Neledinsky-Meletzky and Alice Astor, daughter of Lady Ribblesdale and the late John Jacob Astor of New York, has been announced here.
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Prince Serge Platonovitch Obolensky Neledinsky Meletsky is a descendant of one of the oldest families of Czarist Russia. He traces his ancestry back to Rurik, founder of the Russian monarchy. The Prince has been married once before, his first wife being Princess Catherine Alexandrovna, a daughter of Czar Alexander II.

They were married during the World War in the Cathedral of St. Chrysostom in Yalta, in the Crimea, where the Prince was a patient and the Princess, then Princess Yourievsky, widow of Prince Bariatinsky, was a nurse. After they lost their property in the Russian revolution they went to England, where the Prince was well known, having been graduated from Oxford University.
In December, 1923, the Princess obtained a decree of divorce in London under the new divorce act, which allows the wife a divorce on the sole ground of the husband's infidelity.

The Princess is one of the three children born to Czar Alexander II by his morganatic wife, Catherine Princess Dolgoruky, whom he married at St. Petersburg in 1880, one year before his death and one month after the death of his official wife, the Czarina Marie Alexandrovna. At the time of the marriage she was created Princess Yurievsky, with the address of Serene Highness. She died in 1922 at Nice.

Ava Alice Muriel Astor is the daughter of the late John Jacob Astor and of Lady Ribblesdale and a sister of Vincent Astor. Her parents were divorced in 1909 and Mr. Astor later married Madelaine [sic] Force, while his former wife married Lord Ribblesdale. She was introduced to London society about two years ago. She became of age year ago and at that time came into complete possession of the $5,000,000 trust fund created for her by her father, which has in the years since his death greatly appreciated in value. Her brother, Vincent Astor, was he guardian during her minority. There have been frequent rumors of her engagement, one of the most persistent being that she was to marry Lord Dalmeny, son of the Earl of Rosebery. Other reports had it that she was engaged to an American naval officer and later that she would marry a poor English artist. The name of the Marquis of Blandford, eldest son of the Duchess of Marlborough, was also mentioned as a possible alliance.

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John Jacob Astor

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Encyclopedia Titanica (2004) MISS ASTOR TO WED RUSSIAN NOBLEMAN (New York Times, Friday 4th July 1924, ref: #3351, published 3 August 2004, generated 30th January 2025 05:59:12 PM); URL : https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/miss-astor-wed-russian-nobleman.html