Princess Nika Yourievitch

Princess
Nika Yourievitch
Born 2 August 1916
Paris
Died 17 September 1995 (aged 79)
Resting place
 Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery
Spouse(s) Sir Edward George Warris Hulton (1941-1966)
Children 3
Parent(s) Serge Youriévitch
Princess Helene de Lipovatz
Relatives Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet
Elena of Montenegro

Princess Nika Yourievitch 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,[1] 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.[2]

Family

Princess Nika Yourievitch was born on 2 August 1916, the second daughter of Serge Youriévitch, a sculptor and diplomat of Russian nobility, and Montenegrin Princess Helene de Lipovatz.[3] Princess Lipovatz was the daughter of Jovan Popović-Lipovac (Serbian: Јован Поповић-Липовац), a Montenegrin prince and Russian Imperial Army general.[4] General Popović-Lipovac led the 48th Division in the Russian Civil War, where he was wounded.[5] Princess Lipovatz was also cousin of Princess Elena Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro, making Yourievitch first cousin once removed to the Queen of Italy.[6]

Princess Nika's father Serge had served as chamberlain to the last Emperor, Nicholas II of Russia.[7] 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.[8]

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.[9]

Marriage

In 1941, Yourievitch married media magnate Sir Edward George Warris Hulton as his second wife.[10] Hulton had formerly been married to another Russian aristocrat that had fled Russia after Nicholas II's fall, Kira Goudime-Levkovitsch.[11] Goudime-Levkovitsch was the daughter of the Russian Imperial Army General Pavel Konstantinovich Gudim-Levkovich,[4] anglicized as Paul Goudime-Levkovitsch or Goudime-Levkovich.[12]

Together Yourievitch and Hulton had two sons and one daughter, named Edward Alexander Sergius Hulton, Cosmo Philip Paul Hulton and Elizabeth Frances Helen Hulton.[13]

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.[12]

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.[14]

Works

External links

References

  1. ↑ Wyatt, Woodrow (1998). The journals of Woodrow Wyatt, Volume 1. Macmillan. ISBN 9780333741665. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  2. ↑ Wynne-Tyson, Jon (2004). Finding the Words: A Publishing Life. Michael Russell. p. 105. ISBN 9780859552875.
  3. ↑ Who was who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died, Volume 8. A. & C. Black. 1981. p. 373. Retrieved 6 October 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Spectator, Volume 190. F.C. Westley. 1953. p. 117. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  5. ↑ Gorky, Maksim (1974). History of the Civil War in the U. S. S. R.: The Prelude of the Great Proletarion Revolution. Academic International Press. p. 176. ISBN 9780875690582. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "The Amazing Serge Yourievitch". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 22 Mar 1925. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  7. ↑ Sinclair, Andrew (1989). War Like a Wasp: The Lost Decade of the 'Forties. Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 9780241125311.
  8. ↑ Mackay, James Alexander. The animaliers: a collector's guide to the animal sculptors of the 19th & 20th centuries. Dutton. p. 137.
  9. ↑ Hopkinson, Tom (1982). Of this Our Time: A Journalist's Story, 1905-1950. Hutchinson. p. 253. ISBN 9780091478605.
  10. ↑ Fleming, Ann (1985). The Letters of Ann Fleming. HarperCollins Publishers Limited. p. 108. ISBN 9780002170598.
  11. ↑ International Who's Who, 1983-84. Europa Publications Limited. 1 January 1983. p. 622. ISBN 9780905118864. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Seymour-Ure, Colin. "Hulton, Sir Edward George Warris". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  13. ↑ Suid-Afrikaanse Hofverslae, Volume 1. Juta. 1954. p. 465.
  14. ↑ Van Horne, Janice (2013). A Complicated Marriage: My Life with Clement Greenberg. Counterpoint. p. 155. ISBN 9781619021570.