Princess Olga Paley

Princess Olga Valerianovna Paley (2 December 1865 – 2 November 1929) was the morganatic second wife of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia. Early life and first marriage She was born as Olga Karnovich in Saint Petersburg, the daughter of a minor nobleman, Valerian Karnovich (1833-1891), who worked as a medical doctor at the Imperial Court and his wife, Olga Vasilyevna Meszaros (1830-1919), who was of Hungarian and German ancestry and had been settled in Russia since the 17th century. In 1884, in Riga, Olga Karnovich wed General Erich Gerhard von Pistohlkors (1853–1935), a member of the Pistohlkors noble family, by whom she had four children: Alexander Erikovich von Pistohlkors (1885–1944), who married firstly Alexandra Taneyeva (1888-1963) and secondly Maria Sokolova (b. 1901). Olga Erikovna von Pistohlkors (1886–1887). Olga Erikovna von Pistohlkors (1888–1963), married firstly in 1906 to Count Alexander Belzig von Kreutz (1883-1948) and secondly in 1922 to Prince Sergei Kudashev (1863-1933). Marianna Erikovna von Pistohlkors (1890–1976), married firstly in 1908 to Peter Durnowo (1883-1945), secondly in 1912 to Christoph von Derfelden (1888-1947) and thirdly in 1917 to Count Nikolaus von Zarnekau (1885-1976). Scandal and second marriage Olga began an affair with Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, causing a great society scandal. Russian courtiers and members of Paul's family viewed Olga as a commoner and "fornicator." At the Winter Palace ball, she attended wearing the diamonds that the late Empress Maria Alexandrovna had bequeathed to Paul. The appalled Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia recognized the imperial jewels and ordered her chamberlain to escort Olga out of the party. Paul's older brother Vladimir declared that "if [Olga] will become the wife of my brother, I will turn my back on her and she will never in life see my face again."