Wife of Russian Royal. She became the wife of a Russian Royal after she married the Grand Duke Michael Romanov, the youngest brother of Tsar Nicholas II, on October 16, 1912 in Vienna, Austria. The Tsar did not grant permission for the couple to marry as the bride had been twice divorced and no royal lineage. The marriage was never officially recognized by the Romanov family; thus, she was shunned by society. Soon after the marriage, the newlyweds departed from Russia for England in exile but returned with the dawn of World War I in 1914. Besides her daughter from her first marriage, the couple had a son named, George, who was born August 6, 1910. Her son was eventually recognized by the Romanov family as the Grand Duke's son, though excluded from the order of succession to the throne. The Tsar eventually gave her the title of "Countess of Brassovo," the name coming from one of her husband's estates in Russia and her son was given "Brassovo" as his surname. After returning to Russia, she was not allowed to live in Royal quarters, but had an apartment. At this point, her husband became a general in the Russian army, earning a Cross of St. George, before being discharged for health reasons in September of 1916. During the February Revolution of 1917, her family was placed under house arrest in September of 1917. When Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne in March of 1917, her husband was officially Tsar for 24 hours. This was to prevent Nicholas II's sickly 12-year-old hemophiliac son, Tsarevich Alexei, becoming emperor during an unstable political situation. Her husband rejected the throne when the newly formed provisional Royal government, which was overthrown by Lenin in November of 1917, could not guarantee his safety if on the throne. With this, the Russian monarchy collapsed, with the country becoming a republic, soon to be seized by Lenin's Red Army. Eventually, her husband was arrested by the Bolsheviks; sent in exiled to Perm in Siberia; executed on the night of June 12, 1918; and buried in an unmarked grave in a wooded area. It would be years before she knew what happened to her husband. On July 17, 1918 Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and five children were executed. After hiding from the Bolsheviks, she and the two children escaped, over a period of months, from Communist Russia through the Ukraine to England in 1919 with the help of many including the Royal Navy. After a few years and with a decrease in monetary funds, her son had to attend public schools. With a large community in Paris of Russians in exile, she moved, as a single mother, to Paris in 1927 for financial reasons. Her son, George, was killed in 1931 in a car crash shortly before his 21st birthday. Though excluded from the order of succession to the throne, her son was the last male-line descendant of Alexander III of Russia. For most of her remaining life, she lived in poverty in a 3rd floor maid's room. After she died of cancer, she was buried side-by-side with her son in Passy Cemetery in Paris. Born the youngest of three daughters of Sergei Aleksandrovich Sheremetevsky and his wife, Ulia, she lived in a Moscow household with servants. She and her two older sister Vera and Olga had a nurse before a French governess. Educated at private day school, she matured into a beautiful, well-dressed and well-manner young lady. At 20 years old in 1902, she married Sergei Mamontov, a member of a respected, wealthy industrial family, who was a pianist and conductor at the Mamontov Opera House. Her social life was full of activities and eventually, she was attending unaccompanied by her husband. He had a much more reserved personality than she. The couple had a daughter, Natalia or "Tata" on June 2, 1903. Following the practices of the Russian Orthodox Church, a divorce could only be granted in a case of proving the husband's guilt in adultery. In 1905, he agreed to provide evidence of his adultery and a divorce was granted. She had become romantically involved with a childhood friend, Captain Vladimir Vladimirovich Wulfert, and the couple married soon after her divorce was final. The couple enjoyed entertaining and attending military galas. In early December of 1907, she was introduced at a military ball to the Grand Duke, as the wife of a fellow officer. From 1908 they began to have a deep friendship, which developed into a romantic encounter and by 1909 they were lovers. In November of 1909, she left her husband and moved into an apartment that the Grand Duke had provided for his mistress. With many delays, her scandalous divorce from Wulfert was not easily obtained. After her divorce was final, she and the Grand Duke were married without a Royal blessing.