Mlle Skobeleff

Overview

A young lady of the Skobelev family named once, in Marie's list of the marriages of 1874: «J'oublie un grand mariage, le grand-duc Nicolas, fils de Constantin, épouse Mlle Skobeleff sœur de la princesse Belocelsky» (017.0322, Nice, 15 March 1874). The paragraph is a string of gossip that closes its previous item with «Ce n'est qu'un on dit d'ailleurs»; the marriage is Marie's report of a rumour, and it did not take place. Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich was disgraced a few weeks later (April 1874) over the diamonds taken from his mother's icon, declared insane and exiled from the capital, and married Nadezhda Alexandrovna von Dreyer, not a Skobeleva (Wikipedia, «Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich of Russia»; see Grand Duke Nicolas).

Identity uncertain

We are not sure which Mlle Skobeleff the Nice gossip meant. The «princesse Belocelsky» is Nadezhda Dmitrievna Skobeleva, wife of Prince Konstantin Esperovich Beloselsky-Belozersky and sister of General Mikhail Skobelev; an unmarried sister in 1874 was Zinaida Dmitrievna Skobeleva (1856-1899), who in 1878 married Duke Eugen Maximilianovich of Leuchtenberg, a grandson of Nicholas I, morganatically, as Countess de Beauharnais (Wikipedia, «Eugen Maximilianovich, 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg»; a French biography of Skobelev at timenote.info). Zinaida is the likeliest candidate (0.6), but no source was found linking a Skobeleva to Grand Duke Nicholas Konstantinovich, and the family may have had other daughters. Sources checked: 017.0322, the Mon Journal t.3 index («Skobeleff (Mlle), 116»; «Belocelsky (princesse), sœur de Mlle Skobeleff, 116»), Wikipedia. If you can identify her, we would be glad to hear from you.

Related Entries

• Grand Duke Nicolas - the rumoured groom
• Princess Belocelsky - her sister