, 1939 In the late 1930s, Lady Mary met
Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich of Russia. Their engagement was announced on 1 February 1939. The wedding, which was attended by two of Lady Mary's sisters, two witnesses and a Russian priest, took place on 31 May 1939 in the
Chelsea register office. A religious service was held the next day in a
Russian Orthodox church on
Buckingham Palace Road.
Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia, head of the
House of Romanov, created her Princess Romanovsky-Pavlovsky, with the style of
Serene Highness, at her husband's request. During the
Second World War, the Princess ran a
Red Cross unit called Princess Pavlovsky's Unit. The couple often entertained Yugoslavian diplomats—the Prince being first cousin of
King Peter II. Childless, they were devoted to their
Pekingese dogs. Their marriage, however, began disintegrating in the 1950s. Both drank heavily, with the Princess eventually becoming a depressed
alcoholic. According to her friends, the Prince had spent all her money, and they were completely broke by 1952; living together, but not speaking. They moved to
Hove, Sussex, but the Prince left her following Christmas in 1953. The Princess' mental health declined rapidly throughout the next year. In February 1956, the couple divorced on the grounds of Prince Vsevolod's adultery, and in 1957, she resumed the lifestyle she was accustomed to as the daughter of an earl, with the surname of
Lygon. She never remarried, nor recovered from alcoholism, and spent the rest of her life surrounded by her dogs. Lady Mary Lygon died in
Faringdon, Oxfordshire, in 1982. == References ==