He married
Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia (1882–1957), daughter of
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and
Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the only sister of the future Russian imperial
pretender,
Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, and his second cousin through his mother
Olga Constantinovna of Russia and her father
Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, on 29 August 1902 in
Tsarskoye Selo, Russia. They had three daughters: •
Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark (1903–1997); married
Prince Paul of Yugoslavia. Olga was the maternal grandmother of actress
Catherine Oxenberg and author
Christina Oxenberg. •
Princess Elizabeth of Greece and Denmark (1904–1955); married Count Carl Theodor of Toerring-Jettenbach. •
Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (1906–1968); married
Prince George, Duke of Kent. Marina was the mother of
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent,
Princess Alexandra, the Honourable Lady Ogilvy, and
Prince Michael of Kent. The princesses were raised with an English nanny, Kate Fox, known as "Nurnie".
Residence in Athens Nicholas' marriage significantly improved his own financial position; his wife Elena received the customary imperial dowry of a Russian Grand Duchess, amounting to 1,000,000 roubles. This amount was then equivalent to approximately US $500,000 (). The dowry capital was held in Russia, from which Elena was paid an annual income of 50,000 roubles. After their marriage the couple resided in Athens; in late 1902 they purchased a large house near the city centre, which was thereafter known as the
Nicholas Palace. The building is a neoclassical residence on Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, which was designed by
Ernst Ziller for banker Stefanos Psycha during the 1880s. They commissioned the royal architect Anastasios Metaxas to enlarge it with a Ziller-inspired second block, linked by a glazed atrium that illuminated the mansion’s core works. Prince and Princess Nicholas took up residence at the newly-renovated Nicholas Palace in 1904. The advent of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the exile of the Greek Royal Family in 1923 had a significant impact on the couple's income, and as a result the Nicholas Palace was leased to the Hotel Grande Bretagne during the 1920s, who used the building as a 60-bed luxury annex known as the
“Petit Palais”. The House was later rented by the Norwegian Embassy in 1930 and, by 1933, the Italian Embassy. The Italian Government later purchased the Nicholas Palace from the widowed Princess Nicholas in 1955; the site has subsequently remained the home of the Italian Embassy in Athens ever since. ==Public life==