Nadejda Mikhailovna Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven (28 March 1896 – 22 January 1963) was the second daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia and his morganatic

Morganatic marriage

In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...

 wife Sophie, Countess von Merenberg

Sophie of Merenberg

Countess Sophie of Merenberg, Countess de Torby, was the eldest daughter of Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau and Natalya Alexandrovna Pushkina.-Early life:...

. She was a younger sister of Countess Anastasia de Torby

Anastasia de Torby

Countess Anastasia Mikhailovna de Torby, CBE , also named Lady Zia Wernher, was the elder daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia, a grandson of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, by Countess Sophie of Merenberg.-Biography:Like her mother, Anastasia was born of a morganatic marriage, and was...

.

Her paternal grandparents were Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia

Grand Duke Michael Nicolaievich of Russia

Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia was the fourth son and seventh child of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia...

 and Princess Cecily of Baden. Michael was the seventh and last child of Nicholas I of Russia

Nicholas I of Russia

Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...

 and Charlotte of Prussia

Alexandra Fyodorovna (Charlotte of Prussia)

Alexandra Feodorovna, born Princess Charlotte of Prussia , was Empress consort of Russia. She was the wife of Tsar Nicholas I, and mother of Tsar Alexander II.-Princess of Prussia:...

. Her mother was a granddaughter of Aleksandr Pushkin

Aleksandr Pushkin

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature....

, who in turn was a great-grandson of Peter the Great

Peter I of Russia

Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...

's African protégé, Abram Petrovich Gannibal

Abram Petrovich Gannibal

Major-General Abram Petrovich Gannibal, also Hannibal or Ganibal or Ibrahim Hannibal or Abram Petrov , was brought to Russia as a gift for Peter the Great and became major-general, military engineer, governor of Reval and nobleman of the Russian Empire...

.

Nicknamed "Nada," she married Prince George of Battenberg

George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven

Captain George Louis Victor Henry Serge Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven , styled Earl of Medina between 1917 and 1921, was born the son of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine at Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany...

, later the 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven

Marquess of Milford Haven

Marquess of Milford Haven is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for Prince Louis of Battenberg, the former First Sea Lord, and a relation to the British Royal family, who amidst the anti-German sentiments of the First World War abandoned the use of his German...

, in London, England, on 15 November 1916. They had two children:

1. Lady Tatiana Elizabeth Mountbatten (16 December 1917 – 15 May 1988), who died unmarried.
2. David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven
   David Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven
   David Michael Mountbatten, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven , styled Viscount Alderney before 1921 and Earl of Medina between 1921 and 1938, was the son of the 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven and Countess Nadejda de Torby....
   
    (12 May 1919 – 14 April 1970) who is father of the present Marquess.

During the 1934 Gloria Vanderbilt

Gloria Vanderbilt

Gloria Laura Vanderbilt is an American artist, author, actress, heiress, and socialite most noted as an early developer of designer blue jeans...

 custody trial, a former maid of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt's offered testimony regarding a possible lesbian relationship between Lady Milford Haven and her former employer. Lady Milford Haven also appeared as a witness at the trial. Before leaving for the United States to testify, Lady Milford Haven publicly denounced the maid's testimony as "a set of malicious, terrible lies".

Nada and her sister-in-law, Edwina Mountbatten (wife of Lord Louis Mountbatten), were extremely close friends and the two frequently went together on rather daring adventures, traveling rough in difficult and often dangerous parts of the world. Rumours surrounding the nature of their relationship abounded.

Lady Milford Haven died in Cannes

Cannes

Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....

, France, in 1963.

Styles from birth to death

• Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby (1896–1916)
• Her Serene Highness Princess George of Battenberg (1916–1917)
• Mrs George Mountbatten (1917–1917)
• Countess of Medina (1917–1921)
• The Most Hon. The Marchioness of Milford Haven (1921–1950)
• The Most Hon. The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (1950–1963)

Ancestry