Prince Serge Obolensky [Sergei (Serge) Platonovich, 5th Knyaz Obolensky-Neledinsky-Meletzky] (1890-1978)
Scion of a wealthy White Russian family, the Oxford-educated Obolensky fled his native country after battling Bolsheviks as a guerrilla fighter. The tall, mustachioed aristocrat subsequently divorced Alexander II of Russia’s daughter, Princess Catherine Alexandrovna Yurievskaya, married the daughter of American financier & real-estate tycoon, John Jacob Astor, Ava Alice Muriel Astor, & settled in the U.S. He later became Vice Chairman of the Board of Hilton Hotels Corporation.
24th July 1924: Prince Serge Obolensky, on the occasion of his second marriage
to Ava Alice Astor at Prince’s Bow Register Office, London.
At one point he was romantically linked to socialite, fashion icon, & Standard Oil heiress Millicent Rogers. And evidently proposed marriage in spite of the fact that he was already married to the Czar’s daughter. [Burns, Cherie. Searching for Beauty (St. Martin’s Press, 2011).
He was named in a divorce suit by Edward James (wealthy patron of surrealist artists Dalí & Magritte) which accused him of having an adulterous affair with James’ wife, the Austrian -born dancer, choreographer, actress & painter (Albert C. Barnes bought one of her works), Ottilie Ethel Leopoldine “Tilly” Losch.
During World War II, Obolensky was a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. paratroopers (made his first jump in 1943 at the age of 53) & a member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), forerunner of the CIA. He helped captured Sardinia with a crew of three in 1943.
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