The author of the Episodic Biographies is the present head of the Romanov Family, born at Antibes, France on September 26th, 1922, son of Their Highnesses Prince Roman Petrovich and Princess Praskovia Dmitrievna, née Countess Sheremetev.

Immediate Family Tree
1 Nicholas.
Parents
2 Prince Roman Petrovich of Russia.
3 Countess Praskovia Dmitrievna Sheremetev.
Grandparents
4 Grand Duke Peter Nicolaevich of Russia.
5 Princess Militsa of Montenegro.
6 Count Dimitri Sergheevich Sheremetev.
7 Countess Irina Illarionovna Vorontsov-Dashkov.
Great Grandparents
8 Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaevich 'Senior', third son of Emperor Nicholas I.
9 Princess Alexandra Petrovna of Oldenburg.
10 King Nicholas I of Montenegro.
11 Milena Vukotich, Queen of Montenegro.
12 Count Serghey Dmitrievich Sheremetev.
13 Princess Catherine Wyazemsky
14 Count Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov.
15 Countess Elizabeth Shuvalov.

Prince Nicholas, and his younger brother prince Dimitri, belong to the so-called "Nikolaevichi" branch of the Romanov Family.
Prince Roman, born in 1896, became of age in 1916, and having graduated from the 'Nicholas' Engineering Academy of Kiev, was appointed to serve on the Turkish front, at Trebizonde, in a Caucasian Sappers Regiment with the rank of Second Lieutenant. After the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II, he resided in his father's estate of Dulber in Crimea, risked execution, and left Russia in April 1919 on the British battleship HMS Marlborough. Prince Roman married in 1921 and died in Italy in 1978.
Countess Praskovia, born in 1901, at the time of the revolution resided in the Caucasus, risked execution, and eventually left Russia in April 1919 on the British destroyer HMS Speedy. Princess Praskovia died in Italy in 1980.
Grand Duke Peter, born in 1865, after coming of age began to serve in the Uhlans 'Of Her Majesty the Empress' Guards Cavalry regiment until ill health forced him into temporary retirement. His main interests were architecture and engineering and he was later appointed Inspector General of Engineering. He reached the rank of Lieut. General and was Aide de Camp General to the Emperor. During the First World War, he was attached to the staff of his brother Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaevich. After the Tsar's abdication he retired to his estate of Dulber in Crimea, risked execution, and left Russia in April 1919 on the British battleship HMS Marlborough. Grand Duke Peter married in 1889 and died in France in 1931.
Princess Militsa, born in 1866 in Montenegro, studied in Russia in the Smolny Institute, where she acquired a vast education, spoke five languages, knew Persian, and was deeply versed in the history of Orthodoxy. After the Tsar's abdication, she followed her husband to Crimea and left Russia in April 1919. Grand Duchess Militsa died in Egypt in 1951.
Count Dmitri Sergheevich Sheremetev, was the eldest son of Count Serge Sheremetev, a man deeply interested in Russian history, philology and literature and was much considered by Emperor Alexander III. Count Dimitri was born in 1867, served in the Chevaliers-Gardes Cavalry Regiment in which he reached the rank of colonel and was a childhood friend of Emperor Nicholas II and his Aide de Camp. During the First World War he accompanied the Emperor on numerous visits to the front. After the abdication of the Emperor, Count Dmitri chose northern Caucasus to avoid danger, but with the arrival of the 'Reds' at Kislovodsk, took to the mountains with other armed and able-bodied men, and eventually left Russia in April 1919, on the British destroyer HMS Speedy. Count Dimitri died in Italy in 1943.
Countess Irina Illarionovna Vorontsov-Dashkov, daughter of the Minister of the Imperial Court Count Illarion Ivanovich Vorontsov-Dashkov, was a childhood friend of Emperor Nicholas II, of his brother George and of their sister Xenia. After the Emperor's abdication, she was in Northern Caucasus. With the arrival of the 'Reds' she and her family risked execution. Left Russia in April 1919 on the British destroyer HMS Speedy. Countess Irina died in Italy in 1959.
On his father's side, Prince Nicholas is of course related to all the members of the House of Russia, to the Grand Dukes of Oldenburg, to the Princes of Nassau, to the Royal Family of Italy and to the Landgraves of Hessen, to the Counts Calvi di Bergolo, to the Princes of Bourbon-Parma, to the Royal Family of Bulgaria and to the Princes of Leiningen, to the Royal Family of Greece, to the Dukes of Kent, to the Prince of Wales, to the Royal family of Montenegro, to the Royal family of Yugoslavia, etc. etc.
On his mother's side, through the Sheremetev family, prince Nicholas is related to some of the most conspicuous and historical families of Russia: To Counts Vorontsov-Dashkov, to Serene Princes Vorontsov, to Counts Shuvalov, to Princes Wyazemsky, to the Naryshkins and the Stolypins, to the princes Galytzin, to the princes Gagarin, to the Princes Shahovskoy, to the Princes Lobanov-Rostovsky, to the Counts Branicky, to the counts Mordvinov, to the Princes Yussupov, to the Tatischevs, to the Counts Czernyyshev-Bezobrazovs, etc. etc.
This exceptionally Russian parentage, formed Prince Nicholas' personality, and developed in him an intense interest for the history of Russia and of the Romanov Family.
Prince Nicholas, signs his works and drawings with his Russian initials HP standing, of course, for NR with an addition of two dots: HP..
And so it will be HP.. who will continue this "curriculum vitae."

In our family residence on the Cap d'Antibes, I lived in a wholly Russian atmosphere, still following the old Julian calendar in everyday life, and observing the religious festivities in the house church, in which officiated a monk, father Zossima, a member of the household. At first I was educated privately in France, following the old Russian school curriculum. By the time I was 12, I convinced my parents to help me make come true my childhood dream to become a Navy officer.
There being a Soviet navy and not a Russian one, the only possibility was making good use of the close relationship with the Italian Royal Family and aim at a career in the Italian Navy. Aunt Helen, Queen of Italy and younger sister of grandmother Militsa made a start in that direction possible. Removed from my family, I began my studies in Italy, under the vigilant eye of a retired Italian navy officer, Captain Tommaso Surdi, with, as final target, admittance to the Italian Naval Academy in Leghorn.
My youthful enthusiasm was not dampened when aunt Anna ( 'Antché' ) of Montenegro, Princess of Battenberg, an anti conventional lady who was considered the family socialist, observed slyly: "And so you want to be an officer and show off standing on the bridge during a battle ? Have you ever thought of those who are deep down in the ship, in the engine rooms, and see nothing and risk everything ? Would you like to end there ? " The meaning of what aunt Anna meant was utterly lost to a dreaming youngster.
The naval career became impossible when I began giving signs of becoming short-sighted. The King of Italy, brother-in-law of grandmother could bend the laws, but never administrative directives. Considering the great losses the Italian navy suffered during the war, luck was on my side and it might well be that my short-sightedness saved my life.
After my family settled in Italy in 1936, I followed the Classical Italian Humanistic Curriculum in a Roman "Ginnasio"( High School ) and "Liceo Classico" ( Superior High School ) and graduated in 1942.
My aims in future studies had changed. Since I could not be an officer on warships, at least I would build them, so I thought. Only much later, in my fifties, I suddenly realised how absolutely and hopelessly hostile was I to such precise sciences as mathematics, be they of the lowest or highest degree, and that Engineering was the last discipline I had to contemplate for my studies. Languages, Letters, Law, Philosophy, anything but Mathematics or Engineering !
I spoke Russian and French since my childhood, then learned Italian and English. Spanish I can only read. As a result I am fluent in four languages, ( my brother in five !) something which at times makes our conversation a curious mosaic: A sentence beginning in Russian would suddenly switch to Italian, and end in French. The reply could come in English, switch to Russian and end in Italian !
Having done classical studies, I was fairly proficient in Latin, and ancient Greek was not that hostile. I still understand Latin, and in Greek I get around, but am no longer able to translate from Greek directly into Latin as I was taught by my Swiss tutor, Marcel Berlinger, a true genius in classics.
In September 1943 Italy was about to drop out of the war and the family hurriedly left the Villa Marlia near Lucca and returned to Rome, escorted by a Carabinieri car or two. On September 8th, 1943, the day of the armistice we were in Villa Savoia, the Roman residence of the King and Queen of Italy, as our apartments in nearby Via Panama where still shut-up for the summer, and some time was needed to put the house in order.
This made us witness an historic moment: the departure of the King and the Queen from Villa Savoia. Carrying whatever luggage we had at Villa Savoia, we just walked over to via Panama, not realising yet that we were to remain in hiding more or less nine months.
During the occupation of Rome by the Germans, all the family risked deportation, but my grandmother, Grand Duchess Militsa, being a sister of Queen Helen of Italy, was the one really at risk and had to find shelter in an extraterritorial building belonging to the Holy See. The 'Sacré Coeur' nunnery, on top of the 'Spanish Steps' was her first refuge in Rome, but after a few months she had to seek protection inside the very walls of the Vatican City. This move was helped by a German officer of Austrian origin, Count Ferdinand Thun-Hohenstein, who organised the transfer at great personal risk.
The rest of the family after leaving our apartment in via Panama were given protection under a Swiss flag, in a huge house on Via Pinciana, rented at the time by Jacques de Rham, a Swiss citizen.
Once Rome was liberated I found employment as a civilian, in one of the allied wartime agencies, the Psychological Warfare Branch, and after the war's end in the USIS - United States Information Service, operating under the U.S. Embassy in Italy.
It was a good experience and it also taught me the difference between English english and American english. The war events of 1943-1945 made it impossible to pursue Engineering studies in the University of Rome.
In 1946 our family moved to Egypt, and the voyage was made in a most unconventional way. We sailed out of Naples, bound for Port-Said on the Italian cruiser 'Duca degli Abruzzi' which was used at the time to bring back to Italy, Italian prisoners of war from camps in India or Kenya.
In Egypt, I did manage to find occasional work, but mostly, I have to confess that I considered the Egyptian period a long sabbatical, as I intended to return to Italy and catch-up with my university studies
In the years between 1947 and 1948, thanks to an incredibly successful venture in the purchase and sale of Turkish tobacco, I had no financial problems for a long while. I also intermittently worked in an Insurance Company. Followed several long sojourns in Cairo, an extremely pleasant period of my life, but of which less said the better, since even after sixty years, one must be discreet and forget the names of several charming ladies, be they of extremely exalted or very lowly families.
That too was a useful experience in some ways, but it could not last. I decided to return to Europe, something I did just before Christmas 1950 and on my way to Switzerland, where in Geneva I was promised a job as interpreter, I stopped in Rome.
I met Sveva, my future wife, at the beginning of 1951 and began to delay my departure to Switzerland. The following year I married Sveva, daughter of Count Walfredo della Gherardesca. She belonged to one of the most ancient Tuscan families, which since year 750 owned properties on the coast of Tuscany, facing the island of Elba. As Palatines of Tuscany, the della Gherardesca family in a certain epoch was responsible for the security of long stretches of the coastline of Tuscany. Besides repulsing Saracen pirate attacks, they also carved themselves a little kingdom inside Sardinia, a venture which ended in a very unsatisfactory way.
An ancestor, Count Ugolino, mentioned by Dante, was imprisoned with his young sons in Pisa in the 'Tower of Hunger' as it was since called, and left to die there with his sons. It is said that Ugolino was so hungry that he ate all of his sons, something the present time 'della Gherardesca' men and women vehemently deny, adducing as proof that the family is still around.
In his 'Divine Comedy' Dante, because of his private pet hates, threw Count Ugolino in hell, not so much for having allegedly eaten his children while in prison, but for belonging to an adverse political faction. Politics in Italy are still a complicated matter, but although some politicians are sent to political hell, or even imprisoned, not one, so far, ended starving in a damp cell, with only his children for food.
Before getting married I was fortunate enough to find employment in Rome. and worked with the Austin Motor Car representative in Italy, Colonel Andrew Constable-Maxwell. It was a good experience, as it gave me a chance to speak English continuously during the working hours, which really polished up my English.
Sveva and I married on January 21st 1952 in the Russian Cathedral of Cannes, in France, having had the civil marriage ceremony performed in Florence on December 31st 1951. My wife was born in Florence in 1930, daughter of Count Walfredo della Gherardesca and of his wife Marchesa Nicoletta de' Piccolellis.
We have three daughters, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

In 1954, as I understood that Colonel Maxwell was going to transfer his interests elsewhere, I resigned my job. For a moment I thought that I was still in time to think of University studies, but it finally dawned at me that it had been wrong from the beginning to think of the Engineering faculty, as I was totally hostile to that kind of study. After a small interlude I was ready for a new situation when in January 1955, after the accidental death of my brother-in-law, I had to take over the management of my wife's property in Tuscany.
Between 1955 and 1980 I managed a large farm, mostly breeding the famous white Chianina cattle, some of which we exported to Canada. There was also a good production of wine.
In those years I continued exercising my hand at marine water colours, mostly having as subjects warships of the epoch before the First World War.
Since 1982 we have settled in Rougemont, a mountain village of the Canton de Vaud, in Switzerland.
After the sale of the farm I began to collect material for possible Romanov Family biographies, in real earnest. At the same time I began a set of water-colours, depicting a fictional mission in the Mediterranean of a Russian battleship of circular shape, to which I added hand-written captions. This work, on the urging of a friend, Masolino d'Amico, was shown to an editor and was eventually published by Mondadori in 1988 and titled "Storia di una Corazzata Tonda" - The story of a round battleship.
My interest in Russia, with the portentous changes of the recent years led inevitably to my being more and more frequently interviewed by the media, mostly on Television, and recently I have given my one hundredth television interview, which is not bad at all for a non politician. I have also given a good number of conferences, about Russia and the Romanov Family.
Since the founding of the Romanov Family Association I have been its Vice President, and its President after the death of Prince Vassili Alexandrovich in 1989.
In April 1992 I became the head of the Romanov Family. I visited Russia for the first time in June 1992, and in the following years the visits became more frequent. After the meeting of "the Seven Princes" ( Nicholas, Dimitri, Andrew, Michael, Nikita, Alexander and Rostislav ), in Paris in October 1992, was founded the Romanov Benevolent Fund which since 1993 is presided by my brother Prince Dimitri.
In St. Petersburg in July 1998, I led the Romanov Family at the historic Funerals in St.Petersburg of Emperor Nicholas II and his family and retainers. President Boris N. Eltsin was present and made a memorable speech. The Romanov Family Association held its first General Assembly on Russian soil, in July 1998 in the 'Cottage' at Peterhof. After 1998 my visits to Russia have become a once a year event.

Our three daughters live in Italy. My two eldest daughters, Natalia and Elizabeth after having worked in various initiatives have now a full time job in looking after their families. Elizabeth served in the Italian Red Cross and later was assistant to the director of the famous Valentino fashion house. The youngest daughter, Tatiana, after working for Vogue fashion magazine in Milan, made a career in dressing the cast of films and television productions of several well known Italian directors.
She now has left the film industry to become responsible for Men's wear in an important industry near Rimini, in north-east Italy.
Natalia's husband, Prof. Giuseppe Consolo is a prominent lawyer, is now in politics and in 2001 has been elected senator of the Italian Republic. Mauro Bonacini, Elizabeth's husband, after more than thirty years with Alitalia airlines, is now director General of the "Terme di San Casciano", a Spa in Tuscany, while the husband of Tatiana, Giancarlo Tirotti is an organiser and promoter of a new, state of the art, Golf Club on the Adriatic coast, near Cattolica.

Now, having reached the age of 80, my main occupation, so I dare to hope, will be completing my Episodical Biographies.

Having read and enjoyed, so once again I dare to hope, that you will not stop at that. My Episodic Biographies are waiting to be consulted. I am certain that you will enjoy some of them as well.

Rome, September 26th, 2002

Books and Publications of particular importance

FRENCH:
Helène Carrère d'Encausse: Nicolas II.
Nicolas Enache - La Descendance de Pierre le Grand, Tsar de Russie. Editions Sedopols ( 1983 ).
Jacques Ferrand: Descendances naturelles des Souverains et Grands Ducs de Russie de 1762 à 1905. (1995)
Jacques Ferrand: Il est toujours des Romanov ! (1995 )
ferrand-jacques@club-internet.fr
Almanach de Gotha 1793-1944.
Nicolas A. Sokoloff - Enquête Judiciaire sur l'Assassinat de la Famille Impériale Russe. (1924)

ENGLISH:
Almanach de Gotha -1998 and succeeding years
www.AlmanachDeGotha.com
Dominic Lieven: Nicholas II.
Robert K. Massie: The Romanovs, the final Chapter.
John F. O'Conor - The Sokolov Investigation - ( Translation ).
Prince Dimitri Romanoff - The Orders, Medals and History of Imperial Russia.
www.RomanovFamily.org

RUSSIAN:
Viktor Aksyushitz - Pokayanie (materialy Pravitelstvennoy Komissii ) - 1998
Nikolay Ross - Gibelj Tsarskoy Semji ( Materaily Sledstvia..... Avgust 1918 - Fevralj 1920 ) - 1987.