Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia
| Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna | |
|---|---|
| Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark | |
 |
|
| Born |
17 January 1882 Tsarskoye Selo |
| Died | 13 March 1957 (aged 75) Athens |
| Burial | Royal Cemetery, Tatoi Palace, Greece |
| Spouse | Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark |
| Issue |
Olga, Princess Paul of Yugoslavia Princess Elizabeth, Countess of Toerring-Jettenbach Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent |
| House | Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov |
| Father | Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia |
| Mother | Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia (17 January 1882 – 13 March 1957), sometimes known as Helen, Helena, Helene, Ellen, Yelena, Hélène, or Eleni, was a Russian grand duchess as the only daughter and youngest child of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Her husband was Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and paternal first cousin of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.
Elena and her three surviving older brothers, Kirill, Boris, and Andrei, had an English nanny and spoke English as their first language. The young Elena had a temper and was sometimes out of control. When she posed for an artist at age four, she grabbed a paper knife and threatened her nurse, who hid behind the artist. "The little lady then transferred her attentions to me, her black eyes ablaze with fury," recalled the artist. Elena, raised by a mother who was highly conscious of her social status, was also considered snobbish by some. "Poor little thing, I feel sorry for her," wrote her mother's social rival, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, "for she is really quite sweet, but vain and pretty grandiose."
She was initially engaged to Prince Max of Baden, but Max backed out of the engagement. Elena's mother was furious and society gossiped about Elena's difficulty in finding a husband. At one point in 1899, the seventeen-year-old Elena was reputedly engaged to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, however this came to nothing as he fell in love with Countess Sophie Chotek.Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, the third son of George I of Greece, first proposed in 1900, but Elena's mother was reluctant to allow her daughter to marry a younger son with no real fortune or prospects of inheriting a throne. She finally agreed to let Elena marry Nicholas, who was Elena's second cousin through his mother Olga Constantinovna of Russia and her father Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, in 1902 after it became clear that no other offers were on the horizon. The couple were married on 29 August 1902 in Tsarskoye Selo, Russia. The Dowager Empress wrote that Elena "has a very brusque and arrogant tone that can shock people" and expected trouble in the marriage. Elena's "grand manner" did irritate some people at the court, but her marriage was a happy one.
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