Serge Obolensky (1890-1978) may not be somebody you have heard of; however he led a fascinating life. From World War I to the Russian Civil War, from London to New York, from marrying the daughter of one of the richest Americans to capturing Sardinia in World War Two - and playing a key role in the US hotel industry. Dmitriy Nikolayev explains.
Serge Obolensky, Source: Available here.
There have been some amazing people in the history of Russian immigration to the USA. The life of the Russian aristocrat, Prince Sergei (Serge) Obolensky, was full of rises and falls, deprivations, great financial success, and military exploits. During the First World War he was awarded the highest medals for personal courage; later, the Bolsheviks hunted him. In America he became one of the founders of the U.S. Special Forces, a lieutenant colonel of the Office of Strategic Services, and a U.S. Army paratrooper at the age of 53. Obolensky successfully completed the task of peacefully seizing Sardinia and transferring it to American forces. He became a successful businessman, socialite and publicist, vice chairman of the board of directors of the Hilton Hotels Corporation. Obolensky was married several times, including the daughter of the Russian emperor Alexander II and the daughter of one of the richest people in the USA, John Jacob Astor IV, who died in the sinking of RMS Titanic.
The revolution of 1917 in Russia turned out to be a disaster for the country. Entire groups of society (for example, the nobility and the clergy) were proclaimed ideologically alien to the new Bolshevik state. There was no place for them in the new country. Several million people were forced to emigrate from Soviet Russia. Many died in the Russian Civil War (1917-22), between the ‘red’ communists and the opposition ‘whites’. Those few who remained were repressed or had to hide their origin. Life scattered the ‘white’ Russian immigration across different countries and continents. Some tried to find a new life in Europe, some fled to China, and some moved to the United States.
Sergei Obolensky was the oldest son of Prince Platon Obolensky-Neledinsky-Meletsky (1850-1913) and Maria Naryshkina (1861-1929). Thereby, both of his parents were the representatives of noble families of the highest rank. In 1897 his parents divorced. From the age of seven, the prince was brought up by his father. In 1912, Obolensky went to study in Oxford, England. There he got acquainted with representatives of the English aristocracy, including the Prince of Wales (the future king of England, Edward VIII). At the beginning of World War I, Obolensky returned to Russia and joined the army as an officer in the Cavalier Guard regiment. He was awarded three St. George’s crosses, which was the highest medal for bravery in Tsarist Russia.
During one holiday Sergei Obolensky met Ekaterina Yuryevskaya, the daughter of Alexander II in his morganatic marriage. Despite the significant difference in age for the time (she was 12 years older than the Prince), they got married in 1916. Then the revolution erupted. First Obolensky hid from the Bolsheviks in the Crimea, using a fake passport, then the couple moved to Moscow. He found a job for a textile factory in Moscow, and his wife began working as a schoolteacher. Their property in Russia was confiscated, and having such noble titles became simply dangerous.
Fleeing from the communist regime, the Obolensky couple moved to Europe. After wandering around several countries they settled in London. The Prince still had money in English banks. His former university connections helped as well. Even so, his marriage with Catherine broke up and they got divorced.
Immigration from Russia
In London, Obolensky found a job in sales of agricultural machinery. He started to participate in social life and attend balls and parties of the English nobility. At one of the balls he met Alice Muriel Astor. Alice's father, John Jacob Astor IV, was one of the richest people in the United States, the great-grandson of the first American millionaire who was among the passengers of the Titanic in 1912. The last time he was seen, he was calmly smoking a cigar on a sinking liner. Obolensky proposed and they soon got married and settled in New York.
The Russian aristocrat joined the circle of confidants of the head of the family business of Vincent Astor and became the manager of its hotels and restaurants. Alice gave birth to their two children, son Ivan and daughter Sylvia. Though they divorced in 1932, Serge maintained friendly relations with both his ex-wife and her brother Vincent. Obolensky ran Astor's fashionable St. Regis Sheraton hotel on Fifth Avenue.
Vincent successfully navigated the financial crisis of 1929 and became an advisor to President F.D. Roosevelt and sometimes provided Roosevelt with his yacht "Nurmahal". Along with Vincent’s financial success, Obolensky’s prosperity grew as well. The Prince hosted lavish parties. George Gershwin presented the fragments of his still unfinished opera “Porgy and Bess” at one of his birthdays.
Serge also helped Russian emigrants who were in a difficult financial situation in America, while his interests were not limited to the hotel business. Before the Second World War, he was successfully involved in perfumery with his immigrant friend Aleksandre Tarsaidze.
During World War II
When the war broke out, Obolensky decided to join the army again. But this time it was the US Army. His cavalry past was not in demand, but he thought that his experience of hiding from the Bolsheviks could be useful in the Special Forces. At first, he was refused. Nevertheless, Obolensky continued his training, passed the exams to be an officer, became a lieutenant, and soon received the rank of captain. He did it in his free time when working at the hotel.
Bill Donovan, the man who was busy organizing American commando forces, was living in the same hotel at that moment. He just formed the OSS - the Office of Strategic Services, which later became the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States. After talking with Donovan, the Russian Prince became part of the OSS. Obviously, Obolensky had an extraordinary talent for convincing people, finding a common language with different individuals. He could use his gift both in business and in military service.
First, he got several months of special training. The commanders developed not only the technical side, but also the tactics of guerrilla warfare. For this, Obolensky translated a manual for Soviet partisans into English, which formed the basis for the preparation of sabotage groups. After that, Serge took part in training in various branches of the army, from the Marine Corps to the tank forces. At the age of 53, Obolensky made his first parachute jump.
In September 1943, shortly after the overthrow of Mussolini, Obolensky, having landed in Sardinia with three other commandos, came into contact with General Basso, who commanded the Italian forces there, and, passing him special messages from Eisenhower, the Italian king and Marshal Badoglio, persuaded him to join the American forces. The capture of Sardinia was regarded as one of the most impressive achievements of the OSS at that time. Later he received the order to prevent the destruction of the power plant by Germans during their retreat. This task was also completed successfully.
The life of Serge Obolensky after the war
After the war Obolensky continued to work in his hotel business. He went to work for the fast-growing hotel empire of Conrad Hilton. And soon he became a vice president of the Hilton Corporation. In 1949, the Russian aristocrat also started his own public relations firm in New York City, Serge Obolensky Associates, Inc.
Serge continued to host society parties too. There are some photos of him with American celebrities; for example, on one of them he is dancing with Marilyn Monroe. At "white balls", which he sometimes arranged, he danced on the table the so-called "Russian dance with daggers" - even when he became much older. In 1971, Sergei Obolensky married for the third time to Marilyn Fraser Wall. He was 81 years old that year, his wife was 42. During the last years of his life, they lived in Gross Point, a rich suburb of Detroit. Sergei Obolensky died in 1978, at the age of 88. He worked in the hotel business until the last days of his life.
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