''A Princess in Exile'' is the compelling 1932 historical autobiography written by Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia.
The book captures the stark reality of a Romanov royal adapting to a completely upended life after fleeing the Russian Revolution. Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna structures her early exile into clear thematic phases, noting that the years between 1918 and 1921 felt like "sleepwalking"—a period where she went through the motions of survival while still processing her new reality through the lens of her lost imperial past.
The narrative chronicles her journey through several major milestones of displaced nobility.
The European Transits: Her brief, initial periods of refuge living in Bucharest and London before finding a temporary home in Paris in 1920.
The Paris Fashion Era: Her life as an entrepreneur in the 1920s, during which she founded Kitmir, a highly regarded embroidery fashion atelier that collaborated with major Paris fashion houses.
The American Journey: The dissolution of her second marriage, the sale of Kitmir in 1928, and her subsequent emigration to the United States, where she settled in New York City to write her memoirs.
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1890–1958) was a granddaughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and a paternal first cousin to Nicholas II, Russia’s final Tsar. Her memoirs provide a rare, first-hand account of the emotional and practical retraining required of global royalty forced into ordinary citizenry.
