Chernysheva-Bezobrazova, Ksenia Sergeevna

Early life and family

Ksenia Sergeevna was the youngest daughter of Count Sergei Alexandrovich Chernyshev-Bezobrazov (1894-1972) and his wife Countess Elizaveta Dmitrievna Sheremeteva ^[1] . Ksenia's father, Count Sergei, was a royal courtier; his father was granted the title of count in 1908, as he was the son-in-law of the last count Chernyshev - Kruglikov ^[2] . Count Sergei fled from Russia after the revolution and settled in the United States with his wife Elizabeth, son Alexander and two daughters, Irina and Ksenia. In 1949, his eldest daughter Irina married Prince Teymuraz Bagration-Mukhransky , the son of the princess of imperial blood Tatyana Konstantinovna ; no children were married.

Ksenia graduated from Miss Hall School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. ^[3] Then she studied for two years at Smith College ^[3] , but did not receive a diploma ^[4] . During her engagement, she worked at Air France and lived in New York ^[5] .

Marriage

The engagement of Archduke Rudolph and Countess Xenia Chernysheva-Bezobrazova was announced on April 30, 1953. The wedding took place on June 23, 1953 in the Roman Catholic Church in New York ^[1] , where Rudolph and his mother, the Dowager Empress Zita , lived in the "big estate". The wedding, held by Bishop Fulton J. Sheen , was attended by over 100 guests, including the Dowager Empress Zita. Press reports claimed that this was the first imperial marriage registered in the United States, but in fact the first such marriage was between Napoleon’s younger brother Jerome Bonaparte and the American heiress Elizabeth Paterson .

On the bride’s side, the guests included Russian Princess Vera (aunt of Prince Teimuraz, husband of Ksenia’s sister), distant cousin Count Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov, and brother of the bride, Alexander Chernyshev-Bezobrazov with his wife.

Countess Ksenia Chernysheva-Bezobrazova was one of the first non-royal brides to marry a member of the former imperial house of Austria, which was adopted as equal marriage, despite the relative obscurity of her father's family in Europe and the relatively recent receipt of the title. The internal laws of the Habsburg House were changed by the former Crown Prince of Austria, Otto in 1953, to allow the Archduke to marry representatives of the ruling and formerly reigning houses ^[3] .

She was the second Russian Orthodox royal bride to become the Duchess of Austria, the first of whom was Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna , the first wife of Archduke Joseph of Austria , the Palatine of Hungary.

Children

Archduke Rudolph worked for a private banking firm in New York. Rudolph and Ksenia Sergeevna planned to settle in New York, but their children were born in different countries, mainly in the Belgian Congo. Ksenia Sergeyevna and Rudolph had four children, three of whom reached adulthood and started families ^{[3] [1]} :

• Maria Anna (born 1954) - married Prince Peter Golitsyn (born 1955), have six children
• Karl Peter (born 1955) - married Princess Alexandre von Wrede (born 1970), two children
• Simeon (born 1958) - married Princess Maria Bourbon of Sicily (born 1967), five children
• Johann Karl (1962-1975), died in an accident on a bicycle ^[2]

Death

Ksenia Sergeyevna died on September 20, 1968, when the car in which she was with her husband collided with a truck ^[3] . Her husband was seriously injured. She was buried in the territory of Beleuil Castle in Belgium ^{[6] [4]} .

The widower of Xenia, Archduke Rudolph married Princess Anna Gabriele von Wrede in 1971, from whom he had one daughter ^[2] .

• June 11, 1929 - June 23, 1953 : Countess Ksenia Chernysheva-Bezobrazova
• June 23, 1953 - September 20, 1968 : Her Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Xenia, Archduke Rudolf of Austria, Countess Chernysheva-Bezobrazova

•   Habsburg House : Lady of the Noble Order of the Star Cross, 2nd class

• Marlene E. Koenig . Archduke Rudolph and Countess Xenia , Royal Musings (May 17, 2010). Archived July 11, 2015. Date of treatment January 1, 2013.