August 10, 1927
Princess Nathalie Paley, 21, was married today to the noted French dress designer, Lucien Lelong. The marriage took place at the Orthodox Church in Paris. The bride wore "a gown of white panne designed by her husband and a bonnet of tulle and fine lace with silver embroidery, also of her husband's design."
Lucien Lelong is the owner of the House of LeLong on the Rue Matignon in Paris. He is the "inventor of the kinetic theory of design in women's clothes."
The princess is the daughter of the late Grand Duke Paul of Russia, who was killed by the Bolsheviks in 1919, and his second wife, Olga. This was a morganatic marriage as Olga was of unequal rank. She was created Princess Paley, a title that was also borne by her children. Nathalie's brother, the noted poet, Prince Vladimir Paley, was killed in 1918 with Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia and several other relatives.
The marriage between the Princess and Lelong was not unexpected. Rumors about a marriage surfaced earlier this year in Paris after Lelong divorced his wife, Anne-Marie Audroy, in July, and was seen with Princess Nathalie. Their romance began several months before the princess joined LeLong's staff, as a saleswoman in his perfume department.
He was gay though and their marriage was considered a "white marriage" meaning it was never consummated. She and her sister were both raped by a group of Bolsheviks in Petrograd in 1918. Her second husband was also gay and never consummated.
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