Anastasia (lady Zia) De Torby (Wernher)

Grand Duke Michael Mikailovich of Russia (right) with his children (from left to right), Nadejda, Michael and Anastasia de TorbyCountess Anastasia Mikhailovna de Torby CBE, Lady Zia Wernher, (September 9, 1892 – December 7, 1977) was the elder daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia, a grandson of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, by Countess Sophie of Merenberg.

Like her mother, Anastasia was born of a morganatic marriage, and was ineligible to bear her father's title or rank. Following her parents' elopement to San Remo in 1891 and consequent banishment from Russia, Sophia was made Countess de Torby by Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, which title extended to all three of the couple's children. Through her mother, she descended from the renowned Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, as well as from his ancestor Abram Petrovich Gannibal, Peter the Great's African protégé.

On July 20, 1917 Countess Anastasia de Torby married British Major-General Sir Harold Wernher, 3rd Bt (1893–1973) (son of wealthy financier, Sir Julius Wernher, Bt, who had made his fortune in South African diamonds). In the following September, she was accorded the style and precedence of the daughter of an earl by Royal Warrant of George V, and discontinued use of her comital title.[1] Henceforth she was known as Lady Zia Wernher.

The couple had one son and two daughters. At the beginning of the 21st century Zia's grandchildren included sisters who were the Duchesses, respectively, of Abercorn and Westminster, and another pair of sisters, the Countess of Dalhousie (née Maralyn Butter), and Princess Alexander Galitzine (née Rohays Butter).

Zia's younger sister was Countess Nadejda de Torby, wife of George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, a descendant of Queen Victoria and maternal uncle to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

When the family was murdered after the Russian Revolution of 1917 it was believed that Anastasia escaped because no corpse was found. This made her very popular. She became most popular when Disney made a movie about her. However, in 2008, Her remains were finally discovered destroying all hopes that she had escaped.

[edit] Bibliography
Alexander, Grand Duke of Russia, Once a Grand Duke, Cassell, London, 1932.
Chavchavadze, David, The Grand Dukes, Atlantic, 1989, ISBN 0938311115
Crawford Rosemary and Donald, Michael and Natasha, Phoenix, 1998. ISBN 0380731916
Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (editor), Burke's Guide to the Royal Family, Burke's Peerage, London, 1973, ISBN 0220662223
[edit] Notes
^ "Burke's Guide to the Royal Family": edited by Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, p. 221
[show]v • d • eAncestors of Anastasia de Torby

16. Paul I of Russia

8. Nicholas I of Russia

17. Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg

4. Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia

18. Frederick William III of Prussia

9. Princess Charlotte of Prussia

19. Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

2. Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia

20. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden

10. Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden

21. Luise Karoline Geyer von Geyersberg

5. Princess Cecilie of Baden

22. Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden

11. Princess Sophie of Sweden

23. Princess Frederica of Baden

1. Anastasia de Torby

24. Frederick William, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg

12. William, Duke of Nassau

25. Burgravine Louise Isabelle of Kirchberg

6. Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau

26. Prince Paul of Württemberg

13. Princess Pauline of Württemberg

27. Princess Katharina Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen

3. Countess Sophie of Merenberg

28. Sergei Lvovich Pushkin

14. Alexander Pushkin

29. Nadezhda Ossipovna Hannibal

7. Natalya Alexandrovna Pushkina

30. Nikolay Afanasievich Goncharov

15. Natalya Nikolaevna Goncharova

31. Natalia Ivanovna Zagriajskaya

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