Princess Marina Petrovna of Russia Princess Marina Petrovna of Russia Princess Marina Petrovna of Russia (11 March 1892 – 15 May 1981) was a daughter of Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich of Russia and his wife, Grand Duchess Militza Nicholaevna, born Princess of Montenegro. A great-granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, she was born in Nice and grew up in the last period of Imperial Russia, mostly in Znamenka, her father's summer palace near Peterhof. Princess Marina was a gifted artist, showing talent for drawing and painting. She studied painting first with a teacher from the senior school in Yalta and then in St Petersburg
Nicholas I of Russia born at Gatchina Palace in Gatchina to Grand Duke Paul, and Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna of Russia. Five months after his birth, his grandmother, Catherine the Great, died and his parents became emperor and empress of Russia. He was a younger brother of Emperor Alexander I of Russia, who succeeded to the throne in 1801, and of Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia. Riasanovsky says he was, "the most handsome man in Europe, but also a charmer who enjoyed feminine company and was often at his best with the ladies." On 13 July 1817, Nicholas married Princess Charlotte of Prussia