After that, he attempted to marry within the Russian nobility, which caused confrontations with his parents. In 1888, he had an affair with Princess Walewski. Later, he fell in love with Countess Catherine Nikolaevna Ignatieva (1869–1914), the daughter of the former Minister of Interior, Nicholas Pavlovich Ignatiev. He tried to get permission to marry her and he went with his father to talk to Tsar Alexander III. However, his mother and the Empress Maria Feodorovna made it impossible for him to marry Catherine. Olga Feodorovna opposed the misalliance vehemently. "He has so openly provoked me" she wrote of her son, mentioning his "lack of respect, affection and attention". To break off the relationship, the parents decided to send him abroad.